Skip Edwards was awakened from a dead sleep at 1 AM. The wily head football coach at Bordentown Regional High School wasn't expecting a call or text at that hour.
So, when he saw a message pop up on social media, he had to check it out.
As soon as he saw the name on his screen, he tapped out a response.
"I was in bed and heard my phone beep," Edwards said. "Holy cow, this is from Lindsey Vonn."
The four-time Olympian, one of the greatest Alpine skiers to ever do it, was responding to a note that Edwards sent her after he witnessed her horrific crash at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Vonn suffered severe leg and ankle trauma, prompting Edwards to reach out and offer some words of encouragement.
You see, Edwards incurred an equally traumatic injury in 2023 when he fell off his road bike. He fractured his femur — "23 screws and two plates," he recalled — while trying to get a cardio workout in. Now, don't get it twisted. The humble 75-year-old would never compare himself to a world-class athlete like Vonn, but he thought a kind word might help.
"It's a lonely feeling. I knew how she felt," Edwards said. "She was putting posts out there on social media, so I just wrote her a little message and told her about my story, and told her to have faith. You feel like you're never going to get better.
"You know, athletes get hurt and they feel like they are going to get better the next day," Edwards continued. "As a coach, when you get these injuries, first of all, you feel bad for the person that got injured. I will always go to the hospital, or at least call them at the hospital to check in. Show sympathy, empathy, but you gotta move on."
Special Group of Seniors
On Thursday night, Bordentown Regional High School closed out the 2026 season with a 44-6 win over Princeton on Senior Night. To the outside world, it was a consolation prize following a 14-13 loss to Camden Catholic on October 23, 2026 — one that ended the Scotties' chance at securing the school's first division title in 45 years.
"The season didn't end the way we hoped, but we're proud we went out on a good note," said Edwards, the Eagles Tackle Football Coach of the Week, presented by Visa. "Injuries in the beginning of the year hurt us, but we found a way to plug the holes in the dam and survive. The kids I have this year have won championships at every level of Pop Warner. They bring this special attitude to practice and to the gamefield."
Edwards points to four student-athletes on this year's team: Connor Bramley, Thomas Lee, Jose Santiago, and Carter Stumpf. They are four-year letter-winners and legitimate difference-makers on the field, each player possessing the ability to single-handedly "turn the game around" with one run or one throw or one tackle, or one cut on a dime.
"I saw him do a move on the field where he actually stopped and shifted, and everyone just blew right by him," Edwards said of Santiago. "I haven't seen anything like that since college."
That's saying something.
Edwards, who retired from teaching in 2014 — he taught health, physical education, and driver's education – has seen everything in his 45 years of coaching high school football (37 as a head coach). He has racked up numerous accolades while reaching 100 career wins during stints at Bordentown Regional High School, Hightstown High School, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, St. John Vianney, Lakewood High School, and Holmdel High School.
In 2022, Edwards was inducted into the New Jersey Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He has been named Hank Johns Coach of the Year and Gordon-Masters Club Coach of the Year, along with awards from the Burlington County Times and Trenton Times.
Edwards has also served as the Recording Secretary for the New Jersey Football Coaches' Association since 1984. That role provided some of his all-time favorite moments, like picking up famed college coach Frank Beamer from the airport and meeting NFL legend Bill Walsh.
"I was at a Rutgers coaching clinic once and there was an open chair," Edwards said. "You know who ended up sitting in it? Bill Walsh. And he was just a regular guy, jumped right into our conversation, listened to us and said what he had to say."
Watching His Student-Athletes Succeed
Ask any high school coach what makes them proudest and the answer inevitably comes back to the players they turned out. Edwards has seen guys go on to play in the NFL — John Burke played for the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997 — while sending numerous players off to top-tier college programs like Illinois and Pittsburgh.
"Of course it's about wins and losses but that's not what football is today because life lessons are being taught by the sport you are in," Edwards said. "I just happen to be in football which is probably the toughest sport out there. We'll point out something that happens on the field or in the locker room and it always relates to a life lesson."
When asked about his overall coaching philosophy and how it's changed over the years, Edwards pauses for a minute, saying: "I used to take my guys to the Poconos for camp and tell them, I'm going to be your mom and your dad for the next five days so get used to me."
Now, perhaps thinking back to his interaction with Lindsey Vonn and his bike accident, his attitude has shifted. Today's football players are different than they were when he started in this business 45 years ago.
"My philosophy, it's changed over the years," Edwards said. "When you're younger, you're feistier, and you're not going to accept excuses. In today's society, you have to listen to your player's story and cut it up in pieces in order to get it to go where you need it to go.
"You have to be more accessible to them via the internet or whatever it is. I've become a really good listener but you better be ready to hear what I'm going to say afterward. The one thing I tell my guys is, the only thing that's going to hold you back is you."
