Courtesy photo
Mass Communication student, Marcus Fuller, created digital print of legendary Coach Eddie Robinson. Courtesy photo
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, is a special day at Grambling State University. It begins the yearlong commemoration of the 100th of the birthday of the legendary Coach Eddie G. Robinson. He was born Feb. 13, 1919.
Friends of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum plan to honor Coach Robinson with a series of events titled the “100th Birthday Commemoration” beginning next Wednesday, Feb. 13 and continuing Thursday. Activities are planned throughout the year 2019.
“We want to recognize and honor the great Eddie G. Robinson so that his name can live on forever, because he was such a great man, a champion, a statue, and most of all, Eddie was a drum major for building mankind on and off the field,” said Wilbert Ellis, president of the Friends of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum Committee. “What a way to celebrate Black History Month – honoring my friend and former colleague for his contributions.”
Ellis, a GSU baseball coach Hall of Fame legend in his own right, coached basketball at GSU and was assistant athletic director for many years under Robinson.
Current and former students, players, coaches and family and friends will come together next week to pay tribute to Coach Robinson at these events. Birthday commemoration events are also planned in Atlanta as well.
The Friends’ one-year celebration begins Wednesday, Feb. 13, in Grambling with the placing of a wreath at his grave in Memorial Garden in Grambling at 9:45 a.m. (Vehicles will meet at Robinson Stadium to join the caravan to the cemetery), a university convocation in the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center at 11 a.m. and a birthday party reception from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Doris Robinson Banquet Hall in the museum.
On Thursday, Feb. 14, Community Day will be celebrated from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Eddie G. Robinson Museum where community and school groups will view the museum and take part in planned activities.
The Eddie G. Robinson Museum highlights his 57-year coaching career at Grambling. More than 200 Grambling football players have gone into the professional ranks under Robinson’s guidance. This NFL pipeline of athletes began with Grambling native Paul Tank Younger who was the first player from a historically black college to play for the National Football League.
Rob-coached football players had such stellar careers that they were inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.