Legend

LA Times: Eddie Robinson, legendary football coach at Grambling, dies

Robinson was affectionately known as “Coach Rob” and liked to boast his proudest accomplishment was “having one job and one wife.”

Yet, his nearly six-decade tenure at Grambling transcended dramatic social change. Robinson navigated his teams through Jim Crow laws in the 1940s and the Civil Rights movement, while his career ended as the Internet age was beginning to boom.

Robinson was a champion of equal rights who tried to affect change by working within established boundaries and avoiding confrontation. He believed the success of Grambling players, on and off the field, served to advance the cause of civil rights.

Even at the height of civil unrest in the 1960s, Robinson insisted his players stand at attention during the playing of the national anthem.

“I don’t believe anybody can out-American me,” Robinson said often.

On Oct. 5, 1985, against Prairie View A&M, Robinson recorded his 324th career win to pass Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant to become college football’s winningest coach.

It was a watershed event, although Robinson downplayed the significance of his eclipsing the record of a man who coached at a school, Alabama, which did not integrate its football squad until 1971.

Robinson, in fact, openly worshipped Bryant.

“I had great admiration for him, and I believe he respected me,” Robinson told The Times in a 1985 interview.

Robinson railed against prejudice but refused to allow racism to keep him from his destiny.

“You know, I’ve lived so long. I’ve seen a lot,” he once said. “I have ridden on the back of the bus. I’ve ridden on the street car when you get on you’d have white and colored sections. I’ve drunk at segregated fountains. But I ain’t trying to make nobody pay. All I wanted was an opportunity to prove that I can do what other people can do. I got that at Grambling.”

A highlight of Robinson’s life came in New Orleans in 1974, when 76,000 fans watched Grambling play traditional rival Southern University at Tulane Stadium.

“When I was in college, no blacks could play there or watch games there,” he told a Times reporter in 1985. “I’m standing there on the field, crying because I remember what it was like. For the players, it was a game. For me, it was walls falling down.”

Off the field, he was soft-spoken, slump-shouldered and liked to quote works of literature.

On the field, Robinson was fiercely competitive, and he fielded teams that routinely pounded opponents with simple plays, meticulous preparation and overwhelming talent.

“Winning is not a sometimes thing,” he said. “It’s an all-the-time thing.”

God Bless You, Coach.

Obviously, it’s appropriate to acknowledge another great American today.

REAL leaders like these men are rare. Let’s pray that our country, which is suffering a chasmic leadership void right now, sees heroes and patriots like them rise and bless our nation.

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