Eddie Robinson, RIP

He was a true role model and inspiration for a lot of folks

RUSTON, La. (AP) — Eddie Robinson, who sent more than 200 players to the NFL and won 408 games during a 57-year career, has died.
He was 88.
…”The real record I have set for over 50 years is the fact that I have had one job and one wife,” Robinson said.
…Robinson said he tried to coach each player as if he wanted him to marry his daughter.
He began coaching at Grambling State in 1941, when it was still the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, and single-handedly brought the school from obscurity to international popularity.
…When he began his career, Robinson had no paid assistants, no groundskeepers, no trainers and little in the way of equipment. He had to line the field himself and fix lunchmeat sandwiches for road trips because the players could not eat in the “white only” restaurants of the South.
He was not bitter, however. “The best way to enjoy life in America is to first be an American, and I don’t think you have to be white to do so,” Robinson said. “Blacks have had a hard time, but not many Americans haven’t.”
Robinson said he tried to teach his players about opportunity.
“The framers of this Constitution, now they did some things,” Robinson would say. “If you aren’t lazy, they fixed it for you. You’ve got to understand the system. It’s just like in football, if you don’t understand the system, you haven’t got a chance.”

Thanks for standing tall all those years.

One Response to “Eddie Robinson, RIP”

1. Nightfly says:

   April 4, 2007 at 1:17 pm

   A great man. Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord…