Professional Soccer Player. A star for Manchester United, he was considered to be amongst the most naturally gifted players ever born. As a defender, strong in the air and in the tackle, he could win the ball, pass perfectly and score as gracefully as any centre-forward. He was tragically cut down long before he even reached his prime in the Munich Air Disaster of February 6, 1958, which killed seven of his fellow Manchester United teammates and destroyed the dream coach Matt Busby had of making his youthful charges Champions of Europe. Edwards did not die in the impact of the crash but was badly wounded. He succumbed to horrific injuries and passed away due to kidney failure 14 days after the crash on February 21, 1958. Even though he was only 21 when he died, he had already won two English First Division Championships with United in 1956 and 1957, and would surely have made it three in a row but for the untimely demise of that United team. Matt Busby was used to looking for weaknesses in players, but admitted that in Edwards he could find no trace of a flaw. Team mate Bobby Charlton, who survived the crash to ultimately win the European Cup with United in 1968, said of Duncan, "He's the only player who ever made me feel inferior," and, "If I had to play for my life and had to take one man with me it would be Duncan Edwards." Charlton remains convinced that Edwards was the greatest player he ever encountered. He was sadly engaged to be married to his young sweetheart at the time of his death. He played for Manchester United 175 times, scoring 21 goals, and for England 18 times, scoring 5 goals. He would surely have been playing in the England team that won the World Cup in 1966. The name of Duncan Edwards has become synonymous with a lost dream at Manchester United, and brilliance deprived of the flowering more mature years would surely have brought. Along with his other lost team mates from 1958, we are sadly left to ponder at what might have been.