Eddie G. Robinson: A Man You Should Know
Researched, Compiled, and Written By Karl E. McDonald - Copyright 1998
After enjoying over fifty years of virtual uninterrupted success as the head football coach of the Grambling State University Tigers, Coach Eddie Robinson stepped down at the conclusion of college football's 1997 season and thereby closed a chapter on perhaps one of the sport-history's most remarkable, yet improbable eras...that of Coach Eddie Robinson's nearly six decades at the helm of Grambling State's football team.
Looking into Coach Robinson's career is like looking into a college football time capsule. He first started to dream about coaching sometime around the 4th grade and was first introduced to a football playbook in the 1930s. He coached college football during the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and the 90s, a career spanning 56 years.
During the course of his many decades of distinguished service, Coach Robinson not only sent hundreds of his former Tigers to the professional leagues, but he also saw countless numbers of his other Tigers succeed in many other endeavors, including one who later became the president of Grambling.
Somehow through it all, Coach Robinson was able to maintain the competitive edge that sometimes defines the difference between winning and losing. His prime was much longer than most other coach's careers, and the Coach was able to remain productive well into his 70s. In fact, he was 75 years old when, in 1994, he led his Tigers to a co-conference championship and was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) coach of the year. By the time Coach Robinson called it a career, he had amassed an NCAA record-shattering 408 career coaching wins.
Born: February 13, 1919
Key Moments In History include when:
- In 1949, Robinson's former player Paul "Tank" Younger signs a contract with the Los Angeles Rams to become the 1st player signed by the NFL from a predominantly black college.
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In 1966, the Football Writers Association of America cite Coach Robinson as the person who contributed the most to college football for the past 25 years.
- In 1971 when he reportedly had 43 former Tigers in NFL training camps; In 1988 when Washington Redskins' QB Doug Williams earns the MVP in the Superbowl.
- In 1998 when he receives the NFL Players' Lifetime Achievement Award Four Honorary Doctorate Degrees, including Yale University, 1997 College Records include: Most Career Football Games Won (408); Most Games Coached (588); Longest Football Coaching Career at one College (56 years)
- Halls of Fame Inducted Into include: Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame and Pop Warner Hall of Fame (1979); Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame (1983); National Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall of Fame (1987); National Sports & Physical Education Hall of Fame (1990); SWAC Hall of Fame (1992); Blue-Grey All Star Football Hall of Fame (1995); College Football Hall of Fame (1998) *The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame waived its mandatory 3-year retirement mandate to allow Coach Robinson to enter the Hall immediately upon his retirement.
- Key Numbers: 588 games coached; 408 wins; 0 scheduled games missed; 45 winning seasons; 0 consecutive losing seasons in his first 53 years; 3 losing seasons in his first 45 years; 1 wife in 58 years.
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