Born on this day in 1934, Arthur Edwards was only 17 years old when he made his senior debut for Footscray in 1951, but he had already done a two-year apprenticeship with the Bulldogs.
Coming to Western Oval in 1949 as a 15-year-old schoolboy having won the best and fairest in the Footscray District League, Edwards worked his way up from the thirds to the seconds over the next couple of years.
Edwards impressed the Dogs' second eighteen coach Joe Ryan so much in the latter part of the 1951 season that Ryan convinced senior selectors to name him at full forward for Footscray's final home and away game.
To say that the pressure was on Arthur Edwards in his debut would be an understatement. Footscray needed to win the match to claim a place in the 1951 finals and their opponents, South Melbourne, had thrashed the Bulldogs by 47 points in the earlier meeting that season.
While he didn't trouble the scorers in the first half, Edwards kicked two goals in the third term as the Dogs set up a match-winning lead, eventually defeating the Swans by 45 points to secure a place in the top four.
The win meant Edwards' second senior match would be a VFL semi-final. Sadly, the Dogs fell eight points short of Essendon that day, and Edwards' only two set shots at goal sailed well wide of the mark.
Over the next season and a half, Edwards struggled to hold his place, but things changed midway through 1953 when he was named for his first senior match of the season against Essendon. Edwards started at full forward but moved to centre half-forward in the second half and played a vital role setting up a thrilling win.
The Dogs trailed by 30 points at the last break, having kicked only two goals for the match, but in a stunning last-quarter burst kicked 7.4 while holding the Bombers scoreless to set up a 16-point win.
From that day on, Edwards was a permanent member of Footscray's senior side. He played at centre half-forward and also occasionally in the backline, in 1953 but in 1954 established himself as a follower.
The Bulldogs' 1954 Second Semi-Final match against Geelong was in the balance early in the final quarter when Edwards snapped a great goal to level the scores. The Cats failed to kick another major, Footscray going on to win by 16 points to claim a place in their first VFL Grand Final.
A fortnight later, Arthur Edwards and his teammates created history. Edwards had 10 kicks in his 41st match as he and his teammates took the Bulldogs to an inaugural VFL premiership.
Edwards continued to give the Dogs fine service until he retired in 1960, having played 120 games. Arthur's son Allan "Butch" Edwards also a fine VFL player with Collingwood and Richmond, rounding out his career with the Bulldogs in 1984. Grandson Jake Edwards and grand-nephew Shane O'Bree also played AFL.
Arthur Edwards would have turned 86 today, but he sadly passed away at age 71 in 2006. However, his legend as one of the Bulldogs' 1954 premiership team lives on.
