Though it will never be admitted in the history books, the college coach that produced the most NFL players during his tenure at a single school, in history, is Eddie Robinson.
How important was Robinson to Grambling State? He WAS Grambling State.
Robinson dreamed of becoming a college football coach himself, but he faced an enormous drawback—he was black in the days of Jim Crow discrimination. The only college position he could possibly hope to obtain would be at a traditionally all-black school, and these were all well staffed. Having earned his bachelor’s degree at Leland, Robinson returned to Baton Rouge and took a job at a feed mill for 25 cents an hour. Not long after that, he heard that the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute—now Grambling State University—was searching for a new football coach. He applied for the job.
In 1941 the 22-year old Robinson assumed his duties as head football coach at Grambling State. The days of assistant coaches, offensive and defensive coordinators, and specialty coaches were long in the future, so Robinson did everything: he taught offense and defense, mowed the football field, fixed sandwiches for road trips through towns that would not serve blacks in restaurants, taped his players’ sore joints, and even wrote game stories for the newspapers. He had strict standards of personal conduct and educational achievement for his players. In his first year the team went 3–5–1, but the following season—during which he recruited new players and dismissed those who did not live up to his expectations—the Tigers had a perfect 9–0 season, going unbeaten, untied, and unscored upon.
Enormous publicity attended Robinson’s record-breaking win with Grambling State in 1985. Some observers feared that the coach would become the target of white hatred, much as Henry Aaron had when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. Instead Robinson reported that he did not receive a single hate letter, even from the legion of southern fans who worshiped Bear Bryant. When asked if his record was somehow tarnished by the fact that his team played most of its games against Division I-AA caliber competition, Robinson told Sports Illustrated: “I grew up in the South. I was told where to attend elementary school, where to attend junior high school, where to attend high school. When I became a coach, I was told who I could recruit, who I could play, where I could play and when I could play. I did what I could within the system.” He added that his philosophy had always been “whatever league you’re in, whatever level, win there.”
Eddie Robinson held several jobs other than football coach, including teaching at Grambling High School, and coaching the girls basketball team during World War II. His girls team lost the state championship by 1 point. He also coached boys basketball, baseball, directed the band, and was in charge of the cheerleaders—with a budget of $46.
He took the proverbial lemon and produced lemonade. He is a football icon, at every level of the sport.
TB @ STL |
NYJ @ DAL |
CHI @ MIN |
ATL @ JAC |
HOU @ IND |
CAR @ NYG |
TEN @ NE |
BUF @ WAS |
KC @ BAL |
CLE @ SEA |
GB @ OAK |
DEN @ PIT |
MIA @ SD |
CIN @ SF |
ARI @ PHI |
DET @ NO |
||
Tunisia |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
ATL |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
PIT |
SD |
CIN |
PHI |
DET |
|
AdKomack |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
JAC |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
OAK |
PIT |
SD |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |
|
MsKitty |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
JAC |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
OAK |
PIT |
SD |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |
|
Kmack |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
JAC |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
DEN |
MIA |
CIN |
ARI |
DET |
|
GreenLady |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
JAC |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
WAS |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
PIT |
SD |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |
|
Sagittarius |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
ATL |
IND |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
PIT |
MIA |
CIN |
PHI |
DET |
|
TyrenM |
TB |
DAL |
CHI |
JAC |
IND |
CAM |
NE |
WAS |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
PIT |
SD |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |
|
BluMilw |
TB |
NYJ |
CHI |
JAC |
IND |
CAR |
NE |
BUF |
KC |
SEA |
OAK |
PIT |
MIA |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |
|
Miranda |
TB |
NYJ |
MIN |
JAC |
HOU |
CAR |
NE |
WAS |
KC |
SEA |
GB |
PIT |
MIA |
CIN |
ARI |
NO |