Today is about the greatest coach -- don't bother putting "college" in front of Eddie Robinson's title -- of all time.
It's about a man who faced incredible odds with his Grambling program -- financial as well as social -- and carved out 408 victories. It's about how we've already forgotten his legacy.
|
|
| Eddie Robinson in his coaching prime in 1971. (AP) |
They, and we, shouldn't let this moment pass without reflection. God has incredible timing, or at least a sports calendar handy. Baseball has just cranked up. Eddie was taken two days after the Final Four ended, a day before the Masters will start. We have to pay attention, which is fitting because Eddie was ignored for so long.
Consider that only 11 schools (all major college powers) have produced more Pro Football Hall of Famers. Eddie did it at a school that was called Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute when he took over.
Eddie's death came 39 years to the day after Martin Luther King was assassinated. Unlike Dr. King, the great man's death wasn't a surprise. Eddie had been afflicted with Alzheimer's for a long time. It did etch a few things in stone.
Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno are the two winningest I-A coaches, but their numbers are mere asterisks. Did they work any harder than Eddie, who had a fraction of their facilities? Oh yeah, and they're white, which meant a whole lot 50 years ago when they were coming up through the ranks.
Eddie was never a major college coach because, for the most part, he couldn't be. The next time you hear John Mellencamp sing on that smarmy car commercial, "This is our country," remember what Robinson went through.
So from here on, Bobby and JoePa's race to retirement should be downplayed. They're both coaching for third place (Division III St. John's coach John Gagliardi is No. 1 with 443 victories). Don't take it from me. Ask them both today. Ask them if their accomplishments, their victories, their lives are greater than Eddie's.
If they say yes, they would be lying.
Eddie's death also reminded me again while I'm proud to be a member of the Football Writers Association of America. In the mid-1990s the FWAA became the first entity to present an I-A award named after an African-American. The Eddie Robinson coach of the year has been one of our highest honors since then.
I'll speak for Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, too. He was the most recent recipient of the Eddie Robinson. I presented to him in January in Phoenix. Up on the podium, one of the first things Schiano said was how much it meant to get Eddie's award.
What an honor, indeed: Last year's coach of the year now has his name tied to the greatest coach of all time.
