On the field, Ed Beard was a menacing figure as a star at Oscar Smith High who played for Army and in the NFL.
Off the field, however, he was friendly and kind-hearted, willing to help anyone in need.
That’s how his former Oscar Smith classmate Willie Skenes Jr. will remember him. Beard died Jan. 15. He was 83.
“He would help you in any way he could,” Skenes said. “If he could help you, no one had to know about it. He was a good guy and he did a lot for people. Everywhere he went, everybody knew him and spoke well of him. When you come back after a career like he had, you don’t see many people like that. He was someone you could go up and talk to.”