Eddie Robinson -- An Extraordinary Leader and American Hero

Eddie Robinson died last week.  If you don’t know, Eddie Robinson was the legendary – some say iconic -- football coach at Grambling State University, a predominantly black college.  When he began his coaching career at Grambling in 1941, the school was called the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute.  Eddie Robinson once wrote that he was “challenging racism by proving a black man could coach.”

And coach he could.  He was the Grambling head coach for 57 years.  The US had 11 different presidents over the span of his career at Grambling.   He won 408 games, 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference titles and nine Black College football championships.  More than 80% of his players graduated.  He sent over 200 players to the NFL.  Doug Williams, one of his players, became the first black quarterback to become a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.  In 1966, the Football Writers Association of America cited Eddie Robinson as the one person who contributed the most to college football in the previous 25 years.

If you read this blog, you know that I am an American football fan.  I am a Penn State alum, where we have a pretty good football coach too – Joe Paterno.  Joe has been the Penn State coach since 1966, and has won 363 games and a couple of national championships.  He said:

• "Nobody has ever done or will do what Eddie Robinson has done for the game.  Our profession will never be able to repay Eddie Robinson for what he has done for the country and the profession of football coaching.”

Eddie Robinson was a great football coach, but he was an even better leader.  Jesse Jackson said that he “developed minds before he developed muscles”. 

W. C. Gordon former head coach of one of Grambling’s biggest rivals, Jackson State said:

• "To me, he was the Martin Luther King of football.  I have never seen him angry, derogatory toward any opponent or team he played against.  As a matter of fact, he stayed with tradition.  He always wore a suit and necktie to ballgames.  He carried the attitude that he loved everybody."

Mr. Robinson once said that he “coached each player as if I wanted them to marry my daughter.”

One last story – Everson Walls, a black college All-American at Grambling, an all pro player with the Dallas Cowboys and a Super Bowl Champion with the New York Giants played for Eddie Robinson.  He said “he (Mr. Robinson) helped build me as a player and person.  He helped me articulate my thoughts.  He meant everything to me.”

Last month, Everson Walls donated a kidney to Ron Springs, a former Cowboy teammate.  He said, “Ron and I are good friends, but if it hadn’t been for Coach Rob, I wouldn’t have had the mindset to help him by giving him one of my kidneys.”

If the measure of a leader is the kind of people he leaves behind, Eddie Robinson would be proud of Everson Walls.

One last story, toward the end of his coaching career, Eddie Robinson said “people talk about the record I’ve complied at Grambling, but the real record is the fact that for over 50 years, I’ve had one job, and one wife.  I don’t believe anyone can out-American me.”

Eddie Robinson was the kind of man that makes me proud to be an American.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.SuccessCommonSense.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.

Comments

[Ina Matijevic]

This is very beautiful post about divine soul from divine soul.
I like this 'he developed minds before he developed muscles'.

Regards,
Ina Matijevic