HBCU Football Legends: Grambling State coach Eddie Robinson

Eddie Robinson had a coaching career that spanned six decades at the same school. His record with Grambling State football is one of the best of all time.

When you think of modern HBCU football, you think of Eddie Gay Robinson Jr. He was one of the longest-tenured coaches in college football history at any level.

A native of East Feliciana Parish, La., Robinson coached the Grambling State Tigers for 56 seasons. His 408 wins were the most in college football history when he retired in 1997.

After graduating from McKinley High School in 1937, Robinson played football and studied at Southern University. However, he received a Bachelor’s degree in English from Leland college before getting a Master’s Degree from the University of Iowa. Robinson desired to become a head coach, but white schools would not hire a black assistant in the 1940s and 1950s and prominent HBCUs had coaches.

The Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute

After graduating from Leland in 1941, Robinson took a job in Baton Rouge in a feed mill. Soon after taking the job, Robinson learned the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute — now known as Grambling State University — was looking for a football coach.

At 22 years old, Robinson took the job as head coach and did everything. Coaches had few if any assistants in those days and coached both offense and defense. Robinson did just that and — in the Jim Crow south — even packed lunches for the players when they played places that did not serve blacks in restaurants.

In addition to serving as offense and defensive coordinator, Robinson was trainer and reporter, often writing post-game stories for the local newspaper. It did not take long for Grambling to have success under Robinson. In two years under Robinson, the Tigers were undefeated.

An unparalleled career

Robinson built Grambling State from the ground up. Robinson went from mowing the field to coaching an HBCU (and FBS) juggernaut. The Tigers won 17 SWAC titles, including winning four consecutive times (1961-1964, 1971-1974,1977-1980).  Grambling won 9 black college national titles.

Robinson coached 200 players that would become professional. Those players would play in the NFL, AFL and CFL (Canadian Football League). Robinson coached Hall of Famers Buck Buchanan (the first black player to be a number one overall pick), Willie Brown (won a Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders) and Charlier Joiner with the Houston Oilers.

Robinson coached James Harris, who became the first black quarterback in the modern era to start a season opener. He also coached Doug Williams, the first black quarterback drafted in the first round and to win a Super Bowl.

Eddie Robinson left a legacy that resonates not just in black college football but football at all levels. What Robinson built at Grambling is arguably the most impressive coaching job in college football history.