Edward W. Trexler was born on November 24, 1927 in Peru, Indiana to a large family of 2 sisters and 7 brothers. He graduated from High School in 1943, Manchester College in Indiana in 1950 with a B.S. in Physical Education, and Indiana University with a Masters in Secondary Education in 1952. He received his EDD in 1962 from Indiana University in School Administration. Ed and his family moved to Arizona in 1962.

Ed served in the Army Infantry in Europe for two years before he was wounded three days before the Battle of the Bulge, which his unit fought in. He had already been shipped to England to recover and he spent the remaining three years of the war as a rehabilitation instructor and definitely had caught the teaching bug. He received the Purple Heart for his injury.

Mr. Texeler always had a love for sports and especially officiating. While Ed spent over 50 years as a teacher, coach or administrator, that entire 50 years, Ed was an official of one sort or another. That entire time he was always working diligently training, assigning or evaluating officials also. Ed also served as the Athletic Director and Head football coach at Judson High School in Arizona.

Trex, as many officials called him, first became an official shortly after high school by doing intramural and city league games. He did football, basketball, track & field as well as tennis starting in 1947 as an official for various Indiana conferences and colleges. He worked in over 15 different college leagues in his career as well as four different professional leagues and three different Olympic leagues. He also stared in several TV commercials and assisted in the writing of several books on sports.

Ed also utilized his talents as a supervisor, trainer, and consultant of officials. He was a national and international clinician for officiating. He was the Supervisor of Officials for the Western Collegiate Officials Association and the Commissioner of the Arizona Community College Association for over 20 years.

Ed spent many years in Arizona helping form the current officials organization. Ed was always able to get people to follow him in his vision. This was critical in the early days of the Region II Football Association. He would often stand in front of the Kick-off meeting and extol the virtues of joining the Association. Ed believed in the power of a group and he believed in officials. He worked for over 50 years to help his fellow official become better.

Ed Trexler passed away at halftime of a high school basket ball game he was officiating on January 31, 1997. To the last, Ed continued doing the thing he loved the most, officiate. Hundreds of officials and coaches turned out on February 4, 1997 to pay their respects for Ed. Many wonderful stories about Ed and his officiating were shared that day. It was very evident how many lives he had touched through his long career. Ed Trexler was truly a legend in Arizona officiating. And as Ed would always say in closing,