“One hundred and fifty-seven pounds of dynamite and slippery as an eel” was how the 1936 Didascaleion described Red Dragon halfback Charles Edkins. “And he could take it!” exclaimed the yearbook. “When the going was tough, “Chink” was at his best.”
He played during the Golden Age of Cortland football. Edkins and Coach Carl “Chugger” Davis both arrived at the College in 1932. During the next four grid seasons, the Red and White lost just once. “If there was a small college Rose Bowl game,” wrote the yearbook in 1936, “Cortland could win it.”
Edkins, a native of Hamilton, N.Y., played no small part in Cortland’s success. An outstanding athlete, he was awarded the Honor Letter and named captain in track as a sophomore. He traveled to the Penn Relays and also broke a track record at St. Lawrence when he tossed the javelin 173 feet, eight inches. Edkins played intramural basketball, volleyball, lacrosse and was on the swimming team. The Co-No News, the student paper, jokingly referred to Edkins as “one of the few Beta Phi Epsilon members who refuses to talk about himself.”
On the football field, Edkin's actions spoke louder than words. He landed a spot on the varsity squad in his freshman year and became a backfield mainstay throughout all four years at Cortland.
Edkins triumphs did not end with his days at Cortland. After graduation in 1936, he became a teacher and coach at Hamilton and Greene High Schools. In the middle of 1942, he came to Rome Free Academy where he would teach and coach the next eight years.
“ I came to Rome in 1945 with 13 years experience,” recalled former colleague Irene O’Shea. “And it was a new experience to work with Charlie. He stands out in my memory as an excellent director – kind, understanding and thoroughly competent. He was honored by every boy in his classes and every boy was a little better for having had him as a teacher.”
Former teammate and later SUNY Cortland staff member Tony Tesori added, “He was so highly regarded that, as director of student teaching, I utilized him as the master teacher for the interns I assigned to Rome High School. He not only helped Cortland develop top quality teachers, he also assisted me in recruiting and attracting good students to Cortland.”
Edkins served as president of the Rome Board of Education and executive secretary and treasurer of the Oneida County School Boards Association. He was business administrator of the Rome School District when he retired in 1970.
He and his wife, the former Adelaide Case, have three children. On July 2, 1975, Charles Edkins passed away.
“Charles Edkins was, in the words of all who knew him, a remarkably fine human being,” remembered Tesori. “He exemplified the Cortland Spirit and was an effective ambassador for Cortland’s finest traditions and for the noble teaching profession. Cortland was his love, but service to his fellow man was his life.”
