[Lefty Noob]

Legendary Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson has died. He was 88.

Ex-Grambling coach Robinson dies at 88
Associated Press

Robinson's career spanned 11 presidents, several wars and the civil-rights movement.

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., 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 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.

Robinson said he tried to coach each player as if he wanted him to marry his daughter.

He began coaching at Grambling State in 1941, when it was still the Louisiana Negro Normal and Industrial Institute, and single-handedly brought the school from obscurity to international popularity.

Grambling first gained national attention in 1949 when Paul "Tank" Younger signed with the Los Angeles Rams and became the first player from an all-black college to enter the NFL. Suddenly, professional scouts learned how to find the little school 65 miles east of Shreveport near the Arkansas border.

Robinson sent over 200 players to the NFL, including seven first-round draft choices and Williams, who succeeded Robinson as Grambling's head coach in 1998. Others went to the Canadian Football League and the now-defunct USFL.

Robinson's pro stars included Willie Davis, James Harris, Ernie Ladd, Buck Buchanan, Sammy White, Cliff McNeil, Willie Brown, Roosevelt Taylor, Charlie Joiner and Willie Williams.

He was definitely one of the coaching giants, and he will be missed.

[ThePundit]

I didn't know he had Alzheimers. That sucks.

[DaBigManOnCampus]

He was taken from us earlier, so this puts him out of his misery, his memories can be embedded by many, respected by all of college football and the sports spectrum, the embodiedment of the college football coach, stayed with his consistency even when the school was refused to be in bigger competition, he was a coach, pure and true. Greatness was among us.... and now his memory of his gentleman like ways, his father-son type relationship to most of his players, is left as we go on Eddie Robinson Field, and most of all he was the poster man for todays NCAA Slogan before their was a slogan... "Helping students go pro in something other than sports"... We miss you..