Robinson was true coaching legend

Filed in archive College Football on April 11, 2007

photo by Johnny Spo

The name Eddie Robinson is synonymous with greatness. The legendary Grambling football coach, who died last week, coached at one school for nearly six decades, sending more than 200 players to the NFL.

Robinson coached his team to over 400 victories.

So, how do you memorialize a man of Eddie Robinson's stature in one blog entry? What words are there, beyond his remarkable tenure and statistics, to sum up a lifetime of achievement that goes far beyond what most of his peers will ever approach?



I don't have the words, but Robinson's players do.

Doug Williams, a Super Bowl winning quarterback who played for Robinson and succeeded him as Grambling's head coach in 1998, said you don't replace Eddie Robinson. "You bronze his shoes and put them on a pedestal and you put them higher than yours. Eddie Robinson always will and always did stand alone."

Even higher praise came from another player of Robinson's, Everson Walls, an unheralded defensive back, who went on to NFL stardom with the Dallas Cowboys. Walls donated a kidney to a friend and teammate. When asked about the decision, Walls told reporters he wasn't sure he would have even considered this amazing gift if it hadn't been for the influence of Eddie Robinson.

This is the impact that true greatness and real coaching legends have.

So, I can't pay tribute to Eddie Robinson's greatness. His life, achievements and the people he touched do it for me.