Eddie Robinson Dies at 88
The following statement was made by ESPN2's Columnist, LZ Granderson. I concur.
"When I heard that Eddie Robinson had died, I immediately thought about the meeting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had on Tuesday with Pacman Jones and Chris Henry. Coach Robinson, the man responsible for sending so many black men to the NFL, died on the same day the league was forced to confront two black athletes for acting like fools. And make no mistake, this proposed lifetime ban is a direct result of the rash of lawlessness by black NFL players.
Call me an Uncle Tom for saying that if you want. But the fact is, one by one the great faces of the civil rights movement are passing on, and too many of us in high-profile positions are dishonoring their efforts with our recklessness. We used to march hand in hand for the good of the community. Now some of our strongest hands are busy grabbing dollars, guns, car keys and the backsides of strippers.
Coach Robinson said he tried to coach each player as if he wanted him to marry his daughter. That means he spent nearly 60 years of his life teaching black men to live their lives with honor and integrity. I can't help but wonder if he left this Earth with a broken heart."
LZ Granderson
Coaching icon Eddie Robinson dies at 88
Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.
By Marty Mulè
Staff writer
Coaching icon Eddie Robinson, the architect of a black college football empire at Grambling State University, and the first man credited with 400 victories in the sport, died shortly before midnight Tuesday. He was 88.
Robinson coached at Grambling, a small, rural, predominantly African-American north Louisiana school, for six decades, a span in which the Tigers recorded 408 victories, most amassed by any coach at the time of his retirement in 1997. His record has since been surpassed by John Gagliadi of St. John’s of Minnesota, though Robinson’s 408-165-15 (a .707 victory percentage) remains second in the history of the sport.
Read More: Click or Paste link:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2007_04_04.html#
"When I heard that Eddie Robinson had died, I immediately thought about the meeting NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had on Tuesday with Pacman Jones and Chris Henry. Coach Robinson, the man responsible for sending so many black men to the NFL, died on the same day the league was forced to confront two black athletes for acting like fools. And make no mistake, this proposed lifetime ban is a direct result of the rash of lawlessness by black NFL players.
Call me an Uncle Tom for saying that if you want. But the fact is, one by one the great faces of the civil rights movement are passing on, and too many of us in high-profile positions are dishonoring their efforts with our recklessness. We used to march hand in hand for the good of the community. Now some of our strongest hands are busy grabbing dollars, guns, car keys and the backsides of strippers.
Coach Robinson said he tried to coach each player as if he wanted him to marry his daughter. That means he spent nearly 60 years of his life teaching black men to live their lives with honor and integrity. I can't help but wonder if he left this Earth with a broken heart."
LZ Granderson
Coaching icon Eddie Robinson dies at 88
Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.
By Marty Mulè
Staff writer
Coaching icon Eddie Robinson, the architect of a black college football empire at Grambling State University, and the first man credited with 400 victories in the sport, died shortly before midnight Tuesday. He was 88.
Robinson coached at Grambling, a small, rural, predominantly African-American north Louisiana school, for six decades, a span in which the Tigers recorded 408 victories, most amassed by any coach at the time of his retirement in 1997. His record has since been surpassed by John Gagliadi of St. John’s of Minnesota, though Robinson’s 408-165-15 (a .707 victory percentage) remains second in the history of the sport.
Read More: Click or Paste link:
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2007_04_04.html#
posted by J.C. "Fanz23" Lewis, Jr | 8:32 AM
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