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CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Northeast Ohio native Laila Edwards is officially in the history books as the first Black woman to represent Team USA in ice hockey in the Olympics.
Edwards picked up an assist in the USA Women’s Hockey team’s 5-1 win over Czechia in their opening game of the Milano Cortina Olympics. Her journey to the world stage began in her hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
“I never would have imagined it,” Edwards said. “I think for it to be a reality is super cool.”
Her journey to the Olympics began at 3-years-old, when her parents say she first fell in love with figure skating and, soon after, hockey.
“Mr. Edwards used to get ice in Cleveland Heights at 6 in the morning,” Laila’s mother Charone Gray-Edwards said. “I never heard her complain.”
“We actually went skating every day for a year, literally every day for a year,” Laila’s father, Robert Edwards, said. “She was a very good skater. We kind of knew then she was going to be good.”
Good is an understatement.
Edwards quickly excelled on the ice as the best player on the boys hockey teams she played on growing up. Edwards moved to Rochester, New York, in high school to attend Bishop Kearney and play for its elite hockey program. In college, she stars for the Wisconsin Badgers, she’s led the team to two national championships.
Despite the success, Robert Edwards and Charone-Gray Edwards say their daughter never forgets where she came from.
“I feel that the community should share in her success and should share in her involvement in hockey because it produced the expectations, produced the opportunity and nurtured it,” said Robert Edwards.
“Her foundation was at Cleveland Heights Rec Center,” said Charone Gray-Edwards. “That’s where everything began. So for her to come back and say, yes, everybody, this is where it started. Maybe she wouldn’t be where she is today. I thank Cleveland Heights.”
Edwards is breaking barriers and changing the game as the first Black woman on the United States Women’s Olympic hockey team. It’s something her father Robert said she takes a lot of pride in.
“If she can be the person that comes out there and allows other women to see that they can play or anyone, regardless of who, but Black girls in particular,” Robert Edwards said. “If she can do that for hockey, like what Venus and Serena have done for tennis, I think she would be overwhelmed by that.”
Edwards is already making a difference in Northeast Ohio.
“It’s important for girls in this area to have that representation,” Cleveland Lady Barons coach Emily Busta said.
In November, Edwards surprised the Cleveland Lady Barons at one of their practices. Busta said Edwards is inspiring girls to lace up their skates.
“She’s like the Taylor Swift of Cleveland girls hockey because every single girl was blushing just looking at her,” said Busta. “They just want to be her. They want to play like her.”
As Laila continues her first Olympics, she’ll have all of Cleveland Heights behind her while inspiring a lot more people. But Edwards isn’t feeling any extra pressure as she goes for the gold with Team USA.
“This is the highest level,” said Edwards. “It’s kind of a business, but it’s still fun. At the end of the day, it’s just hockey. I believe we can win this year. We have the ability to do so.”
Laila and Team USA will hit the ice for their second Olympic contest against Finland on Saturday.
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Jack Berney
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