Historic first meeting between Grambling, Northwestern was defensive slugfest
September 11, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The stands, that night, were separated by color.
Fans sporting black and gold filled one set of bleachers, while purple and white populated the other.
But there was something else that divided them, as Grambling played its first-ever game against Northwestern State on Sept. 14, 1974.
"What was unique was not just the color of the shirts; you had all white people on one side and all black on the other," said Jack Brittain, an NSU special teams player in '74. "That was not something I was used to seeing. It was a different point of view."
The newly expanded State Fair Stadium — now Shreveport's Independence Stadium — was packed to the lid, as 30,000 fans joined together despite their differences for a night of stirring football action.
"We knew it was big, especially playing a school of different race from Louisiana," said Sammy White, then a junior wingback for the historically black Grambling college. "We knew the level of competition would be a step up for our program, and we wanted to give it everything we had to pull it out."
At the time, the late legendary GSU sports information director Collie J. Nicholson said this "could become a regular series for the two clubs."
But the Tigers wouldn't play another Southland Conference-affiliated program until falling to Arkansas State in the 1985 lower-division playoffs. Grambling, despite more recent efforts going back at least five seasons, hasn't played Northwestern since.
That changes Saturday at GSU travels to Natchitoches for a long-awaited Louisiana rivalry game that's stirred powerful memories of their first meeting more than 30 years back.
"It was actually a barrier breaker, as far as those things go," said Brittain, now Northwestern's sideline reporter. "As a freshman, it was my first football game, so my knees were shaking before we went out for the kickoff. Then, we were facing Grambling, who had such a great reputation for sending players to the professional leagues. We figured it was going to be an epic battle."
Was it ever.
'TIGHT, TIGHT, TIGHT'
Senior Grambling quarterback Joe Comeaux, a Westlake native, opened the scoring with a four-yard TD scramble. He'd hit Dwight Scales on a 43-yard pass to the NSU 7 on the second play from scrimmage.
Rodney Zeno, a senior GSU defensive back, added the extra point, but the 7-0 lead wouldn't stand for long.
A White fumble on the Grambling 13 gave the ball back to Northwestern's Butch Ballard, who answered with his lone touchdown pass of the night — hitting Gene Knecht on an eight-yard strike.
That followed a series of stuffs on off-tackle runs by Mario Cage, who couldn't get past Grambling seniors Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Robert Barber.
In a harbinger of kicking problems to come, NSU's extra-point attempt then failed.
NSU's Cage — coming off a 1,000-yard, all-Gulf South season in 1973 — then made a dramatic second-quarter touchdown run on a pitch back from Ballard. (There are lingering discrepancies on the exact length of his run: Monroe's Morning World had it at 57 yards, The Times of Shreveport reported 61 and NSU's yearbook said 52.) Danny Foret's point-after attempt was true this time, giving Northwestern a 13-7 lead at the half.
Neither team, however, could gather itself for a knock out on offense. It was all body blows.
"That game," said White, "was tight, tight, tight."
Nicholson once marveled over NSU's 1974 defense, saying "they make up for a lack of size with speed, aggressiveness and a desire to hit."
Grambling's unit, meanwhile, featured James "Hound" Hunter as a secondary anchor along with the All-American Johnson, who late Grambling coaching legend Eddie Robinson had taken to calling "the best lineman in college football."
Both teams would punt seven times over the course of the contest, with Grambling earning just four first downs and outgaining NSU by a total of only 74 yards. Northwestern fumbled seven times, losing three — while picking off GSU a total of four stunning times.
"I was deep protection on the punts," Brittain said, laughing, "and we punted a lot. I just remember 'Big Hands' running past our center, right behind the snap as it was coming back. He would come in low, about one foot off the ground. All I could do is dive at his shoelaces. He would just shove me to the ground and trample right over me."
Grambling returned to the field after halftime with a new quarterback, and Shreveport sophomore Terry Brown reeled off a dramatic 82-yard pass to White.
"They were blitzing us a lot, so we had a one-on-one match up," said White, now an assistant coach at Grambling. "Terry threw a nice long ball on that one."
Zeno's kick gave the Tigers their final margin of victory, 14-13.
But not before a memorable NSU field goal attempt, blocked by Hunter, as time expired.
Hunter's playmaking through that junior season had already drawn raves from Robinson, who called the Texan "Mr. Clutch." A canny pass defender and zippy returner, Hunter was "generally spoken of with a reverence reserved exclusively for legendary Saturday heroes," the late Nicholson once said.
That legend was built on plays like the final one against Northwestern State.
NSU got the ball back after an interception by linebacker Dan Boddie, who dashed back to the Grambling 34 with 4:03 left in the game. Ballard then drove down to the GSU 3 as time grew short, setting up a 20-yard attempt by Foret. Demons coach George Doherty, in a gutsy move, had ordered the try on third down with just 39 seconds remaining.
Hunter got a finger on it, as perhaps did Johnson, and the attempt missed.
'WAY BEYOND FOOTBALL'
Cage, who went down to injury during that final push, rushed for 97 yards — though much of that was given back in the final team stats because of lost yardage by other players.
Ballard finished the day 11-of-16 for just 88 yards and a score for NSU. Comeaux and Brown, meanwhile, combined for a 7-of-21 performance — a lack of efficiency under center that eventually led to the now-famous insertion of a redshirt freshman named Doug Williams three games later against Prairie View A&M.
"We had our opportunities," Williams said. "We scored 14 points, but we were still largely ineffective. It wasn't one of those good old Grambling offensive days. You could give some of that to Northwestern, too. They had a good team."
Doherty, entering his last season in Natchitoches after winning the Gulf South in 1972, had brought A.L. Williams in as offensive coordinator — and installed his new assistant's more pass-oriented offense in anticipation of handing over the reigns.
NSU, which had already dropped its second straight game in 1974, was in the midst of consecutive 1-10 campaigns. Williams would coach at Northwestern for eight seasons, boasting ranked teams in 1980 and '82 when his teams finished 8-3 and 7-4 respectively.
Williams went on to pass for 1,150 yards (nearly 400 more yards than Comeaux and Brown combined) over the remainder of the 1974 season. Grambling finished 11-1, claiming the ninth of 17 total Southwestern Athletic Conference championships under Robinson. (Williams later returned to coach at his alma mater, and played host to the first Southland foe ever at Grambling's Robinson Stadium — McNeese State in 2003.)
Grambling's lone '74 stumble was a 19-14 loss to Alcorn, and they shared the SWAC crown. Robinson would finish the season at 236 career wins on the way to 408 total, a still-standing Division I record.
The Northwestern victory, thrilling in its playing and encouraging in its social significance, holds a special place among them.
"The perspective of this game is way beyond the football field," Brittain said. "In our lives, both at Grambling and at Northwestern, it had a big effect. What a great time to try something like that, to break through some of those unknowns."
Showing posts with label James 'Hound' Hunter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James 'Hound' Hunter. Show all posts
Friday, September 12, 2008
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Remembering: Coach Rob's best
EDDIE ROB: Coach’s best
Six decades of Grambling talent are hard to narrow down
April 9, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE — They’ll gather, some of Eddie Robinson’s most noted pupils, to say goodbye today.
Former Grambling State players have been invited to a private ceremony, to be held at 9:30 a.m. in the State Capitol Memorial Hall, before Robinson’s public viewing.
“This is an opportunity for us to show our appreciation, a last hurrah for Coach,” said ex-GSU player and coach Doug Williams, who helped organize the event. “A viewing at the capitol is major credence to everything Coach accomplished. He deserves it.”
The bells of St. Joseph Cathedral will toll as the fallen coach’s body is carried up the capitol steps this morning at 9. Public viewing will then follow from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and then from 6-7 p.m., after a memorial ceremony in the House Chamber.
Still, most of today’s attention will fall on the athletes who come to pay their respects.
That got us to thinking about the best of the best. So, we compiled our own top five players from each of the six decades of Grambling football under Robinson.
Here are our suggestions, listed by decade and alphabetically:
1940s
1. Fred Hobdy: A guard on Grambling’s renowned “un” team in 1942 — which went unbeaten, untied and unscored upon — Hobdy returned from the war and coached young men for most of the next five decades. He worked first as an ends coach on the football team (he was an assistant on 1955’s undefeated squad), and then as Louisiana’s most successful college hoops coach ever. He was a member of the GSU Hall of Fame’s second class, along with Robinson, in 1981.
2. Willie “Automatic” Joseph: His name says it all: Joseph, over the 1947-49 seasons, established a 48-point school record for career points by a kicker that still stands. Grambling wouldn’t lose more than three games in a season over that span.
3. Legolian “Boots” Moore: Helped Grambling to its seminal 21-6 win over Southern University in 1947, a first-time-ever moment that Robinson always said put the program on the map. Later toured with the Harlem Globetrotters.
4. Dan H. Washington: A member of Robinson’s first squad, as well as its subsequent “un” team in 1942, Washington then touched thousands of lives as team trainer for 45 years before his death in 1996 at age 74.
5. Paul “Tank” Younger: Despite playing from 1945-48, still holds GSU record for career points with 369. His 86-yard blast against Morgan State in 1946 also remains the school’s longest non-scoring run.
In all, Younger scored 60 touchdowns — at the time a collegiate record, and still tops at Grambling — during his storied career under Robinson. Named black college player of the year in 1949, he was the first Grambling player inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame, in 1973. Induction into the GSU hall followed in 1982.
Significantly, Younger went on to become one of the highest-ranking early black pro executives ever. He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, but died just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
1950s
1. Willie Davis: A two-time black college All-America defensive tackle in 1954-55, Davis anchored Grambling’s first national black college championship team — the 10-0 squad from 1955.
“Willie had hitting power,” Robinson once recalled. “He was our captain, an outstanding leader.”
Davis, after a Hall of Fame pro career, became one of black America’s most important business leaders. He was GSU’s second SWAC Hall of Famer in 1977, and was inducted into GSU hall in ’82.
2. Willie Brown: So deep was Grambling’s roster in the late 1950s, the only NFL player to intercept a least one pass in 16 consecutive seasons never played cornerback. Still he lettered all four years at split end and outside linebacker, and GSU won a title in 1960. A 1983 GSU Hall of Fame inductee, Brown has shepherded countless NFL careers as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders.
3. Ernie “Big Cat” Ladd: At 6-9 and 315 pounds, Ladd arrived in the late 1950s as arguably the biggest GSU star ever. A first-team all-league defensive lineman in his final season at Grambling in 1960, he helped Grambling to its first-ever SWAC championship. Inducted into the GSU hall in 1989, Ladd was an activist for players’ rights as a pro player and, later, an prison evangelist before passing last month after a long bout with cancer.
4. Melvin Lee: As quarterback of the offensive line at center on Grambling’s undefeated 1955 championship squad, Lee had an astonishing impact on generations of men at his alma mater. He would work for the next 40 seasons as a Robinson assistant, tinkering and perfecting Robinson’s fabled Wing-T offense.
5. Edward “Bo” Murray: A critical piece of Grambling’s 1955 undefeated team, the then-redshirt sophomore won the Orange Blossom Classic on scoring runs of 75 and 8 yards. He also kicked the extra point on his winning TD, beating Florida A&M 28-21. A 1995 GSU Hall of Fame inductee.
1960s
1. Junious “Buck” Buchanan: From his sophomore season onward, this tackle earned a trio of All-America and all-conference honors while helping Grambling to a 23-5-2 record.
Robinson would often gush about Buchanan’s dominance, even in practice: “If we went to the right, he would tackle us. If we went to the left, he would tackle us. If we went right at him, he would tackle us. Boy, he was really tough.”
Buchanan, a 1987 GSU Hall of Fame inductee, passed away in 1992 after a long bout with lung cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
2. James “Shack” Harris: Harris passed for 4,128 yards and 43 touchdowns as Grambling went 24-5-1 between 1965-68, winning three straight SWAC titles.
“Coach Robinson had the utmost confidence in me that I could play, and that meant a lot, knowing how he felt,” Harris said. “Eddie Robinson is perhaps the greatest person that I’ve ever been around.”
In his senior season alone, Harris passed for 1,972 yards and 21 touchdowns on only 225 attempts. He was first-team All-SWAC in 1967-68, and also earned SWAC and GSU hall of fame honors.
Just as importantly, he broke barriers as an early starting NFL quarterback, and now serves as one of the league’s top-ranking pro personnel executives.
3. Charlie Joiner: Led all Grambling receivers from 1966-68, gaining 2,066 yards, on the way to a trio of conference titles. An amazing 78 of quarterback Harris’ 289 career completions at Grambling were hauled in by the steady Joiner, who led the team in touchdowns in 1966-67.
“Charlie goes all out,” Robinson once noted. “Beating the man, that’s where he excelled.”
He was named first-team All-SWAC three times, then joined the GSU Hall of Fame in 1986 and the SWAC hall in 1996. He has worked for years as a pro football assistant coach.
4. Frank Lewis: A do-it-all player who led Grambling in receiving in 1969-70 and in rushing in 1969, as well. He scored 28 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons, averaging 18.65 yards per catch.
“I played with Frank and I don’t know if I have ever seen a better athlete than Frank,” Harris said. “I don’t know of anything that Frank couldn’t do.”
Lewis was named first-team all-conference as a junior and senior, and was second team as a sophomore when Grambling won the SWAC in 1968. He is a community leader in his hometown of Houma, working with the disadvantaged.
5. Jerry “Ghost” Robinson: A two-time first-team All-SWAC halfback from 1960-61, a stint that included Grambling’s first-ever league title in 1960. Led all Grambling rushers over those two seasons, running for 1,300 yards.
1970s
1. James “Hound” Hunter: A first-team All-SWAC honoree in 1974-75, he helped Grambling to the ’74 SWAC title. Hunter was the team leader in picks for two years, pulling down 16 passes in 1973-74. His eight in 1974 ranks fourth all-time at GSU; still shares school mark for most career returns for a touchdown.
2. Gary “Big Hands” Johnson: Holds the school record for most tackles in a career, with 367 between 1971-74 as GSU won four straight SWAC titles.
In his senior season of 1974 alone, Johnson had 134 tackles, 89 unassisted, and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player. That led to coveted invites to both the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl — and Johnson was named Most Valuable Player in both.
Johnson earned first-team All-SWAC in 1972-74, followed by 1996 induction into the GSU Hall of Fame, and then 1997 honors in both the College Football and SWAC halls of fame.
3. Robert Parham: Grambling’s leading rusher from 1978-80, he amassed 2,700 yards over that span as GSU won three consecutive SWAC titles. He was a first-team all-conference running back in each of those seasons.
4. Sammy White: Inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of a collegiate career that included two school-leading years for receptions in 1973 and 1975 — and a co-offensive player of the year award as a senior. White was also first-team All-SWAC in ’73. He has shaped youngsters as an assistant football coach at his alma mater now for nine seasons.
5. Doug Williams: Williams, who established school passing marks that stood for nearly 25 years, started quickly — winning a SWAC title as a redshirt freshman in 1974.
“I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn’t put too much pressure on me,” Williams said.
He would win another SWAC championship as a senior in 1977, earning second-team All-SWAC honors in 1975 and then offensive player of the year honors in his final collegiate campaign. He was inducted into the GSU hall in 1985 and the SWAC and College halls in 2001.
A groundbreaker as a Heisman Trophy finalist and a Super Bowl MVP, Williams is now a part of a second revolution as an NFL executive.
1980s
1. Trumaine Johnson: The 1980 and ’82 SWAC offensive player of the year (when he had 1,000 yards and averaged 14 yards a catch), Johnson was also first-team All-SWAC in 1981. Grambling won the conference championship in ’80. His 16 scores that season is still tied for fifth best in school history.
2. Fred Jones: GSU’s best receiver during the 1987-89 seasons, collecting a total of 2,000 yards as well as a SWAC title in his senior campaign. He also led Grambling in scoring in ’88 with 10 touchdowns, and earned first-team All-SWAC honors in ’88-89.
3. Albert “Snow” Lewis: Was first-team All-SWAC at cornerback in 1981-82, after leading the team in interceptions in 1981 with seven. A stellar performance earned him a starting position by popular vote in 2002 on the 50th anniversary all-time Senior Bowl team. Has worked as an assistant coach with the San Diego Chargers, in NFL Europe and at his alma mater.
4. Everson “Cubby” Walls: Still holds the school record for most interceptions in a season, 11 set in 1980. Was All-SWAC that season. Made national headlines recently for an act that said much about his character, donating a kidney to a former NFL teammate.
5. Mike Williams: Williams, brother and successor at quarterback to Doug, won SWAC titles in 1978-80 and was named first-team all-conference as both a junior and senior. He threw for 3,700 yards and 46 touchdowns at Grambling, and remains active in support of Grambling.
1990s
1. Curtis Caesar: Led all Grambling receivers in 1993-94, averaging 868 yards per season. A second-team 1994 All-SWAC honoree, his numbers for his final two years are still in Grambling’s all-time Top 20. Grambling shared its last co-championship in the SWAC under Robinson in 1994.
2. Walter Dean: The first SWAC player to win the Walter Payton Award, Dean was also the conference’s offensive player of the year in 1990. No senior has ever run for more than his 1,401 yards. Dean was also first-team all-conference in 1989, when GSU won the SWAC.
3. Eric Gant: A two-time All-SWAC first-teamer beginning in 1991, Gant is one of only 17 Grambling players ever invited to the Senior Bowl. Still holds school records for yards in season (1,417 in 1992) and yards in a career (3,795), as well those for rushing yards by sophomore and junior.
4. Gilad Landau: His 188 career total in PATs was a state record. An All-SWAC first-team kicker in 1992-93, Landau earned All-America honors in 1993 from The Sports Network — becoming a significant figure in the history of Jewish sports in America.
5. Kendrick Nord: Passed for 6,600 yards in 1993-95, beating Alcorn in an epic Robinson Stadium battle and also winning a SWAC title as a senior. Those career yards, not to mention his marks for completions and touchdowns, have only been bested twice ever at Grambling.
Six decades of Grambling talent are hard to narrow down
April 9, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE — They’ll gather, some of Eddie Robinson’s most noted pupils, to say goodbye today.
Former Grambling State players have been invited to a private ceremony, to be held at 9:30 a.m. in the State Capitol Memorial Hall, before Robinson’s public viewing.
“This is an opportunity for us to show our appreciation, a last hurrah for Coach,” said ex-GSU player and coach Doug Williams, who helped organize the event. “A viewing at the capitol is major credence to everything Coach accomplished. He deserves it.”
The bells of St. Joseph Cathedral will toll as the fallen coach’s body is carried up the capitol steps this morning at 9. Public viewing will then follow from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and then from 6-7 p.m., after a memorial ceremony in the House Chamber.
Still, most of today’s attention will fall on the athletes who come to pay their respects.
That got us to thinking about the best of the best. So, we compiled our own top five players from each of the six decades of Grambling football under Robinson.
Here are our suggestions, listed by decade and alphabetically:
1940s
1. Fred Hobdy: A guard on Grambling’s renowned “un” team in 1942 — which went unbeaten, untied and unscored upon — Hobdy returned from the war and coached young men for most of the next five decades. He worked first as an ends coach on the football team (he was an assistant on 1955’s undefeated squad), and then as Louisiana’s most successful college hoops coach ever. He was a member of the GSU Hall of Fame’s second class, along with Robinson, in 1981.
2. Willie “Automatic” Joseph: His name says it all: Joseph, over the 1947-49 seasons, established a 48-point school record for career points by a kicker that still stands. Grambling wouldn’t lose more than three games in a season over that span.
3. Legolian “Boots” Moore: Helped Grambling to its seminal 21-6 win over Southern University in 1947, a first-time-ever moment that Robinson always said put the program on the map. Later toured with the Harlem Globetrotters.
4. Dan H. Washington: A member of Robinson’s first squad, as well as its subsequent “un” team in 1942, Washington then touched thousands of lives as team trainer for 45 years before his death in 1996 at age 74.
5. Paul “Tank” Younger: Despite playing from 1945-48, still holds GSU record for career points with 369. His 86-yard blast against Morgan State in 1946 also remains the school’s longest non-scoring run.
In all, Younger scored 60 touchdowns — at the time a collegiate record, and still tops at Grambling — during his storied career under Robinson. Named black college player of the year in 1949, he was the first Grambling player inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame, in 1973. Induction into the GSU hall followed in 1982.
Significantly, Younger went on to become one of the highest-ranking early black pro executives ever. He entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, but died just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
1950s
1. Willie Davis: A two-time black college All-America defensive tackle in 1954-55, Davis anchored Grambling’s first national black college championship team — the 10-0 squad from 1955.
“Willie had hitting power,” Robinson once recalled. “He was our captain, an outstanding leader.”
Davis, after a Hall of Fame pro career, became one of black America’s most important business leaders. He was GSU’s second SWAC Hall of Famer in 1977, and was inducted into GSU hall in ’82.
2. Willie Brown: So deep was Grambling’s roster in the late 1950s, the only NFL player to intercept a least one pass in 16 consecutive seasons never played cornerback. Still he lettered all four years at split end and outside linebacker, and GSU won a title in 1960. A 1983 GSU Hall of Fame inductee, Brown has shepherded countless NFL careers as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders.
3. Ernie “Big Cat” Ladd: At 6-9 and 315 pounds, Ladd arrived in the late 1950s as arguably the biggest GSU star ever. A first-team all-league defensive lineman in his final season at Grambling in 1960, he helped Grambling to its first-ever SWAC championship. Inducted into the GSU hall in 1989, Ladd was an activist for players’ rights as a pro player and, later, an prison evangelist before passing last month after a long bout with cancer.
4. Melvin Lee: As quarterback of the offensive line at center on Grambling’s undefeated 1955 championship squad, Lee had an astonishing impact on generations of men at his alma mater. He would work for the next 40 seasons as a Robinson assistant, tinkering and perfecting Robinson’s fabled Wing-T offense.
5. Edward “Bo” Murray: A critical piece of Grambling’s 1955 undefeated team, the then-redshirt sophomore won the Orange Blossom Classic on scoring runs of 75 and 8 yards. He also kicked the extra point on his winning TD, beating Florida A&M 28-21. A 1995 GSU Hall of Fame inductee.
1960s
1. Junious “Buck” Buchanan: From his sophomore season onward, this tackle earned a trio of All-America and all-conference honors while helping Grambling to a 23-5-2 record.
Robinson would often gush about Buchanan’s dominance, even in practice: “If we went to the right, he would tackle us. If we went to the left, he would tackle us. If we went right at him, he would tackle us. Boy, he was really tough.”
Buchanan, a 1987 GSU Hall of Fame inductee, passed away in 1992 after a long bout with lung cancer. He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
2. James “Shack” Harris: Harris passed for 4,128 yards and 43 touchdowns as Grambling went 24-5-1 between 1965-68, winning three straight SWAC titles.
“Coach Robinson had the utmost confidence in me that I could play, and that meant a lot, knowing how he felt,” Harris said. “Eddie Robinson is perhaps the greatest person that I’ve ever been around.”
In his senior season alone, Harris passed for 1,972 yards and 21 touchdowns on only 225 attempts. He was first-team All-SWAC in 1967-68, and also earned SWAC and GSU hall of fame honors.
Just as importantly, he broke barriers as an early starting NFL quarterback, and now serves as one of the league’s top-ranking pro personnel executives.
3. Charlie Joiner: Led all Grambling receivers from 1966-68, gaining 2,066 yards, on the way to a trio of conference titles. An amazing 78 of quarterback Harris’ 289 career completions at Grambling were hauled in by the steady Joiner, who led the team in touchdowns in 1966-67.
“Charlie goes all out,” Robinson once noted. “Beating the man, that’s where he excelled.”
He was named first-team All-SWAC three times, then joined the GSU Hall of Fame in 1986 and the SWAC hall in 1996. He has worked for years as a pro football assistant coach.
4. Frank Lewis: A do-it-all player who led Grambling in receiving in 1969-70 and in rushing in 1969, as well. He scored 28 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons, averaging 18.65 yards per catch.
“I played with Frank and I don’t know if I have ever seen a better athlete than Frank,” Harris said. “I don’t know of anything that Frank couldn’t do.”
Lewis was named first-team all-conference as a junior and senior, and was second team as a sophomore when Grambling won the SWAC in 1968. He is a community leader in his hometown of Houma, working with the disadvantaged.
5. Jerry “Ghost” Robinson: A two-time first-team All-SWAC halfback from 1960-61, a stint that included Grambling’s first-ever league title in 1960. Led all Grambling rushers over those two seasons, running for 1,300 yards.
1970s
1. James “Hound” Hunter: A first-team All-SWAC honoree in 1974-75, he helped Grambling to the ’74 SWAC title. Hunter was the team leader in picks for two years, pulling down 16 passes in 1973-74. His eight in 1974 ranks fourth all-time at GSU; still shares school mark for most career returns for a touchdown.
2. Gary “Big Hands” Johnson: Holds the school record for most tackles in a career, with 367 between 1971-74 as GSU won four straight SWAC titles.
In his senior season of 1974 alone, Johnson had 134 tackles, 89 unassisted, and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player. That led to coveted invites to both the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl — and Johnson was named Most Valuable Player in both.
Johnson earned first-team All-SWAC in 1972-74, followed by 1996 induction into the GSU Hall of Fame, and then 1997 honors in both the College Football and SWAC halls of fame.
3. Robert Parham: Grambling’s leading rusher from 1978-80, he amassed 2,700 yards over that span as GSU won three consecutive SWAC titles. He was a first-team all-conference running back in each of those seasons.
4. Sammy White: Inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of a collegiate career that included two school-leading years for receptions in 1973 and 1975 — and a co-offensive player of the year award as a senior. White was also first-team All-SWAC in ’73. He has shaped youngsters as an assistant football coach at his alma mater now for nine seasons.
5. Doug Williams: Williams, who established school passing marks that stood for nearly 25 years, started quickly — winning a SWAC title as a redshirt freshman in 1974.
“I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn’t put too much pressure on me,” Williams said.
He would win another SWAC championship as a senior in 1977, earning second-team All-SWAC honors in 1975 and then offensive player of the year honors in his final collegiate campaign. He was inducted into the GSU hall in 1985 and the SWAC and College halls in 2001.
A groundbreaker as a Heisman Trophy finalist and a Super Bowl MVP, Williams is now a part of a second revolution as an NFL executive.
1980s
1. Trumaine Johnson: The 1980 and ’82 SWAC offensive player of the year (when he had 1,000 yards and averaged 14 yards a catch), Johnson was also first-team All-SWAC in 1981. Grambling won the conference championship in ’80. His 16 scores that season is still tied for fifth best in school history.
2. Fred Jones: GSU’s best receiver during the 1987-89 seasons, collecting a total of 2,000 yards as well as a SWAC title in his senior campaign. He also led Grambling in scoring in ’88 with 10 touchdowns, and earned first-team All-SWAC honors in ’88-89.
3. Albert “Snow” Lewis: Was first-team All-SWAC at cornerback in 1981-82, after leading the team in interceptions in 1981 with seven. A stellar performance earned him a starting position by popular vote in 2002 on the 50th anniversary all-time Senior Bowl team. Has worked as an assistant coach with the San Diego Chargers, in NFL Europe and at his alma mater.
4. Everson “Cubby” Walls: Still holds the school record for most interceptions in a season, 11 set in 1980. Was All-SWAC that season. Made national headlines recently for an act that said much about his character, donating a kidney to a former NFL teammate.
5. Mike Williams: Williams, brother and successor at quarterback to Doug, won SWAC titles in 1978-80 and was named first-team all-conference as both a junior and senior. He threw for 3,700 yards and 46 touchdowns at Grambling, and remains active in support of Grambling.
1990s
1. Curtis Caesar: Led all Grambling receivers in 1993-94, averaging 868 yards per season. A second-team 1994 All-SWAC honoree, his numbers for his final two years are still in Grambling’s all-time Top 20. Grambling shared its last co-championship in the SWAC under Robinson in 1994.
2. Walter Dean: The first SWAC player to win the Walter Payton Award, Dean was also the conference’s offensive player of the year in 1990. No senior has ever run for more than his 1,401 yards. Dean was also first-team all-conference in 1989, when GSU won the SWAC.
3. Eric Gant: A two-time All-SWAC first-teamer beginning in 1991, Gant is one of only 17 Grambling players ever invited to the Senior Bowl. Still holds school records for yards in season (1,417 in 1992) and yards in a career (3,795), as well those for rushing yards by sophomore and junior.
4. Gilad Landau: His 188 career total in PATs was a state record. An All-SWAC first-team kicker in 1992-93, Landau earned All-America honors in 1993 from The Sports Network — becoming a significant figure in the history of Jewish sports in America.
5. Kendrick Nord: Passed for 6,600 yards in 1993-95, beating Alcorn in an epic Robinson Stadium battle and also winning a SWAC title as a senior. Those career yards, not to mention his marks for completions and touchdowns, have only been bested twice ever at Grambling.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Grambling greats: Tramon Douglas
Douglas brings East West glory on home
July 12, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State wide receiver Tramon Douglas' selection to the 2004 East West Shrine Football Classic roster means two distinct things to his coach.
· Douglas' credentials, even before his senior season gets under way, are in order.
· We're back, baby.
"He's been selected before the end of the year," says GSU's Doug Williams, who's quick to note that the game won't be played in San Francisco until January 2004. "That speaks volumes for what he's accomplished. They watched his work - and they liked him."
But Williams, as expected, brings the conversation back around to the big picture for his alma mater.
"He's got a chance to move us back where we used to be," says Williams, who was the MVP of the East West Shrine Game in 1977.
Amazingly, Douglas is the first GSU player selected for the game since fullback Eric Gant a decade ago.
You have to go back to Williams' glory days to find other Tigers who achieved the honor: Wide receiver Carlos Pennywell and defensive back Mike Harris were also invited in 1977; defensive back James Hunter and wide receiver Sammie White (GSU's current receivers coach) in 1976; and defensive tackle Gary "Big Hands" Johnson in 1974.
Douglas is aware of this rarefied company in the Grambling State family.
"I've seen a big difference in him since he's been selected," Williams says. "We've never had problem with Tramon's work habits - but he has stepped it up a notch."
Douglas earns this newest honor after an amazing junior season, where he broke the Southwestern Athletic Conference single-season receiving yards record with 1,704 yards on 92 catches - including 18 touchdowns.
The previous record holder, at 1,682 yards, was a certain Jerry Rice - the future Hall of Famer at San Francisco and Oakland who played collegiately at Mississippi Valley State.
Douglas was a consensus first team All-America selection - named to the Associated Press, the Sports Network and the Sheridan Broadcasting Network teams. He was also a first team All-SWAC selection.
"The East West game is one of the bigger games, along the lines of the Senior Bowl," Williams said. "A lot of the kids who get a chance to play there go on to play on Sundays. The rest of it will be left up to Tramon."
In fact, 86 of last year's roster were named to the NFL Draft or were signed as free agents. At least one East West Shrine Game player was signed by each of the 32 NFL teams.
"What I tried to let him understand is, if you can get this kind of shot, it's a different ballgame," Williams said. "He has to concentrate a little more. He might have to cut back on his fun a little bit."
That shouldn't be hard for the Douglas, a dedicated student who - even while leading Division 1-AA in average receiving yards per game - carried a 3.0 grade-point average. Douglas is also Grambling State's single-season receiving record holder in receptions, yards and touchdowns.
The adjustment comes in a season where every opposing defense is sure to make him the primary focus.
"Here's a kid that had 92 catches last year," Williams says. "But with the quality of guys we have coming back, if he got 65 or 70, he still has done his job. Going into a football game, people now know Tramon. But if the others stand up and do their jobs, he will be just as effective."
LSU's Nick Saban will be the head coach for the East team, while Oklahoma's Bob Stoops will direct the West squad.
All proceeds from the East West Shrine Game support children who receive medical care, at no cost, from the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children throughout North America. To date, the game has raised more than $14 million for Shriners Hospitals.
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GSU's Eugene, Douglas preseason picks
July 17, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The preseason football recognition is stacking up like cordwood at Grambling State University.
Quarterback Bruce Eugene and wide receiver Tramon Douglas - both seniors - have been named as first-team selections to the Sports Network's Division I-AA 2003 preseason All-America team. Douglas was named to the roster of January's East West Shrine Game recently, as well.
"If you look back over the past five years, and what we've done, the guys who are getting this recognition have earned it," says Grambling coach Doug Williams. "Bruce and Tramon deserve all the accolades."
Eugene was third overall in balloting for the first team. In all, 77 players from 12 different conferences were selected to the team, along with one player from an independent program.
Eugene, a 6-1, 245-pound junior, was a consensus offensive player of the year selection by the Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., Sheridan Sports Network Black College and the SWAC - as well as being named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top NCAA Division I-AA offensive player by the Sports Network.
Douglas, meanwhile, led the nation in receiving yards for I-AA, by averaging 142 yards per game. He is also the only person in SWAC history to record more than 1,700 receiving yards in a single season.
Together, they highlighted an explosive Grambling State offense that helped the Tigers to an unprecedented third straight National Black College and Southwestern Athletic Conference championships, with an 11-2 overall record.
Now, it's Williams' job to make sure they don't get weighted down with the awards.
"As coach, I have to protect against them becoming complacent," he says. "It's the same thing I was going through when I was getting them, and Coach Rob told me: `You've got to keep your feet on the ground.' We are fortunate that with people like Bruce and Tramon, they are going to keep their feet firmly planted."
Eugene, a New Orleans native, completed 269-of-543 passes for 4,455 yards including 43 touchdowns while rushing for 535 yards on 137 carries including nine touchdowns.
He also set a pair of SWAC single-season records in both total offensive plays (680) and passing attempts.
Meanwhile, Baton Rouge's Douglas is now also single-season receiving record holder in receptions, yards and touchdowns at GSU.
Williams thinks performances like those from players with another year of eligibility will ensure a few sniffs from the National Football League. The preseason recognition helps, too.
"I think it's a credit to our program," Williams said, "and it's certainly a credit to them."
The Big Sky Conference leads all I-AA leagues by placing 14 players on the Sports Network's I-AA preseason team, including five selected to the first team. Big Sky co-champ and 2002 national quarterfinalist Montana placed two on the initial squad, while Idaho State, Montana State and Northern Arizona each garnered one selection.
Other players of Louisiana interest who made the first-team squad include cornerback Chris Thompson of Nicholls State; and offensive guard Dwight Hudler, linebacker Roderick Royal and defensive tackle John Paul Jones, all of McNeese State.
Linebacker Ryan Garrison of McNeese and safety Lenny Williams of Southern were honorable mention picks.
The Sports Network also administers two awards named for Grambling figures - the Buck Buchanan and Eddie Robinson awards, presented annually to the division's top defensive player and coach, respectively.
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Ball control
GSU's Tramon Douglas does it all again, finally
September 24, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - A record-breaking receiving day for Grambling State's Tramon Douglas, in the end, didn't mean that much to him.
"I would rather have one catch and we win, than have all those catches in a loss," the senior receiver said. GSU fell 31-20 to McNeese State on Saturday, while Douglas set a new school mark with 17 grabs.
What it meant to the team, however, is something else entirely: As goes Douglas, so goes Grambling State.
And, like the offense, Douglas started slowly.
"He's giving us everything he has. He's made some tough catches for us," says Tigers coach Doug Williams. "But that little bruise on his knee hasn't always let him be Tramon Douglas."
He's talking about the Tramon Douglas who averaged nearly eight catches a game in his All-American junior season at Grambling State - on his way to breaking Jerry Rice's Southwestern Athletic Conference single-season receiving yards record with 1,704 yards.
After an opening loss in 2002 against McNeese, when Douglas had only one catch, the Tigers reeled off 10 straight wins - on the way to a third-straight SWAC championship.
But Douglas didn't practice much during the summer, hobbled by that nagging knee problem. The week before GSU's season opener, he wasn't even in pads at practice.
Douglas, of course, started - but again wasn't a factor in Grambling State's second-straight season-opening thrashing, pulling in just two catches for 30 yards as the Tigers were blanked 29-0.
"He's working hard every day. He's not sitting down on it," Williams says. "It's not that anything is torn. It's just one of those bruises that you can't shake."
The loss underscored the complementary nature of Douglas' success and that of his quarterback.
The longer it took Douglas to get healthy, the longer it clearly would take for Bruce Eugene to get on track this year.
The Tigers' impressive showing in this year's rematch against McNeese, the nation's top-ranked Division I-AA school, is just the latest example.
Douglas's 17 catches - only two fewer than all of the other GSU receivers combined - served to keep the game whisker-close until the very end. He broke the previous school record of 16 set by former wideout Nate Singleton against Virginia Union on Sept. 14, 1991.
"I knew the team needed me this game," Douglas says. "I wanted to step up and show them that Grambling can play with the best of them."
He was rewarded with the most rare of honors: Douglas has been named one of The Sports Network's Division I-AA players of the week - the first from the SWAC to receive that designation this season. He also was named one of I-AA.org's All-Stars and the SWAC's co-offensive player of the week.
Something interesting happened, however, as Douglas slowly found his footing.
Grambling State discovered some of its other receivers: Eugene threw to an astounding nine different people in a win over Alabama A&M - including scoring passes to juniors Moses Harris and Chris Day.
"The good part about it is, Moses Harris made some good plays for us," Williams says. "Tim Abney is making tough catches. We're getting a lot of people involved. I was glad to see Chris Day score a TD; that helped his confidence level."
While Douglas was smashing records against McNeese State, Harris and breakout freshman star Abney piled up 125 yards receiving combined.
"We knew coming into this, after Tramon had a breakout season last year, that he wasn't going to be able to get as many passes," Eugene says. "Our focus has been to get other people open, then come to Tramon. So far this year, that's what's been happening."
Still, without his go-to guy, Eugene sometimes looked tentative in the first two games - like he was thinking too much.
"You can't depend on just one guy," Williams says he told Eugene. "He was feeling it. You can't just look Tramon's way, especially when he's not there."
Then that first touchdown finally came - with nine seconds left in the half in Week 2 at Lorman, Miss. The 20-yarder was hauled in, of course, by Douglas.
Grambling State has played better every successive quarter since.
"The fact that Tramon is still not 100 percent has hampered us in certain situations," says Tigers offensive coordinator Melvin Spears. "Overall, though, we've got some guys who can come along. It's just that Bruce has to be a little more patient. Mechanically, he still was not always in a good throwing position. A lot of his pre-snap routine wasn't as good as it has been."
After having scored just that one touchdown in the previous game and a half, Eugene and the Tigers then exploded for 12 scores in the next eight quarters of play.
Eugene-to-Douglas accounts for five of them. Eugene has run in four more by himself.
And so it goes.
"It slowed him down, but one thing about Tramon: He's a fighter. He'll never quit. He'll never give up," Eugene says, sounding ever more confident. "Although the knee isn't 100 percent, he's still going to be out there giving it his all. We're grateful for that."
Getting better
Tramon Douglas has gotten steadily more involved in the Grambling State offense this year, as he's recovered from a lingering knee problem:
· At San Jose State: Two catches, 30 yards, no TDs.
· At Alcorn State: Seven catches, 83 yards, two TDs.
· Vs. Alabama A&M: Six catches, 75 yards, one TD.
· Vs. McNeese State: 17 catches, 216 yards, three TDs.
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Douglas will sit out Prairie View game
October 1, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Grambling State wide receiver Tramon Douglas - coming off minor surgery to torn meniscus cartilage in his knee - won't be starting against Prairie View on Saturday in Dallas.
Not that he doesn't want to.
"I told him yesterday that he should be ready by (the Oct. 11 home game against) Mississippi Valley - and he said, `No, Prairie View,'" sixth-year GSU coach Doug Williams said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
"That's Tramon. He's a tough kid. The type of surgery that he had - on torn cartilage - is usually a two-week type thing with the way doctors go in now. It's not a major process. Basically, he can play - if we coaches let him."
The meniscus is a shock-absorbing cartilage in the middle of the knee.
Douglas leads the SWAC in receiving yards and receptions - with 32 catches for 404 yards and six scores in the first four games of the year. That includes a now-understandably quiet opening week, when he pulled down just two passes for 30 yards.
Douglas - who also leads the SWAC in scoring - says he woke up on Sept. 21, after his record-breaking 17-catch performance against McNeese State, and the pain was simply too great.
He's been playing with what he thought was a bruised knee for weeks. When Douglas went to the doctor that Monday, he found out he'd had the cartilage tear since two-a-days last summer.
"When you want to play - and you want to win - you don't think about it until after the game," Douglas says. "The injury was slowing me down, but I just wanted to help my team."
Douglas mingled with his teammates during Tuesday afternoon practices, taking a short break from rehabbing with laps at Robinson Stadium.
"He running and doing everything else," Williams says. "I still don't think we're going to play him."
That means Tigers quarterback Bruce Eugene will have to continue to spread it around. He has completed passes to eight, then seven receivers in the past two weeks.
"What makes Tramon such a good, clutch receiver is: When it's time to make a play, Tramon knows how to make a play," Williams said. "If we can get the other guys to play and think like Tramon, we'll be a lot further along."
Douglas, for his part, thinks the Tigers will be fine as he finishes healing up.
"Our offense is designed for anybody to make plays. I don't think they are going to miss a beat," Douglas says. "You've got Bruce back there at quarterback - and that's enough right there."
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GSU still in good hands
Young receivers continue making big impact
October 12, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Senior Tramon Douglas rejoined his team briefly Saturday for pregame warmups, under a dark and rolling sky at Robinson Stadium.
Not that Grambling State really needed him against still-winless Mississippi Valley State. GSU breezed to a 45-6 victory.
I've seen the future - though, with just 6,397 in attendance, I was one of the few - and it is Tiger receivers Moses Harris, Tim Abney and Chris Day.
Given an opportunity when Douglas missed a game after minor knee surgery, Abney and Day each caught two touchdowns against Prairie View. Harris answered the call Saturday with an 111-yard day and a touchdown.
"We have had a couple of soldiers down," GSU receivers coach Sammy White said. "But that is no excuse. Everybody in this group should want to be as good as Tramon Douglas."
Over the past two weeks, they have been.
Spreading it around is not only helping Grambling State win football games while their All-American heals up - and win big - it's helping ensure the team's future during quarterback Bruce Eugene's final season in 2004.
"We work together every day in practice, so it depends on my getting the ball there," Eugene said. "You're going to miss Tramon - he's an All-American receiver. He's going to make plays and get open. But this has been a chance for our young receivers to see what we can do without him."
Day, the Troy State transfer, scored on a touchdown pass of 35 yards in the second quarter against Valley. Catches by Day of 25 yards and Abney of 24 yards keyed a Tigers' drive that would make the final score 45-6.
That was the second time running back Ab Kuaan scored - one of five players to reach the end zone for Grambling State.
Not that it started that way.
In fact, it seemed as if Grambling State - loose and effective for the good teams, lazy and disorganized for the bad ones - had only just met in the inflatable Tiger during pre-game ceremonies. That trend was personified in Eugene, benched for not attending class this week.
But, once again, the Tigers shook themselves awake late in the game - primarily through the play of the defense, which held the Devils to negative yardage in the second half.
Even so, the plays that seemed the most important were those by Harris, Day and Abney, a sign of good things to come as the competition gets tougher - and as Douglas approaches the end of his college eligibility."
When somebody goes down, one of the other guys step up," said Harris, a smoking junior from Dallas. "You can't just key in on one person. With our depth, we can't be stopped."
Abney, a former Neville High standout who just turned 19, has became known as a go-to receiver for the tough yards. He was third in team yardage going into the Valley game, trailing only Douglas and Harris.
"There's more than Tramon on this football team," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "Tim has gotten better each week. You're talking about a freshman who has played big for us."
Williams chuckles: "I don't think he even knows what he's doing yet."
His coach is kidding, but a couple of key drops early in the season prove that Abney hasn't quite rounded the learning curve yet.
"He needs a little more patience," said White, a Richwood High alum who started for Minnesota in two NFL championship games, logging a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XI. "He gets in a hurry, once the ball gets to him. Trying to get upfield, he doesn't always secure the ball. That's cost him at least two touchdowns this year. That comes with time."
Harris said he was proud of his play on Saturday, but he's not finished.
"That's to be continued," said Harris, smiling broadly.
Day is clearly gaining confidence with every game, as well.
"When you've got four, five or six guys catching the ball," GSU offensive coordinator Melvin Spears said, "that says a lot about our receiving corps and the job that Coach White is doing. We'll be going to a lot of guys down the stetch."
Douglas, you see, is expected back next week.
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GSU's Douglas returns to take on next SWAC foe
October 18, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - The lethal combination of quarterback Bruce Eugene-to-receiver Tramon Douglas sparked a third consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championship for Grambling State last season.
So, teams at the bottom of the conference standings might have thought they'd found an opening when Eugene's favorite receiver went down for three weeks in September after minor knee surgery.
Not only did GSU's junior signal-caller find new targets, but the Tigers discovered a rushing attack to help close off opponents. They haven't lost a SWAC game, even without their All-American receiver.
Re-enter Douglas - now all healed and, well, pumped.
"When I get back," he said, "it's going to make my job a lot easier. We've got a lot of people now who can step up. Bruce doesn't have to look for me every time now. He's got a lot of weapons to choose from. They won't be able to double team me now."
Pity Prairie View A&M and Mississippi Valley State - neither has a conference win - which nevertheless lost to a hobbled GSU by a combined 110-13 in the last two weeks.
Up next is the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, sitting just above PVAMU in the West standings with a 1-3 SWAC record.
Now, the Golden Lions not only have to worry about the return of the SWAC's best pitch-and-catch tandem, but also a cast-of-thousands receiving crew as a second option - then a dangerous new running game led by sophomore Ab Kuaan, who has 225 yards on the year.
"Working on rushing against some teams that aren't as good is going to help us in the long run, against the Jackson States, the Alabama States - and particularly in the Bayou Classic, where you've got to run the ball," said Melvin Spears, GSU's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
Standing in sharp contrast is Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which has managed just one score and a couple of field goals in two weeks.
"They lost a tough game this past week, 7-6 to Texas Southern," said Grambling State coach Doug Williams. "There wasn't a whole lot of offense."
That also doesn't bode well against a Grambling State team with a resurgent defense.
"Except for some spurts here or there - against McNeese, they missed some tackles - overall, I think they have played pretty well," Williams said. "If the offense can be as consistent as the defense, it makes for a pretty good game."
The return of both Eugene and Douglas for a full game suggests the offense will be.
Eugene sat out the first quarter against MVSU after missing too much class, allowing the Devils to keep the game within one point. He then threw four touchdown passes on the way to an easy 45-6 victory.
Douglas was named a Division I-AA player of the week by the Sports Network after a school-record number of receptions two weeks before against McNeese State, but hasn't played again after surgery to repair torn cartilage.
Still, even with Douglas and Eugene in and out of the lineup, Grambling State remains the No. 1 in SWAC passing offense, first downs, third-down conversions and total offense.
"We won't be able to control the game like we did last Saturday," UAPB coach Lee Hardman told The Pine Bluff (Ark.) Commercial. "But that is the whole goal. We want to control the ball - and keep Eugene off the field."
Good idea: Though he's also missed parts of two other quarters in blowout wins so far, Eugene is still the SWAC's top passer and total offense leader.
"Bruce has worked very hard this week," Spears said. "He's been coming in on his own time, doing some extra conditioning. He knows now that we are very serious about him going to school."
That offense squares off against another of the best defenses in the SWAC, the No. 3 ranked Golden Lions. GSU is the No. 4 defense in the conference.
"I think they have some talent," Spears said. "They mix their scheme up on defense. I'm sure they are expecting us to come in as a wide-open team, trying to adjust to some of the things we did last year. But we've got some wrinkles for them. One of the things that has made us tougher, week-in and week-out, is that there is always a different mix."
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JUST THE FACTS
GRAMBLING - Texas Southern tried to play keep away with Grambling State.
After a scoreless first quarter, however, all TSU could do was try to keep up.
GSU posted 28 unanswered points to finish the half, then another 20 to win 48-15. Both of Texas Southern's scores came when the game was already decided.
Junior Grambling State quarterback Bruce Eugene finished with an eye-popping five TD strikes - and no interceptions.
"It felt really good to get back on track," said Eugene, who had his worst day in more than a year last week against Jackson State.
Senior receiver Tramon Douglas' 29-yard reception to the TSU 15 set up the first of six touchdowns by Grambling State, which moved to 6-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's West Division.
Two consecutive TSU mistakes led to 14 more GSU points in the next 10 minutes of play - first a botched snap on a punt, then a blocked punt.
"When they started making mistakes, we went up 21-0 - and that took them out of their ballgame, which was keep away," said GSU coach Doug Williams.
Eugene would also throw Grambling State touchdown passes to Henry Tolbert, Chris Day - and two to Moses Harris. Ab Kauuan added a score on the ground.
Brian Morgan missed a long field-goal attempt as the half ended, but finished Grambling State's first scoring drive of the second half with a 37-yarder to give GSU a 31-point lead. A 41-yard GSU field goal opened the fourth quarter.
Texas Southern added some mild late drama, as the gutsy scrambling of quarterback Gerred Lunnon led to TSU's first points of the day. Kicker Vincent Patrick turned a botched snap on the extra point into a two-point conversion when his pass was bobbled then caught, then fumbled and then recovered by Adam Penna - sending the crowd into a frenzy.
"I'm just sorry we didn't get to it any earlier than we did," said TSU coach Bill Thomas, whose team falls to 3-2 in the SWAC. "Who knows what might have happened?"
TSU briefly subbed Carlos Pierson for Lunnen in the fourth, and he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Damarcus Jenkins - just Texas Southern's second scoring pass on the year.
Lunnon and Pierson had 139 yards passing combined.
Eighty-seven of Texas Southern's 127 yards on the ground came from scrambles by Lunnen.
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Back in really good hands
· A return to form by WR Tramon Douglas allowed GSU's homecoming fans to leave game happy.
November 2, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - This was an afternoon of receiving redemption for senior Tramon Douglas, the day he finally looked like No. 5 again. Thanks to him, Texas Southern will almost surely lose its ranking as the SWAC's No. 1 pass defense.
"Tramon Douglas made two catches that I thought were outstanding," Grambling State coach Doug Williams enthused - still smiling broadly, after broadsiding Texas Southern 48-15.
There was Douglas, still recovering from minor knee surgery, pulling in a dramatic 29-yard catch that set up GSU's first score of the day, five minutes into the second quarter.
There was Douglas, making a heart-splashing, one-handed catch for a first down - then a di-i-i-i-i-iving catch on a 36-yard TD pass to put GSU up 38-0 late in the third quarter.
"I don't even know how he made that one," Williams said. "People were draped all over him."
He led all Grambling State receivers in every quarter of play - finishing with 135 yards, more than his last two games combined.
"He's not all the way back," said GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene, who threw five touchdowns to four receivers on this day. "But he's almost there."
Douglas' problems started in training camp, when the coaching staff thought he had a bruised knee. As the season wore on, the pain worsened - and after Grambling State's Sept. 20 home game, a doctor's visit revealed torn cartilage.
Since the team had a bye week, then two games against SWAC cellar-dwellers, Douglas decided to have the minor surgery four games into his senior year.
He thought he might miss two weeks. The truth is, he wasn't up to speed for more than a month.
"I have pain - Monday through Friday, in practice," Douglas admits. "In the game, though, I really don't feel it.
Yet, while he'd hauled in eight touchdown passes before facing TSU, Douglas had had only one since returning from the knee problem.
Injuries can change players, making them far too reflective. That seemed to be what was happening with Douglas.
"He was not being aggressive," said Melvin Spears, GSU's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. "He was too tentative. It was like he was replaying it in his mind."
Douglas, you'll remember, set a new school mark for receptions in that Sept. 20 game - and on a bum knee - against McNeese State. Tentative is not his style.
Yet, in his first two return appearances, Douglas had just 111 combined yards in receiving - well under half of what he had gained in that record-breaking game alone.
"Tramon has not been giving us what we really need," Williams said. "I don't know whether he is still favoring his leg or not. He needed to play better."
Coaches brought him in - for film work, for long talks.
"There were battles he used to win 100 percent of the time - and now he wasn't," Spears said. "We told him: `You've got to make a determination on whether you are actually ready to participate.' "
The light came on, and he played lights out Saturday - averaging 17 yards per catch. Meaning, when you threw it to Douglas, he moved the chains. Just like the old days.
"I went to the sideline, after his TD catch," Williams said, "and I told him: Now, you look like Tramon Douglas."
These last few games couldn't be more critical for Douglas, as his senior year dwindles away. Several NFL scouts have passed through Grambling State's practices, many more are attending the games - and each expects to catch a glimpse of the SWAC's record holder for receiving yards in a single season. (He eclipsed a mark set in 1984 at Mississippi Valley State by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.)
"I'm thinking - and hoping - that most of Tramon's situation has been in his head," Williams said. "When you have a knee injury, it's not something that you get over. You've got to believe that you're not going to hurt your knee again. I'm hoping he's there."
All through this week, it appeared that he was certainly on this way. Saturday's eight-catch afternoon proved it: Douglas made pinpoint cuts and seemed to have regained his burst off the line - one that looks like he's starting in third gear.
Compare that with his performances at Pine Bluff and JSU, where you saw a player using technique to get open. Nothing wrong with that. But it meant something was missing with GSU's No. 1 target.
"It's something," Douglas said, "that will get better with time. Playing the season, you'll have some injuries. I know I'm not going to be 100 percent. But I've got to play through it."
Grambling State's coaches have let Douglas do that - and it's paid dividends, finally. The talk he had with Williams clearly played a role, too.
Douglas said it was a pride thing.
"He said: `Coach, you called me out,' " Williams recalled. "We had a good heart-to-heart talk. The real Tramon Douglas showed up."
Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. Contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.
GAME RECAP
GOOD PLAY
A highlight-reel, finger-tip interception by senior Grambling State defensive back Octavius Bond in the end zone saved a score to open the game by Texas Southern. The drive was keyed on a 1-yard fourth-down dive by TSU quarterback Gerred Lunnon and a huge penalty in the red zone, when junior GSU linebacker John Petty was charged with a late hit - giving TSU first and goal.
BAD PLAY
TSU's Lunnon, on the first play of the third-quarter drive, took off on a quarterback draw - fooling the Grambling State defense into giving up 22 yards. Lunnon's scrambling play briefly envigorated Texas Southern, which was down by 38 points. Texas Southern ran the same play three more times on that drive - getting 14 yards on one try and, ultimately, a touchdown. A two-point conversion by TSU made it 38-8.
BIG HIT
Two minutes into the game, junior defensive tackle Jimmy Zachary exploded through the line to smack Timothy Boutte on Texas Southern's first drive of the day. Zachary's tackle sent Boutte back two yards, leaving TSU with second-and-two. Zachary later recovered a fumble on the TSU 13 to open the third quarter.
SOMETHING SPECIAL
TSU was still holding slim upset hopes before the half, as it was only down by a touchdown. Then disaster struck on successive drives: Punting from the TSU 40, the snap went wide on punter Adrian Vera. Senior GSU defensive back Travis Massey recovered the fumble at the Texas Southern 20. Then a blocked punt on the next series gave GSU the ball on the TSU 9. Both miscues led to touchdowns.
EXTRA POINT
GSU started slow - again. The difference? Texas Southern started slower. GSU's early inconsistency meant GSU's punters couldn't help the defense much in the first quarter. Texas Southern's second and third drives began at midfield. But TSU had its own problems on offense: Both possessions ended with punts. So, the first quarter was scoreless. But then GSU followed its usual script, piling up 38 points in the second and third periods - all before TSU got its first touchdown of the day.
Tiger bites: Legendary former GSU sports information director Collie J. Nicholson was an honorary captain for the game. ... In the last meeting between Grambling State and TSU, Corey Alexander returned three kickoffs for 186 yards - including a 98-yard touchdown. ... There was an overflow crowd for homecoming at "The Hole," as Robinson Stadium has been dubbed by some of the players. Announced crowd was 21,065.
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GSU seniors close out stellar careers
November 30, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - The Grambling State seniors of 1999 were the last to see their season end in New Orleans.
Each group since has played two weeks after the Bayou Classic in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.
Saturday's slim 44-41 loss to Southern changed that.
"When I look at these players who are in their last Bayou Classic or their last game at Grambling, and what they have contributed, you want to put your arms around them," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "There has been blood, and sweat, and tears."
Two of the hardest-hit seniors were wide reciever Tramon Douglas and linebacker Antoine Smith.
Douglas had his lowest total yards since playing UAPB on Oct. 18, Douglas' first game back after minor knee surgery caused him to miss a month of the season.
Smith was involved in a scary first-half collision that broke his shin.
"It's disappointing because I didn't even finish the second quarter - and it was the last game of my career at Grambling," Smith said. "I was in so much pain it was tough for me to focus on everything that was going on on the field."
Douglas leaves GSU as the school leader in receptions (for a year and in a game), receiving yards and touchdowns - and the SWAC leader for receiving yards in a single season, a record previously held by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
"I love him with all my heart," said GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene, who counted Douglas as his favorite target. "I'm hurting because we went out like this - for this to be his last game."
Douglas had a team-leading nine catches for 83 yards on Saturday.
"It's didn't hit me all week, and now it finally has - I'm losing my top receiver," said GSU receivers coach Sammie White. "We thought we were going to play another one."
Seniors this year include: DE Calvin Arnold; DB Octavius Bond; SS John Brantley; DB Earin Bridges; WR Corey Brownfield; DL Traveres Comegys; WR Calvin Colquitt; TE Gershone Jessie; DB Seneca Lee; and OL Warner Stewart, among others.
"It becomes emotional in that dressing room," Williams said. "I always go back to something my dad used to tell me. We'd sit around, when he was living, and he'd say: `Man, the best of friends must part sometimes.' "
Bond finished with 146 yards on kickoff returns. Colquitt had four catches for 47 yards.
"It hasn't hit them yet," Williams said. "But they will miss Grambling. When Randy Hymes first left, and he was in Baltimore that first year, he'd call me. He'd say: `Coach, I wish I was still at Grambling.' It's just something about it. You missed being there. You miss being a part of it. It takes some getting used to."
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Stopwatch can't measure heart
March 22, 2004
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
He averaged more yards per catch than celebrated Minnesota receivers like Cris Carter, Anthony Carter and Ahmad Rashad.
But Richwood High product Sammy White might never have become a three-time All Pro in today's NFL. He simply wasn't fast enough in a league that now values a player's score on the 40-yard dash more than any intangible.
"It's totally different now," said White, who has been named offensive coordinator at Grambling State, his alma mater. "I think speed is overrated. When it comes down to it, it is all about execution - fast, slow, big, small, you've got to execute."
White, even a step behind Rashad on what would be a Super Bowl team, succeeded because he was all heart.
"He was tougher than boot leather," former Vikings coach Bud Grant once said. "He practiced every week, played every game. He got beat up a little bit, but he was tough."
Certain Hall of Famer Jerry Rice - another former all-Southwestern Athletic Conference receiver - wouldn't have been chosen by these speed-obsessed modern teams. Prospects at positions like defensive tackle are even evaluated by their 40 times today.
That made the running portion of Friday's pro day for Grambling State players all the more important. There, Earin Bridges, Octavius Bond, Calvin Colquitt, Tavares Comegys, Chris Day, Tramon Douglas, Gershone Jessie and Seneca Lee were measured and tested for possible draftability.
They were weighed. They jumped. Some lifted weights.
But it all came down to those four 10-yard lengths to be run at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston.
Douglas, trying to recover from a knee injury in the off-season before his senior year, scored a disappointing 4.84 on his first try - but seemed to have wobbled a bit instead of running in a straight line, something that would have added to his time.
A second run a few minutes later was only slightly better, as Douglas finished at 4.83.
"I've been trying to get to where I was," said a disappointed Douglas, who added that he'd been timing at 4.5 on a track in Houston where he is rehabbing the injury. "A 4.8 kills me, though. It's hurts my pride."
Yet, despite that high number, Douglas is the same player who set a new school record for receptions in a single contest on Sept. 20 - just days before he was forced to have surgery to repair torn meniscus cartilage on his knee.
"In the McNeese game, I was dying out there," Douglas said. "It was like I was a wounded animal - and that's the worst animal you want to mess with. I didn't know if it was going to be my last game and I wanted to give everybody something to think about."
He leaves Grambling State holding every significant school record for receivers - and that's saying something in this pass-first offense.
"If you question his toughness, just look at last year," White said. "He played through pain. He showed he could come through time after time."
In the end, Douglas had the production - he averaged 92 yards a game, despite missing three in 2003 - to warrant a look in the NFL Draft. But he didn't display the speed for the pro scouts.
That 4.8 means Douglas will have to try to get on somewhere after the draft.
The team that takes a chance on Tramon Douglas will be happy it did.
"He's like a Sammy White," Spears said. "He'll make the team, at first, because he's an outstanding special-teams player. Then, they'll discover that he's elusive in the open field - and that he produces."
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HE'S GONE
Grambling passing attack will be minus Douglas
March 27, 2004
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - An injury to departed senior Tramon Douglas early last season taught Grambling State something about its young crew of receivers: There were other talents on the team.
"We showed that we have a great group of receivers," said interim GSU coach Melvin Spears. "It was a blessing, in a way, because they stepped up to the plate when Tramon Douglas wasn't in there."
Spears was promoted from offensive coordinator in February when sixth-year coach Doug Williams left for an NFL job. Spears then promoted receivers coach Sammy White to take over the offense.
They led the Grambling State offense through its first spring drills in an evening session on Friday. The players were so excited about getting started that they began workouts half an hour early. Spring practice continues at 10 a.m. today.
"We've got a really young group of receivers," Spears said. "But they are very talented."
The most experienced wideout - and perhaps speediest - that GSU will work with this spring is senior Moses Harris.
"Under the tutelage of Coach White, he's just going to get better," Spears said.
Harris was the team's second-leading receiver in 2003, with 50 catches for 713 yards and six scores.
Also returning this year: Neville High product Tim Abney, who led the team in average yards per catch among receivers with 10 or more receptions. His six TD grabs as a freshman tied him for second on the team in 2003.
But because of a lingering groin injury, Abney sat out Friday's practice and may miss a large portion of the spring.
One of the most intriguing new receivers is Frank Green, a transfer from East Tennessee State.
"He's another speed merchant," Spears said.
Green had 16 receptions for 242 yards and a touchdown, while also returning a kick for another score last season.
Junior running back Henry Tolbert will also play wide receiver this year, lining up in early spring sessions in the slot.
Look for Paul Hardiman, a redshirt last season, to become more involved in the passing game. A 6-0, 170-pound receiver out of Valley Christian High in Phoenix, Hardiman could have a breakout season based on impressive work in practice.
"He's going to catch the ball," Spears said. "He's a big-time pass catcher. He runs good routes. We're just trying to make sure right now that he knows a little bit more about playing football in the Southwestern Athletic Conference."
Tiger bites: San Jose State has invited Morgan State to play in the second Literary Classic. GSU was the original opponent, but couldn't get terms worked out to continue in 2004. ... Senior receiver Chris Day has been trying to get back a year of eligiblity lost when he sat out the 2002 season, but hasn't gotten an answer from the NCAA yet. Meanwhile, he had a private workout with the Green Bay Packers this week. ... A feature from The (Brandenton, Fla.) Herald on Devil Rays pitcher Dewon Brazelton highlighted his love for throwback jerseys. Included in his collection are three Doug Williams' pieces, one from Tampa Bay and two from Grambling State.
Departed Tramon Douglas
Had 77 catches for 917 yards and 10 TDs last season.
Returning Moses Harris
Had 50 catches for 713 yards and six TDs last season.
Injured Tim Abney
Had 38 catches for 637 yards and six TDs last season.
July 12, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State wide receiver Tramon Douglas' selection to the 2004 East West Shrine Football Classic roster means two distinct things to his coach.
· Douglas' credentials, even before his senior season gets under way, are in order.
· We're back, baby.
"He's been selected before the end of the year," says GSU's Doug Williams, who's quick to note that the game won't be played in San Francisco until January 2004. "That speaks volumes for what he's accomplished. They watched his work - and they liked him."
But Williams, as expected, brings the conversation back around to the big picture for his alma mater.
"He's got a chance to move us back where we used to be," says Williams, who was the MVP of the East West Shrine Game in 1977.
Amazingly, Douglas is the first GSU player selected for the game since fullback Eric Gant a decade ago.
You have to go back to Williams' glory days to find other Tigers who achieved the honor: Wide receiver Carlos Pennywell and defensive back Mike Harris were also invited in 1977; defensive back James Hunter and wide receiver Sammie White (GSU's current receivers coach) in 1976; and defensive tackle Gary "Big Hands" Johnson in 1974.
Douglas is aware of this rarefied company in the Grambling State family.
"I've seen a big difference in him since he's been selected," Williams says. "We've never had problem with Tramon's work habits - but he has stepped it up a notch."
Douglas earns this newest honor after an amazing junior season, where he broke the Southwestern Athletic Conference single-season receiving yards record with 1,704 yards on 92 catches - including 18 touchdowns.
The previous record holder, at 1,682 yards, was a certain Jerry Rice - the future Hall of Famer at San Francisco and Oakland who played collegiately at Mississippi Valley State.
Douglas was a consensus first team All-America selection - named to the Associated Press, the Sports Network and the Sheridan Broadcasting Network teams. He was also a first team All-SWAC selection.
"The East West game is one of the bigger games, along the lines of the Senior Bowl," Williams said. "A lot of the kids who get a chance to play there go on to play on Sundays. The rest of it will be left up to Tramon."
In fact, 86 of last year's roster were named to the NFL Draft or were signed as free agents. At least one East West Shrine Game player was signed by each of the 32 NFL teams.
"What I tried to let him understand is, if you can get this kind of shot, it's a different ballgame," Williams said. "He has to concentrate a little more. He might have to cut back on his fun a little bit."
That shouldn't be hard for the Douglas, a dedicated student who - even while leading Division 1-AA in average receiving yards per game - carried a 3.0 grade-point average. Douglas is also Grambling State's single-season receiving record holder in receptions, yards and touchdowns.
The adjustment comes in a season where every opposing defense is sure to make him the primary focus.
"Here's a kid that had 92 catches last year," Williams says. "But with the quality of guys we have coming back, if he got 65 or 70, he still has done his job. Going into a football game, people now know Tramon. But if the others stand up and do their jobs, he will be just as effective."
LSU's Nick Saban will be the head coach for the East team, while Oklahoma's Bob Stoops will direct the West squad.
All proceeds from the East West Shrine Game support children who receive medical care, at no cost, from the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children throughout North America. To date, the game has raised more than $14 million for Shriners Hospitals.
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GSU's Eugene, Douglas preseason picks
July 17, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The preseason football recognition is stacking up like cordwood at Grambling State University.
Quarterback Bruce Eugene and wide receiver Tramon Douglas - both seniors - have been named as first-team selections to the Sports Network's Division I-AA 2003 preseason All-America team. Douglas was named to the roster of January's East West Shrine Game recently, as well.
"If you look back over the past five years, and what we've done, the guys who are getting this recognition have earned it," says Grambling coach Doug Williams. "Bruce and Tramon deserve all the accolades."
Eugene was third overall in balloting for the first team. In all, 77 players from 12 different conferences were selected to the team, along with one player from an independent program.
Eugene, a 6-1, 245-pound junior, was a consensus offensive player of the year selection by the Pigskin Club of Washington, D.C., Sheridan Sports Network Black College and the SWAC - as well as being named a finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top NCAA Division I-AA offensive player by the Sports Network.
Douglas, meanwhile, led the nation in receiving yards for I-AA, by averaging 142 yards per game. He is also the only person in SWAC history to record more than 1,700 receiving yards in a single season.
Together, they highlighted an explosive Grambling State offense that helped the Tigers to an unprecedented third straight National Black College and Southwestern Athletic Conference championships, with an 11-2 overall record.
Now, it's Williams' job to make sure they don't get weighted down with the awards.
"As coach, I have to protect against them becoming complacent," he says. "It's the same thing I was going through when I was getting them, and Coach Rob told me: `You've got to keep your feet on the ground.' We are fortunate that with people like Bruce and Tramon, they are going to keep their feet firmly planted."
Eugene, a New Orleans native, completed 269-of-543 passes for 4,455 yards including 43 touchdowns while rushing for 535 yards on 137 carries including nine touchdowns.
He also set a pair of SWAC single-season records in both total offensive plays (680) and passing attempts.
Meanwhile, Baton Rouge's Douglas is now also single-season receiving record holder in receptions, yards and touchdowns at GSU.
Williams thinks performances like those from players with another year of eligibility will ensure a few sniffs from the National Football League. The preseason recognition helps, too.
"I think it's a credit to our program," Williams said, "and it's certainly a credit to them."
The Big Sky Conference leads all I-AA leagues by placing 14 players on the Sports Network's I-AA preseason team, including five selected to the first team. Big Sky co-champ and 2002 national quarterfinalist Montana placed two on the initial squad, while Idaho State, Montana State and Northern Arizona each garnered one selection.
Other players of Louisiana interest who made the first-team squad include cornerback Chris Thompson of Nicholls State; and offensive guard Dwight Hudler, linebacker Roderick Royal and defensive tackle John Paul Jones, all of McNeese State.
Linebacker Ryan Garrison of McNeese and safety Lenny Williams of Southern were honorable mention picks.
The Sports Network also administers two awards named for Grambling figures - the Buck Buchanan and Eddie Robinson awards, presented annually to the division's top defensive player and coach, respectively.
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Ball control
GSU's Tramon Douglas does it all again, finally
September 24, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - A record-breaking receiving day for Grambling State's Tramon Douglas, in the end, didn't mean that much to him.
"I would rather have one catch and we win, than have all those catches in a loss," the senior receiver said. GSU fell 31-20 to McNeese State on Saturday, while Douglas set a new school mark with 17 grabs.
What it meant to the team, however, is something else entirely: As goes Douglas, so goes Grambling State.
And, like the offense, Douglas started slowly.
"He's giving us everything he has. He's made some tough catches for us," says Tigers coach Doug Williams. "But that little bruise on his knee hasn't always let him be Tramon Douglas."
He's talking about the Tramon Douglas who averaged nearly eight catches a game in his All-American junior season at Grambling State - on his way to breaking Jerry Rice's Southwestern Athletic Conference single-season receiving yards record with 1,704 yards.
After an opening loss in 2002 against McNeese, when Douglas had only one catch, the Tigers reeled off 10 straight wins - on the way to a third-straight SWAC championship.
But Douglas didn't practice much during the summer, hobbled by that nagging knee problem. The week before GSU's season opener, he wasn't even in pads at practice.
Douglas, of course, started - but again wasn't a factor in Grambling State's second-straight season-opening thrashing, pulling in just two catches for 30 yards as the Tigers were blanked 29-0.
"He's working hard every day. He's not sitting down on it," Williams says. "It's not that anything is torn. It's just one of those bruises that you can't shake."
The loss underscored the complementary nature of Douglas' success and that of his quarterback.
The longer it took Douglas to get healthy, the longer it clearly would take for Bruce Eugene to get on track this year.
The Tigers' impressive showing in this year's rematch against McNeese, the nation's top-ranked Division I-AA school, is just the latest example.
Douglas's 17 catches - only two fewer than all of the other GSU receivers combined - served to keep the game whisker-close until the very end. He broke the previous school record of 16 set by former wideout Nate Singleton against Virginia Union on Sept. 14, 1991.
"I knew the team needed me this game," Douglas says. "I wanted to step up and show them that Grambling can play with the best of them."
He was rewarded with the most rare of honors: Douglas has been named one of The Sports Network's Division I-AA players of the week - the first from the SWAC to receive that designation this season. He also was named one of I-AA.org's All-Stars and the SWAC's co-offensive player of the week.
Something interesting happened, however, as Douglas slowly found his footing.
Grambling State discovered some of its other receivers: Eugene threw to an astounding nine different people in a win over Alabama A&M - including scoring passes to juniors Moses Harris and Chris Day.
"The good part about it is, Moses Harris made some good plays for us," Williams says. "Tim Abney is making tough catches. We're getting a lot of people involved. I was glad to see Chris Day score a TD; that helped his confidence level."
While Douglas was smashing records against McNeese State, Harris and breakout freshman star Abney piled up 125 yards receiving combined.
"We knew coming into this, after Tramon had a breakout season last year, that he wasn't going to be able to get as many passes," Eugene says. "Our focus has been to get other people open, then come to Tramon. So far this year, that's what's been happening."
Still, without his go-to guy, Eugene sometimes looked tentative in the first two games - like he was thinking too much.
"You can't depend on just one guy," Williams says he told Eugene. "He was feeling it. You can't just look Tramon's way, especially when he's not there."
Then that first touchdown finally came - with nine seconds left in the half in Week 2 at Lorman, Miss. The 20-yarder was hauled in, of course, by Douglas.
Grambling State has played better every successive quarter since.
"The fact that Tramon is still not 100 percent has hampered us in certain situations," says Tigers offensive coordinator Melvin Spears. "Overall, though, we've got some guys who can come along. It's just that Bruce has to be a little more patient. Mechanically, he still was not always in a good throwing position. A lot of his pre-snap routine wasn't as good as it has been."
After having scored just that one touchdown in the previous game and a half, Eugene and the Tigers then exploded for 12 scores in the next eight quarters of play.
Eugene-to-Douglas accounts for five of them. Eugene has run in four more by himself.
And so it goes.
"It slowed him down, but one thing about Tramon: He's a fighter. He'll never quit. He'll never give up," Eugene says, sounding ever more confident. "Although the knee isn't 100 percent, he's still going to be out there giving it his all. We're grateful for that."
Getting better
Tramon Douglas has gotten steadily more involved in the Grambling State offense this year, as he's recovered from a lingering knee problem:
· At San Jose State: Two catches, 30 yards, no TDs.
· At Alcorn State: Seven catches, 83 yards, two TDs.
· Vs. Alabama A&M: Six catches, 75 yards, one TD.
· Vs. McNeese State: 17 catches, 216 yards, three TDs.
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Douglas will sit out Prairie View game
October 1, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Grambling State wide receiver Tramon Douglas - coming off minor surgery to torn meniscus cartilage in his knee - won't be starting against Prairie View on Saturday in Dallas.
Not that he doesn't want to.
"I told him yesterday that he should be ready by (the Oct. 11 home game against) Mississippi Valley - and he said, `No, Prairie View,'" sixth-year GSU coach Doug Williams said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
"That's Tramon. He's a tough kid. The type of surgery that he had - on torn cartilage - is usually a two-week type thing with the way doctors go in now. It's not a major process. Basically, he can play - if we coaches let him."
The meniscus is a shock-absorbing cartilage in the middle of the knee.
Douglas leads the SWAC in receiving yards and receptions - with 32 catches for 404 yards and six scores in the first four games of the year. That includes a now-understandably quiet opening week, when he pulled down just two passes for 30 yards.
Douglas - who also leads the SWAC in scoring - says he woke up on Sept. 21, after his record-breaking 17-catch performance against McNeese State, and the pain was simply too great.
He's been playing with what he thought was a bruised knee for weeks. When Douglas went to the doctor that Monday, he found out he'd had the cartilage tear since two-a-days last summer.
"When you want to play - and you want to win - you don't think about it until after the game," Douglas says. "The injury was slowing me down, but I just wanted to help my team."
Douglas mingled with his teammates during Tuesday afternoon practices, taking a short break from rehabbing with laps at Robinson Stadium.
"He running and doing everything else," Williams says. "I still don't think we're going to play him."
That means Tigers quarterback Bruce Eugene will have to continue to spread it around. He has completed passes to eight, then seven receivers in the past two weeks.
"What makes Tramon such a good, clutch receiver is: When it's time to make a play, Tramon knows how to make a play," Williams said. "If we can get the other guys to play and think like Tramon, we'll be a lot further along."
Douglas, for his part, thinks the Tigers will be fine as he finishes healing up.
"Our offense is designed for anybody to make plays. I don't think they are going to miss a beat," Douglas says. "You've got Bruce back there at quarterback - and that's enough right there."
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GSU still in good hands
Young receivers continue making big impact
October 12, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Senior Tramon Douglas rejoined his team briefly Saturday for pregame warmups, under a dark and rolling sky at Robinson Stadium.
Not that Grambling State really needed him against still-winless Mississippi Valley State. GSU breezed to a 45-6 victory.
I've seen the future - though, with just 6,397 in attendance, I was one of the few - and it is Tiger receivers Moses Harris, Tim Abney and Chris Day.
Given an opportunity when Douglas missed a game after minor knee surgery, Abney and Day each caught two touchdowns against Prairie View. Harris answered the call Saturday with an 111-yard day and a touchdown.
"We have had a couple of soldiers down," GSU receivers coach Sammy White said. "But that is no excuse. Everybody in this group should want to be as good as Tramon Douglas."
Over the past two weeks, they have been.
Spreading it around is not only helping Grambling State win football games while their All-American heals up - and win big - it's helping ensure the team's future during quarterback Bruce Eugene's final season in 2004.
"We work together every day in practice, so it depends on my getting the ball there," Eugene said. "You're going to miss Tramon - he's an All-American receiver. He's going to make plays and get open. But this has been a chance for our young receivers to see what we can do without him."
Day, the Troy State transfer, scored on a touchdown pass of 35 yards in the second quarter against Valley. Catches by Day of 25 yards and Abney of 24 yards keyed a Tigers' drive that would make the final score 45-6.
That was the second time running back Ab Kuaan scored - one of five players to reach the end zone for Grambling State.
Not that it started that way.
In fact, it seemed as if Grambling State - loose and effective for the good teams, lazy and disorganized for the bad ones - had only just met in the inflatable Tiger during pre-game ceremonies. That trend was personified in Eugene, benched for not attending class this week.
But, once again, the Tigers shook themselves awake late in the game - primarily through the play of the defense, which held the Devils to negative yardage in the second half.
Even so, the plays that seemed the most important were those by Harris, Day and Abney, a sign of good things to come as the competition gets tougher - and as Douglas approaches the end of his college eligibility."
When somebody goes down, one of the other guys step up," said Harris, a smoking junior from Dallas. "You can't just key in on one person. With our depth, we can't be stopped."
Abney, a former Neville High standout who just turned 19, has became known as a go-to receiver for the tough yards. He was third in team yardage going into the Valley game, trailing only Douglas and Harris.
"There's more than Tramon on this football team," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "Tim has gotten better each week. You're talking about a freshman who has played big for us."
Williams chuckles: "I don't think he even knows what he's doing yet."
His coach is kidding, but a couple of key drops early in the season prove that Abney hasn't quite rounded the learning curve yet.
"He needs a little more patience," said White, a Richwood High alum who started for Minnesota in two NFL championship games, logging a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XI. "He gets in a hurry, once the ball gets to him. Trying to get upfield, he doesn't always secure the ball. That's cost him at least two touchdowns this year. That comes with time."
Harris said he was proud of his play on Saturday, but he's not finished.
"That's to be continued," said Harris, smiling broadly.
Day is clearly gaining confidence with every game, as well.
"When you've got four, five or six guys catching the ball," GSU offensive coordinator Melvin Spears said, "that says a lot about our receiving corps and the job that Coach White is doing. We'll be going to a lot of guys down the stetch."
Douglas, you see, is expected back next week.
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GSU's Douglas returns to take on next SWAC foe
October 18, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - The lethal combination of quarterback Bruce Eugene-to-receiver Tramon Douglas sparked a third consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championship for Grambling State last season.
So, teams at the bottom of the conference standings might have thought they'd found an opening when Eugene's favorite receiver went down for three weeks in September after minor knee surgery.
Not only did GSU's junior signal-caller find new targets, but the Tigers discovered a rushing attack to help close off opponents. They haven't lost a SWAC game, even without their All-American receiver.
Re-enter Douglas - now all healed and, well, pumped.
"When I get back," he said, "it's going to make my job a lot easier. We've got a lot of people now who can step up. Bruce doesn't have to look for me every time now. He's got a lot of weapons to choose from. They won't be able to double team me now."
Pity Prairie View A&M and Mississippi Valley State - neither has a conference win - which nevertheless lost to a hobbled GSU by a combined 110-13 in the last two weeks.
Up next is the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, sitting just above PVAMU in the West standings with a 1-3 SWAC record.
Now, the Golden Lions not only have to worry about the return of the SWAC's best pitch-and-catch tandem, but also a cast-of-thousands receiving crew as a second option - then a dangerous new running game led by sophomore Ab Kuaan, who has 225 yards on the year.
"Working on rushing against some teams that aren't as good is going to help us in the long run, against the Jackson States, the Alabama States - and particularly in the Bayou Classic, where you've got to run the ball," said Melvin Spears, GSU's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
Standing in sharp contrast is Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which has managed just one score and a couple of field goals in two weeks.
"They lost a tough game this past week, 7-6 to Texas Southern," said Grambling State coach Doug Williams. "There wasn't a whole lot of offense."
That also doesn't bode well against a Grambling State team with a resurgent defense.
"Except for some spurts here or there - against McNeese, they missed some tackles - overall, I think they have played pretty well," Williams said. "If the offense can be as consistent as the defense, it makes for a pretty good game."
The return of both Eugene and Douglas for a full game suggests the offense will be.
Eugene sat out the first quarter against MVSU after missing too much class, allowing the Devils to keep the game within one point. He then threw four touchdown passes on the way to an easy 45-6 victory.
Douglas was named a Division I-AA player of the week by the Sports Network after a school-record number of receptions two weeks before against McNeese State, but hasn't played again after surgery to repair torn cartilage.
Still, even with Douglas and Eugene in and out of the lineup, Grambling State remains the No. 1 in SWAC passing offense, first downs, third-down conversions and total offense.
"We won't be able to control the game like we did last Saturday," UAPB coach Lee Hardman told The Pine Bluff (Ark.) Commercial. "But that is the whole goal. We want to control the ball - and keep Eugene off the field."
Good idea: Though he's also missed parts of two other quarters in blowout wins so far, Eugene is still the SWAC's top passer and total offense leader.
"Bruce has worked very hard this week," Spears said. "He's been coming in on his own time, doing some extra conditioning. He knows now that we are very serious about him going to school."
That offense squares off against another of the best defenses in the SWAC, the No. 3 ranked Golden Lions. GSU is the No. 4 defense in the conference.
"I think they have some talent," Spears said. "They mix their scheme up on defense. I'm sure they are expecting us to come in as a wide-open team, trying to adjust to some of the things we did last year. But we've got some wrinkles for them. One of the things that has made us tougher, week-in and week-out, is that there is always a different mix."
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JUST THE FACTS
GRAMBLING - Texas Southern tried to play keep away with Grambling State.
After a scoreless first quarter, however, all TSU could do was try to keep up.
GSU posted 28 unanswered points to finish the half, then another 20 to win 48-15. Both of Texas Southern's scores came when the game was already decided.
Junior Grambling State quarterback Bruce Eugene finished with an eye-popping five TD strikes - and no interceptions.
"It felt really good to get back on track," said Eugene, who had his worst day in more than a year last week against Jackson State.
Senior receiver Tramon Douglas' 29-yard reception to the TSU 15 set up the first of six touchdowns by Grambling State, which moved to 6-0 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference's West Division.
Two consecutive TSU mistakes led to 14 more GSU points in the next 10 minutes of play - first a botched snap on a punt, then a blocked punt.
"When they started making mistakes, we went up 21-0 - and that took them out of their ballgame, which was keep away," said GSU coach Doug Williams.
Eugene would also throw Grambling State touchdown passes to Henry Tolbert, Chris Day - and two to Moses Harris. Ab Kauuan added a score on the ground.
Brian Morgan missed a long field-goal attempt as the half ended, but finished Grambling State's first scoring drive of the second half with a 37-yarder to give GSU a 31-point lead. A 41-yard GSU field goal opened the fourth quarter.
Texas Southern added some mild late drama, as the gutsy scrambling of quarterback Gerred Lunnon led to TSU's first points of the day. Kicker Vincent Patrick turned a botched snap on the extra point into a two-point conversion when his pass was bobbled then caught, then fumbled and then recovered by Adam Penna - sending the crowd into a frenzy.
"I'm just sorry we didn't get to it any earlier than we did," said TSU coach Bill Thomas, whose team falls to 3-2 in the SWAC. "Who knows what might have happened?"
TSU briefly subbed Carlos Pierson for Lunnen in the fourth, and he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Damarcus Jenkins - just Texas Southern's second scoring pass on the year.
Lunnon and Pierson had 139 yards passing combined.
Eighty-seven of Texas Southern's 127 yards on the ground came from scrambles by Lunnen.
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Back in really good hands
· A return to form by WR Tramon Douglas allowed GSU's homecoming fans to leave game happy.
November 2, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - This was an afternoon of receiving redemption for senior Tramon Douglas, the day he finally looked like No. 5 again. Thanks to him, Texas Southern will almost surely lose its ranking as the SWAC's No. 1 pass defense.
"Tramon Douglas made two catches that I thought were outstanding," Grambling State coach Doug Williams enthused - still smiling broadly, after broadsiding Texas Southern 48-15.
There was Douglas, still recovering from minor knee surgery, pulling in a dramatic 29-yard catch that set up GSU's first score of the day, five minutes into the second quarter.
There was Douglas, making a heart-splashing, one-handed catch for a first down - then a di-i-i-i-i-iving catch on a 36-yard TD pass to put GSU up 38-0 late in the third quarter.
"I don't even know how he made that one," Williams said. "People were draped all over him."
He led all Grambling State receivers in every quarter of play - finishing with 135 yards, more than his last two games combined.
"He's not all the way back," said GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene, who threw five touchdowns to four receivers on this day. "But he's almost there."
Douglas' problems started in training camp, when the coaching staff thought he had a bruised knee. As the season wore on, the pain worsened - and after Grambling State's Sept. 20 home game, a doctor's visit revealed torn cartilage.
Since the team had a bye week, then two games against SWAC cellar-dwellers, Douglas decided to have the minor surgery four games into his senior year.
He thought he might miss two weeks. The truth is, he wasn't up to speed for more than a month.
"I have pain - Monday through Friday, in practice," Douglas admits. "In the game, though, I really don't feel it.
Yet, while he'd hauled in eight touchdown passes before facing TSU, Douglas had had only one since returning from the knee problem.
Injuries can change players, making them far too reflective. That seemed to be what was happening with Douglas.
"He was not being aggressive," said Melvin Spears, GSU's offensive coordinator and assistant head coach. "He was too tentative. It was like he was replaying it in his mind."
Douglas, you'll remember, set a new school mark for receptions in that Sept. 20 game - and on a bum knee - against McNeese State. Tentative is not his style.
Yet, in his first two return appearances, Douglas had just 111 combined yards in receiving - well under half of what he had gained in that record-breaking game alone.
"Tramon has not been giving us what we really need," Williams said. "I don't know whether he is still favoring his leg or not. He needed to play better."
Coaches brought him in - for film work, for long talks.
"There were battles he used to win 100 percent of the time - and now he wasn't," Spears said. "We told him: `You've got to make a determination on whether you are actually ready to participate.' "
The light came on, and he played lights out Saturday - averaging 17 yards per catch. Meaning, when you threw it to Douglas, he moved the chains. Just like the old days.
"I went to the sideline, after his TD catch," Williams said, "and I told him: Now, you look like Tramon Douglas."
These last few games couldn't be more critical for Douglas, as his senior year dwindles away. Several NFL scouts have passed through Grambling State's practices, many more are attending the games - and each expects to catch a glimpse of the SWAC's record holder for receiving yards in a single season. (He eclipsed a mark set in 1984 at Mississippi Valley State by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.)
"I'm thinking - and hoping - that most of Tramon's situation has been in his head," Williams said. "When you have a knee injury, it's not something that you get over. You've got to believe that you're not going to hurt your knee again. I'm hoping he's there."
All through this week, it appeared that he was certainly on this way. Saturday's eight-catch afternoon proved it: Douglas made pinpoint cuts and seemed to have regained his burst off the line - one that looks like he's starting in third gear.
Compare that with his performances at Pine Bluff and JSU, where you saw a player using technique to get open. Nothing wrong with that. But it meant something was missing with GSU's No. 1 target.
"It's something," Douglas said, "that will get better with time. Playing the season, you'll have some injuries. I know I'm not going to be 100 percent. But I've got to play through it."
Grambling State's coaches have let Douglas do that - and it's paid dividends, finally. The talk he had with Williams clearly played a role, too.
Douglas said it was a pride thing.
"He said: `Coach, you called me out,' " Williams recalled. "We had a good heart-to-heart talk. The real Tramon Douglas showed up."
Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. Contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.
GAME RECAP
GOOD PLAY
A highlight-reel, finger-tip interception by senior Grambling State defensive back Octavius Bond in the end zone saved a score to open the game by Texas Southern. The drive was keyed on a 1-yard fourth-down dive by TSU quarterback Gerred Lunnon and a huge penalty in the red zone, when junior GSU linebacker John Petty was charged with a late hit - giving TSU first and goal.
BAD PLAY
TSU's Lunnon, on the first play of the third-quarter drive, took off on a quarterback draw - fooling the Grambling State defense into giving up 22 yards. Lunnon's scrambling play briefly envigorated Texas Southern, which was down by 38 points. Texas Southern ran the same play three more times on that drive - getting 14 yards on one try and, ultimately, a touchdown. A two-point conversion by TSU made it 38-8.
BIG HIT
Two minutes into the game, junior defensive tackle Jimmy Zachary exploded through the line to smack Timothy Boutte on Texas Southern's first drive of the day. Zachary's tackle sent Boutte back two yards, leaving TSU with second-and-two. Zachary later recovered a fumble on the TSU 13 to open the third quarter.
SOMETHING SPECIAL
TSU was still holding slim upset hopes before the half, as it was only down by a touchdown. Then disaster struck on successive drives: Punting from the TSU 40, the snap went wide on punter Adrian Vera. Senior GSU defensive back Travis Massey recovered the fumble at the Texas Southern 20. Then a blocked punt on the next series gave GSU the ball on the TSU 9. Both miscues led to touchdowns.
EXTRA POINT
GSU started slow - again. The difference? Texas Southern started slower. GSU's early inconsistency meant GSU's punters couldn't help the defense much in the first quarter. Texas Southern's second and third drives began at midfield. But TSU had its own problems on offense: Both possessions ended with punts. So, the first quarter was scoreless. But then GSU followed its usual script, piling up 38 points in the second and third periods - all before TSU got its first touchdown of the day.
Tiger bites: Legendary former GSU sports information director Collie J. Nicholson was an honorary captain for the game. ... In the last meeting between Grambling State and TSU, Corey Alexander returned three kickoffs for 186 yards - including a 98-yard touchdown. ... There was an overflow crowd for homecoming at "The Hole," as Robinson Stadium has been dubbed by some of the players. Announced crowd was 21,065.
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GSU seniors close out stellar careers
November 30, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - The Grambling State seniors of 1999 were the last to see their season end in New Orleans.
Each group since has played two weeks after the Bayou Classic in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game.
Saturday's slim 44-41 loss to Southern changed that.
"When I look at these players who are in their last Bayou Classic or their last game at Grambling, and what they have contributed, you want to put your arms around them," GSU coach Doug Williams said. "There has been blood, and sweat, and tears."
Two of the hardest-hit seniors were wide reciever Tramon Douglas and linebacker Antoine Smith.
Douglas had his lowest total yards since playing UAPB on Oct. 18, Douglas' first game back after minor knee surgery caused him to miss a month of the season.
Smith was involved in a scary first-half collision that broke his shin.
"It's disappointing because I didn't even finish the second quarter - and it was the last game of my career at Grambling," Smith said. "I was in so much pain it was tough for me to focus on everything that was going on on the field."
Douglas leaves GSU as the school leader in receptions (for a year and in a game), receiving yards and touchdowns - and the SWAC leader for receiving yards in a single season, a record previously held by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
"I love him with all my heart," said GSU quarterback Bruce Eugene, who counted Douglas as his favorite target. "I'm hurting because we went out like this - for this to be his last game."
Douglas had a team-leading nine catches for 83 yards on Saturday.
"It's didn't hit me all week, and now it finally has - I'm losing my top receiver," said GSU receivers coach Sammie White. "We thought we were going to play another one."
Seniors this year include: DE Calvin Arnold; DB Octavius Bond; SS John Brantley; DB Earin Bridges; WR Corey Brownfield; DL Traveres Comegys; WR Calvin Colquitt; TE Gershone Jessie; DB Seneca Lee; and OL Warner Stewart, among others.
"It becomes emotional in that dressing room," Williams said. "I always go back to something my dad used to tell me. We'd sit around, when he was living, and he'd say: `Man, the best of friends must part sometimes.' "
Bond finished with 146 yards on kickoff returns. Colquitt had four catches for 47 yards.
"It hasn't hit them yet," Williams said. "But they will miss Grambling. When Randy Hymes first left, and he was in Baltimore that first year, he'd call me. He'd say: `Coach, I wish I was still at Grambling.' It's just something about it. You missed being there. You miss being a part of it. It takes some getting used to."
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Stopwatch can't measure heart
March 22, 2004
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
He averaged more yards per catch than celebrated Minnesota receivers like Cris Carter, Anthony Carter and Ahmad Rashad.
But Richwood High product Sammy White might never have become a three-time All Pro in today's NFL. He simply wasn't fast enough in a league that now values a player's score on the 40-yard dash more than any intangible.
"It's totally different now," said White, who has been named offensive coordinator at Grambling State, his alma mater. "I think speed is overrated. When it comes down to it, it is all about execution - fast, slow, big, small, you've got to execute."
White, even a step behind Rashad on what would be a Super Bowl team, succeeded because he was all heart.
"He was tougher than boot leather," former Vikings coach Bud Grant once said. "He practiced every week, played every game. He got beat up a little bit, but he was tough."
Certain Hall of Famer Jerry Rice - another former all-Southwestern Athletic Conference receiver - wouldn't have been chosen by these speed-obsessed modern teams. Prospects at positions like defensive tackle are even evaluated by their 40 times today.
That made the running portion of Friday's pro day for Grambling State players all the more important. There, Earin Bridges, Octavius Bond, Calvin Colquitt, Tavares Comegys, Chris Day, Tramon Douglas, Gershone Jessie and Seneca Lee were measured and tested for possible draftability.
They were weighed. They jumped. Some lifted weights.
But it all came down to those four 10-yard lengths to be run at Joe Aillet Stadium in Ruston.
Douglas, trying to recover from a knee injury in the off-season before his senior year, scored a disappointing 4.84 on his first try - but seemed to have wobbled a bit instead of running in a straight line, something that would have added to his time.
A second run a few minutes later was only slightly better, as Douglas finished at 4.83.
"I've been trying to get to where I was," said a disappointed Douglas, who added that he'd been timing at 4.5 on a track in Houston where he is rehabbing the injury. "A 4.8 kills me, though. It's hurts my pride."
Yet, despite that high number, Douglas is the same player who set a new school record for receptions in a single contest on Sept. 20 - just days before he was forced to have surgery to repair torn meniscus cartilage on his knee.
"In the McNeese game, I was dying out there," Douglas said. "It was like I was a wounded animal - and that's the worst animal you want to mess with. I didn't know if it was going to be my last game and I wanted to give everybody something to think about."
He leaves Grambling State holding every significant school record for receivers - and that's saying something in this pass-first offense.
"If you question his toughness, just look at last year," White said. "He played through pain. He showed he could come through time after time."
In the end, Douglas had the production - he averaged 92 yards a game, despite missing three in 2003 - to warrant a look in the NFL Draft. But he didn't display the speed for the pro scouts.
That 4.8 means Douglas will have to try to get on somewhere after the draft.
The team that takes a chance on Tramon Douglas will be happy it did.
"He's like a Sammy White," Spears said. "He'll make the team, at first, because he's an outstanding special-teams player. Then, they'll discover that he's elusive in the open field - and that he produces."
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HE'S GONE
Grambling passing attack will be minus Douglas
March 27, 2004
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - An injury to departed senior Tramon Douglas early last season taught Grambling State something about its young crew of receivers: There were other talents on the team.
"We showed that we have a great group of receivers," said interim GSU coach Melvin Spears. "It was a blessing, in a way, because they stepped up to the plate when Tramon Douglas wasn't in there."
Spears was promoted from offensive coordinator in February when sixth-year coach Doug Williams left for an NFL job. Spears then promoted receivers coach Sammy White to take over the offense.
They led the Grambling State offense through its first spring drills in an evening session on Friday. The players were so excited about getting started that they began workouts half an hour early. Spring practice continues at 10 a.m. today.
"We've got a really young group of receivers," Spears said. "But they are very talented."
The most experienced wideout - and perhaps speediest - that GSU will work with this spring is senior Moses Harris.
"Under the tutelage of Coach White, he's just going to get better," Spears said.
Harris was the team's second-leading receiver in 2003, with 50 catches for 713 yards and six scores.
Also returning this year: Neville High product Tim Abney, who led the team in average yards per catch among receivers with 10 or more receptions. His six TD grabs as a freshman tied him for second on the team in 2003.
But because of a lingering groin injury, Abney sat out Friday's practice and may miss a large portion of the spring.
One of the most intriguing new receivers is Frank Green, a transfer from East Tennessee State.
"He's another speed merchant," Spears said.
Green had 16 receptions for 242 yards and a touchdown, while also returning a kick for another score last season.
Junior running back Henry Tolbert will also play wide receiver this year, lining up in early spring sessions in the slot.
Look for Paul Hardiman, a redshirt last season, to become more involved in the passing game. A 6-0, 170-pound receiver out of Valley Christian High in Phoenix, Hardiman could have a breakout season based on impressive work in practice.
"He's going to catch the ball," Spears said. "He's a big-time pass catcher. He runs good routes. We're just trying to make sure right now that he knows a little bit more about playing football in the Southwestern Athletic Conference."
Tiger bites: San Jose State has invited Morgan State to play in the second Literary Classic. GSU was the original opponent, but couldn't get terms worked out to continue in 2004. ... Senior receiver Chris Day has been trying to get back a year of eligiblity lost when he sat out the 2002 season, but hasn't gotten an answer from the NCAA yet. Meanwhile, he had a private workout with the Green Bay Packers this week. ... A feature from The (Brandenton, Fla.) Herald on Devil Rays pitcher Dewon Brazelton highlighted his love for throwback jerseys. Included in his collection are three Doug Williams' pieces, one from Tampa Bay and two from Grambling State.
Departed Tramon Douglas
Had 77 catches for 917 yards and 10 TDs last season.
Returning Moses Harris
Had 50 catches for 713 yards and six TDs last season.
Injured Tim Abney
Had 38 catches for 637 yards and six TDs last season.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Bayou Classics That Mattered Most
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
More than three decades in, which Bayou Classic games mattered the most? I'm talking turning-point moments. Not just because that particular day was (or wasn't) a big win, but because it had a lasting impact. Leading up to Saturday's Bayou Classic, I'll make my six points:
1980 Bayou Classic
November 19, 2006
SIX: When Mike Williams walked off the Superdome carpet with the most valuable player award after the 1980 Bayou Classic, it marked the end of an era.
The Williams' era.
A quarterback named Williams, either Mike or older brother Doug, had started for Grambling in every Classic until that point - and had won four of the seven MVPs ever given.
GSU had also gone 6-1 against Southern with a Williams under center, falling only in 1979. Five of the Top 6 best-attended games, including Nos. 1-4, occurred during this span, as well.
Doug Williams remembered the very first game, played at Tulane in 1974 while construction of the Superdome was completed:
"I looked around and said: 'What am I doing here?'" he told The News-Star in 2003. "We had 75,000 at a historically black college football game. I was a redshirt freshman, and scared to death. I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn't put too much pressure on me."
Doug Williams would, of course, be named MVP in that game, as well as the third Bayou Classic in 1976. Mike Williams took over in 1978, and won the Classic MVP that season and in 1980.
(Grambling wingback Sammy White, now the program's offensive coordinator, was MVP in 1975, followed by GSU wingback Robert Woods in 1977. Southern quarterback Wilfred Charles was the 1979 honoree.)
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1993 Bayou Classic
November 20, 2006
FIVE: In 1993, rookie Southern coach Pete Richardson stormed into the SWAC - beating his first six league opponents by an average of 30 points. In fact, he'd only stumble once coming into the season-ending Bayou Classic, and that was against out-of-conference foe Nicholls State.
"I voted for him for Coach of the Year," former GSU line coach Billy Manning told The News-Star in 1993. "It's hard to come in and turn a team around like that. ... It all boils down to execution, motivation, technique and preparation. The talent has been there."
Southern had already punched its ticket to the Heritage Bowl, after GSU fell to Alabama State three weeks before. Richardson then topped Eddie Robinson in the 1993 Bayou Classic 31-13 with sophomore quarterback Eric Randall as MVP.
A subsequent bowl win over South Carolina State meant the first-year coach had led Southern to the school's second 11-win season ever, its first SWAC title in 18 years and its first outright championship since 1959.
What followed was a stunning run of dominance for Southern, as Pete eventually took eight straight Classics -- six from Robinson and two from Doug Williams, Rob's eventual successor. He beat Grambling by an average of two touchdowns over that span.
Before Pete, Grambling actually held a 13-6 Classic series lead, and Southern had never won more than two in a row (1981-82 and 1987-88). By 2000, the Richardson had already won four SWAC titles (1993, then 1997-99) -- and pulled ahead in the Classic series, 14-13.
It all started with that 1993 victory.
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1990 Bayou Classic
November 21, 2006
FOUR: In many ways, the 1990 Bayou Classic was somewhat routine, as Grambling won 25-13 - Eddie Robinson's second in a row over Southern coach Gerald Kimble. GSU had, at that point, won 12 of the initial 17 editions.
Only this time, 200 million people had the opportunity to experience the game - not to mention the halftime pageantry - through a new partnership deal with NBC TV.
Former Grambling sports information director Collie J. Nicholson's dream - 12 years after his celebrated 30-year run at GSU ended - had finally been completely realized.
"When Eddie Robinson came to Grambling, people in Lincoln Parish didn't even know where Grambling was," Nicholson told The News-Star in 2003. "It took a long time to build name recognition for the school, during the time of segregation."
This was a guy who used to type up the game stories, then drive 70 miles to Shreveport to wire them all over the country. Now, Nicholson's game was being beamed into every home in America.
GSU quarterback Shawn Burras was the 1990 Classic's MVP, leading a unit that included SWAC offensive player of the year Walter Dean and future NFL receiver Jake Reed. Still, I think my favorite guy from this period is Raymond Smith, the 6-7, 435-pound offensive tackle who so richly earned the nickname: "World."
Oddly enough, despite the addition of television coverage, the 1990 edition turned out to be the highest attended Classic since Southern beat Grambling 22-17 in 1982. The announced crowd of 70,600 was then No. 7 all time.
Nicholson, who was recognized with the Bayou Classic Founder's Award two seasons later, passed earlier this year after experiencing a series of health problems. The press box at Robinson Stadium is named in his honor.
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1992 Bayou Classic
November 22, 2006
THREE: Coaching legends Eddie Robinson and Marino Casem - winners between them of 568 college contests - faced off again, producing another remarkable rivalry game.
And another razor-thin margin.
Three times, they roamed the sidelines at the Bayou Classic. The average margin of victory: 6 points.
This time, GSU won 30-27 before a sold-out crowd of 71,283, the year before Casem moved up to become Southern's athletics director. It was the last time these two Southwestern Athletic Conference legends met on the field.
The Classic's most valuable player was Grambling quarterback Alex Perkins, who would then help craft a 45-15 win over Florida A&M in the Heritage Bowl to win the '92 black college national championship - the final under Robinson. (Current GSU running backs coach Darius Matthews was also on that team.)
This would be the only time Robinson got the better of Casem in New Orleans. Southern beat Grambling by a touchdown in both 1987 and '88. (Southern's Daryl Garner and Chris Scott, respectively, were named MVPs.)
In all, 182,516 people saw these titanic struggles, which led to one of the most famous descriptions of this game from Casem - who called it "the biggest and best thing in all of blackdom."
Known as The Godfather of the SWAC, Casem served as coach and athletics director at both Southern, Alcorn and, for one season early in his coaching career, at Alabama State.
That run included seven football titles at Alcorn, where he set a school record for wins. (Though the two played to a virtual draw over Casem's first decade at Alcorn, Rob eventually established a 13-8 advantage). Casem oversaw another four SWAC championships as AD at Southern, then had another brief tenure in the same position at Alcorn before retiring.
Both Robinson and Casem, who finished with a coaching record of 160-91-8, are now members of the College Football Hall of Fame.
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1975 Bayou Classic
November 23, 2006
TWO: It's not just that this game was the first to be played in the Superdome, which is reason enough.
This one boasted more eventual NFL talent from Grambling than any Bayou Classic ever: Eight starters went on to play three or more years in the pros, and at least 15 were eventually invited to NFL camps.
"Grambling's football tradition is second to none," former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told The News-Star in 1992. "Under Eddie Robinson's leadership, Grambling contributed an unusually large number of players to the NFL."
Wingback Sammy White (Vikings, 1976-86) took handoffs from quarterback Doug Williams (Buccaneers, 1978-83; and Redskins, 1986-89). Now GSU's offensive coordinator, White was named the game's most valuable player.
Williams also had Dwight Scales (Rams, 1976-79; Chargers, 1981-83; and Seahawks, 1984) as a top target. Big Ron Singleton (Chargers, 1976; and Niners, 1977-80) would play both tight end and offensive tackle. The group scored 33 points that year on Charlie Bates' Jaguars, thrilling a crowd of 73,214 at the Dome.
Defensive back James Hunter (Lions, 1976-82) and linebacker Robert Pennywell (Niners, 1976; and Falcons, 1977-80) led a unit that held Southern to 17 points. The defensive line was anchored by Robert Barber (Packers, 1976-80) and Michael St. Claire (Browns, 1976-79; and Bengals, 1980-82).
Others from this amazingly talented Tiger team who appeared on NFL rosters included offensive tackle Larry Favorite (Falcons); defensive end Arthur Gilliam (Broncos); defensive tackle Jessie O'Neal (Oilers, Seahawks and Redskins); offensive lineman Robert Simon (Oilers); defensive backs Eugene Williams (Jets) and Michael Harris (Eagles, Jets and Steelers); and center Billy Manning (Saints) -- who later became an assistant under Robinson.
The Bayou Classic would be played another 29 times at the Superdome before Hurricane Katrina rendered the facility unplayable in 2005. After a one-year hiatus at Houston's Reliant Stadium, the contest returns home this year.
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1997 Bayou Classic
November 24, 2006
ONE: There would be no stopping Southern's Pete Richardson, then in the midst of eight years of domination in New Orleans.
Nevertheless, Eddie Robinson's final game, after 57 seasons at Grambling, provided the proper send off to college football's winningest coach.
The NBC broadcast included several features chronicling his storied career. Tributes flowed in from then President Bill Clinton, fellow coaches like Penn State's Joe Paterno and a bevy of former players.
More than 300 media credentials were issued, and they quickly scattered out to interview the likes of Willie Davis, Charles "Tank" Smith, Elfrid Payton, Henry Dyer, Mike Williams, James Hunter, and others.
The build up threatened to subsume the Bayou Classic itself.
Of course, Robinson took it all in stride: "I'm really not trying to think of this game as my last," he told The News-Star in 1997. "It's there in the back of my mind, but I'm really just trying to take this as just the next game we have to try to win."
That didn't happen, as Southern dispatched GSU, 30-7.
Even so, there were other numbers threading through the four-hour broadcast, staggering numbers - 408 wins in 587 games, 17 SWAC titles and 210 players in the NFL. Hundreds, if not thousands of young men, with a road map to life in the form of a college degree.
In carrying the game, NBC shared the story of Eddie Robinson with the world one final time.
The 1997 Classic was one instance - this year, with the return to New Orleans, is another - when it seemed appropriate that the game turned into a sideshow. Robinson's towering achievements deserved no less.
Also considered: 2004 Bayou Classic, an upset win by Grambling that sent Richardson into a tailspin. Then the reigning SWAC champion, the Jaguars went on to lose in the '04 title match and haven't had a winning season since. ... 1974 Bayou Classic, the first ever held. This game was held at Tulane Stadium while construction of the Superdome continued. ... 2006 Bayou Classic, which is set to include an emotional homecoming in New Orleans, a year after Hurricane Katrina.
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
More than three decades in, which Bayou Classic games mattered the most? I'm talking turning-point moments. Not just because that particular day was (or wasn't) a big win, but because it had a lasting impact. Leading up to Saturday's Bayou Classic, I'll make my six points:
1980 Bayou Classic
November 19, 2006
SIX: When Mike Williams walked off the Superdome carpet with the most valuable player award after the 1980 Bayou Classic, it marked the end of an era.
The Williams' era.
A quarterback named Williams, either Mike or older brother Doug, had started for Grambling in every Classic until that point - and had won four of the seven MVPs ever given.
GSU had also gone 6-1 against Southern with a Williams under center, falling only in 1979. Five of the Top 6 best-attended games, including Nos. 1-4, occurred during this span, as well.
Doug Williams remembered the very first game, played at Tulane in 1974 while construction of the Superdome was completed:
"I looked around and said: 'What am I doing here?'" he told The News-Star in 2003. "We had 75,000 at a historically black college football game. I was a redshirt freshman, and scared to death. I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn't put too much pressure on me."
Doug Williams would, of course, be named MVP in that game, as well as the third Bayou Classic in 1976. Mike Williams took over in 1978, and won the Classic MVP that season and in 1980.
(Grambling wingback Sammy White, now the program's offensive coordinator, was MVP in 1975, followed by GSU wingback Robert Woods in 1977. Southern quarterback Wilfred Charles was the 1979 honoree.)
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1993 Bayou Classic
November 20, 2006
FIVE: In 1993, rookie Southern coach Pete Richardson stormed into the SWAC - beating his first six league opponents by an average of 30 points. In fact, he'd only stumble once coming into the season-ending Bayou Classic, and that was against out-of-conference foe Nicholls State.
"I voted for him for Coach of the Year," former GSU line coach Billy Manning told The News-Star in 1993. "It's hard to come in and turn a team around like that. ... It all boils down to execution, motivation, technique and preparation. The talent has been there."
Southern had already punched its ticket to the Heritage Bowl, after GSU fell to Alabama State three weeks before. Richardson then topped Eddie Robinson in the 1993 Bayou Classic 31-13 with sophomore quarterback Eric Randall as MVP.
A subsequent bowl win over South Carolina State meant the first-year coach had led Southern to the school's second 11-win season ever, its first SWAC title in 18 years and its first outright championship since 1959.
What followed was a stunning run of dominance for Southern, as Pete eventually took eight straight Classics -- six from Robinson and two from Doug Williams, Rob's eventual successor. He beat Grambling by an average of two touchdowns over that span.
Before Pete, Grambling actually held a 13-6 Classic series lead, and Southern had never won more than two in a row (1981-82 and 1987-88). By 2000, the Richardson had already won four SWAC titles (1993, then 1997-99) -- and pulled ahead in the Classic series, 14-13.
It all started with that 1993 victory.
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1990 Bayou Classic
November 21, 2006
FOUR: In many ways, the 1990 Bayou Classic was somewhat routine, as Grambling won 25-13 - Eddie Robinson's second in a row over Southern coach Gerald Kimble. GSU had, at that point, won 12 of the initial 17 editions.
Only this time, 200 million people had the opportunity to experience the game - not to mention the halftime pageantry - through a new partnership deal with NBC TV.
Former Grambling sports information director Collie J. Nicholson's dream - 12 years after his celebrated 30-year run at GSU ended - had finally been completely realized.
"When Eddie Robinson came to Grambling, people in Lincoln Parish didn't even know where Grambling was," Nicholson told The News-Star in 2003. "It took a long time to build name recognition for the school, during the time of segregation."
This was a guy who used to type up the game stories, then drive 70 miles to Shreveport to wire them all over the country. Now, Nicholson's game was being beamed into every home in America.
GSU quarterback Shawn Burras was the 1990 Classic's MVP, leading a unit that included SWAC offensive player of the year Walter Dean and future NFL receiver Jake Reed. Still, I think my favorite guy from this period is Raymond Smith, the 6-7, 435-pound offensive tackle who so richly earned the nickname: "World."
Oddly enough, despite the addition of television coverage, the 1990 edition turned out to be the highest attended Classic since Southern beat Grambling 22-17 in 1982. The announced crowd of 70,600 was then No. 7 all time.
Nicholson, who was recognized with the Bayou Classic Founder's Award two seasons later, passed earlier this year after experiencing a series of health problems. The press box at Robinson Stadium is named in his honor.
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1992 Bayou Classic
November 22, 2006
THREE: Coaching legends Eddie Robinson and Marino Casem - winners between them of 568 college contests - faced off again, producing another remarkable rivalry game.
And another razor-thin margin.
Three times, they roamed the sidelines at the Bayou Classic. The average margin of victory: 6 points.
This time, GSU won 30-27 before a sold-out crowd of 71,283, the year before Casem moved up to become Southern's athletics director. It was the last time these two Southwestern Athletic Conference legends met on the field.
The Classic's most valuable player was Grambling quarterback Alex Perkins, who would then help craft a 45-15 win over Florida A&M in the Heritage Bowl to win the '92 black college national championship - the final under Robinson. (Current GSU running backs coach Darius Matthews was also on that team.)
This would be the only time Robinson got the better of Casem in New Orleans. Southern beat Grambling by a touchdown in both 1987 and '88. (Southern's Daryl Garner and Chris Scott, respectively, were named MVPs.)
In all, 182,516 people saw these titanic struggles, which led to one of the most famous descriptions of this game from Casem - who called it "the biggest and best thing in all of blackdom."
Known as The Godfather of the SWAC, Casem served as coach and athletics director at both Southern, Alcorn and, for one season early in his coaching career, at Alabama State.
That run included seven football titles at Alcorn, where he set a school record for wins. (Though the two played to a virtual draw over Casem's first decade at Alcorn, Rob eventually established a 13-8 advantage). Casem oversaw another four SWAC championships as AD at Southern, then had another brief tenure in the same position at Alcorn before retiring.
Both Robinson and Casem, who finished with a coaching record of 160-91-8, are now members of the College Football Hall of Fame.
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1975 Bayou Classic
November 23, 2006
TWO: It's not just that this game was the first to be played in the Superdome, which is reason enough.
This one boasted more eventual NFL talent from Grambling than any Bayou Classic ever: Eight starters went on to play three or more years in the pros, and at least 15 were eventually invited to NFL camps.
"Grambling's football tradition is second to none," former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue told The News-Star in 1992. "Under Eddie Robinson's leadership, Grambling contributed an unusually large number of players to the NFL."
Wingback Sammy White (Vikings, 1976-86) took handoffs from quarterback Doug Williams (Buccaneers, 1978-83; and Redskins, 1986-89). Now GSU's offensive coordinator, White was named the game's most valuable player.
Williams also had Dwight Scales (Rams, 1976-79; Chargers, 1981-83; and Seahawks, 1984) as a top target. Big Ron Singleton (Chargers, 1976; and Niners, 1977-80) would play both tight end and offensive tackle. The group scored 33 points that year on Charlie Bates' Jaguars, thrilling a crowd of 73,214 at the Dome.
Defensive back James Hunter (Lions, 1976-82) and linebacker Robert Pennywell (Niners, 1976; and Falcons, 1977-80) led a unit that held Southern to 17 points. The defensive line was anchored by Robert Barber (Packers, 1976-80) and Michael St. Claire (Browns, 1976-79; and Bengals, 1980-82).
Others from this amazingly talented Tiger team who appeared on NFL rosters included offensive tackle Larry Favorite (Falcons); defensive end Arthur Gilliam (Broncos); defensive tackle Jessie O'Neal (Oilers, Seahawks and Redskins); offensive lineman Robert Simon (Oilers); defensive backs Eugene Williams (Jets) and Michael Harris (Eagles, Jets and Steelers); and center Billy Manning (Saints) -- who later became an assistant under Robinson.
The Bayou Classic would be played another 29 times at the Superdome before Hurricane Katrina rendered the facility unplayable in 2005. After a one-year hiatus at Houston's Reliant Stadium, the contest returns home this year.
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1997 Bayou Classic
November 24, 2006
ONE: There would be no stopping Southern's Pete Richardson, then in the midst of eight years of domination in New Orleans.
Nevertheless, Eddie Robinson's final game, after 57 seasons at Grambling, provided the proper send off to college football's winningest coach.
The NBC broadcast included several features chronicling his storied career. Tributes flowed in from then President Bill Clinton, fellow coaches like Penn State's Joe Paterno and a bevy of former players.
More than 300 media credentials were issued, and they quickly scattered out to interview the likes of Willie Davis, Charles "Tank" Smith, Elfrid Payton, Henry Dyer, Mike Williams, James Hunter, and others.
The build up threatened to subsume the Bayou Classic itself.
Of course, Robinson took it all in stride: "I'm really not trying to think of this game as my last," he told The News-Star in 1997. "It's there in the back of my mind, but I'm really just trying to take this as just the next game we have to try to win."
That didn't happen, as Southern dispatched GSU, 30-7.
Even so, there were other numbers threading through the four-hour broadcast, staggering numbers - 408 wins in 587 games, 17 SWAC titles and 210 players in the NFL. Hundreds, if not thousands of young men, with a road map to life in the form of a college degree.
In carrying the game, NBC shared the story of Eddie Robinson with the world one final time.
The 1997 Classic was one instance - this year, with the return to New Orleans, is another - when it seemed appropriate that the game turned into a sideshow. Robinson's towering achievements deserved no less.
Also considered: 2004 Bayou Classic, an upset win by Grambling that sent Richardson into a tailspin. Then the reigning SWAC champion, the Jaguars went on to lose in the '04 title match and haven't had a winning season since. ... 1974 Bayou Classic, the first ever held. This game was held at Tulane Stadium while construction of the Superdome continued. ... 2006 Bayou Classic, which is set to include an emotional homecoming in New Orleans, a year after Hurricane Katrina.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Bayou Classic 2002
GSU's Williams stays busy in Classic week
November 30, 2002
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
He admits, with some relish, to being a busy man.
Mostly, it seems, Grambling coach Doug Williams has been busy answering the door. He was just starting to warm to his subject - the words tumbling out like a solo, the thoughts connecting underneath like a rhythm.
Then it came, again. The knocking.
This being Bayou Classic week, football can occasionally be the least of his concerns.
"Bruce Eugene," Williams said, trying to start over. Knock, knock.
Williams settled back down into his chair. "Yeah," he yelled.
The door opened, this time bringing someone with something that needed signing. Outside Williams' office, there was a noisy war room of assistant coaches and players.
This uproar seems to be both natural and enjoyable to Williams. It hadn't been any quieter inside. Watching him talk, I had a memory of Keith Jarrett - who sometimes will become so engrossed in a piano solo that he'll actually come up off the piano bench.
Jazz will do that. Football, at least for Williams, does too. (Rarely moreso than this year, I'd guess.) Even before this latest interruption, there were only rare moments of stillness. Talking about his team, Williams leaned forward. He swung around. He looked about in wonder, sometimes.
His body language spoke of an enthused realization: How far they'd come! There would be no laurel resting for the winners of the 2001 Bayou Classic, though. An angry gunmetal sky and the occasional sharp droplet of rain wouldn't stop offensive coordinator Melvin Spears from running the Tigers through their paces.
Earlier he had appeared, determined to get the team up and running in a nearby gym. "We won't be playing outside anyway," Spears said, and chuckled.
The reason for all this furious activity: Grambling's biggest game of the year gets bigger every year. There were SWAC lists to fax over, travel details to iron out, national media arrangements to be made, rosters and conference calls and hotel reservations.
Meaning, sometimes there's very little football. So, it's obviously an enjoyable break for Williams, this simple talk of emerging young stars, and tough contests won, and the stringing together of championships - and, yeah, that time I cautiously picked Jackson State to win.
They didn't, of course. Grambling, we know now, would not lose a game after August. This is all the more surprising when you consider that the Tigers had leaked out most of a starting lineup through graduation.
But Williams (knock, knock) can't get on a good (ring, ring) improvisational run. At one point, the phone behind his desk and the cell phone on his hip had jumped to life at nearly the exact same moment. His trains of thought were jackknifing so badly that the conversation had to be continued after lunch.
"Busy?" he said to one caller, chuckling. "I'm busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger."
Each of Williams' visitors passes under a single rough-hewn word, fashioned from black electrical tape over the door. "WIN," it shouts.
Williams said he hopes to do that this year, even as he reminisced a little. He played in the first Bayou Classic, a 1974 win earned out in the open of Tulane Stadium. "It was," Williams said, like a low trombone pull, "football, then."
Not anymore. In one half hour, Williams took three, six, 12 calls - an insistent jangle that would have made John Coltrane wince.
The enormity of an event like this might overwhelm someone else. After all, the alumni at Grambling would accept a one-win season every year … if that win was against Southern.
But Doug Williams, it's clear, likes this furious bebop - the never-ebbing flow of a busy Bayou Classic week. His broad smile says: The wallpaper will get hung.
Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. You can contact him at 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewssstar.com.
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SUn again puts the heat on GSU
December 1, 2002
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - The morning forecast here called for rain. What followed for Grambling State was an afternoon of pain.
Ominous fog hung over the top of the Superdome early Saturday. A light drizzle fell at an angle, pushed by sharply cold winds.
The Tigers would have to weather their own storm inside: Another slow start in a season that has seen several. That proved all the opening a hungry Southern team needed, as the Jaguars got up early and then ran away with the game. The Jaguars moved ahead in the overall Bayou Classic series by one game.
This complacent-looking Tiger team - coming off five straight games where it scored 34 or more points - made it easier by putting up just 3 points in the first half.
Coach Doug Williams stood in the Grambling end zone, an hour before kickoff, watching the Tigers go through their pre-game progressions. He might have seen the clouds building, even then.
"One thing we tried to warn them was that this is a very emotional football game," Williams said. "We had to get the upper hand. But they got it - and they got the momentum on their side. They played a hell of a ballgame."
With a trip to the conference championship game secured, another GSU squad fell into an age-old trap: Overlooking an always well-coached Southern team.
"It seems," said senior defensive lineman Willie Gray, "that we play down to the competition." Grambling simply didn't have the fire and emotion that Southern did, even before the Jaguars' canny on-side kick to start the game. The Jaguars were whooping it up, feeding off a partisan crowd that streamed in early.
That seemed to be the difference - as the Tigers couldn't get anything going. They couldn't even get a break. Kicker Colby Miller's third extra-point try hit the goal post, yet it still tumbled in. Later, Gray could only shake his head at the thought.
This game was an opportunity lost for a team that should have played better. The Jaguars knew it. Southern linebacker Lendrick Francois hugged a visibly emotional Eugene at midfield after the game: "Y'all are just getting started," he said. "Get you a ring."
That clearly was first and foremost on the minds of the Grambling players - and, right or wrong, it cost them this huge in-state game.
Tramon Douglas said as much: "You've got to move on. Our main goal was to get to the championship."
Southern's 6-0 lead at the end of first quarter was particularly deceptive. The score doesn't indicate how decisively the Jaguars were winning, while GSU wandered.
Case in point: The Tigers muffed their first kickoff reception, ending up inside the GSU 10. Next, Eugene had to scramble to recover a fumble on the snap. Five plays later, another mishandled snap gave the ball back the Jaguars.
No points were being added with this furious to-and-fro. But Southern was clearly gathering itself for a late-game run.
"We turned the ball over - and Southern capitalized," Douglas said. "We were a little out of sync."
The Tigers had a brief resurgence, as Eugene came alive with two TD tosses in the third. But each was answered by a Southern countermove.
The final turning point came when Eugene had a tipped pass intercepted, just as the Tigers had pulled to within a touchdown.
"It was big, momentum-wise," Eugene said, of the tip. "But that's the way it goes."
He paused. "That's the way it goes."
He's right: A Bayou Classic series tied at 14 apiece after 29 years vividly illustrates the evenly matched nature of this contest.
Anyone can win, regardless of record. Especially if you spot them the momentum.
That happened on an dark and stormy Saturday, as Southern - a team that reached .500 with the win - handed the three-time SWAC West champs their first loss since opening week.
Before the Tigers could get their umbrellas opened, a Bayou Classic victory was draining away in rivulets.
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GSU's Eugene breaks passing mark
The Tigers' signal-caller has 40 TD passes on the regular season
December 1, 2002
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - Grambling quarterback Bruce Eugene came into the Bayou Classic needing just one touchdown to tie Doug Williams's 1977 record of 38 scoring throws in a season.
He didn't much care.
"I don't think about the accolades when I am on the field," he said, after Grambling fell 48-24. "All the accolades are good, but when I'm on the field, it's just me and my 11 guys."
While Eugene moved the chains for the Tigers early, more often than not it was on the ground. A memorable first-quarter play had a Southern defender's helmet popping off after he tried to tackle Eugene. The sophomore quarterback then rumbled for the Tigers' initial first down.
That wasn't getting Eugene any records, however. And it wasn't winning the game for Grambling. Eugene was worried about the second part: "Stats don't mean anything," he said. "The only thing that matters is the score."
Near misses in the first half included a key drop by Thyron Anderson with 3:31 left that looked like a sure TD.
Eugene finally hit Tramon Douglas early in the third quarter, a strike that pulled Grambling to within a nine points. He then threw well for several series, but great defensive plays by Southern kept Eugene stuck at 38 TD passes - until deep into the third quarter.
An 18-yard touchdown to senior wide reciever D.J. Clay with 6:12 left finally pushed Eugene past Williams.
"I broke it," a clearly dejected Eugene said, with little joy. "But a record is only good if you come out a winner - and we came out a loser. So I can't enjoy the record."
He tacked on another pass to Gershone Jessie that made it 40 TDs overall.
"I'm glad for Bruce Eugene," Williams said - though, he added: "I wish he didn't throw any and we had won."
The performance puts the finishing touches on a stunning statistical season, one that saw an avalanche of GSU records tumble.
Douglas passed the school marks for receiving touchdowns, receptions for a junior, and receptions and receiving yards in a season. All of those records were previously held by Scotty Anderson.
Eugene also broke the GSU record for most passing yards as a sophomore, set in 1993 by Kenneth Nord. He passed Williams' 1977 mark for passing yards in a season, too.
Eugene holds the school records for most passes attemped, most passes completed and most passing touchdowns in a season - again, surpassing Williams.
"I think Bruce Eugene deserves everything he's gotten this year - and will get," Williams said.
Time is on their side: A history of lengthy Classics continued Saturday, with the first quarter alone lasting 51 minutes.
The second quarter clocked in at 52 minutes, followed by a 25-minute halftime show. The 63-minute third quarter led to a 50-minute fourth, for a grand total of 4 hours and 8 minutes.
Injury report: A tough season for Southern quarterback Quincy Richard continued. He briefly left the game with 5:15 left in the third after a nasty hit by GSU's Terry Cooper.
The junior had already been knocked out of two previous Southern games - against Tulane and, in the season opener, against Nicholls State.
Ironically, Richard lost his redshirt in 1999's Bayou Classic, when he came in for an injured Terrence Levy.
Tiger tidbits: Grambling appeared in never-before-seen uniforms. The Tigers' jerseys and pants were white; the numbers were black with gold trim. "I like the new threads," said receiver Tramon Douglas, "but I don't like what we did in them today." Stripes on the hips and shoulder pads were similar to the University of Miami's uniform. ... As the home team this year, Southern's band appeared before the game and performed the National Anthem. ... Three scouts from the New Orleans Saints attended the game, looking for prospective young players.
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Williams dominates All-Time Bayou Team
December 1, 2002
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State football coach Doug Williams received the most votes for the All-Time Bayou Classic Team from Grambling after polling ended Saturday.
Votes were taken online at thenews-star.com's Bayou Classic page; visitors were allowed to vote multiple times.
Members of the All-Time Tiger Team, along with other selections, are:
· Quarterback: Williams, 75.3 percent; Randy Hymes, 17.3 percent; Clemente Gordon, 6.2 percent; and Mike Williams, 1.2 percent.
· Receivers (two): Scotty Anderson, 60.4 percent; Sammie White, 45.5 percent; Levi Washington, 36.4 percent; Nate Singleton, 20.8 percent; Jake Reed, 16.7 percent; Robert Woods, 13.2 percent; Silas Payne, 5.7 percent; and Ellis Spears, 1.5 percent.
· Running back: Wayne Hill and Brad Hill tied, each with 50 percent of the vote.
· Tight end: Andrew Glover, 72.3 percent; Mike Moore, 27.7 percent.
· Special teams: Trumaine Johnson, 62.2 percent; Kalvin Pearson, 17.8 percent; Ardashir Nobahar, 11.1 percent; Frank Bailey, 6.7 percent; and Lawrence Richmond, 2.2 percent.
· Cornerbacks (two): Calvin Spears, 79.1 percent; Everson Walls, 61.7 percent; Albert Lewis, 38.3 percent; and Thomas Griffin, 20.9 percent.
· Linebackers (two): Robert Taylor, 91.8 percent; Robert Pennywell, 60.5 percent; Terrance Dukes, 39.5 percent; and Valmond Brown, 8.2 percent.
· Also receiving votes: linebacker Fred Collins Jr.; tight end Tracey Green; quarterback Kendrick Nord; cornerbacks James Hunter, Ivan Geralds, Ivan Webb and Shane Oubre; running backs Walter Dean, Eric Gant and Robert Parham; wide recievers Dwight Scales, Fred Jones and Calvin Nicholas; and special teams players Bennie Thompson, Keith Smyre, Gerald Broadway, Jorge Rosales, Brandon Simpson and Dwayne Jupiter.
November 30, 2002
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
He admits, with some relish, to being a busy man.
Mostly, it seems, Grambling coach Doug Williams has been busy answering the door. He was just starting to warm to his subject - the words tumbling out like a solo, the thoughts connecting underneath like a rhythm.
Then it came, again. The knocking.
This being Bayou Classic week, football can occasionally be the least of his concerns.
"Bruce Eugene," Williams said, trying to start over. Knock, knock.
Williams settled back down into his chair. "Yeah," he yelled.
The door opened, this time bringing someone with something that needed signing. Outside Williams' office, there was a noisy war room of assistant coaches and players.
This uproar seems to be both natural and enjoyable to Williams. It hadn't been any quieter inside. Watching him talk, I had a memory of Keith Jarrett - who sometimes will become so engrossed in a piano solo that he'll actually come up off the piano bench.
Jazz will do that. Football, at least for Williams, does too. (Rarely moreso than this year, I'd guess.) Even before this latest interruption, there were only rare moments of stillness. Talking about his team, Williams leaned forward. He swung around. He looked about in wonder, sometimes.
His body language spoke of an enthused realization: How far they'd come! There would be no laurel resting for the winners of the 2001 Bayou Classic, though. An angry gunmetal sky and the occasional sharp droplet of rain wouldn't stop offensive coordinator Melvin Spears from running the Tigers through their paces.
Earlier he had appeared, determined to get the team up and running in a nearby gym. "We won't be playing outside anyway," Spears said, and chuckled.
The reason for all this furious activity: Grambling's biggest game of the year gets bigger every year. There were SWAC lists to fax over, travel details to iron out, national media arrangements to be made, rosters and conference calls and hotel reservations.
Meaning, sometimes there's very little football. So, it's obviously an enjoyable break for Williams, this simple talk of emerging young stars, and tough contests won, and the stringing together of championships - and, yeah, that time I cautiously picked Jackson State to win.
They didn't, of course. Grambling, we know now, would not lose a game after August. This is all the more surprising when you consider that the Tigers had leaked out most of a starting lineup through graduation.
But Williams (knock, knock) can't get on a good (ring, ring) improvisational run. At one point, the phone behind his desk and the cell phone on his hip had jumped to life at nearly the exact same moment. His trains of thought were jackknifing so badly that the conversation had to be continued after lunch.
"Busy?" he said to one caller, chuckling. "I'm busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger."
Each of Williams' visitors passes under a single rough-hewn word, fashioned from black electrical tape over the door. "WIN," it shouts.
Williams said he hopes to do that this year, even as he reminisced a little. He played in the first Bayou Classic, a 1974 win earned out in the open of Tulane Stadium. "It was," Williams said, like a low trombone pull, "football, then."
Not anymore. In one half hour, Williams took three, six, 12 calls - an insistent jangle that would have made John Coltrane wince.
The enormity of an event like this might overwhelm someone else. After all, the alumni at Grambling would accept a one-win season every year … if that win was against Southern.
But Doug Williams, it's clear, likes this furious bebop - the never-ebbing flow of a busy Bayou Classic week. His broad smile says: The wallpaper will get hung.
Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. You can contact him at 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewssstar.com.
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SUn again puts the heat on GSU
December 1, 2002
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - The morning forecast here called for rain. What followed for Grambling State was an afternoon of pain.
Ominous fog hung over the top of the Superdome early Saturday. A light drizzle fell at an angle, pushed by sharply cold winds.
The Tigers would have to weather their own storm inside: Another slow start in a season that has seen several. That proved all the opening a hungry Southern team needed, as the Jaguars got up early and then ran away with the game. The Jaguars moved ahead in the overall Bayou Classic series by one game.
This complacent-looking Tiger team - coming off five straight games where it scored 34 or more points - made it easier by putting up just 3 points in the first half.
Coach Doug Williams stood in the Grambling end zone, an hour before kickoff, watching the Tigers go through their pre-game progressions. He might have seen the clouds building, even then.
"One thing we tried to warn them was that this is a very emotional football game," Williams said. "We had to get the upper hand. But they got it - and they got the momentum on their side. They played a hell of a ballgame."
With a trip to the conference championship game secured, another GSU squad fell into an age-old trap: Overlooking an always well-coached Southern team.
"It seems," said senior defensive lineman Willie Gray, "that we play down to the competition." Grambling simply didn't have the fire and emotion that Southern did, even before the Jaguars' canny on-side kick to start the game. The Jaguars were whooping it up, feeding off a partisan crowd that streamed in early.
That seemed to be the difference - as the Tigers couldn't get anything going. They couldn't even get a break. Kicker Colby Miller's third extra-point try hit the goal post, yet it still tumbled in. Later, Gray could only shake his head at the thought.
This game was an opportunity lost for a team that should have played better. The Jaguars knew it. Southern linebacker Lendrick Francois hugged a visibly emotional Eugene at midfield after the game: "Y'all are just getting started," he said. "Get you a ring."
That clearly was first and foremost on the minds of the Grambling players - and, right or wrong, it cost them this huge in-state game.
Tramon Douglas said as much: "You've got to move on. Our main goal was to get to the championship."
Southern's 6-0 lead at the end of first quarter was particularly deceptive. The score doesn't indicate how decisively the Jaguars were winning, while GSU wandered.
Case in point: The Tigers muffed their first kickoff reception, ending up inside the GSU 10. Next, Eugene had to scramble to recover a fumble on the snap. Five plays later, another mishandled snap gave the ball back the Jaguars.
No points were being added with this furious to-and-fro. But Southern was clearly gathering itself for a late-game run.
"We turned the ball over - and Southern capitalized," Douglas said. "We were a little out of sync."
The Tigers had a brief resurgence, as Eugene came alive with two TD tosses in the third. But each was answered by a Southern countermove.
The final turning point came when Eugene had a tipped pass intercepted, just as the Tigers had pulled to within a touchdown.
"It was big, momentum-wise," Eugene said, of the tip. "But that's the way it goes."
He paused. "That's the way it goes."
He's right: A Bayou Classic series tied at 14 apiece after 29 years vividly illustrates the evenly matched nature of this contest.
Anyone can win, regardless of record. Especially if you spot them the momentum.
That happened on an dark and stormy Saturday, as Southern - a team that reached .500 with the win - handed the three-time SWAC West champs their first loss since opening week.
Before the Tigers could get their umbrellas opened, a Bayou Classic victory was draining away in rivulets.
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GSU's Eugene breaks passing mark
The Tigers' signal-caller has 40 TD passes on the regular season
December 1, 2002
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
NEW ORLEANS - Grambling quarterback Bruce Eugene came into the Bayou Classic needing just one touchdown to tie Doug Williams's 1977 record of 38 scoring throws in a season.
He didn't much care.
"I don't think about the accolades when I am on the field," he said, after Grambling fell 48-24. "All the accolades are good, but when I'm on the field, it's just me and my 11 guys."
While Eugene moved the chains for the Tigers early, more often than not it was on the ground. A memorable first-quarter play had a Southern defender's helmet popping off after he tried to tackle Eugene. The sophomore quarterback then rumbled for the Tigers' initial first down.
That wasn't getting Eugene any records, however. And it wasn't winning the game for Grambling. Eugene was worried about the second part: "Stats don't mean anything," he said. "The only thing that matters is the score."
Near misses in the first half included a key drop by Thyron Anderson with 3:31 left that looked like a sure TD.
Eugene finally hit Tramon Douglas early in the third quarter, a strike that pulled Grambling to within a nine points. He then threw well for several series, but great defensive plays by Southern kept Eugene stuck at 38 TD passes - until deep into the third quarter.
An 18-yard touchdown to senior wide reciever D.J. Clay with 6:12 left finally pushed Eugene past Williams.
"I broke it," a clearly dejected Eugene said, with little joy. "But a record is only good if you come out a winner - and we came out a loser. So I can't enjoy the record."
He tacked on another pass to Gershone Jessie that made it 40 TDs overall.
"I'm glad for Bruce Eugene," Williams said - though, he added: "I wish he didn't throw any and we had won."
The performance puts the finishing touches on a stunning statistical season, one that saw an avalanche of GSU records tumble.
Douglas passed the school marks for receiving touchdowns, receptions for a junior, and receptions and receiving yards in a season. All of those records were previously held by Scotty Anderson.
Eugene also broke the GSU record for most passing yards as a sophomore, set in 1993 by Kenneth Nord. He passed Williams' 1977 mark for passing yards in a season, too.
Eugene holds the school records for most passes attemped, most passes completed and most passing touchdowns in a season - again, surpassing Williams.
"I think Bruce Eugene deserves everything he's gotten this year - and will get," Williams said.
Time is on their side: A history of lengthy Classics continued Saturday, with the first quarter alone lasting 51 minutes.
The second quarter clocked in at 52 minutes, followed by a 25-minute halftime show. The 63-minute third quarter led to a 50-minute fourth, for a grand total of 4 hours and 8 minutes.
Injury report: A tough season for Southern quarterback Quincy Richard continued. He briefly left the game with 5:15 left in the third after a nasty hit by GSU's Terry Cooper.
The junior had already been knocked out of two previous Southern games - against Tulane and, in the season opener, against Nicholls State.
Ironically, Richard lost his redshirt in 1999's Bayou Classic, when he came in for an injured Terrence Levy.
Tiger tidbits: Grambling appeared in never-before-seen uniforms. The Tigers' jerseys and pants were white; the numbers were black with gold trim. "I like the new threads," said receiver Tramon Douglas, "but I don't like what we did in them today." Stripes on the hips and shoulder pads were similar to the University of Miami's uniform. ... As the home team this year, Southern's band appeared before the game and performed the National Anthem. ... Three scouts from the New Orleans Saints attended the game, looking for prospective young players.
g g g
Williams dominates All-Time Bayou Team
December 1, 2002
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State football coach Doug Williams received the most votes for the All-Time Bayou Classic Team from Grambling after polling ended Saturday.
Votes were taken online at thenews-star.com's Bayou Classic page; visitors were allowed to vote multiple times.
Members of the All-Time Tiger Team, along with other selections, are:
· Quarterback: Williams, 75.3 percent; Randy Hymes, 17.3 percent; Clemente Gordon, 6.2 percent; and Mike Williams, 1.2 percent.
· Receivers (two): Scotty Anderson, 60.4 percent; Sammie White, 45.5 percent; Levi Washington, 36.4 percent; Nate Singleton, 20.8 percent; Jake Reed, 16.7 percent; Robert Woods, 13.2 percent; Silas Payne, 5.7 percent; and Ellis Spears, 1.5 percent.
· Running back: Wayne Hill and Brad Hill tied, each with 50 percent of the vote.
· Tight end: Andrew Glover, 72.3 percent; Mike Moore, 27.7 percent.
· Special teams: Trumaine Johnson, 62.2 percent; Kalvin Pearson, 17.8 percent; Ardashir Nobahar, 11.1 percent; Frank Bailey, 6.7 percent; and Lawrence Richmond, 2.2 percent.
· Cornerbacks (two): Calvin Spears, 79.1 percent; Everson Walls, 61.7 percent; Albert Lewis, 38.3 percent; and Thomas Griffin, 20.9 percent.
· Linebackers (two): Robert Taylor, 91.8 percent; Robert Pennywell, 60.5 percent; Terrance Dukes, 39.5 percent; and Valmond Brown, 8.2 percent.
· Also receiving votes: linebacker Fred Collins Jr.; tight end Tracey Green; quarterback Kendrick Nord; cornerbacks James Hunter, Ivan Geralds, Ivan Webb and Shane Oubre; running backs Walter Dean, Eric Gant and Robert Parham; wide recievers Dwight Scales, Fred Jones and Calvin Nicholas; and special teams players Bennie Thompson, Keith Smyre, Gerald Broadway, Jorge Rosales, Brandon Simpson and Dwayne Jupiter.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Grambling's 80 years of football
G-RIFFIC TALENTWeb poll allows GSU fans to select best of the best
April 17, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Grambling resident Ray Higgins' grandfather, Milton "Twenty" Douglas, was on the local college's first football team, organized 80 years ago.
Originally known as the Colored Industrial and Agricultural School, Grambling fielded this initial squad under the leadership of R.W.E. Jones, the school's second president.
No, Eddie Robinson wasn't Grambling's first head football coach — a common mistake, Higgins notes, chuckling. It might seem that way since Robinson coached nearly 60 of those years.
Higgins is celebrating that long history of football at Grambling — both by highlighting its storied accomplishments and adjusting a few misconceptions — on a fan-operated Web site called www.GramblingStateUniversity.com. There, he's informally polling fans across the nation to assemble a list of the program's Top 80 all-time players.
"The great thing has been talking with people from different eras about Grambling's history," said Higgins, a booster who graduated from Grambling Lab and then GSU. "If you weren't around, you might have heard the legends, but you may not have seen these particular players. It's been fun."
Jones would coach the football team until 1932, a period that saw the creation of the school marching band, a signature element in the Grambling myth. (Higgins himself became a part of that tradition during his years at GSU.)
There followed a trio of two-year tenures for Ira Smith, Joe Williams and Osiah Johnson. Emory Hines then took over as coach for a six-year period before the long and celebrated "Eddie Rob" era began.
Jones hired the 21-year-old Robinson in 1940 after a standout playing career at the now-defunct Leland College. The rest, as they say, is history.
Robinson coached countless student athletes over what would eventually become a 57-year career, with more than 300 going on to play in the NFL. In the 1971 preseason alone, 43 former GSU players were in pro camps.
Robinson, in fact, began re-writing the record books in his second season.
Fred Hobdy and Dan Washington, who both later worked for Robinson, were members of the 1942 squad now known as the "un" team — having established an undefeated, untied and even unscored upon record that year.
Hobdy then coached the ends on Robinson's historic 1955 crew, which went 10-0 on its way to Grambling's first national black college championship. The team also produced the first of Robinson's four Pro Football Hall of Famers, Willie "Thumper" Davis.
Grambling, then a member of the Midwestern Conference, would join the Southwestern Athletic Conference in 1959 where Robinson won 17 titles (to go with eight more national black college championships) before retiring in 1997. His final tally was 408 wins, best in college football.
Robinson would be inducted into the College Hall of Fame, along with former players Paul "Tank" Younger, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Doug Williams — who succeeded him as coach at Grambling.
Williams, a quarterback on SWAC title teams in 1974 and '77, then established a 52-18 mark — winning three more conference championships — during his subsequent six-year stint. Current GSU coach Melvin Spears has added another 17 wins, including the most recent SWAC football title, and six losses.
Besides Robinson's undefeated 1942 and '55 squads, GSU has posted a staggering eight one-loss seasons — in 1956, 1960, 1967, 1974, 1977 and 1992 under Robinson, before Williams' Tigers did it in 2001 and Spears followed last season.
GSU's .699 all-time winning percentage is behind only Yale's .709 historically in all of Division I-AA.
So how to decide who among these towering giants to include in a Top 80 from Grambling's eight decades of football?
Is the starting quarterback Williams or James "Shack" Harris — who was a conference champion in every year he started in the late 1960s? What about the recently departed Bruce Eugene, who now holds every significant Grambling passing record?
"I tried to set it up based initially on names I knew," Higgins said. "There are presented 10 names at a time, starting with the most obvious. People have now begun talking about names that were omitted and giving reasons why others should be on. So, the lists have been growing."
There are embarrassments of riches everywhere.
Over the years, Grambling defensive lines have boasted Davis, Johnson, Junious "Buck" Buchanan and Ernie "The Big Cat" Ladd. Former defensive backs Willie Brown, Albert "Snow" Lewis and Everson "Cubby" Walls join them as members of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.
Wingbacks Frank Lewis and Sammy White played in three Super Bowls, while Charlie Joiner's bust can be found in Canton.
"There is such a rich history in this 80 years of Grambling football that it's a subject where you can continually go back and look at different names," said Higgins, whose site is not officially affiliated with GSU.
Higgins typically asks that visitors register to view GramblingStateUniversity.com's message boards, but has made the Top 80 poll open to anyone.
"Alumni, friends and family can gather and discuss this player or that one and the things they did," he said. "Hopefully, in the end, we'll have given people a chance to remember some of these accomplishments. They make me proud to be a Gramblinite."
**
GRAMBLING80: Top 80 Players
As Grambling gears up for a celebration of its first 80 years of football, I’ve compiled my own Top 80 all-time GSU players - with help from Ray Higgins, whose fan-operated http://www.gramblingstateuniversity.com/ Web site is polling fans on the subject.
Considered with a careful focus on a player’s collegiate career, these are my suggestions for the best of the best over Grambling’s first eight decades on the gridiron.
* *- My Elite 8 are given fuller biographical sketches; this list is presented in alphabetical order.
1. Aldrich Allen: Two-time All-SWAC first-team linebacker in 1978-79, as Grambling won consecutive conference titles. Was also named to the American Football Coaches Association I-AA Coaches’ All-America Team in 1979.
2. Scotty Anderson: Holds school record for receptions and touchdowns in a career and catches by a senior. The last GSU player of 17 total to receive a Senior Bowl invite, Anderson led all scorers in 1999-2000 and helped the Tigers to two titles in 2000-01.
3. Herman Arvie: A first-team All-SWAC offensive tackle in 1992, Arvie was part of an offensive line that eventually helped Eric Gant to a trio of 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He was also named second-team All-America by the Sports Network in 1992.
4. Willie Armstrong: A three-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference running back, from 1968-70, a period that saw Grambling win the third of three SWAC titles with quarterback James “Shack” Harris in 1968.
5. Garland Boyette: He earned first-team All-SWAC and Little All-America honors in 1961. Named to the All-time HBCU team at middle linebacker by Pop Culture, he’s the uncle of Ernie Ladd, another of the Top 80.
6. Willie Brown: So deep was Grambling’s roster in 1959-62, the only NFL player to intercept a least one pass in 16 consecutive seasons never played cornerback. Still he lettered all four years at split end and outside linebacker, and GSU won a title.
7. JUNIOUS ‘BUCK’ BUCHANAN: From his sophomore season onward, this tackle was given a trio of both All-America and all-conference honors while helping Grambling to a 23-5-2 record and its first SWAC title in 1960. Former coach Eddie Robinson would recall Buchanan’s dominance, even in practice.
“If we went to the right,” Robinson once recalled, “he would tackle us. If we went to the left, he would tackle us. If we went right at him, he would tackle us. Boy, he was really tough.”
Buchanan passing away in 1992 after a long bout with lung cancer, and was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
8. Frank Cornish: An All-America and first-team All-SWAC tackle in 1965, as Grambling won the first of four consecutive conference crowns.
9. WILLIE DAVIS: A two-time black college All-America defensive tackle in 1954-55, Davis anchored Grambling’s first national black college championship team — the 10-0 squad from 1955.
“Willie had hitting power,” former coach Eddie Robinson once recalled. “He was our captain, an outstanding leader.”
Davis, who worked his way to legendary status for Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers and then in the business world, would become GSU’s second SWAC Hall of Famer in 1977.
10. Walter Dean: The first SWAC player to win the Walter Payton Award, Dean was also the conference’s offensive player of the year in 1990. No senior has ever run for more than his 1,401 yards. He was also first-team all-conference in 1989, when GSU won the SWAC.
11. Steve Dennis: Still holds the school record for picks in a career, with 27 between 1969-72. A first-team All-SWAC DB in 1971-72, as GSU won the first and second of four consecutive conference titles, Dennis earned All-America honors in 1972.
12. Alphonse Dotson: Said to be Grambling’s first All-America first-teamer, Dotson received the honor from the Consensus All American-Newspaper Enterprise Association. He was a first team All-SWAC tackle in 1964, and honorable mention in ’63.
13. Tramon Douglas: Broke Scotty Anderson’s once-thought unassailable receiving numbers over two all-conference seasons beginning with 2002’s SWAC championship campaign. Still holds records for receptions and receiving yards in a season.
14. Henry Dyer, pictured at right: Grambling’s leading runner in both 1963 and the SWAC title season of ’65, Dyer was the school’s first documented 1,000-yard rusher. He was named first-team All-SWAC at fullback from ’63-65, and scored 30 times in his final two years.15. Bruce Eugene: Eugene left Grambling with school records for career and season yards, scores and completions, two conference championships and the Division I-AA mark for touchdowns in a year - a record that had stood for since 1984.
16. Lee Fobbs: Playing from 1968-72, Fobbs rose to All-SWAC status at fullback during his junior and senior seasons, adding All-America honors in 1972, as Grambling won the second and third of four consecutive SWAC championships between 1971-74.
17. Solomon Freelon: Freelon was a first-team All-SWAC guard in 1971, a year after being named second-team as a junior. He would become one of just 12 Grambling players invited to the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic after GSU’s 1971 SWAC title.
18. Eric Gant: A two-time All-SWAC first teamer beginning in 1991, Gant is one of only 17 Grambling players ever invited to the Senior Bowl. Still holds school records for yards in season (1,417 in 1992) and yards in a career (3,795).
19. John “J.D.” Garrett: Led Grambling in rushing in 1962, and in scoring for the 1962 and ’63 seasons as both a runner and a kicker - scoring 130 total points over those two campaigns. Was first-team all-conference every season from 1961-63.
20. Clemente Gordon: SWAC offensive player of the year in 1989, as Grambling won the SWAC, Gordon was also first team in 1988. He passed for more than 5,000 yards during those two seasons, for 50 touchdowns and just 17 picks.
21. Jerry Gordon: After averaging 15 yards per catch on a 711 yard season, Gordon earned first-team SWAC honors in 1981. That followed second-team recognition in 1980 - as Grambling won a conference title.
22. Joe Gordon: The SWAC’s defensive player of the year in 1979, Gordon was also named to the AFCA I-AA Coaches’ All-America Team that year.
23. Leonard Griffin: Earned a valuable invite to the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic in 1985 after GSU won the conference title. An honorable-mention All-SWAC end, Griffin later served as a strength and conditioning assistant in the program.
24. JAMES ‘SHACK’ HARRIS: Harris passed for 4,128 yards and 43 touchdowns as Grambling went 24-5-1 between 1965-68, winning three straight SWAC titles.
Former “Coach (Eddie) Robinson had the utmost confidence in me that I could play, and that meant a lot, knowing how he felt,” Harris said. “Eddie Robinson is perhaps the greatest person that I’ve ever been around.”
In his senior season alone, Harris passed for 1,972 yards and 21 touchdowns on only 225 attempts. He was first-team All-SWAC in 1967-68, and also earned SWAC Hall of Fame honors.
25. Mike Harris: Led team in interceptions both in 1975 and ’76; his 10 picks in ’75 are second all time for one season. One of three members of the 1977 squad to be invited to the East-West Shrine Game – including Carlos Pennywell and Doug Williams.
26. Wayne Hill: Led Grambling in rushing for three seasons beginning in 1984, winning one SWAC title and gaining more than 2,000 yards. He was named second-team All-SWAC in 1985 and honorable mention in 1986.
27. Fred Hobdy: A guard on Grambling’s renowned “un” team in 1942, which went unbeaten, untied and unscored upon, Hobdy returned from the war to coach the ends - he was an assistant on 1955’s undefeated squad - before becoming Louisiana’s most successful college hoops coach ever.
28. Autry Lane Howell: A two-way lineman for Robinson, was the first of three brothers to star for Eddie Robinson, beginning in 1960. Grambling won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference title with Lane up front, establishing a 23-5-2 mark between 1960-62.
29: Michael Howell: A cornerback nicknamed “Trackdown,” Michael followed brother Lane two seasons later. His 1964 squad went 9-3, winning the Sugar Cup over Bishop before falling in the Orange Blossom Classic.
30. James “Hound” Hunter: A first-team All-SWAC honoree in 1974-75, he helped Grambling to the ’74 SWAC title. Hunter was the team leader in picks for two years, pulling down 16 passes in 1973-74. His 8 in 1974 still ranks fourth all time at GSU.
31. Randy Hymes: Led Grambling to its first two Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in six seasons, beginning in 2000. He would pass for more than 4,400 yards and 33 touchdowns, seventh all time at Grambling.
32. GARY ‘BIG HANDS’ JOHNSON: He still holds the school record for most tackles in a career, with 367 between 1971-74 as GSU won four straight SWAC titles.
In his senior season of 1974 alone, Johnson had 134 tackles, 89 unassisted, and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player. That led to coveted invites to both the East-West Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl — and Johnson was named Most Valuable Player in both.
Johnson earned first-team All-SWAC in 1972-74 and then 1997 induction into the College Football and SWAC halls of fame.
33. Stone Johnson: So fast he won the 1960 NAIA national 200-meter title, Johnson was a wingback and punter (averaging 36 yards per kick) on Grambling’s first SWAC title team. He also competed as a sprinter in the Olympics, before suffering a neck fracture during an NFL preseason game. He died 10 days later.
34. Trumaine Johnson: The 1980 and '82 SWAC offensive player of the year (when he had 1,000 yards and averaged 14 yards a catch), Johnson was also first-team All-SWAC in 1981. Grambling won the conference championship in '80. His 16 scores that season is still tied for fifth-best in school history.
35. CHARLIE JOINER: Led all Grambling receivers from 1966-68, gaining 2,066 yards, on the way to a trio of conference titles. An amazing 78 of quarterback James “Shack” Harris 289 career completions at Grambling were made by the steady Joiner, who led the team in touchdowns in 1966-67.
“Charlie goes all out,” former coach Eddie Robinson once noted. “Beating the man, that’s where he excelled.”He was named first-team All-SWAC three times and given Outstanding Offensive Player awards in the 1968 Little Rose Bowl.
Induction to the SWAC Hall of Fame followed in 1996.
36. Fred Jones: GSU’s best receiver during the 1987-89 seasons, collecting a total of 2,000 yards as well as a SWAC title in his senior campaign. He also led Grambling in scoring in ’88 with 10 touchdowns, and earned first-team All-SWAC honors in ’88-89.
37. Ernie “Big Cat” Ladd: At 6'9" and 315 pounds, arguably the biggest GSU star ever. A first-team all-league defensive lineman in 1960, as Grambling won its first-ever Southwestern Athletic Conference championship.
38. Gilad Landau: His 188 career-total in PATs was a state record. An All-SWAC first-team kicker in 1992-93, Landau earned All-America honors in 1993 from the Sports Network.
39. Melvin Lee: As quarterback of the offensive line at center on Grambling’s undefeated 1955 championship squad, Lee must have impressed former coach Eddie Robinson. He then worked for the next 40 seasons as an assistant, tinkering and perfecting Robinson’s fabled Wing-T offense.
40. Albert “Snow” Lewis: Was first-team All-SWAC at cornerback in 1981-82, after leading the team in interceptions in 1981 with seven. A stellar performance earned him a starting position by popular vote in 2002 on the 50th anniversary All-Time Senior Bowl team.
41. FRANK LEWIS: A do-anything player who led Grambling in receiving in 1969-70 and in rushing in 1969, as well. He scored 28 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons, averaging 18.65 yards per catch.
“I played with Frank and I don’t know if I have ever seen a better athlete than Frank,” former GSU quarterback James “Shack” Harris said. “I don’t know of anything that Frank couldn’t do.”
Lewis was named first-team all-conference as a junior and senior, and was second-team as a sophomore when Grambling won the SWAC in 1968.
42. Clifton McNeil: Led all Grambling receivers in 1961 and again in 1963, averaging 16 yards per catch.
43. John Mendenhall: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference defensive end in 1971, he helped GSU to a SWAC title that year. He was then one of just 17 Grambling players ever invited to the Senior Bowl.
44. Larry Metevia Sr.: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference center in 1966, as Grambling won the second of four consecutive SWAC titles, and the first with quarterback James “Shack” Harris.
45: Michael Moore: Led all Grambling receivers in 1976-77, winning a SWAC title as a senior. His 60 receptions in 1977 still ranks in GSU’s top 10 all time and his 1,112 that year is in the top 5.
46. Brian Morgan: Holds most of GSU’s significant kicking records, including field goals in a career and most points scored by kicking at Grambling. Named first-team All-SWAC in 2001 and ’03, winning three conference titles.
47. Edward “Bo” Murray: A critical piece of Grambling’s 1955 undefeated team, the then-redshirt sophomore won the Orange Blossom Classic on scoring runs of 75 and 8 yards. He also kicked the extra point on his winning TD, beating Florida A&M 28-21.
48. Kendrick Nord: Nord passed for 6,600 yards in 1993-95, beating Alcorn in an epic Robinson Stadium battle and also winning a SWAC title as a senior. His .523 completion percentage has only been bested twice in 25 seasons.
49. Robert Parham: Grambling’s leading rusher from 1978-80, he amassed 2,700 yards over that span as GSU won three consecutive SWAC titles. He was a first-team all-conference running back in each of those seasons.
50. Elfrid Payton: Perhaps Grambling’s hardest hitter ever, this linebacker led the school as a senior in 1989 with 20 tackles for a loss, 13 quarterback sacks and two fumble returns. He was named the team's Most Outstanding Player in both 1988-89.
51. Carlos Pennywell: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference receiver during Doug Williams’ final season at the helm, Pennywell helped Grambling to the 1977 SWAC title. He was named first-team all-conference that year as a senior and led Grambling in scoring in 1976.
52. Robert Pennywell: This Pennywell was a first-team All-SWAC linebacker in 1974-75, as Grambling won its ninth Southwestern Athletic Conference title in ’74.
53. Woody Peoples: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference offensive guard in 1964, as the tandem of Henry Dyer and Leroy Carter led the rushing attack.
54. Jake Reed: A first-team All-SWAC honoree in 1990, and second-team in 1989, Reed led all Grambling receivers as a senior with 954 yards and a 20-yard average per catch. He was invited to the Senior Bowl in 1990, one of just 17 from Grambling to receive that honor.
55. Andre Robinson: Helped GSU to three straight SWAC championships from 1977-80; was named the Bayou Classic’s MVP in 1980. As a senior, was a consensus All-America selection by AP, Kodak, The Sporting News and Sheridan; was also the SWAC’s Defensive Player of the Year.
56. Jerry “Gray Ghost” Robinson: A two-time first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference halfback from 1960-61, a stint that included Grambling’s first-ever SWAC title in 1960. Led all Grambling rushers over those two seasons, running for 1,300 yards.57. Virgil Robinson: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference running back in 1970, Robinson led all Grambling rushers that season with 884 yards.
58. Robert Salters: Named to American Football Coaches Association Division I-AA Coaches’ All-America Team in 1979. His eight interceptions that season still ranks fourth all time at Grambling.
59. Mike Saint Clair: Named All-SWAC in 1975 and honorable mention in 1974, as Grambling won a conference title.
60. Goldie “Spider” Sellers: Earned All-Southwestern Athletic Conference honors in 1965 as Grambling won its second SWAC title ever.
61. Dwight Scales: Grambling’s top receiver in 1973-74, with more than 800 yards and a 22-yard average per catch. Grambling won SWAC titles both seasons.
62. Charles “Tank” Smith: Grambling’s leading receiver in 1972, as the Tigers won the second of four consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference championships.
63: Raymond “World” Smith: A two-time first-team All-SWAC offensive tackle in 1989-90 as running back Walter Dean builds his resume for an eventual Walter Payton Award, recognizing Division I-AA’s best offensive threat.
64. Robert “Big Bird” Smith: A three-time first-team all-conference defensive end, beginning in his sophomore season of 1981. Grambling would win the 1983 SWAC title.
65. Keith Smyre: Still holds school records for longest punt (89 yards in 1974), as well as most punts in a game, most punts in a season and most yards punted in a career.
66: Richard Stebbins: A running back speedster who excelled in track events, he competed with “Bullet” Bob Hayes in U.S. Olympic events in the 1960s.
67. Ernest “Monster” Sterling: A lineman on multiple SWAC title teams, Sterling would then put in more than two decades as an assistant at Grambling. He is also one of just two coaches who stayed on when Doug Williams succeeded Robinson.
68. Robert Taylor: A two-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference first-team linebacker in 2000-01, Taylor was also given first team I-AA All-American honors by the American Football Coaches Association in 2001.
69. Roosevelt Taylor: One of 13 Grambling players taken in the 1963 NFL draft, and one of four future All-Pros. He played safety at Grambling during the period before integration when most GSU second-teamers were potential starters.
70. Bennie Thompson: A first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference defensive back in 1984, and second team in 1983 as GSU won the SWAC title.
71. Rodney Tureaud: Led all Grambling rushers in 1972 with 1,137 yards, the first GSU 1,000 rusher in seven seasons. He was named SWAC offensive player of the year.
72. Everson “Cubby” Walls: Still holds the school record for most interceptions in a season, 11 set in 1980. Was All-SWAC that season.
73. Dan H. Washington: A member of Eddie Robinson’s first squad, as well as its subsequent “un” team in 1941 – which went unbeaten, untied and unscored upon. Washington then served as team trainer for 45 years before his death in 1996 at age 74.
74. Sammy White: Inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of a collegiate career that included two school-leading years for receptions in 1973 and 1975 - and a co-offensive player of the year award as a senior. White was also first-team All-SWAC in ’73.
75. DOUG WILLIAMS: Williams, who established school passing marks that stood for nearly 25 years, started quickly — winning a SWAC title as a redshirt freshman in 1974.
“I was blessed to have some veterans around me and Coach Robinson ran a conservative offense that didn’t put too much pressure on me,” Williams said.
He would win another SWAC championship as a senior in 1977, earning second-team All-SWAC honors in 1975 and then offensive player of the year honors in his final collegiate campaign. A Heisman Trophy finalist, Williams would be inducted into the SWAC and College halls in 2001.
76. Mike Williams: Williams, brother and successor at quarterback to Doug, won SWAC titles in 1978-80 and was named first-team all-conference as both a junior and senior. He threw for 3,700 yards and 46 touchdowns at Grambling.
77. Willie Williams: Punted for 4,200 yards over three seasons beginning in 1962, averaging 36 yards per attempt. He also played defensive back, where he was named first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference in 1964.
78. Robert Woods: A first-team All-SWAC receiver in 1977, he led all Grambling scorers with 14 touchdowns as GSU won its final conference title with Doug Williams at quarterback.
79. PAUL ‘TANK’ YOUNGER: Despite playing from 1945-48, still holds GSU record for career points with 369. His 86-yard blast against Morgan State in 1946 also remains the school’s longest non-scoring run.
In all, Younger scored 60 touchdowns — at the time a collegiate record, and still tops at Grambling — during his storied career under Eddie Robinson. Named black college player of the year in 1949, he was the first Grambling player inducted into the SWAC Hall of Fame, in 1973.
Younger — who died just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — had entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
80. Willie Young: A two-time All-Southwestern Athletic Conference first-team offensive guard in 1964-65, as Grambling won its second SWAC title.
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