Quotes About Coach Robinson

“They call me the greatest. I know that the greatest football coach who ever stepped on the field is Coach Eddie Robinson. I have admired what he has done in turning boys into men. He is a credit to his sport as well as a credit to humanity.”

- Muhammad Ali

“What really stands out to me about Coach Rob are two things that he always said when he was receiving great accolades and honors. First, he always preached that no man is too big to coach the American youth. Second, he always said that he became a great coach because he had 'coach makers' -- meaning that he always tried to credit his players for the successes he experienced. Those two statements to me show the greatness in Coach Rob.”

- Doug Williams, Super Bowl XXII MVP and former Grambling State University quarterback and head coach

“Nobody has ever done or will ever do what Eddie Robinson has done for this game. Our profession will never, ever be able to repay Eddie Robinson for what he has done for this country and the profession of football."

- Joe Paterno, legendary head football coach at Penn State University

"Eddie Robinson was a great mentor to us all. He was a dynamic coach with a phenomenal record, but he was much more than that as a leader of young men, a great American and an example of character and integrity."

- Phillip Fulmer, head football coach at University of Tennessee

“Eddie Robinson is a coach’s coach. As the son of a legendary coach myself, I saw the greatness in Coach Robinson the minute I shook his hand. When I saw him with his student-athletes, I saw their enormous love and respect for him. When I saw him and Doris together, I saw a lifetime love affair. Coach Robinson is a great leader, father figure, coach, friend, husband, American, and above all, a great human being.”

- Richard Lapchick, civil rights activist, scholar, and author who co-wrote Coach Robinson’s auto biography

"The coaching profession has lost one of its true legends. Though he was best known for winning more football games than any other coach when he retired, Eddie Robinson's impact on coaching and the game of football went far beyond wins and losses. He brought a small school in northern Louisiana from obscurity to nationwide, if not worldwide, acclaim and touched the lives of hundreds and hundreds of young men in his 57 years at Grambling. That will be his greatest legacy."

- Grant Teaff, Executive Director of the American Football Coaches Association

“Coach Rob did a lot more for us than teach us about football. He used to come through the halls early in the morning with a cowbell, waking us up for class and for church.”

- Everson Walls, former Grambling and NFL cornerback

“He was a legendary coach, a great teacher and an extraordinary man. I’ve known him for many years. We were terrific friends and I lament his loss.”

- George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees

“I know you notice coaches on the sideline with their game plan. It’s usually a condensed, summarized plan of three or four pages. Coach Robinson, when he came on the field, he came with a briefcase. I’m serious. He had a manuscript. To me he was the Martin Luther King of football. I have never seen him angry, derogatory toward any opponent or team that he played against. As a matter of fact, he stayed with the tradition. He always wore a suit, a neck tie and a coat to ball games. He was very sophisticated. He carried the attitude that he loved everybody.”

- W.C. Gordon, former head football coach at Jackson State University

“He was a role model, and a pacesetter. He took black college football to the big stadiums nationally and internationally. The Grambling football team and marching band became a worldwide frame of reference.”

- Reverend Jesse Jackson

“Today we mourn the loss of a great Louisianan and a true American hero. Coach Eddie Robinson became the most successful college coach of all time and one of the greatest civil rights pioneers in our history.”

- Kathleen Blanco, governor of the State of Louisiana

“There is no question that Eddie Robinson was a figure that was larger than life for most African-American young men of that era. At that time, Grambling was The Program and Eddie Robinson was The Man. One of the first football camps I ever attended was in Shenandoah, Va. The reason I attended was because Eddie Robinson was going to be there. ... He stood for all the right things.”

- Tyronne Willingham, head football coach at the University of Washington

“Wow, this guy was bigger than life itself. He really impressed me by the way he handled himself, what he believed in and what he stood for. ... I couldn’t have learned from a better coach than Robinson.”

- Willie Brown, former Grambling star football player, NFL Hall of Fame member

"Eddie Robinson's name is synonymous with the sport of football. We will be forever grateful for the more than 200 young men he developed at Grambling who starred in the NFL and those who later coached the next generation of NFL players. He always focused on coaching his players to be better men as well as better football players."

- Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

"First time I met Eddie was around 1968 up at Uniontown, Pa. I was an assistant coach at West Virginia, and he was the head coach at Grambling and very successful. He came up there and spoke at a banquet. I heard him speak, and he's the kind of guy that you get close to immediately. … He was a people's person. You can't help but like him … I doubt if there is a coach in the United States that people have more respect for — and loved — than for Eddie Robinson."

- Bobby Bowden, legendary head football coach at Florida State University

Welcome...

The Eddie G. Robinson Museum is a landmark that officially recognizes the outstanding contributions to the state of Louisiana, the nation, the world and the game of football made by Coach Eddie G. Robinson. - more