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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted at 7:39 a.m., Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Final goodbye for Grambling coach Eddie Robinson

By Mary Foster
Associated Press

GRAMBLING, La. -- They began arriving soon after the sun came up over the north Louisiana piney woods: football greats, government figures and everyday people -- all of them there to say goodbye to former Grambling football coach Eddie Robinson.

''Most coaches are rated by the players they recruit,'' the Rev. Jesse Jackson said as he waited for Robinson's funeral to start in the school's new assembly center. ''Coach was known for how many players he graduated and sent on to successful lives.''

''It's like coming to your father's funeral,'' said Robert ''Big Bird'' Smith, who played for Robinson and was an assistant coach during Robinson's final four years at Grambling. ''He was like a father to everyone that ever played for him.''

The funeral wrapped up three days of mourning that stretched across the state from Memorial Hall at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge to Memorial Garden, a cemetery two miles from Robinson Stadium.

A plywood sign hung at the Grambling exit off Interstate 20 read ''Eddie Robinson, La.'' And for the people of this little city and school, it certainly seemed that way.

Robinson, who died last week at age 88, widely was admired as one of the nation's winningest college football coaches and as a personal mentor to the young black men whose lives he influenced for 57 years.

''He was the most influential person in my life,'' said Charlie Joiner, now a wide receivers coach with the Kansas City Chiefs. ''His first lesson for all of us was to first become a good American, then a good football player.''

The 26 pallbearers included at least 15 former NFL players, some of the more than 200 Robinson sent to that league.

''It feels like the football team is getting ready for a road trip,'' said Gary ''Big Hands'' Johnson, who played nine years in the NFL. ''I almost expect Coach to start rounding us up for the bus.''

Former players slapped each other on the back, and hugged as they waited for the service to begin. Some brought cow bells and rang then, harking back to Robinson's early-morning trips through the athletic dorm to wake players for class or church.

''Every guy here hears that bell every morning in his mind,'' Smith said. ''It's part of what Coach left with us.''

The crowd in the assembly center also included U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, U.S. Rep. William Jefferson and Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu.