NEW ORLEANS — A local sportscaster was remembered Thursday.
Rummel and Loyola graduate, Ed Daniels covered local sports since 1977.
He never missed a Saints training camp.
We got the thoughts of people who knew Ed well, as they celebrated his life at St. Philip Neri in Metairie.
A thousand people came to say goodbye to WGNO Sports Director Ed Daniels. He was most remembered for being a pioneer in shining a spotlight on Friday night high school football.
“When everybody else thought it was persona non grata to cover high school sports, he saw the vision. He presented it to his ownership, and at the time, they kind of laughed about it, much like I did in radio. And I think we proved to people 33, 34 years later, it was a really smart investment,” Kenny Trahan owner and CEO of Crescent City Sports.
But it was more than an investment. It was personal for those students, and that touched former Saints quarterback Archie Manning.
“My grandson Arch is really affected by this, and I thought about it. Just got to be hundreds of high school kids who got to know Ed and affected by this,” said Archie Manning, with tears in his eyes. And he wanted me to tell his family, which I did and I kind of broke up telling them, how much Arch was affected by losing Ed.”
Former WWL-TV sports director Jim Henderson remembers how Ed poured his heart into the coverage.
“You could tell once high school season was getting close. He was always a grinder, and he would grind even harder. There weren't enough hours in the day for Ed Daniels,” said Jim Henderson.
“Obviously, there's a lot of journalists that cover the professional sports. High school is something that he gave that voice to here, and look he deserves his credit,” said Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto.
A Rummel high school classmate of Ed's remembers on the very first day of their freshman year, Ed told him, ‘I'm going to be a sportscaster one day when I grow up,’ and then he was able to recite sports statistics well before the internet ever came out.
Saints owner Gayle Benson was humbled, honored, and emotionally touched that she was asked to help with a medical flight to get Ed back from Saints camp in California to New Orleans after his heart attack.
“I don't think I played an important, sorry, I don't think I played an important role. I just did something to help somebody that needed help, and the family called, and I felt like it was important to get him back,” said Gayle Benson, who was emotionally touched.
And that got him back to his beloved city for all those who he gave a voice to.
“‘Man, you did a feature on me on Friday night football in 1995,’” Trahan remembers people stopping him and Ed to tell them. “But the fact of the matter is you impacted a lot of lives, even when you didn't realize it.”
And in the end, that is the way we all should be remembered, by the lives we impact.
Crescent City Sports and Delgado athletics will be giving out thousands of decals with Ed's name on them, for high school football players to wear on their helmets when this season starts.
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