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Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Memories of Eddie Robinson

Eddie Robinson will be remembered by some for his 408 football coaching victories. Some will remember the more than 200 Grambling players he sent to the NFL. Others will remember him for guiding James Harris and Doug Williams into quarterbacking careers in the NFL.

I will remember him as a humble man that carried himself with a grace and dignity that is sorely lacking in college and professional sports today.

When Robinson was coaching at Grambling, the chances of getting him on the phone were 50-50 if you were a reporter. But if you did catch him, you needed to clear out an hour or two on your calendar. Eddie Robinson would fill your notebook.

He wouldn't just talk football either. He was a man whose friends included everyone from Howard Cosell to Jim Brown. Yet he had just as much time for the guy from Shreveport as he did the guy from New York City.

It was hard to see Robinson's health decline in recent years. But the memories I'll take are the ones from before his illness. Those are ones of a man who carried himself in a way we should all carry ourselves.

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