Sugar Bowl

For an outstanding season that saw him start every game and be named as a consensus all-rookie choice at its conclusion, Saints' offensive guard Brad Edelman is the Outstanding Professional Athlete from the Greater New Orleans area in 1982 as voted by the Sports Awards Committee of the Sugar Bowl.

The second round draft choice who'd played center at Missouri was taken by the Saints with the idea that he would be tried at all the positions on the offensive line. After a brief trial at left tackle in training camp, Edelman was moved inside to left guard.
When veteran Fred Sturt was waived, the starting job was Edelman's; and he exceeded most everyone's expectations in filling it.

Along with Dave Lafary, John Hill, Louis Oubre, and Stan Brock, Edelman gave the Saints one of their best starting offensive lines in the club's history. It seemed that the tougher the competition, the better Edelman played. He handled "The Monster'' –defensive tackle Randy White – as few offensive guards every have in a game the Saints lost, 21 to 7, on December 16th. It was a game that saw George Rogers rush for 166 yards, a new team record. Though the voting isn't made public, it's known that both the Cowboys and the Falcons voted for Edelman as an All-Pro selection.

Though he didn't achieve that, there were numerous other honors when the season ended. Edelman made virtually every all-rookie team including those of the Professional Football Wrters and the Football Digest.

The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee began in 1957 when James Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month.