The Loss of A Great Coach and An Even Greater Man

Posted Apr 5, 2007 by Eddie Daniels

Updated Apr 5, 2007 at 11:24 AM

This entry has nothing to do with Arena Football. Nothing to do with the Tampa Bay Storm. It has everything to do with a man who molded many in America and left the lives he touched better than when he found them.

It’s not often a man of the ilk of former Grambling State University football coach Eddie G. Robinson crosses the national radar.

A man who coached more the 200 players into the NFL and who touched thousands more, not just athletics, but in everyday life as well.

Robinson, who passed away late Tuesday night due to complications from Alzheimer’s Disease at 88, never saw himself as that larger than life personality everyone else viewed him to be.

That comes from personal experience. As a 1999 graduate of Grambling, I have had a handful of conversations with the man, who led many to success. His accolades were never the topic. He marveled at the fact that an America president – Bill Clinton – remarked how he wanted to come to Grambling to meet Coach Rob.

He shed tears in his final Bayou Classic (XXIV in 1997) when Clinton made a phone call to congratulate Robinson on his career.

Even when he was given a new car to celebrate his career, he gave it to his wife Doris and continue to drive his old Oldsmobile.

While walking to class or anywhere on the campus and he made eye contact with you, you were bound to a share a word with the legend as he held on to that old briefcase.

Modesty was as much a part of his demeanor as breath was to his life. It all intertwined.

He was the first football coach to ever reach the 400-win mark and at one point had the most wins of any coach in any division. Quite simply, he was the man whose height others were attempting to ascend.

It may take some time for anyone to reach his stature. Sure, his win total (408-165-15) has been surpassed by John Gagliardi of St. John’s of Minnesota (443-120-11), but the level of humanity Robinson nestled into so comfortably has a long way to go before it is touched.

Nearly three weeks ago, former Grambling baseball coach Wilbert Ellis sat with Robinson inside of a hospital room.

He told Coach Rob about his trip in January to Orlando to be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association’s hall of fame and then he showed Robinson the hall of fame ring.

“He was at one of his greatest moments and I’ll always remember that moment,” Ellis said. “He grabbed my hand and he held on to it and held on. Each time I would try to move it, he would squeeze a little harder… He pulled my ring off and put it on.”

Doris Robinson then chimed in and gently reminded her husband to return the ring.

Ellis had no qualms about Robinson holding on to the hardware, divulging: “I said he’s responsible in many ways for me having that.”

He was right.

When Ellis came to Grambling in 1960, Robinson was the athletic director. Ellis served for 17 years as a baseball assistant under Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones – Grambling’s president - and in 1977, with Jones’ recommendation, Robinson named Ellis head baseball coach.

“When you say Eddie Robinson, you’re talking about a true American, who really waved the flag,” Ellis said. “Not only waved the flag, but represented what he was all about by teaching the basic fundamentals of the football game as well as the basic fundamentals of life.”
There’s a common utterance from those whose lives Robinson touched - father figure.

During Glen Hall’s recruiting process, Robinson came to his house, ate red beans and rice and chicken and promised his mother her son would be in church every Sunday. At that point, Hall knew then he would play for Robinson.

Hall played form 1979 to 1983 and then coached defensive backs on Robinson’s staff from 1994 to 1998.

“I think the true American, and this is the one thing that he always talked about, the true American will understand a person who made an impact on a kids’ life,” said Hall, now a defensive coordinator at Fort Worth Eastern Hills High School. “His thing was not to talk about football. The X’s and O’s of life were much more important than the X’s and O’s of football even though they are intertwined with each other.”

As with any small school, Robinson had his hands in many things. From making lunches for his player to lining his football field before games. He also donated some of his time to the Grambling men’s basketball team.

Rex Tippitt, who played for the Tigers from 1958 to 1961, recalls the times he would show up.

“He was a great, great, great worker and never did believe in quitting.” said Tippitt, the assistant director of Grambling’s intramural and recreation center. “When he was out there with us working and anytime you do something and it was not at [100 percent], ‘Son, you got to run it over. You must be efficient.’

“As a coach, he never quit. Especially when he was out there with us.”

Tippitt, who played on Grambling’s NAIA championship basketball team in 1961, was drafted by the Syracuse Nationals that same year.

Vernon Cheek, the Indianapolis Colts’ assistant director of public relations had no idea what he was getting himself into when he became Grambling’s sports information director in 1995.

That season, Robinson won his 400th contest and later received an Image Award from the NAACP.

“Initially it was overwhelming because even though I went to Grambling and knew Coach Robinson, I even played tennis there, I never knew the magnitude of how many people he touched,” said Cheek, who held the position until 1998. “But more importantly, how many people wanted to be involved with what he was involved in, in and out of the office, from football related stuff to all of his community-type endeavors he was involved in.”

Eugene “Doc” Harvey served as the program’s athletic trainer for 32 years under Robinson and in that time he heard all the speeches and say the major impact he had over each of his players.

Those memories have made the news of Robinson’s death that much harder.

“I heard it last night and it really shocked me. We knew that he had been very, very ill, but you never get ready for it when ever it happens,” Harvey said. “It is always a shock to you. This has been a real somber day for me today because I knew the man so very well. I worked so close with him. He will be missed. A great person, a great American and a great coach.”

FINAL FAREWELL

STATE CAPITAL: Robinson’s body will lay in repose the State Capital Rotunda 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday in Baton Rouge.

VISITATION: Tuesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. will be the family hour at New Rocky Valley Baptist Church, 2155 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Grambling.

FUNERAL SERVICE: The funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Assembly Center on Grambling’s campus behind Robinson Stadium.

FINAL REST: Burial will be at Memorial Gardens in Grambling.

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking donations be made to the Friends of Eddie G. Robinson Museum. Donations can be sent to: P.O. Box 550, Grambling, La. 71245 or call (866) WINS 408 or visit http://www.robinsonmuseum.com.