Eddie Robinson, 1919-2007

The great Eddie Robinson is gone.

And so ended the life of a beloved football coach who put a small school in remote northern Louisiana on the map and turned it into a virtual farm team for the NFL during a career that spanned 57 years.

Robinson built a football powerhouse with a worldwide reputation, all the while struggling to get past years of segregation and discrimination against blacks.

His success at Grambling no doubt made him the first easily recognizable black coach in any sport.

"Today, we mourn the loss of a great Louisianan and a true American hero," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. "Coach Eddie Robinson became the most successful college coach of all time and one of the greatest civil rights pioneers in our history. ... Coach Robinson elevated a small town program to national prominence and tore down barriers to achieve an equal playing field for athletes of all races."

Robinson won 408 games, the most ever for any football coach at the time of his retirement in 1997. He sent hundreds of players to the NFL and other leagues, and the majority of them were clutching college degrees when they left Grambling.

He was far more than a football coach, both to the young men who played for him and to the greater community who enjoyed his competitive drive, his class and his success. He died just hours before the 39th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's murder.

In their own ways, the two men shared a common goal: a world where men would be judged by the depth of their character.

Robinson had character. He also had the respect of those who draw X's and O's for a living. The accolades and remembrances have been pouring in all day. It's as if football's pope died, as if a head of state expired.

"There is no doubt in my mind that in the late 1960s, when they started integrating Southern college football, nobody played a bigger role than Eddie Robinson and (former Florida A&M coach) Jake Gaither," said Florida State's Bobby Bowden, the all-time winningest Division I-A coach. "They were pioneers. It wouldn't have been successful without Eddie Robinson and Jake Gaither. At the time, their schools had it made. Their schools were all African-American and they'd been going undefeated every year. LSU couldn't get African-Americans in school. Tulane couldn't get African-Americans in school. We couldn't get African-Americans in school. Even though they were about to lose a lot of their kids, they helped it be successful, telling people how to act and what to say and to be patient. They made it a wholesome process."

RIP, Coach.