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Joe S.
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QUOTE
Legendary Football Coach Eddie Robinson Dies
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 4, 2007; 4:50 PM
Eddie Robinson, the iconic former college football coach whose pioneering
career spanned 11 U.S. presidents and the civil rights movement, died late
Tuesday night Ruston, La., following a long battle with Alzheimer's. He was
88.
During a 57-year career, Robinson won nine national black college titles and
408 games at Grambling State University, a small predominantly black school
in Louisiana. But Robinson will also be remembered for cutting through
racial boundaries in what was once the segregated South and for, as he once
wrote, challenging "racism by proving a black man could be a good football
coach."
Robinson sent more than 200 players to the NFL, including Doug Williams, who
later became a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Washington Redskins.
He also graduated about 80 percent of his players over a career that began
in 1941 and ended in 1997, when he retired.
Rev. Jesse Jackson wrote in Robinson's 1999 autobiography, "Never Before,
Never Again," that Robinson "developed minds before he developed muscles.
The breakthroughs provided by the work of Coach Robinson might have been
less dramatic than the day Jackie Robinson donned the Dodger uniform.
However, they were no less meaningful. Two men named Robinson changed
American life forever."
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a statement yesterday that read:
"Coach Robinson elevated a small town program to national prominence and
tore down barriers to achieve an equal playing field for athletes of all
races. Generations of Louisianans will forever benefit from coach Robinson's
fight for equality."
Robinson had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's shortly after retiring in 1997.
He had been in and out of a nursing home in the past year and had been
admitted to Lincoln General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
"For the Grambling family, this is a very emotional time," Williams said.
"But I'm thinking about Eddie Robinson the man, not in today-time, but in
the day and what he meant to me and to so many people."
Robinson demonstrated excellence at both ends of his career. In 1942,
Robinson was 23 when he coached a team that was undefeated and unscored
upon. In 1994, Robinson was 75 when he led the Tigers to a co-conference
championship and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference coach of the
year. On his last team, Robinson savored the fact that he coached nine sons
of his former players.
"Nobody has ever done or will do what Eddie Robinson has done for this
game," Penn State Coach Joe Paterno has said. "Our profession will never be
able to repay Eddie Robinson for what he has done for the country and the
profession of football."
Born in Jackson, La., Robinson was the son of a cotton sharecropper and a
domestic worker. When he was named head coach in 1941, Grambling was called
the Louisiana Negro and Industrial institute. He washed uniforms, drove the
team bus, mowed and lined the field and filled coffee cans with cement so
players could lift weights. There was no locker room or weight room.
He also coached the men's and women's basketball teams. Grambling did not
field teams in 1944 and 1945 because of World War II, so Robinson coached at
Grambling High School.
Robinson received national attention in 1949 when former player Paul "Tank"
Younger signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams to become the first
player signed by the NFL from a historically black college. Robinson
produced seven first-round NFL draft picks and four future Hall of Famers:
Younger, Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan and Willie Davis.
Buchanan played 13 seasons in the NFL, but Robinson took particular pride in
the fact Buchanan returned to Grambling to earn his degree. Robinson
believed society did not always "ask [student-athletes] to be smart enough."
"If a boy can't tackle, we show him how," Robinson wrote about society's
general expectations of a student-athlete. "I sometimes wondered if anybody
cared enough to teach him to read."
Robinson made sure players valued education and discipline. He carried
players' updated grades in his briefcase. He corrected grammar on the
practice field. He required players to wear suit coats and ties to media
interviews. In an old office, Robinson once found an assortment of earrings
in his desk; he didn't allow jewelry.
In 1985, Robinson passed Paul "Bear" Bryant as the winningest college
football coach when Grambling beat Prairie View A&M, 27-7. What Robinson
said he cherished most about that team was that 20 players made the honor
roll. (Coach John Gagliardi of St. John's, Minn., passed Robinson in 2003
and has 443 wins.)
Robinson remained committed to academics even in his mid-'70s, when he rang
cow bells at 6:30 a.m. to make sure players rose from bed, ate breakfast and
attended class. If a player missed class, he would run bleachers or have his
meal card taken away for the day.
"Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and
getting them to believe in you," Robinson had said.
New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, who was a friend of
Robinson's, has called Robinson the "greatest American I have ever known."
Muhammad Ali has credited Robinson for "turning boys into men," calling him
a "credit to his sport as well as a credit to humanity."
In 1960, one year after Grambling joined the Southwest Atheltic Conference,
Robinson won his first of 17 SWAC titles or co-titles. Robinson was cited by
the Football Writers Association of America in 1966 as the person who
contributed the most to college football in the previous 25 years. Robinson,
whose career record was 408-165-15, received the NFL Players' Lifetime
Achievement Award in 1988.
But Robinson always felt that family came first. He had said he didn't
manage to coach for 60 years, but he was hoping to celebrate a 75th
anniversary with wife Doris in 2016.
"People talk about the record I've compiled at Grambling, but the real
record is the fact that for over 50 years, I've had one job and one wife,"
Robinson had said. "I don't believe anyone can out-American me."
Robinson is survived by his wife, son Eddie Robinson Jr., daughter Lillian
Rose Robinson, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
"When the Man calls me up to him," Robinson wrote in his autobiography, "I
want to be ready to answer the call of 'the Big Tiger' up there. I want to
hear God say, 'Eddie, you have been a good person, a good husband and
father, a good friend, a good coach, and a good American.' That would, in
the end, be the best measure of my life if I live up to it!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...04/04/AR2007040400557.html?hpid=moreheadlines
END QUOTE
Legendary Football Coach Eddie Robinson Dies
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 4, 2007; 4:50 PM
Eddie Robinson, the iconic former college football coach whose pioneering
career spanned 11 U.S. presidents and the civil rights movement, died late
Tuesday night Ruston, La., following a long battle with Alzheimer's. He was
88.
During a 57-year career, Robinson won nine national black college titles and
408 games at Grambling State University, a small predominantly black school
in Louisiana. But Robinson will also be remembered for cutting through
racial boundaries in what was once the segregated South and for, as he once
wrote, challenging "racism by proving a black man could be a good football
coach."
Robinson sent more than 200 players to the NFL, including Doug Williams, who
later became a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with the Washington Redskins.
He also graduated about 80 percent of his players over a career that began
in 1941 and ended in 1997, when he retired.
Rev. Jesse Jackson wrote in Robinson's 1999 autobiography, "Never Before,
Never Again," that Robinson "developed minds before he developed muscles.
The breakthroughs provided by the work of Coach Robinson might have been
less dramatic than the day Jackie Robinson donned the Dodger uniform.
However, they were no less meaningful. Two men named Robinson changed
American life forever."
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco issued a statement yesterday that read:
"Coach Robinson elevated a small town program to national prominence and
tore down barriers to achieve an equal playing field for athletes of all
races. Generations of Louisianans will forever benefit from coach Robinson's
fight for equality."
Robinson had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's shortly after retiring in 1997.
He had been in and out of a nursing home in the past year and had been
admitted to Lincoln General Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
"For the Grambling family, this is a very emotional time," Williams said.
"But I'm thinking about Eddie Robinson the man, not in today-time, but in
the day and what he meant to me and to so many people."
Robinson demonstrated excellence at both ends of his career. In 1942,
Robinson was 23 when he coached a team that was undefeated and unscored
upon. In 1994, Robinson was 75 when he led the Tigers to a co-conference
championship and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference coach of the
year. On his last team, Robinson savored the fact that he coached nine sons
of his former players.
"Nobody has ever done or will do what Eddie Robinson has done for this
game," Penn State Coach Joe Paterno has said. "Our profession will never be
able to repay Eddie Robinson for what he has done for the country and the
profession of football."
Born in Jackson, La., Robinson was the son of a cotton sharecropper and a
domestic worker. When he was named head coach in 1941, Grambling was called
the Louisiana Negro and Industrial institute. He washed uniforms, drove the
team bus, mowed and lined the field and filled coffee cans with cement so
players could lift weights. There was no locker room or weight room.
He also coached the men's and women's basketball teams. Grambling did not
field teams in 1944 and 1945 because of World War II, so Robinson coached at
Grambling High School.
Robinson received national attention in 1949 when former player Paul "Tank"
Younger signed a contract with the Los Angeles Rams to become the first
player signed by the NFL from a historically black college. Robinson
produced seven first-round NFL draft picks and four future Hall of Famers:
Younger, Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan and Willie Davis.
Buchanan played 13 seasons in the NFL, but Robinson took particular pride in
the fact Buchanan returned to Grambling to earn his degree. Robinson
believed society did not always "ask [student-athletes] to be smart enough."
"If a boy can't tackle, we show him how," Robinson wrote about society's
general expectations of a student-athlete. "I sometimes wondered if anybody
cared enough to teach him to read."
Robinson made sure players valued education and discipline. He carried
players' updated grades in his briefcase. He corrected grammar on the
practice field. He required players to wear suit coats and ties to media
interviews. In an old office, Robinson once found an assortment of earrings
in his desk; he didn't allow jewelry.
In 1985, Robinson passed Paul "Bear" Bryant as the winningest college
football coach when Grambling beat Prairie View A&M, 27-7. What Robinson
said he cherished most about that team was that 20 players made the honor
roll. (Coach John Gagliardi of St. John's, Minn., passed Robinson in 2003
and has 443 wins.)
Robinson remained committed to academics even in his mid-'70s, when he rang
cow bells at 6:30 a.m. to make sure players rose from bed, ate breakfast and
attended class. If a player missed class, he would run bleachers or have his
meal card taken away for the day.
"Leadership, like coaching, is fighting for the hearts and souls of men and
getting them to believe in you," Robinson had said.
New York Yankees principal owner George Steinbrenner, who was a friend of
Robinson's, has called Robinson the "greatest American I have ever known."
Muhammad Ali has credited Robinson for "turning boys into men," calling him
a "credit to his sport as well as a credit to humanity."
In 1960, one year after Grambling joined the Southwest Atheltic Conference,
Robinson won his first of 17 SWAC titles or co-titles. Robinson was cited by
the Football Writers Association of America in 1966 as the person who
contributed the most to college football in the previous 25 years. Robinson,
whose career record was 408-165-15, received the NFL Players' Lifetime
Achievement Award in 1988.
But Robinson always felt that family came first. He had said he didn't
manage to coach for 60 years, but he was hoping to celebrate a 75th
anniversary with wife Doris in 2016.
"People talk about the record I've compiled at Grambling, but the real
record is the fact that for over 50 years, I've had one job and one wife,"
Robinson had said. "I don't believe anyone can out-American me."
Robinson is survived by his wife, son Eddie Robinson Jr., daughter Lillian
Rose Robinson, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
"When the Man calls me up to him," Robinson wrote in his autobiography, "I
want to be ready to answer the call of 'the Big Tiger' up there. I want to
hear God say, 'Eddie, you have been a good person, a good husband and
father, a good friend, a good coach, and a good American.' That would, in
the end, be the best measure of my life if I live up to it!"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...04/04/AR2007040400557.html?hpid=moreheadlines
END QUOTE