Inspiration for Friday Night Lights' character dies

[Brian Damage]

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - David Edwards, who was paralyzed during a 2003 high school football playoff game and whose injury was fictionalized in the TV show "Friday Night Lights," has died. He was 20.

Edwards, stricken with pneumonia since late last year, stopped breathing Monday night and slipped into a coma. He died Wednesday at Northeast Methodist Hospital.

Edwards would have turned 21 on Saturday.

A junior defensive back at San Antonio Madison, Edwards broke his neck when he collided with an Austin Westlake wide receiver when both were reaching for a pass during a November 2003 playoff game.

Director and producer Peter Berg attended that game. The 2006 pilot episode featured a high school football player who breaks his neck and is paralyzed while trying to make a tackle.

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