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July 23, 2004
REMEMBERING A GREAT COACH
Eddie Robinson coached the Grambling University Tigers' football team for 55 years. During his first season- before Pearl Harbor had been attacked - he wasn't even allowed to use drinking fountains on some road trips. When he reitred, he was venerated as a giant among the titans of the game, having won 408 games and mentored generations of black athletes. Current coachestoday speak of Robinson in reverent tones, and his former players remain dedicated to their now 85 year old coach.
Sadly, Coach Robinson doesn't know anymore how much his players and his sport love him. He's another victim of Alzheimer's disease, and it's preying upon him ina particularly cruel and fast manner.The old coach has degenerated in only the last two years, and is now in the last stages of the disease.
ESPN.com's Adrian Wojnarowski has written a column on Coach Robinson's place in the history of his sport and in our society... and on the one game the Coach cannot win. It's a sad column, a reminder of both the greatness of the man who won't be with us much longer, and of the tragic ravages of Alzheimer's. Read it here.
Thanks, Coach - for everything.
