Friday, April 06, 2007

The highest compliment


College football will never see the likes of Coach Eddie Robinson again.

When the Grambling State University legend died this week at 88, the tributes and accolades began to pour South from a grieving nation. But do tributes mean any more than when they come from your fiercest rival?

If you truly want to know what Eddie Robinson meant to college football, to Louisiana, to African-Americans and to every American, consider that there was an emotional memorial service Thursday for Coach Rob . . . at Southern University in Baton Rouge.

YOU ASK "SO WHAT?" Here's what: Alabama-Auburn, LSU-Tulane, Texas-Oklahoma and Notre Dame-USC have nothing on Grambling-Southern in the annals of college football hate matches. (And in 1981, Tulane students broke LSU's live Bengal-tiger mascot out of his cage to roam the campus overnight.)

Honest to God, when I was in school at LSU, one guy I worked with at the local cable-TV company was a Southern alum. His wife, Grambling. The week before the Bayou Classic, they didn't speak.

So this was the extraordinary scene in Baton Rouge, as reported by The Advocate:

Powerful words flowed easily Thursday when Southern University paid homage to the patriarch of its greatest rival.

But the most powerful sound was silence when former Tigers player and current Jaguars assistant Eric Dooley tried to summon his composure after he stepped up to the microphone to talk about Grambling State University coaching legend Eddie Robinson, who died Tuesday.

“Most of the time you hear about what he meant to all the players coach sent to the NFL,” Dooley said after taking several minutes to collect himself and wipe away tears at a memorial at SU’s Royal Cotillion Ballroom. “For those who were never going to play professionally, he meant more than that. He taught me about life.

“He gave me an opportunity and I am really truly blessed to know I was coached by one of the best coaches and people of all time.”

Dooley was one of several who spoke at the celebration of Robinson’s life and about the impact he had at Grambling, in Louisiana and on young black men around the world. And Dooley’s message was clearly the most poignant.

A former wide receiver for the Tigers, Dooley recalled Robinson’s watchful eye in practice — a trait Dooley has tried to emulate.

“As a coach, I wonder how could he see everything?” Dooley said with a smile. “He would run a (pass) route for you and let you know exactly where you should be and exactly how you should get there.”

The coach Dooley works for now and called a “legend in his own time,” Southern’s Pete Richardson, also recalled his friendship with Robinson.

Richardson’s Jaguars teams never lost to Robinson, who won 408 games and six black college national championships in 57 years at the predominantly black school in a tiny north Louisiana town.

“You think an icon is not supposed to die,” said Richardson, who wiped away tears as Dooley spoke.

Richardson said the enduring message Robinson left with him and just about anybody he came in contact with was simple: “One school, one job, one wife.”

Rev. Jesse Bilberry, a pastor at Baton Rouge’s Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church and a member of the SU Board of Supervisors, echoed the sentiments of Dooley and Richardson, calling Robinson a “coach for all seasons.”

Bilberry’s touching message typified the mood of the day when Robinson’s biggest rival paid tribute.

“I always rooted for Coach Rob to win, although I wanted to see him lose one game every year,” Billberry said, drawing a ripple of laughter from the crowd of 300.

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