 Gene Edwards was born the second son of J.C. "Blackie" Edwards, an oil field roughneck from Louisiana, and Gladys Brewer Edwards, a school teacher.Edwards spent the first six years of his life in Commerce, Texas, until his father was relocated to Bay City, Texas, where his family lived together until Edwards turned 13.During his elementary school years, it was discovered that he had a pronounced learning disability (later to be labeled as dyslexia).