CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Sports Hall of Famer and 49ers great Ed Beard recently passed away at the age of 83.
The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame announced his death on Monday.
Beard, born December 9, 1939, was a star football player at Oscar Smith High School in South Norfolk in the late 1950s and a state champion heavyweight wrestler, although his school did not have a wrestling program.
He then played for two years at the University of Tennessee before enlisting in the US Army, where he was named the Army Football Team’s Outstanding Player.
Beard was eventually drafted by San Francisco in 1964 and played all eight seasons in the league from 1965 to 1972 on linebackers and special teams with the 49ers, starting in 53 games.
Known as “Biggie” by teammates because he played at about 6ft 1, 225lbs taller than his height, in 1971 he won the Len Eshmont Award, given each year to the 49er honored for the player’s “inspiring and courageous play”. former stands player Len Eshmont and also served a decade as an NFL assistant coach.
Beard worked as a contractor and with the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Department and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. Oscar Smith’s high school football field, Beard-DeLong-Easley Field, is also named for him.
He was also in the news in the early 2010s after stopping to help a person who was being beaten by a group of Chesapeake teenagers. Beard suffered a concussion and cuts and bruises during the encounter, but said he will continue to work to help the youths at the scene.
Beard was also a music lover and a great singer, being referred to as “Singin’ Ed Beard” in a 1996 Virginian Pilot article. “I asked Ed Beard if he sang for senior groups because they were too old to pursue him.” A Pilot columnist Tony Stein joked at the time.
Comments are closed.