William Edwards

William Hanford "Big Bill" Edwards (February 23, 1877 – January 4, 1943) was an American football player who played guard for the Princeton Tigers football team of Princeton University from 1896 to 1899.

In 1906, Edwards was the referee for the first game of the "Ohio League" championship between the Canton Bulldogs and the Massillon Tigers. The two-game series was the setting for a game-rigging scandal that eventually resulted in the demise of both teams. During the scandal, members of the Bulldogs were accused of throwing the championship to the Tigers. While Edwards officiated the first game of the series, he was unavailable to referee the second game because of a prior commitment to officiate that year's Harvard–Yale game.

In 1910, he thwarted an attempt on the life of New York mayor William Gaynor by tackling the assailant and sustaining a flesh wound in the arm in the process.

Later that decade, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson appointed Edwards as collector of Internal Revenue for New York's Second District. In 1926, Edwards became the first president of the first American Football League, which disbanded at the end of the season. Fourteen years later, his name was mentioned as a possible president of the third AFL at the press conference announcing the formation of the league, but he did not serve in that position.

He died on January 4, 1943, in Manhattan, New York City. His funeral was held at Calvary Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

Legacy He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.