RUSTON, La.
Eddie Robinson used to say that he coached each of his players like he wanted them to marry his daughter. On Wednesday, one of those players, Super Bowl MVP quarterback Doug Williams, announced that the history-making former head football coach of Grambling State University had passed away at the age of 88.
“For the Grambling family, this is a very emotional time,” said Williams, who succeeded Robinson as head coach at Grambling. “I’m thinking about Eddie Robinson the man, not in today-time, but in the day and what he meant to me and to so many people.”
Robinson’s career spanned 57 years, 11 presidents, several wars and the civil rights movement. During that span, he sent more than 200 players to the National Football League and won 408 games.
His older records were what people remembered: In 57 years, Robinson set the standard for victories, going 408-165-15. John Gagliardi of St. John’s, Minn., has since passed Robinson and has 443 wins.
“The real record I have set for over 50 years is the fact that I have had one job and one wife,” Robinson once said.
He had been suffering from Alzheimer’s, which was diagnosed shortly after he was forced to retire following the 1997 season, in which he won only three games. His health had been declining for years and he had been in and out of a nursing home during the last year.
