Eddie Robinson (American football coach)

Eddie Robinson
Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	February 13, 1919(1919-02-13)
Place of birth	Jackson, Louisiana
Died	April 3, 2007(2007-04-03) (aged 88)
Place of death	Ruston, Louisiana
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1941–1997	Grambling
Head coaching record
Overall	408–165–15
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1997 (profile)

Edward Gay Robinson (February 13, 1919 – April 3, 2007) was an American football coach. For 57 years from 1941 to 1997, he was the head coach at Grambling State University, a historically black university in Louisiana. At the time of his retirement in 1997, he was the winningest coach in college football history. He was the winningest football coach in FCS history with 408 wins, until Joe Paterno of Penn State broke his record in 2011 with 409 wins. Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Biography

Robinson was born in Jackson in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, to the son of a sharecropper and a domestic worker. He went on to graduate from McKinley Senior High School in Baton Rouge in 1937. He went on to earn his bachelor's degree from Leland College in Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, then went on to obtain his Master's degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City in 1954. Robinson was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Career

Eddie G. Robinson Museum on the campus of Grambling State University

Robinson spent 56 years as the head coach at historically black Grambling State University in Grambling in Lincoln Parish in northern Louisiana beginning in 1941 when he was hired by college president and head baseball coach, Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones.

During his tenure, Robinson established himself as the winningest coach in Division I-AA college football history, with an all-time record of 408-165-15. Robinson is third in overall college football wins, behind Joe Paterno (Penn State) and John Gagliardi (Division III St. John's University). More than 200 of his players went on to play in the American Football League, CFL, and NFL. Robinson coached three American Football League players who would later be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: the Kansas City Chiefs' Buck Buchanan; the Oakland Raiders' Willie Brown; and the Houston Oilers' Charlie Joiner. Robinson also coached James Harris, who with the AFL's Buffalo Bills became the first black quarterback in modern Pro Football history to start at that position in a season opener. He also coached Packers defensive end and Hall of Famer Willie Davis and the Super Bowl XXII MVP, Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, who would ultimately succeed Robinson as Grambling's head coach in 1998.

During his coaching career, Robinson compiled 45 winning seasons, including winning or sharing 17 Southwestern Athletic Conference championships and nine black college football national championships.

While at Grambling, 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 band and was in charge of the cheerleaders, with a budget of $46.

Robinson recorded just one losing season between 1960 and 1990; however, after three consecutive losing seasons in the mid-1990s, pressure mounted for the now 78-year old coach to resign. In 1997, news escaped that Grambling was planning to dismiss him in mid-season. Public outcry — including condemnation from Louisiana elected officials — led Grambling to retain Robinson's services through the remainder of the season.

Robinson developed Alzheimer's Disease after his retirement and died on April 3, 2007, at Lincoln General Hospital in Ruston, Louisiana, after being admitted earlier in the day.

Coaching career

Year	Team	W	L	T	Pct.	PF	PA
1941*	Grambling	3	5	0	.375	18	47
1942*	Grambling	9	0	0	1.000	93	0
1945*	Grambling	10	2	0	.833	214	65
1946*	Grambling	6	6	0	.500	174	145
1947*	Grambling	9	2	0	.818	245	64
1948*	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	289	110
1949	Grambling	7	3	2	.667	234	95
1950	Grambling	5	3	1	.611	160	156
1951	Grambling	3	5	1	.389	147	154
1952	Grambling	7	3	1	.682	208	184
1953	Grambling	8	2	0	.800	246	88
1954	Grambling	4	3	2	.556	206	140
1955	Grambling	10	0	0	1.000	330	54
1956	Grambling	8	1	0	.889	312	97
1957	Grambling	4	4	0	.500	212	187
1958	Grambling	6	3	0	.667	238	132
1959	Grambling	4	6	0	.400	268	145
1960	Grambling	9	1	0	.900	417	78
1961	Grambling	8	2	0	.800	375	110
1962	Grambling	6	2	2	.700	281	144
1963	Grambling	5	3	1	.611	249	151
1964	Grambling	9	2	0	.818	314	181
1965	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	352	195
1966	Grambling	6	2	1	.722	267	199
1967	Grambling	9	1	0	.900	318	145
1968	Grambling	9	2	0	.818	314	201
1969	Grambling	6	4	0	.600	324	196
1970	Grambling	9	2	0	.818	384	183
1971	Grambling	9	2	0	.818	341	147
1972	Grambling	11	2	0	.846	347	123
1973	Grambling	10	3	0	.769	340	176
1974	Grambling	11	1	0	.917	308	120
1975	Grambling	10	1	0	.909	324	153
1976	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	313	201
1977	Grambling	10	1	0	.909	462	175
1978	Grambling	9	1	1	.864	246	120
1979	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	281	144
1980	Grambling	10	2	0	.833	415	166
1981	Grambling	6	4	1	.591	235	208
1982	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	322	193
1983	Grambling	8	1	2	.818	286	95
1984	Grambling	7	4	0	.636	278	203
1985	Grambling	9	3	0	.750	317	168
1986	Grambling	7	4	0	.636	249	195
1987	Grambling	5	6	0	.455	278	208
1988	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	314	185
1989	Grambling	9	3	0	.750	464	215
1990	Grambling	8	3	0	.727	364	227
1991	Grambling	5	6	0	.455	330	338
1992	Grambling	10	2	0	.833	483	242
1993	Grambling	7	4	0	.636	337	206
1994	Grambling	9	3	0	.750	479	262
1995	Grambling	5	6	0	.455	340	191
1996	Grambling	3	8	0	.273	161	218
1997	Grambling	3	8	0	.273	187	258
CAREER TOTAL		408	165	15	.707	15990	8783

*Not yet an accredited college

Awards and honors

The Football Writers Association of America's Eddie Robinson Award is named for him. Grambling also named its football facility Eddie Robinson Stadium.

Robinson received the 1985 Amos Alonzo Stagg Award from the United States Sports Academy in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a coach.

See also

• List of presidents of the American Football Coaches Association
• List of college football coaches with 200 wins

External links

• Eddie Robinson at Find a Grave
• Eddie Robinson at the College Football Hall of Fame
• Eddie Robinson at the College Football Data Warehouse
• Works by or about Eddie Robinson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)