How Ed Fryatt changed course

His father, Jim, was one of the most prolific soccer goal scorers in English soccer’s lower divisions. Brother Sean was ranked 10th on Philadelphia Textile’s all-time goal list when he was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame.

But Edward Fryatt did not follow his father and brother onto the soccer pitch. His sport was golf. He turned pro in 2000 following an outstanding career at UNLV and posted five top-1o finishes en route to finishing 77th on the PGA money list.

Ed Fryatt was a late bloomer on the links. He didn’t pick up a golf club until he was 13. And he didn’t pick up the game from his father, as most PGA players do.

“Jimmy was well coordinated in every sport but he wasn’t a golfer,” Val Fryatt said about her second son forsaking the spotted ball for a dimpled one. “The kids next door played and they needed a ride to the golf course and Jimmy would drive them.

“That’s how they roped Edward into playing.”

Ron Kantowski

the team played.

“He didn’t have much hair on top of his head, so he let it grow down the side of his face,” Calvert said with a fond chuckle. “Jimmy and Derek (Trevis, the Quicksilvers’ head coach) taught me the world of football — soccer, as we know it.”

Val Fryatt said she and Jimmy had a wonderful life and raised three wonderful children (daughter Nicola has a successful real estate business in Las Vegas).

Toward the end, when Jimmy said little and recognized even less, she would tune the radio to the country stations. Jimmy would sing along to “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and the other standards almost as well as he once sang the national anthem at Veterans Stadium before an Atoms game.

She said when he died, he was surrounded by his family.

She took comfort in that, and in the number of his old teammates who have called, and homages to his head and bushy whiskers that have been posted to the websites of many of the clubs for which her husband played.

While many soccer fans knew of Jimmy for those four seconds against Tranmere, Val Fryatt was married to him for 58 years. She said she cherished each and every one.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal. com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.