Wait for greatness?: Reports have Clarett pondering move to GSU
September 9, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling State's Doug Williams spent all day talking about Maurice Clarett - perhaps the nation's best collegiate runner, but perhaps one without a school.
A writer from ESPN called. Some of Williams' friends in the National Football League, too. And a lot - a whole lot - of college representatives.
Both Williams and GSU athletics director Albert Dennis confirmed that they had not heard from the sophomore running back on Monday.
In fact, the only person Williams didn't talk to, he joked, was Clarett.
"That's been the talk of the day," Williams said, chuckling. "We've gotten calls from all over."
Clarett helped lead Ohio State to its first national championship since 1970 last season - and has been in trouble with the NCAA ever since.
Still, when the ESPN guy called, GSU's sixth-year coach was typically blunt: "I don't think a headache comes with the kid. He didn't shoot anybody. They didn't arrest him for drugs. He didn't rape anybody. Ain't no problem with the kid."
The New York Times broke a story this summer indicating that Clarett could have received preferential help with exams last season. Then the NCAA made inquiries into gifts that Clarett allegedly received that could be related to a possible relationship with an agent.
Clarett was held out of practices, then suspended for six games.
Next came a traffic stop, one where Clarett said he was "test driving" a car that was suspiciously loaded to the roof with video and stereo equipment. Then he gave a false report concerning who the stuff belonged to.
The NCAA is now investigating that - and there is some indication that Ohio State isn't optimistic about Clarett's eventual return.
News reports had Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel staging a team picture this Wednesday - with no spot saved for the troubled running back.
In steps NFL legend Jim Brown, who has become an advisor for the Clarett family - and is a friend of Doug Williams'.
On a Saturday night radio program, Brown strongly suggested - should Clarett be declared ineligible for the Buckeyes - that he consider transfer to Grambling State.
"I think that if the Claretts would consider transferring, Grambling would be an ideal situation for the kid," Brown told ESPN Radio's Bob Valvano. "Doug Williams is a great coach. He could hone his game. He'd be in school. It's a great situation. Doug would be perfect for the kid, but that's up to him and his mother."
If Clarett were to transfer down to I-AA Grambling, he would have to sit out the remainder of the 2003 season - but could start in 2004, setting himself up for a look in the NFL draft the following spring.
The earliest Clarett could be in Black and Gold would be the spring game of 2004 - but only after first serving whatever NCAA sanctions are eventually handed down. He would also have to enroll this year, and remain eligible to play throughout his suspension.
Williams says to be mentioned as a possible landing spot for what many thought would be a Heisman Trophy candidate speaks volumes about where the program is headed - and where it's been.
A third-straight Southwestern Athletic Conference championship in 2002 was just the latest signature moment, he reminds, in a Grambling State legacy that includes countless NFL draftees - and four Pro Football Hall of Famers.
"Grambling brings national visibility," Williams said, "even if we are I-AA. Scouts are coming here every day. That means he's getting everything that he would have gotten there - except 100,000 people at the game."
The talk of a new running back of Clarett's talent and speed would be welcome news for GSU team that's always trying to balance its offense.
Quarterback Bruce Eugene led Division I-AA in total offense and points scored - but he was also the team's second leading rusher. That trend remained on Saturday in the Tigers' first SWAC game of the year.
Williams can only imagine what it would mean to have Eugene handing off instead to Clarett - who had 1,237 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.
"We don't have a Maurice Clarrett. It would be a big difference," Williams said. "It would take a lot of pressure off of Bruce. There's nothing I can do, but keep my phone line clear."
With that, Williams - understandably - excused himself and hung up.
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Ohio State officially releases Clarett, sparking local interest
September 10, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - The first in a sequence of events that could bring one of the nation's best collegiate running backs to an area school has happened.
Tuesday, Ohio State released Maurice Clarett - the hero of the Buckeyes' national championship game earlier this year - from his scholarship with the school. The move came hours after Clarett was charged with lying about items stolen from him in a borrowed car - part of a string of off-field problems since the Fiesta Bowl.
Northeastern Louisiana entered the narrative when the Clarett family's adviser in this matter, Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, encouraged Clarett to transfer to Grambling State University - should he be released by Ohio State.
That happened on Tuesday - though NCAA penalties have yet to be decided.
Brown suggested Clarett's transfer over the weekend on an ESPN radio program, though no one at Grambling State has yet heard from him or his family.
"We could use him," said sixth-year GSU coach Doug Williams. "I don't think Ohio State would have won the national championship without Maurice Clarett."
Williams entered a Tuesday news conference dominated by talk of Clarett carrying a Tigers jersey with No. 13 on it. "That's what he would wear," he joked. "Isn't that what most of the questions will be about?"
Williams didn't have any more information about the possible move - though he met with his offensive coaches to discuss the possibility of having the talented rusher join the Tigers, who have just begun defending their third-consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference title.
"It would alter our offense to more of a running attack," Williams said, "and would take some pressure off of (junior quarterback) Bruce Eugene. It would give us a chance to win a fourth straight."
Clarett was charged, according to the Associated Press, with misdemeanor falsification, said Columbus, Ohio, city spokesman Scott Varner. If convicted, Clarett could face up to six months in a jail and a $1,000 fine.
Clarett had already been suspended indefinitely by the team after charges of academic irregularities and improper gifts. Ohio State has been working for more than two weeks on a response to several pages of allegations sent by the NCAA to the university.
New allegations of cash transactions were raised by a Cleveland television station on Monday. "It's out of our hands," Williams said of the latest charges. "That would be up to the NCAA."
If Clarett transferred to another Division I-A school, he would have to sit out a year in addition to any suspension or ineligibility handed down by the NCAA. He could transfer to a Division I-AA, II or III and be immediately eligible to play after the possible penalties.
Williams said Tuesday that he learned about Jim Brown's suggestion of a transfer - and of each new wrinkle in the Clarett case - from the Internet and news reports. He said Brown's faith in his coaching abilities was a tip of the hat to GSU.
"He has a lot of respect for what we have done here at Grambling," Williams said of Brown. "I think he feels, as an adviser, that Maurice would need someone he can relate to a lot better than some other places."
NCAA spokeswoman Kay Hawes would not speak to the Associated Press about the Clarett case but did say that if a suspended or ineligible player transferred, the athlete's new school would first have to declare him ineligible, and would then seek his reinstatement through the organization.
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NCAA leaves Clarett with trio of options
· Troubled running back hit with suspension, not banned from playing.
September 11, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The NCAA handed down a season-long suspension Wednesday for troubled Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, but didn't ban him from playing.
With an earlier release from the football team already announced, Clarett now faces three options:
· Give up collegiate football and go to class.
· Petition the NFL for early entry into the draft.
· Transfer to a Division I-AA school - some have said it might be Grambling State, where regulations state Clarett would be eligible to play his junior year before reaching the required age for pro draft.
Players must wait until three years after their high school graduation to enter the NFL. Clarett will be a sophomore this season.
GSU coach Doug Williams, who learned of Clarett's possible interest in the Tigers on the Internet, says the first two possibilities are unlikely - in particular, petitioning the NFL.
"The unfortunate part about challenging the rule," Williams said, "is that he would probably never get the opportunity to reap the benefits. The NFL would drag the case out so long, that he would be eligible for the draft anyway."
Jim Brown, a family advisor, first raised the possibility that the NCAA's most electrifying runner - Clarett scored the game-winning touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl on his last play for the Buckeyes - might transfer to the Lincoln Parish school to finish out his college eligibility.
That set off a national media maelstrom, including stories on ESPN and FOX, on the wire services and in most major newspapers.
Like Brown, Williams has insisted that Clarett needs more football experience - and that, sure, Grambling would be a great option - before the running back contemplating joining the NFL.
"It's silly to question Williams and Brown on this point," columnist Michael Wilbon wrote in the Wednesday edition of The Washington Post. "One is a Super Bowl MVP and the other the greatest football player ever."
Even so, Williams is not allowed by NCAA rule to contact Clarett.
"No, I'll call (current Grambling running backs) Ab Kuuan and Rueben Mays," Williams said, and laughed loudly.
So, he remains pragmatic. "Even if (Clarett) comes here," Williams said, "he'll still have to serve the suspension that the NCAA has imposed upon him."
Clarett, who is accused of lying to the NCAA, school investigators and the police through a series of troubles this off-season, will get to keep his scholarship at Ohio State, school officials said. But his attorney told the Associated Press: "He's considering his options right now."
The NCAA and Ohio State continue to investigate Clarett. The school has been working for more than two weeks on a response to a multi-page set of allegations from the NCAA.
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Clarett turns focus to NFL
· Suspended RB will now try to enter pro league; GSU still waiting on a call.
September 15, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
There's a reason why Grambling State coach Doug Williams didn't hear from suspended Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett this week.
"My lines must be down," Williams joked. "They ain't ringing."
No, Clarett - who was being encouraged by family advisor Jim Brown to transfer to GSU - has decided to ask that the NFL change its eligibility rules instead.
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday that Clarett's attorneys have requested that he be allowed to play early. Tagliabue said NFL lawyers would discuss the situation, perhaps next week.
The NFL stipulates that players wait three years after high school graduation to play. Clarett, who was suspended for one year this week over various NCAA violations, is a sophomore.
This signals the presumptive end to a flirtation with GSU that began with a phone call from an old friend of Williams'.
Jacksonville Jaguars executive James "Shack" Harris, a Carroll High and GSU alum, asked Williams on Sept. 7 what he thought of Clarett.
"We talk all the time," Williams said, so he thought nothing of it. "I told him I think he is a hell of a running back. He said, `OK, I'll call you back.' Evidently, he and (Clarett family advisor) Jim Brown had been talking."
When Williams got home, he discovered just what that call meant while browsing the World Wide Web.
"You go to the Internet, you find out that Maurice was considering coming to Grambling," Williams said. "I didn't know that's what James was talking about. I'm thinking that Jacksonville was trying to find a way to get him into camp."
Williams met with his offensive coaches early last week, as the buzz about the Buckeye got louder.
A running back of his caliber, Williams said, would have meant a change in the team's pass-oriented scheme behind SWAC offensive player of the week Bruce Eugene.
"We would find a way to throw it as much as we ran it. We had talked about giving it to him 25 to 30 times. But all that was hypothetical. Now, we'll just have to throw it 60," he said, and chuckled.
Tagliabue told the AP that the NFL remains opposed to changing its age restriction, instituted 13 years ago with the agreement of the Players' Association.
Reporters also asked Tagliabue, a former NFL lawyer, about the possibility of the rule being overturned by a lawsuit: "My feeling as commissioner is that we have a very strong case and that we'll win it."
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NCAA checks GSU's actions over Clarett
September 25, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - Troubled football star Maurice Clarett apparently won't be coming to Grambling State University, but the NCAA could be.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is investigating comments made by coach Doug Williams concerning the suspended Ohio State running back - indicating that they could have been a violation of recruiting rules.
Both Williams and GSU athletics director Al Dennis have consistently said they never spoke to Clarett - who was widely reported in early September to be considering a transfer down to the Division I-AA school.
But the inquiry refers to a section of the regulations stipulating that colleges may not contact a student-athlete at another NCAA or NAIA four-year institution - even indirectly - without written permission from the player's current athletics director.
Specifically mentioned is an article posted at www.thenewsstar.com on Sept. 9 and a televised news conference the next day on campus. "They are saying that we indirectly made contact with the kid" through the media, Dennis said.
GSU received notice in a letter from Chris Strobel, the NCAA's director of enforcement for secondary infractions, on Sept. 15 asking for more information.
"All of these comments attributed to him were in response to questions being asked," Dennis said - noting that the story appeared nationally on ESPN when Clarett family adviser Jim Brown mentioned Grambling State as a possible transfer option.
Dennis also confirmed that Grambling State never received any clearance to talk to Clarett and GSU wasn't seeking it. "When all of this broke, our registration was already closed. He wasn't coming to Grambling, anyway," Dennis said.
Calls to Strobel were not returned on Wednesday. The letter doesn't mention possible sanctions or a deadline for responding.
"I'm puzzled by the idea that we would get a letter, if there was no contact by either party," Williams said.
He then said he suspects that entering a Sept. 9 news conference while carrying a No. 13 GSU jersey sparked this inquiry. Clarett wore that number at Ohio State.
"I was poking fun at the local media that I see every week," Williams said. "This is very small. There are a whole lot of things that have happened with Clarett that are bigger than poking fun with a No. 13 jersey. I find it hard to believe."
The jersey, Dennis reminds, belongs to current Grambling State punter Darien Morgan.
"This wasn't an attempt to contact Clarett," Dennis said. "If he's asked a question - would you like to have a player of Clarett's ability on your team? - can that be construed as trying to contact him? We don't see it that way."
Clarett has since apparently decided to forgo the rest of his college eligibility, announcing his would sue for early entry into the NFL draft this week.
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Transcript from Sept. 9 news conference at GSU
September 25, 2003
Coach Doug Williams enters as media members discuss possible Maurice Clarett transfer to Grambling State)
Williams: Good morning. Hot topic, today, huh? By the way, I brought a jersey today. (Holds up No. 13 GSU jersey.) You probably didn't think I had a No. 13. That's what he'd wear!
The News-Star's Nick Deriso: What are you talking about coach? Who?
(Laughter)
Williams: I don't know! That's what all the questions are going to be about this morning, ain't they?
(More laughter.)
After opening comments about the previous week's opponent, Alcorn State.
KTBS-Shreveport's Tim Fletcher: Coach, have you heard from Maurice Clarett?
The (Ruston) Daily Leader's O.K. Davis: Or anybody associated with him?
Williams: No, the only thing I've heard was actually this morning on ESPN. From what I've heard on ESPN, it doesn't sound like he's going to play anywhere. From what they said, Ohio State has supposedly finished their report and they realized he had taken some cash - which would probably make him ineligible anywhere he would go. That's what I heard this morning on ESPN.
Davis: So he's not going to Southern, either.
Williams: That's good news. (GSU assistants) Coach Spears and I, Coach White and Coach Hayes, were in there yesterday talking about our game plan, thinking about our running attack, to take some pressure off Bruce Eugene. But now, we just got to go back to doing what we've been doing.
Davis: If that report is true, would most schools back off?
Williams: That would be out of our hands. All of that would NCAA's business.
Fletcher: What would be the advantage of him coming to Grambling?
Williams: We'd have Maurice Clarett - and a lot of other people wouldn't. We could use him. If you look at it, 1,267 yards and 16 TDs - I don't think Ohio State would have won the national championship without Maurice Clarett. I figure, if we had him, it would give us a chance to win a fourth straight.
Fletcher: What's the advantage for Maurice?
Williams: Gives him an opportunity to play and help us win a championship - and to continue his education.
Davis: Would you run him more than five times a game?
Williams: We would find a way to throw it as much as we ran it. We had talked about giving it to him 25 to 30 times. But all that was hypothetical. Now that we probably won't have him, we'll just have to throw it 60.
Unidentified television reporter: I'm just curious what your reaction was when you heard about all this.
Williams: Actually, it was surprising. Saturday morning, (Jacksonville Jaguars executive) James Harris called me - he and I talk all the time. Evidently, he and (Clarett family adviser) Jim Brown had been talking. He called me and asked me what I thought about Clarett. I didn't know exactly what he was talking about. I said, I think he's a hell of running back. (Laughter). He said, I'll call you back. The next thing I know, when I get home, you go to the Internet and find out that Maurice considered coming to Grambling. That's what James was talking about when he asked me what I thought. I was thinking that the Jacksonville Jaguars were trying to figure out a way to get him to camp. Actually, he and Jim Brown had been talking, if his family agreed and if everything was all right at Ohio State, that he could transfer here.
Fletcher: Jim Brown mentioned specifically how playing for you would be an advantage. How did that make you feel?
Williams: I've known Jim for some time and I've got a lot of respect for him - and he has a lot of respect for what we have done here at Grambling. As the adviser, he felt like Maurice would need somebody he could go and relate to a lot better than at other places.
(After several comments about appealing the NFL Draft rule and the next week's opponent, Alabama A&M, Williams gets up to leave.)
Fletcher: One more about Clarett. What's your plan now? Do you just sit back and wait, or you gonna call James Harris or call Jim Brown?
Williams: No, I'm gonna call (GSU running backs) Ab Kuaan and Rueben Mays. That's what I've got. (More laughter.) That's what I've got to work with. That's all I can do. Right now, Clarett does not bother me, because I never talked to him, never talked to his family, never talked to Jim Brown. I never imagined having the kid in the backfield, No. 1 -
Davis: You weren't going to have him this year anyway.
Williams: No. Even if he came here, he still has to go by the suspension that the NCAA imposes upon him. There was no reason to get happy about having him, unless it was for next year.
RECRUITING RULE IN QUESTION
An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interest shall not make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA or NAIA four-year collegiate institution, directly or indirectly, without first obtaining the written permission of the first institution's athletics director (or an athletics administrator designated by the athletics director) to do so, regardless of who makes the initial contact. If permission is not granted, the second institution shall not encourage the transfer and the institution shall not provide financial assistance to the student-athlete until the student-athlete has attended the second institution for one academic year. If permission is granted to contact the student athlete, all applicable NCAA recruiting rules apply.
THE NCAA'S LETTER TO GRAMBLING
Dear Mr. Dennis,
This is in regard to information that was obtained by this office, which indicates a violation of NCAA recruiting legislation may have occurred in the institution's football program.
Specifically, in an online article of The News-Star on September 9, 2003, and during a televised press conference on September 10, 2003, head football coach Doug Williams indirectly contacted four-year college prospective student-athlete Maurice Clarett. In the article and during the press conference, Mr. Williams confirmed his interest in having Mr. Clarett transfer to the institution and discussed how Mr. Clarett's talent would be a valuable asset to the football program. Unless the institution previously had received written permission to contact Mr. Clarett from Ohio State University, it appears a violation of NCAA Bylaw 13.1.1.3 has occurred. If written permission to contact had been received from Ohio State University, then Mr. Williams' comments appear to have violated NCAA Bylaws 13.11.6 and/or 13.11.8
In order that complete and accurate information is on file with the enforcement department, it would be appreciated if you would review this information and submit the results of our inquiry into writing. In responding, please provide a statement indicating whether the above information is accurate. In order to support your response, please provide (1) a statement from Mr. Williams; (2) a copy of the permission to contact form provided by Ohio State University to the institution, if any; and (3) a statement indicating whether the institution believes it has violated NCAA legislation in this matter.
I appreciate your assistance in the review of this matter. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely, Christopher S. Strobel Director of Enforcement for Secondary Infractions
Note: The bylaws 13.11.6 and/or 13.11.8 do not apply to Grambling State, because the school says it does not have written permission from Ohio State to talk to Clarett. These rules, in general, deal with the way signings are announced to the media once permission has been granted.
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Williams says talk about Clarett helped university
September 25, 2003
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - "People are talking about Grambling," sixth-year coach Doug Williams said, smiling and shaking his head at more talk of Maurice Clarett - a story that broke over this tiny country school like a thunderclap.
Williams was congenial over the past few weeks - answering every question about the troubled Ohio State star, often tossing out one-liners, regularly reminding all those assembled that he hadn't spoken to Clarett and trying to turn the conversation back to the games at hand.
Still, the questions came.
Are you going to call Maurice Clarett?
No, I'm going to call (GSU running backs) Ab Kuuan and Reuben Mays.
Have you heard from Maurice Clarett?
My lines must be down. They ain't ringing.
Now, it appears Williams shouldn't have been so quick with the quip. The NCAA has made an inquiry, saying Williams' comments to the media might be a violation of their recruiting regulations.
"I think the NCAA is too serious about finding a violation," Williams said. "The rule they cite is so vague."
They call it indirect contact - a no-no, because schools are forbidden by rule from talking to athletes without permission from their current university's administrators.
Williams calls it PR.
"It was spreading like wildfire," Williams said of the news. "I don't know if the university really understands the impact of the publicity that Grambling got. We were across the country every day! That was good publicity."
He's defiant in his denial of tampering: "I didn't call him. He didn't call me."
That wasn't the point.
Now, there is no question that Williams would have been happy to have Clarett - baggage or no baggage.
Williams hasn't brought GSU back to SWAC dominance - back to challenging the nation's best Division I-AA school until the waning moments of last Saturday's game - with players of destiny.
He's done it with players who've had problems - but, more importantly, had desire.
Williams and his coordinators have coached up for so long, it is hard to believe their offices haven't levitated to the top floor of the Stadium Support Facility.
It wasn't always like that.
Eddie Robinson's GSU was a flickering beacon of opportunity, the place where the best and brightest of those under America's boot heel came to make their names.
But, as this country moved deeper into the second half of the last century, different opportunities opened up for blacks. The desire to win overcame other, more hateful impulses. African-Americans not only were recruited, but starred on college teams in towns where they once dared not stop for gas.
This coincided with the fading of the Southwestern Athletic Conference as a place where the obvious black talents resided.
The Doug Williamses, the Walter Paytons, the Jerry Rices, the Steve McNairs came along less frequently. They didn't have to play at historically black schools to get noticed.
There's an oddly powerful joy in that - if only because every athlete is now entitled to an audition, if not a place in the team photo.
It's odd, though, because - as with everything in America - there was a cost: With a vast majority of what they call "draftables" already cashing in on scholarships from schools that promise an alphabet soup of success (TV, PR and BCS), what's left for Grambling?
GSU is not going to get a Maurice Clarett on the way up. They're going to get him on the way down, if they get him at all.
In the modern period, the Tigers win or lose with those who are left. Lately, it's been mostly winning - thus, Clarett's apparent interest in transferring to GSU after a rocky end at Ohio State.
He wasn't coming. We now know that.
Williams looked like he knew it from the beginning, so he was enjoying the spotlight as it dilated on his alma mater.
He considered the hullabaloo much about something, all right: Recruiting. And not Maurice Clarett.
Robinson constructed the Grambling legend with the pick of the African-American talent pool. But a Buck Buchanan (the first pick in the 1963 AFL draft) or a Tank Younger (the future four-time NFL Pro Bowler between 1951-55) may as well be biblical figures to today's youngsters.
You've got to do whatever you can, Williams says, to get the word out about your program - even a storied one like Grambling State.
Willie Davis? Charlie Joiner?? Heck, the average new recruits were learning their ABCs when Doug was hoisting the Super Bowl MVP trophy with Washington.
But Clarett, without ever running a single yard, gave Grambling State currency. Kids today would notice if collegiate football's best runner last year - the national championship's crowned prince - was even hinting at joining this country school.
It meant Grambling State had arrived. Again.
The news of this inquiry will travel just as fast, marking as it does the first time Williams has stepped into any possible NCAA trouble as a head coach at GSU.
Should something come of this initial investigation, it could hurt Williams' chances at moving on to a job at a larger program. Generally, the toughest NCAA sanctions for a I-AA school involve limiting recruitment - a particularly cruel irony.
But, for now, it's hard to argue with Williams' logic: "I'm trying to help my school. The NCAA probably needs to be dealing with something else, you know? Clarett never went to class here. He didn't get stopped here in his car. There are a whole lot of other things they need to worry about, rather than Grambling."
Nick Deriso is sports editor at The News-Star, 411 N. Fourth St., Monroe, La., 71201. An online archive of his columns is at www. thenewsstar.com/nickderiso. You can contact him at (318) 362-0234 or at nderiso@thenewsstar.com.
COMMENTS ON CLARETT A FOCUS
The NCAA inquiry specifically mentions a story posted Sept. 9 at www.thenewsstar.com. Here are Grambling State coach Doug Williams' comments from that piece:
"That's been the talk of the day," Williams said, chuckling. "We've gotten calls from all over."
"Grambling brings national visibility, even if we are I-AA. Scouts are coming here every day. That means he's getting everything that he would have gotten there - except 100,000 people at the game."
"We don't have a Maurice Clarett. It would be a big difference. It would take a lot of pressure off of (GSU quarterback) Bruce (Eugene). There's nothing I can do, but keep my phone line clear."
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Grambling: NCAA problems began with jersey
September 26, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING- While the NCAA apparently views the event as "isolated or inadvertent" - and, thus, not as serious - Grambling State coach Doug Williams still can't believe he got in trouble over a jersey.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has begun an inquiry into possible "indirect contact" with Maurice Clarett at GSU.
The NCAA specifically mentioned a news conference - part of which later aired nationally on ESPN - where Williams entered carrying a Grambling State jersey with the suspended Ohio State runner's number on it.
"What," Williams said, "is `indirectly contacting' someone? If I had talked to (Clarett family adviser) Jim Brown and said: `We want him.' That's contacting him. But holding up a jersey? Something is wrong with this picture."
Prospective schools must get permission from an athlete's current athletics director before they can talk to transfers. Brown had said publicly that he favored a transfer down to Division I-AA Grambling State for the soon-to-be-suspended star.
"I came in a little light-heartedly," Williams said. "I knew a lot questions were going to be coming about the Clarett situation."
The good news for Grambling State is that the infraction has been referred to Chris Strobel, who is the NCAA's director of enforcement for secondary infractions.
There is a significantly lower threshold of penalty for those violations. Post-season penalties, for instance, are reserved for major infractions.
"We won't have any comments about the specific situation," said Kay Hawes, the NCAA's associate director of media relations. "It's NCAA policy not to comment on current and on-going investigations."
But being as the letter came out of the office of secondary infractions, what is at stake for GSU comes into sharper focus.
A secondary infraction, as defined in the NCAA Bylaw 19.02.2, "is one that is isolated or inadvertent in nature, provides or is intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and does not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit."
Like holding a jersey up in a news conference.
"It shouldn't have even been an issue with Grambling," Williams said. "That jersey did not have `Clarett' on it. If I had put his name on the back of the jersey, that would have been a different thing. I would have agreed with them wholeheartedly."
As outlined in NCAA Bylaw 19.5.1, the stiffest sentence handed down for these lower-level infractions would involve Williams - who could be restricted from recruiting trips for one year or perhaps suspended for one or more games.
The school could also face fines up to $5,000 or lose financial aid scholarships. Most of the other penalties do not apply because Clarett never suited up for Grambling State.
Still, those are a lot of possible headaches over the exhibition of a jersey, something Williams said was meant to be a joke.
"We have a No. 13 in every color," he said. "That's the bottom line. We didn't go out and buy it."
Yet, GSU officials contend that this footage, recorded at a local news conference then shown on ESPN, is largely responsible for the NCAA inquiry.
"It makes it look like, the way ESPN showed it, that he was saying that we want Clarett," athletics director Al Dennis said. "That jersey belongs to our punter, Darien Morgan."
Williams has one more bone to pick: The tape didn't include his comments.
"Not a word was spoken," Williams said, meaning the NCAA couldn't have known the context to go with those images. "All they saw was No. 13 - and they interpreted it any way they wanted to."
While no deadline has been set for GSU's response, Dennis said he hopes to have the school's response ready to send today.
Also mentioned in the letter of inquiry was a related story posted at www.thenewsstar.com on Sept. 9, called "A Wait for Greatness."
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Grambling avoids NCAA penalties
December 20, 2003
By NICK DERISO
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
The NCAA, as first reported at www.thenewsstar.com, has completed its inquiry into comments about troubled running back Maurice Clarett made by Grambling State University coach Doug Williams and will not penalize the school.
GSU is, however, required to give updated training on indirect contact with a prospective player and review NCAA policy on recruiting, GSU athletics director Al Dennis said.
Kay Hawes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association's associate director of media relations, said the association has a standing policy not to comment on investigations.
"They disagreed with us that there was a secondary violation," Dennis said of the NCAA. "So, we will go back over our education process and use that press conference as an example to show how things can go wrong."
Lane Howell, the school's rules compliance officer, will touch on these rules during monthly meetings.
The NCAA issued a letter of inquiry to GSU on Sept. 15 after Williams answered interview questions concerning the possible transfer of the former Ohio State running back. The school was asked to explain comments first published by The News-Star's Web site - and images that later appeared on ESPN.
The inquiry referred to a section of the regulations stipulating that colleges may not contact a student-athlete at another NCAA or NAIA four-year institution - even indirectly - without written permission from the player's current athletics director.
"Our intent was never to make contact with the young man," Dennis said. "But because of the way the report went out, they still felt it was a violation."
The NCAA reviewed a tape of the Sept. 9 news conference, a printed transcript and other material submitted by Grambling State before ruling that a secondary infraction occurred.
These infractions, as defined in the NCAA Bylaw 19.02.2, are those that are "isolated or inadvertent in nature, provide or are intended to provide only a minimal recruiting, competitive or other advantage and do not include any significant recruiting inducement or extra benefit."
There is a significantly lower threshold of penalty for secondary violations. Post-season penalties, for instance, are reserved for major infractions.
As outlined in NCAA Bylaw 19.5.1, the stiffest sentence handed down for these lower-level infractions would have involved Williams - who could have been restricted from recruiting trips for one year or perhaps suspended for one or more games. The school could also have faced fines up to $5,000 or lost financial aid scholarships.
Williams has said he suspects that entering the news conference while carrying a No. 13 Grambling jersey sparked the inquiry. Clarett, who then was reportedly considering a transfer and remains suspended from the Ohio State football team, wore that number.
Showing posts with label James 'Shack' Harris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label James 'Shack' Harris. Show all posts
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The time that ... Grambling lobbied for the Heisman
On the campaign trail
Grambling hopes Eugene earns Heisman consideration
Nick's note: A sad conclusion came to this effort when Eugene went down in the third quarter of the 2004 opener with a season-ending knee injury. He would return for a record-smashing final campaign in 2005, however, leading Grambling to its 21st SWAC title.
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
July 7, 2004
GRAMBLING — Supporters from Grambling State are mounting a Heisman Trophy campaign for record-breaking senior quarterback Bruce Eugene.
It won't be easy.
"He's got an outstanding story," said interim GSU coach Melvin Spears, who recruited Eugene to Grambling. "You're talking about a guy who came out of the St. Thomas housing project (in New Orleans). It's a major feat if he's even considered in that company right now."
Eugene says making the list would be a great moment not only for himself, but for Grambling State.
"Being mentioned for an award like that lets me know that I'm doing what's being asked - and we're getting recognized," said Eugene, who has set GSU's single-season marks for yards, completions and TDs. "In the process, that helps other Grambling players get recognized and helps my school gets its name out there."
But, like all Division I-AA performers, Eugene will face an uphill battle for recognition by Heisman voters.
"I certainly feel that his accomplishments, his numbers, are worthy of the accolade," said former GSU quarterback James "Shack" Harris, vice president of player personnel for the Jacksonville Jaguars. "But realistically, the Heisman is not something he can win. It's not Bruce. It's the system."
Alcorn State standout Steve McNair remains the highest recent vote-getter from I-AA. He finished third in 1994 - only to go on to league MVP honors while the top two choices, Rashaan Salaam and Ki-Jana Carter, have struggled in the NFL. Doug Williams finished fourth in the 1977 Heisman voting behind eventual winner Earl Campbell.
"But the Heisman Trophy, when you think about it, honors the best player in college football - whatever the division," Spears said. "Does that mean the best guy in his conference, the best guy on his team or just the best guy? The question I pose is this: What if the best college football player does not play in Division I-A?"
Grambling State supporters will use technology to present that message.
Kenn Rashad - a 1990 GSU graduate best known for launching the SWACPage.com site - has offered to help design a separate Heisman Web site for GSU. It's something that could quickly raise Eugene's profile among potential voters who don't closely follow Division I-AA football.
"Instead of trying to get the media to see Bruce Eugene, I thought we could bring Bruce Eugene to the media," Rashad said. "I'd like to see some flash components that illustrated what he did week by week on the field, with perhaps some video highlights that could be downloaded."
The Web site is still in the earliest planning stages, Rashad added.
E-mails were sent out a couple of weeks ago by Peter Forest, GSU's director of athletic media relations, that asked selected people to participate in a Heisman steering committee.
"We are in the process of putting together a group of supporters," Spears said. "When all the students get back, in August, we will also have a introductory party."
The hope isn't that Eugene wins so much as gets some measure of recognition for what he's already accomplished at Grambling State.
"He may not win the award," Rashad said, "but he most certainly should be on the list."
Eugene, who wowed observers even as a redshirt freshman out of New Orleans' Cohen High School, was a part-time starter during GSU's 2001 SWAC title season - then led the Tigers to another championship in 2002.
He is the school's record-holder in passing completions, attempts, yards and total offense, and is ranked second in passing touchdowns.
That dominance led to two consecutive top-three finishes in voting in the Walter Payton Award, which recognizes Division I-AA's offensive player of the year. He was third in 2002, then second last season.
Harris, who won or shared the conference title in every season he played at GSU in the 1960s, thinks Eugene will return to the Payton Watch List as a senior. "He should be a top candidate for the best player in Division I-AA," Harris said.
Eugene was also named a first-team All-America quarterback by The Sports Network in 2003, then a second-team quarterback on The Associated Press' All-America football team.
"I guess the only thing I can say about Eugene and the Heisman list is: How can you not have him on that list?" Rashad said. "He has been a finalist for the Walter Payton Award the last two years and I am certain he will be a finalist again this year. Being a finalist among the best football players on the I-AA level automatically makes Eugene better than many of the players on the I-A level."
Too, as more people hear about Eugene, they also reacquaint themselves with a Grambling State football program that was reborn under former coach Doug Williams.
"My outlook, my vision, is more institutional - rather than winning the award," said former offensive coordinator Spears, who took over as interim when Williams resigned in February. "It's about having the opportunity to have a guy that's talked about all over the country. That's good for Grambling. If you can have one kid say Bruce Eugene is a Heisman Trophy candidate, and look twice at Grambling, then we've done what we need to do from a marketing standpoint.”
Grambling hopes Eugene earns Heisman consideration
Nick's note: A sad conclusion came to this effort when Eugene went down in the third quarter of the 2004 opener with a season-ending knee injury. He would return for a record-smashing final campaign in 2005, however, leading Grambling to its 21st SWAC title.
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
July 7, 2004
GRAMBLING — Supporters from Grambling State are mounting a Heisman Trophy campaign for record-breaking senior quarterback Bruce Eugene.
It won't be easy.
"He's got an outstanding story," said interim GSU coach Melvin Spears, who recruited Eugene to Grambling. "You're talking about a guy who came out of the St. Thomas housing project (in New Orleans). It's a major feat if he's even considered in that company right now."
Eugene says making the list would be a great moment not only for himself, but for Grambling State.
"Being mentioned for an award like that lets me know that I'm doing what's being asked - and we're getting recognized," said Eugene, who has set GSU's single-season marks for yards, completions and TDs. "In the process, that helps other Grambling players get recognized and helps my school gets its name out there."
But, like all Division I-AA performers, Eugene will face an uphill battle for recognition by Heisman voters.
"I certainly feel that his accomplishments, his numbers, are worthy of the accolade," said former GSU quarterback James "Shack" Harris, vice president of player personnel for the Jacksonville Jaguars. "But realistically, the Heisman is not something he can win. It's not Bruce. It's the system."
Alcorn State standout Steve McNair remains the highest recent vote-getter from I-AA. He finished third in 1994 - only to go on to league MVP honors while the top two choices, Rashaan Salaam and Ki-Jana Carter, have struggled in the NFL. Doug Williams finished fourth in the 1977 Heisman voting behind eventual winner Earl Campbell.
"But the Heisman Trophy, when you think about it, honors the best player in college football - whatever the division," Spears said. "Does that mean the best guy in his conference, the best guy on his team or just the best guy? The question I pose is this: What if the best college football player does not play in Division I-A?"
Grambling State supporters will use technology to present that message.
Kenn Rashad - a 1990 GSU graduate best known for launching the SWACPage.com site - has offered to help design a separate Heisman Web site for GSU. It's something that could quickly raise Eugene's profile among potential voters who don't closely follow Division I-AA football.
"Instead of trying to get the media to see Bruce Eugene, I thought we could bring Bruce Eugene to the media," Rashad said. "I'd like to see some flash components that illustrated what he did week by week on the field, with perhaps some video highlights that could be downloaded."
The Web site is still in the earliest planning stages, Rashad added.
E-mails were sent out a couple of weeks ago by Peter Forest, GSU's director of athletic media relations, that asked selected people to participate in a Heisman steering committee.
"We are in the process of putting together a group of supporters," Spears said. "When all the students get back, in August, we will also have a introductory party."
The hope isn't that Eugene wins so much as gets some measure of recognition for what he's already accomplished at Grambling State.
"He may not win the award," Rashad said, "but he most certainly should be on the list."
Eugene, who wowed observers even as a redshirt freshman out of New Orleans' Cohen High School, was a part-time starter during GSU's 2001 SWAC title season - then led the Tigers to another championship in 2002.
He is the school's record-holder in passing completions, attempts, yards and total offense, and is ranked second in passing touchdowns.
That dominance led to two consecutive top-three finishes in voting in the Walter Payton Award, which recognizes Division I-AA's offensive player of the year. He was third in 2002, then second last season.
Harris, who won or shared the conference title in every season he played at GSU in the 1960s, thinks Eugene will return to the Payton Watch List as a senior. "He should be a top candidate for the best player in Division I-AA," Harris said.
Eugene was also named a first-team All-America quarterback by The Sports Network in 2003, then a second-team quarterback on The Associated Press' All-America football team.
"I guess the only thing I can say about Eugene and the Heisman list is: How can you not have him on that list?" Rashad said. "He has been a finalist for the Walter Payton Award the last two years and I am certain he will be a finalist again this year. Being a finalist among the best football players on the I-AA level automatically makes Eugene better than many of the players on the I-A level."
Too, as more people hear about Eugene, they also reacquaint themselves with a Grambling State football program that was reborn under former coach Doug Williams.
"My outlook, my vision, is more institutional - rather than winning the award," said former offensive coordinator Spears, who took over as interim when Williams resigned in February. "It's about having the opportunity to have a guy that's talked about all over the country. That's good for Grambling. If you can have one kid say Bruce Eugene is a Heisman Trophy candidate, and look twice at Grambling, then we've done what we need to do from a marketing standpoint.”
Monday, July 21, 2008
Grambling greats: College Hall of Famer Doug Porter
College Hall of Fame beckons Grambling resident Douglas Porter
May 7, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling resident Douglas Porter, who had a five-decade long career in coaching and athletic administration, will be inducted into the College Hall of Fame.
The National Football Foundation is expected to announce the 2008 class today. Porter appeared on the lower-classification ballot.
A former assistant at Grambling State under Eddie Robinson, Porter was a head coach at former Division I-AA programs Mississippi Valley (from 1961-65) and Howard University (from 1974-78) and finally at Division II Fort Valley State (from 1979-94). He was a longtime administrator at Fort Valley, as well.
Porter’s helped establish a Valley program that had not had a winning season in five years before his first in 1963, and has only matched his three in a row (through 1965) two other times — once in the 1950s, and another under Archie Cooley beginning in 1983. His .550 winning percentage has only been bested once among MVSU coaches who stayed five or more years.
He then coached for nine seasons under Robinson, running an offense that featured future Pro Football Hall of Famer Charlie Joiner and quarterbacks James “Shack” Harris and Doug Williams, later a Super Bowl MVP.
Every Grambling senior was drafted by the NFL in 1969. In 1971, 43 GSU players were in pro football camps.
“Even when I got to Fort Valley, the lead story was always that I was formerly an assistant under Coach Eddie Robinson,” Porter said recently. “That’s what they would start with. That gave you credibility, the fact that you had worked with Coach Rob.”
Porter, who won 61 percent of the games he coached, was 30-21-2 in five seasons at Howard — part of a career record of 166 victories.
At Fort Valley, a Division II program in Georgia, Porter won six conference championships and made two NCAA playoff appearances on his way to seven league coach of the year honors.
Porter retired back to Grambling in 1997, where he became a trusted advisor to both former GSU coaches Doug Williams and Melvin Spears and current coach Rod Broadway. He has also been a steady presence in the efforts to establish a museum in Robinson’s honor.
Porter has already been inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Hall of Fame.
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OUT OF THE SHADOWS: Legendary Grambling assistant built Hall of Fame resume as a head coach too
May 12, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Until this week, Douglas Porter was most often referred to as a former assistant under Grambling State’s mythical Eddie Robinson.
Porter stood, without complaint, inside the dark outline of that coaching legend’s shadow — despite having assembled a terrific, if seldom decorated, career of his own.
“That couldn’t have been easy with a person of his skill,” said James “Shack” Harris, Porter’s first quarterbacking protégé at GSU. “He was able to do it without ego, and to do it well.”
Porter, in fact, had been a part of a larger storyline in shaping successful programs, even in the most trying of situations. He had won nearly 170 games during a trio of head coaching stints at Mississippi Valley State, Howard and Fort Valley State — a resume built far from the red clay hills of Grambling.
Recognition for those efforts came on Wednesday when Porter was announced as part of the College Hall of Fame’s 2008 divisional class for lower-classification coaches and players.
“He has never been in the limelight,” said Doug Williams, who later received mentoring from Porter at Grambling as a redshirt freshman passer. “This is one time when he gets his 15 minutes. He deserves it.”
Nothing could stop Porter’s Hall of Fame journey: Not the crushing disparities found at rural black schools like Mississippi Valley State and Grambling, the benign neglect rampant even at metropolitan institutions like Howard, the forgotten backwaters of Division II ball at Fort Valley, or even a shocking moment when his body betrayed him.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
Porter, so happy to be taking over a program, didn’t ask too many questions upon assuming his first head coaching job at Valley.
Once he got to Itta Bena, though, the gravity of the situation became apparent.
“Hadn’t beaten Jackson, hadn’t beaten Alcorn — in ages,” Porter said, sizing up Mississippi Valley State’s performance against key league foes. “Two years before, Grambling had beaten us 93 to nothing.”
He set about building a foundation of pride. That would require more than scoring 94 points on a Saturday afternoon.
“It took us a couple of years,” Porter said. “We played a lot of freshmen, played a lot of young people. But then, it began to pay off for us.”
Though Valley had not had a winning season in five years before Porter’s first in 1963, he reeled off three in a row through 1965 — something that has only been matched in Itta Bena on two other occasions.
Grambling, it’s no surprise, was a measuring stick. That time when Robinson’s squad had nearly hung a Benjamin on the Delta Devils stuck with Porter.
He finally began to gain on Valley’s cross-conference rivals and, in the process, to earn Eddie Robinson’s respect.
Porter had gotten blown out by Grambling during their first trio of meetings — and by a combined score of 149-12. But Porter was gaining, losing by an average of about two touchdowns over the last three games
“We came down in 1965, we played in Grambling —- and we led at halftime,” Porter said. “We lost 34-20, but we had been ahead 14-7. That was a measure of where we had come. We had gotten to the point where we could play anybody on our schedule. That was what I had hoped to do when I came there.”
A year later, he was running Robinson’s offense.
Porter said the chance to work alongside an American legend at Grambling — and to mentor future Louisiana Sports Hall of Famers like Harris and Frank Lewis — made what amounted to a demotion to offensive coordinator an attractive offer.
“He was very effective in a variety of situations,” Harris said. “He was someone who really knew the game. Coach Porter was a leader in his own right. You respected him.”
Grambling won six SWAC titles in the eight years Porter served under Robinson — three of them with Harris, who compiled a 31-9-1 record at Grambling.
That period of profound success, however, was leavened by the emerging reality that Robinson was becoming professionally and personally entwined in Grambling.
This relationship, already nearly 35 seasons old, was set for life.
Porter would have to move on in order to get an opportunity to run a program. After considering an offer from Florida A&M, he left in 1974 for the Washington, D.C.-based historically black college program Howard.
“I wanted to be a head coach,” he said. “I saw that, after a few years here, there was not going to be a chance for that.
“Change,” Porter added, laughing now, “wasn’t coming.”
Porter and Robinson, in fact, both would work for another 24 seasons, but while Porter moved from Howard to Fort Valley in coaching and administrative positions, his old boss never left the helm at GSU.
UPS AND DOWNS
Porter said he soon learned that the administration at Howard didn’t have the same commitment to athletics that he had become used to at Grambling under Robinson and then-president R.W.E. Jones.
Porter would finish with a winning record, but he’s always been left with the sense that he could have done better than his 30-21-2 mark over five seasons in D.C.
“I thought at that time that the best move for me and my future in football was Howard,” Porter said. “It didn’t turn out to be that way.”
Just over the horizon, however, was Fort Valley, where Porter would coach — save for one year — from 1979-97, and serve as athletics director from 1981-97.
“In all things that I have been involved with — people might think this is a little sanctimonious — I felt that the Lord has a way of directing you to go certain places and do certain things,” Porter said. “I was glad to get out of that situation.”
The then-current athletics director at Fort Valley was one of Porter’s college coaches. The school president had a child who attended Grambling during Porter’s tenure there.
And middle Georgia residents, like those in rural north Louisiana, boast a deep-seated love affair with football.
“There weren’t the same resources they had at Grambling, but the commitment to support the program was just as great,” Porter said.
He’d capture seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships between 1980-92, including four in a row from 1982-85.
“It definitely didn’t surprise me that he was able to leave and do well,” said Harris, now a top front-office executive in the NFL. “Some people are destined for success; he was one of those kinds of people.”
Five years after taking over, Fort Valley was winning its league title with both the offensive and defensive players of the year.
But Porter, after so long on the sidelines, was beginning to fray. An in-season heart attack during his seventh campaign at Fort Valley sent him into spiraling introspection.
'A GREAT FOOTBALL MIND'
Fort Valley has begun that impressive string of championships in the 1980s running an offense that bore little resemblance to the attack associated with Robinson’s Grambling teams.
Recruiting into a Division II program had something to do with it.
“I didn’t have the offensive linemen that it would take to run the Wing T,” Porter said. “You need guys who have a lot of athletic ability to be successful. It was easier for us to find kids we could teach to pass block and drive block.”
By ‘85, Fort Valley had developed a powerful defense to match that offensive power, too, leading the lower classification in several categories. Opponents were often held under a touchdown, and to minus-yards rushing.
But these low-scoring matches — coupled with newly founded, Grambling-like expectations of winning — took their toll, creating a pressure-cooker environment.
Fort Valley, ranked No. 2, came into a game against No. 1 Central State and fell 14-7.
A coach known for his easy-going nature — in fact, some at Fort Valley had once criticized him for not being emotional enough — was taking all of this personally.
Too personally.
“It was a hard, hard loss,” Porter said. “We were going into our last two games with just one loss. To maintain that puts you under a tremendous amount of pressure that you don’t really realize.”
He ended up flat on his back in a hospital room, with doctors trying to get his heart fixed.
Porter kept asking about the scores, tried to keep his head in the game.
But the doctors recommended a year off.
The time away refocused Porter on what was important. He still loved football, but in a different way. He learned to let things go.
“At the end of that, I was in the best shape I have been in, other than when I was in the Army,” Porter said. “But I wanted to coach. Coaching is all I have ever really wanted to do.”
He would win more titles at Fort Valley, would serve as chairman of the Division II Football Committee and as president of the National Athletic Steering Committee and, after retiring, would play a key advisory role in smoothing the transition for Robinson successor Doug Williams at Grambling.
“Fort Valley was a good fit for me,” Porter said. “We found that they had a strong group of followers, and they had established a good winning tradition. As with Grambling, I was happy to be a part of that.”
Even if it always seemed to come second on his resume. Until Wednesday, when the College Hall of Fame called.
“It’s one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed,” said Williams, himself a 2001 inductee. “Nobody deserves to be rewarded more than Coach Porter.”
Porter attended the Hall of Fame ceremonies honoring Williams seven years ago, and Williams will join a burgeoning list of former students who will return the favor this summer. Porter said several Fort Valley players are organizing a group trip to South Bend, as well.
“Most people don’t know how special a coach he is,” said Harris, a Monroe native. “He coached at small schools, and that sometime means you get overlooked, but he did an outstanding job with those programs. He’s well deserving. What a great football mind.”
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For Grambling’s Porter, Hall of Fame career was about the kids
July 19, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
For Doug Porter, today will be the capstone on a career spent working with young people.
Of course, the new College Football Hall of Famer won some games along the way, too.
But that was never the point for Porter, a Grambling resident.
"To be able to touch young people," Porter said, "to get them to believe in something, that always meant so much."
The 79-year old earned membership in the College Hall’s 2008 divisional class after a 42-year career, which included 26 seasons as head coach at three small colleges. Porter also served eight seasons as an offensive coach during the legendary tenure of Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, and was athletics director at Fort Valley from 1981-97.
"He was a top football mind, someone who really knew the game," said one of Grambling’s passers at the time, James "Shack" Harris —- now a general manager with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. "Coach Porter is a leader in his right."
The National Football Foundation considers players and coaches from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), Divisions II, III, and the NAIA National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for induction in the College Hall of Fame’s divisional classes.
Porter is joined in 2008 by W.C. Gorden, who coached at Grambling’s conference foe Jackson State from 1976-91.
Four players are also to be inducted in ceremonies held today at South Bend, Ill.: Quarterback Jim Ballard (Mount Union, 1991-93); linebacker Ronald McKinnon (North Alabama, 1992-95), defensive end John Randle (Texas A&M-Kingsville, 1988-89) and halfback Brad Rowland (McMurry College, 1947-50).
Porter, who won 61 percent of the games he coached, recorded 166 career victories —- the bulk of them at Fort Valley.
There, Porter earned seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships between 1980-92, including four consecutive crowns from 1982-85. He advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals in 1983 — when his team boasted the league’s offensive and defensive players of the year in Kelvin Parker and Taqwan Taylor, respectively — and to the quarterfinals in ‘85.
"I have as much respect for Coach Porter as any one I have been around," said Harris, a Monroe native who later played for the NFL’s Bills, Rams and Chargers. "As good a coach as he was, he always played his role in shadows. That couldn’t have been easy for a person of his skill."
Even working at that tiny Georgia Division II program, Porter coached three future NFL Draft picks, including first-rounder Tyrone Poole and Pro Bowl linebacker Greg Lloyd. (He also mentored some Grambling’s top quarterbacks in Harris, Matthew Reed and then Doug Williams, the future Super Bowl MVP.)
"Coach Porter is a special coach in that he would always tell you the honest truth, about football and about life," Harris said. "It sounds simple, but it’s rare. So often a coach will tell you what you want to hear. When you get a chance to work with people like Coach Porter, you become a better person yourself."
Named SIAC coach of the year seven times, Porter earned a lifetime achievement award from the All-American Football Foundation in 1998 and induction in the Mississippi Valley State Hall of Fame in 2006.
"The recognition is overwhelming," Porter said. "But the most important thing to me was to affect the lives of young people. That was satisfying."
COACH DOUG PORTER
Born: Aug. 15, 1929 in Memphis
Personal: Lives in Grambling, with wife Jean
Head coaching career: Mississippi Valley State (1961-65), Howard (1974-78), Fort Valley State (1979-85, 1987-96); also served as an offensive assistant at Grambling (1966-73) under Eddie Robinson, and has been a key advisor to each of his successors.
Career record: 166-107-5, only five losing seasons out of 26
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A SHARED EXPERIENCE: Grambling's duo of Dougs — Porter and Williams — boasts Hall of Fame friendship
July 20, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
A familiar face could be found among the crowd.
Doug Porter was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, with former player and protégé Doug Williams in attendance.
The roles had been reversed in 2001, when Williams was named to the hall's divisional class as a player. Seven years later, Porter was recognized in South Bend, Ill., for head coaching work at a trio of lower classification programs.
Porter also served from 1966-73 as an offensive assistant during the career of Grambling State's Eddie Robinson.
There, he met Doug Williams, then a young quarterback. Later, after retirement, Porter returned to become a key mentor when Williams succeeded Robinson as head coach at Grambling.
"It was big for me when Coach Porter showed up for my induction," Williams said. "When I found out that he was going in, I thought that was one of the greatest things. I got a chance to repay Coach by being there for him."
Porter won 61 percent of the games he coached, recording 166 career victories at former Division I-AA programs Mississippi Valley State (1961-65) and Howard (1974-78), then at Division II Fort Valley State (1979-97). He also served as athletics director at Fort Valley from 1981-97.
He might have won more still, had Williams followed Porter to Howard.
Williams certainly wanted to, back then.
"He was frustrated as a red shirt," Porter said. "He was running the scout team, but he felt he was better. He wasn't playing."
Porter, then as now a wise and fair man, knew the steep coaching climb ahead at Howard. But he wasn't willing to pluck Williams out of a more favorable situation.
"It wasn't in Doug's best interest to come," Porter said. "He wouldn't have been surrounded with the kind of people he had with Eddie: He wouldn't have had Dwight Scales; he wouldn't have had Sammy White — and those people were big contributors to his success. Had Williams come to us, he would have been a great quarterback, but throwing it to a group of receivers who made a lot of drops. That wouldn't have helped him."
Williams would win a pair of league championships under Robinson, success that launched him into the race for the Heisman Trophy. Williams then became a first-round NFL draft pick, and eventually earned Super Bowl MVP honors in 1988.
A lasting relationship, built as much on trust as on gridiron concepts, was forged.
Fate brought them back together in 1997, when Porter returned to Grambling upon retirement. Williams was in the midst of launching the difficult post-Robinson era — something nearly unthinkable after his stirring 57-season tenure — and Porter's guiding hand again played a key role Williams' success.
"It was Doug Porter who helped me though the whole transition," Williams said. "He wasn't looking for publicity for what he did. It wasn't hard for me to see that I needed Doug Porter close by me."
Long after retirement, Porter — the son of a coach, Memphis prep legend W.P. Porter — still possessed a keen passion for football.
"We'd sit down every day after practice and I would tell him what I felt," Porter said. "He was very amenable, though sometimes we would disagree. I could accept that, because it was his football team. The only thing I wanted to do was help him be successful."
He was: Williams, with Porter on the sidelines in an advisory role, would win a trio of Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in 2000-02, and was one game away from the championship match in both 1999 and 2003.
They now boast another bond, another shared memory in a lifetime filled with them.
"He had such an impact on my life," Williams said. "He had a lot to do with the success that I had. In my life, Coach Porter has been a Hall of Famer for a long time."
May 7, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
Grambling resident Douglas Porter, who had a five-decade long career in coaching and athletic administration, will be inducted into the College Hall of Fame.
The National Football Foundation is expected to announce the 2008 class today. Porter appeared on the lower-classification ballot.
A former assistant at Grambling State under Eddie Robinson, Porter was a head coach at former Division I-AA programs Mississippi Valley (from 1961-65) and Howard University (from 1974-78) and finally at Division II Fort Valley State (from 1979-94). He was a longtime administrator at Fort Valley, as well.
Porter’s helped establish a Valley program that had not had a winning season in five years before his first in 1963, and has only matched his three in a row (through 1965) two other times — once in the 1950s, and another under Archie Cooley beginning in 1983. His .550 winning percentage has only been bested once among MVSU coaches who stayed five or more years.
He then coached for nine seasons under Robinson, running an offense that featured future Pro Football Hall of Famer Charlie Joiner and quarterbacks James “Shack” Harris and Doug Williams, later a Super Bowl MVP.
Every Grambling senior was drafted by the NFL in 1969. In 1971, 43 GSU players were in pro football camps.
“Even when I got to Fort Valley, the lead story was always that I was formerly an assistant under Coach Eddie Robinson,” Porter said recently. “That’s what they would start with. That gave you credibility, the fact that you had worked with Coach Rob.”
Porter, who won 61 percent of the games he coached, was 30-21-2 in five seasons at Howard — part of a career record of 166 victories.
At Fort Valley, a Division II program in Georgia, Porter won six conference championships and made two NCAA playoff appearances on his way to seven league coach of the year honors.
Porter retired back to Grambling in 1997, where he became a trusted advisor to both former GSU coaches Doug Williams and Melvin Spears and current coach Rod Broadway. He has also been a steady presence in the efforts to establish a museum in Robinson’s honor.
Porter has already been inducted into the Mississippi Valley State Hall of Fame.
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OUT OF THE SHADOWS: Legendary Grambling assistant built Hall of Fame resume as a head coach too
May 12, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — Until this week, Douglas Porter was most often referred to as a former assistant under Grambling State’s mythical Eddie Robinson.
Porter stood, without complaint, inside the dark outline of that coaching legend’s shadow — despite having assembled a terrific, if seldom decorated, career of his own.
“That couldn’t have been easy with a person of his skill,” said James “Shack” Harris, Porter’s first quarterbacking protégé at GSU. “He was able to do it without ego, and to do it well.”
Porter, in fact, had been a part of a larger storyline in shaping successful programs, even in the most trying of situations. He had won nearly 170 games during a trio of head coaching stints at Mississippi Valley State, Howard and Fort Valley State — a resume built far from the red clay hills of Grambling.
Recognition for those efforts came on Wednesday when Porter was announced as part of the College Hall of Fame’s 2008 divisional class for lower-classification coaches and players.
“He has never been in the limelight,” said Doug Williams, who later received mentoring from Porter at Grambling as a redshirt freshman passer. “This is one time when he gets his 15 minutes. He deserves it.”
Nothing could stop Porter’s Hall of Fame journey: Not the crushing disparities found at rural black schools like Mississippi Valley State and Grambling, the benign neglect rampant even at metropolitan institutions like Howard, the forgotten backwaters of Division II ball at Fort Valley, or even a shocking moment when his body betrayed him.
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
Porter, so happy to be taking over a program, didn’t ask too many questions upon assuming his first head coaching job at Valley.
Once he got to Itta Bena, though, the gravity of the situation became apparent.
“Hadn’t beaten Jackson, hadn’t beaten Alcorn — in ages,” Porter said, sizing up Mississippi Valley State’s performance against key league foes. “Two years before, Grambling had beaten us 93 to nothing.”
He set about building a foundation of pride. That would require more than scoring 94 points on a Saturday afternoon.
“It took us a couple of years,” Porter said. “We played a lot of freshmen, played a lot of young people. But then, it began to pay off for us.”
Though Valley had not had a winning season in five years before Porter’s first in 1963, he reeled off three in a row through 1965 — something that has only been matched in Itta Bena on two other occasions.
Grambling, it’s no surprise, was a measuring stick. That time when Robinson’s squad had nearly hung a Benjamin on the Delta Devils stuck with Porter.
He finally began to gain on Valley’s cross-conference rivals and, in the process, to earn Eddie Robinson’s respect.
Porter had gotten blown out by Grambling during their first trio of meetings — and by a combined score of 149-12. But Porter was gaining, losing by an average of about two touchdowns over the last three games
“We came down in 1965, we played in Grambling —- and we led at halftime,” Porter said. “We lost 34-20, but we had been ahead 14-7. That was a measure of where we had come. We had gotten to the point where we could play anybody on our schedule. That was what I had hoped to do when I came there.”
A year later, he was running Robinson’s offense.
Porter said the chance to work alongside an American legend at Grambling — and to mentor future Louisiana Sports Hall of Famers like Harris and Frank Lewis — made what amounted to a demotion to offensive coordinator an attractive offer.
“He was very effective in a variety of situations,” Harris said. “He was someone who really knew the game. Coach Porter was a leader in his own right. You respected him.”
Grambling won six SWAC titles in the eight years Porter served under Robinson — three of them with Harris, who compiled a 31-9-1 record at Grambling.
That period of profound success, however, was leavened by the emerging reality that Robinson was becoming professionally and personally entwined in Grambling.
This relationship, already nearly 35 seasons old, was set for life.
Porter would have to move on in order to get an opportunity to run a program. After considering an offer from Florida A&M, he left in 1974 for the Washington, D.C.-based historically black college program Howard.
“I wanted to be a head coach,” he said. “I saw that, after a few years here, there was not going to be a chance for that.
“Change,” Porter added, laughing now, “wasn’t coming.”
Porter and Robinson, in fact, both would work for another 24 seasons, but while Porter moved from Howard to Fort Valley in coaching and administrative positions, his old boss never left the helm at GSU.
UPS AND DOWNS
Porter said he soon learned that the administration at Howard didn’t have the same commitment to athletics that he had become used to at Grambling under Robinson and then-president R.W.E. Jones.
Porter would finish with a winning record, but he’s always been left with the sense that he could have done better than his 30-21-2 mark over five seasons in D.C.
“I thought at that time that the best move for me and my future in football was Howard,” Porter said. “It didn’t turn out to be that way.”
Just over the horizon, however, was Fort Valley, where Porter would coach — save for one year — from 1979-97, and serve as athletics director from 1981-97.
“In all things that I have been involved with — people might think this is a little sanctimonious — I felt that the Lord has a way of directing you to go certain places and do certain things,” Porter said. “I was glad to get out of that situation.”
The then-current athletics director at Fort Valley was one of Porter’s college coaches. The school president had a child who attended Grambling during Porter’s tenure there.
And middle Georgia residents, like those in rural north Louisiana, boast a deep-seated love affair with football.
“There weren’t the same resources they had at Grambling, but the commitment to support the program was just as great,” Porter said.
He’d capture seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships between 1980-92, including four in a row from 1982-85.
“It definitely didn’t surprise me that he was able to leave and do well,” said Harris, now a top front-office executive in the NFL. “Some people are destined for success; he was one of those kinds of people.”
Five years after taking over, Fort Valley was winning its league title with both the offensive and defensive players of the year.
But Porter, after so long on the sidelines, was beginning to fray. An in-season heart attack during his seventh campaign at Fort Valley sent him into spiraling introspection.
'A GREAT FOOTBALL MIND'
Fort Valley has begun that impressive string of championships in the 1980s running an offense that bore little resemblance to the attack associated with Robinson’s Grambling teams.
Recruiting into a Division II program had something to do with it.
“I didn’t have the offensive linemen that it would take to run the Wing T,” Porter said. “You need guys who have a lot of athletic ability to be successful. It was easier for us to find kids we could teach to pass block and drive block.”
By ‘85, Fort Valley had developed a powerful defense to match that offensive power, too, leading the lower classification in several categories. Opponents were often held under a touchdown, and to minus-yards rushing.
But these low-scoring matches — coupled with newly founded, Grambling-like expectations of winning — took their toll, creating a pressure-cooker environment.
Fort Valley, ranked No. 2, came into a game against No. 1 Central State and fell 14-7.
A coach known for his easy-going nature — in fact, some at Fort Valley had once criticized him for not being emotional enough — was taking all of this personally.
Too personally.
“It was a hard, hard loss,” Porter said. “We were going into our last two games with just one loss. To maintain that puts you under a tremendous amount of pressure that you don’t really realize.”
He ended up flat on his back in a hospital room, with doctors trying to get his heart fixed.
Porter kept asking about the scores, tried to keep his head in the game.
But the doctors recommended a year off.
The time away refocused Porter on what was important. He still loved football, but in a different way. He learned to let things go.
“At the end of that, I was in the best shape I have been in, other than when I was in the Army,” Porter said. “But I wanted to coach. Coaching is all I have ever really wanted to do.”
He would win more titles at Fort Valley, would serve as chairman of the Division II Football Committee and as president of the National Athletic Steering Committee and, after retiring, would play a key advisory role in smoothing the transition for Robinson successor Doug Williams at Grambling.
“Fort Valley was a good fit for me,” Porter said. “We found that they had a strong group of followers, and they had established a good winning tradition. As with Grambling, I was happy to be a part of that.”
Even if it always seemed to come second on his resume. Until Wednesday, when the College Hall of Fame called.
“It’s one of the greatest honors that can be bestowed,” said Williams, himself a 2001 inductee. “Nobody deserves to be rewarded more than Coach Porter.”
Porter attended the Hall of Fame ceremonies honoring Williams seven years ago, and Williams will join a burgeoning list of former students who will return the favor this summer. Porter said several Fort Valley players are organizing a group trip to South Bend, as well.
“Most people don’t know how special a coach he is,” said Harris, a Monroe native. “He coached at small schools, and that sometime means you get overlooked, but he did an outstanding job with those programs. He’s well deserving. What a great football mind.”
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For Grambling’s Porter, Hall of Fame career was about the kids
July 19, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
For Doug Porter, today will be the capstone on a career spent working with young people.
Of course, the new College Football Hall of Famer won some games along the way, too.
But that was never the point for Porter, a Grambling resident.
"To be able to touch young people," Porter said, "to get them to believe in something, that always meant so much."
The 79-year old earned membership in the College Hall’s 2008 divisional class after a 42-year career, which included 26 seasons as head coach at three small colleges. Porter also served eight seasons as an offensive coach during the legendary tenure of Grambling’s Eddie Robinson, and was athletics director at Fort Valley from 1981-97.
"He was a top football mind, someone who really knew the game," said one of Grambling’s passers at the time, James "Shack" Harris —- now a general manager with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. "Coach Porter is a leader in his right."
The National Football Foundation considers players and coaches from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA), Divisions II, III, and the NAIA National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for induction in the College Hall of Fame’s divisional classes.
Porter is joined in 2008 by W.C. Gorden, who coached at Grambling’s conference foe Jackson State from 1976-91.
Four players are also to be inducted in ceremonies held today at South Bend, Ill.: Quarterback Jim Ballard (Mount Union, 1991-93); linebacker Ronald McKinnon (North Alabama, 1992-95), defensive end John Randle (Texas A&M-Kingsville, 1988-89) and halfback Brad Rowland (McMurry College, 1947-50).
Porter, who won 61 percent of the games he coached, recorded 166 career victories —- the bulk of them at Fort Valley.
There, Porter earned seven Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships between 1980-92, including four consecutive crowns from 1982-85. He advanced to the NCAA Division II semifinals in 1983 — when his team boasted the league’s offensive and defensive players of the year in Kelvin Parker and Taqwan Taylor, respectively — and to the quarterfinals in ‘85.
"I have as much respect for Coach Porter as any one I have been around," said Harris, a Monroe native who later played for the NFL’s Bills, Rams and Chargers. "As good a coach as he was, he always played his role in shadows. That couldn’t have been easy for a person of his skill."
Even working at that tiny Georgia Division II program, Porter coached three future NFL Draft picks, including first-rounder Tyrone Poole and Pro Bowl linebacker Greg Lloyd. (He also mentored some Grambling’s top quarterbacks in Harris, Matthew Reed and then Doug Williams, the future Super Bowl MVP.)
"Coach Porter is a special coach in that he would always tell you the honest truth, about football and about life," Harris said. "It sounds simple, but it’s rare. So often a coach will tell you what you want to hear. When you get a chance to work with people like Coach Porter, you become a better person yourself."
Named SIAC coach of the year seven times, Porter earned a lifetime achievement award from the All-American Football Foundation in 1998 and induction in the Mississippi Valley State Hall of Fame in 2006.
"The recognition is overwhelming," Porter said. "But the most important thing to me was to affect the lives of young people. That was satisfying."
COACH DOUG PORTER
Born: Aug. 15, 1929 in Memphis
Personal: Lives in Grambling, with wife Jean
Head coaching career: Mississippi Valley State (1961-65), Howard (1974-78), Fort Valley State (1979-85, 1987-96); also served as an offensive assistant at Grambling (1966-73) under Eddie Robinson, and has been a key advisor to each of his successors.
Career record: 166-107-5, only five losing seasons out of 26
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A SHARED EXPERIENCE: Grambling's duo of Dougs — Porter and Williams — boasts Hall of Fame friendship
July 20, 2008
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
A familiar face could be found among the crowd.
Doug Porter was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday, with former player and protégé Doug Williams in attendance.
The roles had been reversed in 2001, when Williams was named to the hall's divisional class as a player. Seven years later, Porter was recognized in South Bend, Ill., for head coaching work at a trio of lower classification programs.
Porter also served from 1966-73 as an offensive assistant during the career of Grambling State's Eddie Robinson.
There, he met Doug Williams, then a young quarterback. Later, after retirement, Porter returned to become a key mentor when Williams succeeded Robinson as head coach at Grambling.
"It was big for me when Coach Porter showed up for my induction," Williams said. "When I found out that he was going in, I thought that was one of the greatest things. I got a chance to repay Coach by being there for him."
Porter won 61 percent of the games he coached, recording 166 career victories at former Division I-AA programs Mississippi Valley State (1961-65) and Howard (1974-78), then at Division II Fort Valley State (1979-97). He also served as athletics director at Fort Valley from 1981-97.
He might have won more still, had Williams followed Porter to Howard.
Williams certainly wanted to, back then.
"He was frustrated as a red shirt," Porter said. "He was running the scout team, but he felt he was better. He wasn't playing."
Porter, then as now a wise and fair man, knew the steep coaching climb ahead at Howard. But he wasn't willing to pluck Williams out of a more favorable situation.
"It wasn't in Doug's best interest to come," Porter said. "He wouldn't have been surrounded with the kind of people he had with Eddie: He wouldn't have had Dwight Scales; he wouldn't have had Sammy White — and those people were big contributors to his success. Had Williams come to us, he would have been a great quarterback, but throwing it to a group of receivers who made a lot of drops. That wouldn't have helped him."
Williams would win a pair of league championships under Robinson, success that launched him into the race for the Heisman Trophy. Williams then became a first-round NFL draft pick, and eventually earned Super Bowl MVP honors in 1988.
A lasting relationship, built as much on trust as on gridiron concepts, was forged.
Fate brought them back together in 1997, when Porter returned to Grambling upon retirement. Williams was in the midst of launching the difficult post-Robinson era — something nearly unthinkable after his stirring 57-season tenure — and Porter's guiding hand again played a key role Williams' success.
"It was Doug Porter who helped me though the whole transition," Williams said. "He wasn't looking for publicity for what he did. It wasn't hard for me to see that I needed Doug Porter close by me."
Long after retirement, Porter — the son of a coach, Memphis prep legend W.P. Porter — still possessed a keen passion for football.
"We'd sit down every day after practice and I would tell him what I felt," Porter said. "He was very amenable, though sometimes we would disagree. I could accept that, because it was his football team. The only thing I wanted to do was help him be successful."
He was: Williams, with Porter on the sidelines in an advisory role, would win a trio of Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in 2000-02, and was one game away from the championship match in both 1999 and 2003.
They now boast another bond, another shared memory in a lifetime filled with them.
"He had such an impact on my life," Williams said. "He had a lot to do with the success that I had. In my life, Coach Porter has been a Hall of Famer for a long time."
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Recruiting: South side of Monroe has been a Grambling talent pipeline
Grambling's great provider
South side of Monroe has been talent pipeline
February 6, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - James Harris grew up right around the corner from Sammy White.
Who lived down the way from Lane Howell. Who lived near a street that would eventually produce a flinty talent named Brandon Landers.
Who shares a zip code with Desmond Lenard.
The south side of Monroe sent them all to Grambling State, in an unbroken storyline that continued through last week's National Signing Day.
"I grew up in that neighborhood," said Sammy White, a Richwood product who played and now coaches at GSU as offensive coordinator. "It gives me great joy to see where these guys progress and how they move along."
In 1965, a Carroll High product was quarterback at Grambling. Forty years later, Landers is likely to follow Harris into the role.
White was a star wingback for former GSU coach Eddie Robinson - after winning both football and basketball titles at Richwood in the early 1970s. Lenard, Carroll's wingback last season, committed to Grambling after earning All-Northeast honors as a kick returner.
Derrick Wilhite, a 2006 signee out of Wossman, contributes to a legacy that includes ex-Wildcats assistant Lee Fobbs, a former player under Robinson, and current defensive back Bakari Guice.
"There's no question that the south side of Monroe has added to that Grambling mystique," said GSU coach Melvin Spears. "From the Howells to James Harris to Goldie Sellers and on down to Brandon Landers - our freshman sensation in '04."
Landers shot to conference freshman of the year honors in relief of injured quarterback Bruce Eugene, then redshirted last year when Eugene returned for a final season of eligibility.
"I think this is a good place for finding highly skilled athletes - and that's true at many inner-city schools," said Carroll coach Jesse Smith Sr., who is also a Grambling product.
"There is a lot of talent in this area. I think that through the years, we've proven that."
Carroll's connection to GSU goes deeper than the head coach.
Back in 2001, current Bulldogs assistant Levi Washington Jr. led all receivers in yards as Grambling won the second of three straight SWAC titles. The team uses an offense patterned on GSU's, as well.
So, it's perhaps no surprise that Carroll split end Jesse Smith Jr. joined Lenard in signing with Grambling last week - along with teammates Derrick Johnson and Xavier Lee, both of whom play linebacker.
In the end, though, all three of the southside schools - notably Richwood and, more recently, Wossman - have been an important thread through the tapestry of Grambling's football legacy.
"It's great coming from that tradition," said Landers. "I'd like to have that same impact - not only as a player, but as an individual."
Harris, perhaps the south side's most legendary product, led Grambling to 31-9-1 record between 1965-68, winning a conference title every single year. He was voted the team's most valuable player his final two seasons.
But Landers reminds, Harris' most important contribution came after he left Grambling.
Harris would become the first black athlete to be drafted as a quarterback. His NFL career - which included stops in Buffalo, Los Angeles and San Diego - was capped by an MVP performance in the 1974 Pro Bowl.
Harris later moved into even more rarified air, working in the front offices of Baltimore and currently Jacksonville as one of the NFL's highest ranking black executives.
Smith said Grambling provided a platform in that journey, and for the scores of southside youths who followed him.
"Anytime you've got a kid who goes on and does well, that's an example that you can stir these kids with," said Smith. "It makes them understand that you can dream and it can happen."
Carroll's Lane Howell, a two-way lineman for Robinson, was the first of three brothers to star at Grambling, beginning in 1960. Michael, a cornerback nicknamed "Trackdown," followed two seasons later. Delles, another defensive back, would arrive seven seasons later - but by then the family had moved to California.
Grambling won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference title with Lane up front, establishing a 23-5-2 mark between 1960-62. Michael's 1964 squad went 9-3, winning the Sugar Cup over Bishop before falling in the Orange Blossom Classic.
One of Michael's teammates that season was cornerback Goldie "Spider" Sellers, a Winnsboro native who eventually moved to the south side and played for Richwood.
In 2004, White joined Harris in the SWAC Hall of Fame, recognition for a career that included three conference championships and co-offensive player of the year honors in 1975 at Grambling.
"It was passed down to me," said White, later an NFL rookie of the year at Minnesota. "James Harris and Delles took me to a Grambling basketball game when I was in junior high. I was always around it. There were other places I could have played, but this was the only place I was ever going."
Quarterback Matthew Reed, born in Winnfield, would prove so dominant at Richwood that he once threw nine touchdowns in a single game. Later, he was named Grambling's MVP as a junior, then made All-America as a senior in the early 1970s.
White grew up idolizing Amos Augustine and Charlie "Tank" Smith at Richwood, then played after them at Grambling. Between 1968-71, former Carroll guard Solomon Freelon Jr. protected Harris, Reed and Frank Holmes.
White says many of those greats called a neighborhood known as Bryant's Addition home. He still scouts for talent there, giving another generation the Grambling road map out of one of the area's most impoverished communities.
"The thing about it is, we thought we were pretty good - and these guys could be that too," said White. "It's all about hard work."
Landers, for his part, says he can't account for the staggering impact such a small geographic area has had on Grambling. But, when he's home, he sees the next group working to get there.
"If you ride around, you see little kids out playing in empty lots and at the rec centers - and that's year-round," said Landers. "They're playing everything too, just like we did. Football, basketball, baseball. With small schools, you've got guys going both ways, playing all sports. That makes you better. Who knows? One of those kids could follow me someday."
South side of Monroe has been talent pipeline
February 6, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING - James Harris grew up right around the corner from Sammy White.
Who lived down the way from Lane Howell. Who lived near a street that would eventually produce a flinty talent named Brandon Landers.
Who shares a zip code with Desmond Lenard.
The south side of Monroe sent them all to Grambling State, in an unbroken storyline that continued through last week's National Signing Day.
"I grew up in that neighborhood," said Sammy White, a Richwood product who played and now coaches at GSU as offensive coordinator. "It gives me great joy to see where these guys progress and how they move along."
In 1965, a Carroll High product was quarterback at Grambling. Forty years later, Landers is likely to follow Harris into the role.
White was a star wingback for former GSU coach Eddie Robinson - after winning both football and basketball titles at Richwood in the early 1970s. Lenard, Carroll's wingback last season, committed to Grambling after earning All-Northeast honors as a kick returner.
Derrick Wilhite, a 2006 signee out of Wossman, contributes to a legacy that includes ex-Wildcats assistant Lee Fobbs, a former player under Robinson, and current defensive back Bakari Guice.
"There's no question that the south side of Monroe has added to that Grambling mystique," said GSU coach Melvin Spears. "From the Howells to James Harris to Goldie Sellers and on down to Brandon Landers - our freshman sensation in '04."
Landers shot to conference freshman of the year honors in relief of injured quarterback Bruce Eugene, then redshirted last year when Eugene returned for a final season of eligibility.
"I think this is a good place for finding highly skilled athletes - and that's true at many inner-city schools," said Carroll coach Jesse Smith Sr., who is also a Grambling product.
"There is a lot of talent in this area. I think that through the years, we've proven that."
Carroll's connection to GSU goes deeper than the head coach.
Back in 2001, current Bulldogs assistant Levi Washington Jr. led all receivers in yards as Grambling won the second of three straight SWAC titles. The team uses an offense patterned on GSU's, as well.
So, it's perhaps no surprise that Carroll split end Jesse Smith Jr. joined Lenard in signing with Grambling last week - along with teammates Derrick Johnson and Xavier Lee, both of whom play linebacker.
In the end, though, all three of the southside schools - notably Richwood and, more recently, Wossman - have been an important thread through the tapestry of Grambling's football legacy.
"It's great coming from that tradition," said Landers. "I'd like to have that same impact - not only as a player, but as an individual."
Harris, perhaps the south side's most legendary product, led Grambling to 31-9-1 record between 1965-68, winning a conference title every single year. He was voted the team's most valuable player his final two seasons.
But Landers reminds, Harris' most important contribution came after he left Grambling.
Harris would become the first black athlete to be drafted as a quarterback. His NFL career - which included stops in Buffalo, Los Angeles and San Diego - was capped by an MVP performance in the 1974 Pro Bowl.
Harris later moved into even more rarified air, working in the front offices of Baltimore and currently Jacksonville as one of the NFL's highest ranking black executives.
Smith said Grambling provided a platform in that journey, and for the scores of southside youths who followed him.
"Anytime you've got a kid who goes on and does well, that's an example that you can stir these kids with," said Smith. "It makes them understand that you can dream and it can happen."
Carroll's Lane Howell, a two-way lineman for Robinson, was the first of three brothers to star at Grambling, beginning in 1960. Michael, a cornerback nicknamed "Trackdown," followed two seasons later. Delles, another defensive back, would arrive seven seasons later - but by then the family had moved to California.
Grambling won its first Southwestern Athletic Conference title with Lane up front, establishing a 23-5-2 mark between 1960-62. Michael's 1964 squad went 9-3, winning the Sugar Cup over Bishop before falling in the Orange Blossom Classic.
One of Michael's teammates that season was cornerback Goldie "Spider" Sellers, a Winnsboro native who eventually moved to the south side and played for Richwood.
In 2004, White joined Harris in the SWAC Hall of Fame, recognition for a career that included three conference championships and co-offensive player of the year honors in 1975 at Grambling.
"It was passed down to me," said White, later an NFL rookie of the year at Minnesota. "James Harris and Delles took me to a Grambling basketball game when I was in junior high. I was always around it. There were other places I could have played, but this was the only place I was ever going."
Quarterback Matthew Reed, born in Winnfield, would prove so dominant at Richwood that he once threw nine touchdowns in a single game. Later, he was named Grambling's MVP as a junior, then made All-America as a senior in the early 1970s.
White grew up idolizing Amos Augustine and Charlie "Tank" Smith at Richwood, then played after them at Grambling. Between 1968-71, former Carroll guard Solomon Freelon Jr. protected Harris, Reed and Frank Holmes.
White says many of those greats called a neighborhood known as Bryant's Addition home. He still scouts for talent there, giving another generation the Grambling road map out of one of the area's most impoverished communities.
"The thing about it is, we thought we were pretty good - and these guys could be that too," said White. "It's all about hard work."
Landers, for his part, says he can't account for the staggering impact such a small geographic area has had on Grambling. But, when he's home, he sees the next group working to get there.
"If you ride around, you see little kids out playing in empty lots and at the rec centers - and that's year-round," said Landers. "They're playing everything too, just like we did. Football, basketball, baseball. With small schools, you've got guys going both ways, playing all sports. That makes you better. Who knows? One of those kids could follow me someday."
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Remembering: Coach Rob as pioneer
'Our' Robinson also a pioneer
Like Jackie, late Grambling coach was gentle giant in fighting racism
April 17, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — A man named Robinson left this country forever changed, opening minds and then doors for generations of black athletes.
The focus this week has been on Jackie Robinson, the pioneering baseball player who broke the Major League color barrier 60 seasons ago.
Those who knew Eddie Robinson, Grambling’s late longtime former coach, say he belongs in the conversation, as well.
"Two men named Robinson changed America," said Richard Lapchick, who directs the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport and writes the annual Racial and Gender Report Card.
Eddie Robinson, who retired in 1997 having coached 57 seasons at GSU, died April 3 at age 88 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease.
"The breakthroughs provided by the work of Coach Robinson might have been less dramatic than the day Jackie Robinson donned the Dodger uniform," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "However, they were no less meaningful."
Those thoughts were echoed throughout Eddie Robinson’s lavish funeral, held last Wednesday on the Grambling campus. Many focused on Robinson’s contributions outside of sports, calling him a deeply underappreciated civil rights activist.
"He knew the climate and could bridge that gap," said Curtis Armand, a Monroe school administrator and coach who played for Robinson in the 1940s. "The man was ahead of his time."
Grambling’s Robinson suceeded in a fashion remarkably similar to baseball’s Robinson, quietly excelling and, in so doing, altering sensibilities.
"None of my players or coaches were seen at demonstrations in the 1960s. We made our own," Robinson told Lapchick for the biography "Never Before, Never Again." "The civil rights movement was helping to change the laws. Our goal was to help to change attitudes."
By the time he’d finished, Robinson’s tiny college program had sold out Yankee Stadium, become the first to play overseas, established an annual football game on national broadcast television and sent hundreds of players into groundbreaking roles in the pro game.
His coaching career reached back into pre-war 1941, through the upheaval of the 1950s and ‘60s, past integration in the ’70s and into widespread acceptance, even celebrity.
"The contributions Eddie Robinson made changed the color of football in America," Grambling’s late longtime publicist Collie J. Nicholson once said. "He made his impact in an inobtrusive way. That helped to break down barriers in other areas."
Along the way, his life ran parallel to — and, in many ways, helped propel — momentous changes in the way people look at black America.
That included the people who played for him.
"He made a difference for rich and poor, for black and white," said former Robinson player Joseph B. Johnson, who later served as president at Grambling for 14 years through 1991. "He had a mission that did not include hate. He used his education and status in athletics not for personal gain, but for progress."
Lapchick rightly noted that Robinson would one day lie in state at the Louisiana capitol, just across town from the state-run Louisiana State University that once refused to sell him a ticket to a football game.
"He used the gridiron to bring us together," said Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, "and became one of the most important civil rights leaders in Louisiana history."
Her comments came during that remarkable memorial service in Baton Rouge. Only five others had ever been so honored at the capitol’s Memorial Hall.
"He tore down barriers to open the door for all players," Blanco said. "He always said, in America, anything is possible."
That would, however, take some time.
‘STARTING FROM SCRATCH’
"I’ve seen a lot," Robinson once said. "I have ridden on the back of the bus. I’ve drunk at segregated fountains. But I’m not trying to make anybody pay. All I wanted was an opportunity to prove that I can do what other people can do. I got that at Grambling."
In his earliest days as a coach in the Jim Crow-era, Robinson would have to map out friendly places along the route between games. That included minority-owned business and even other historically black colleges.
"You had to figure out where you could buy sandwiches, where you might be able to use the facilities," said former Grambling assistant coach Douglas Porter.
Lighter-skinned players and coaches, those who could pass as white, were sent on emergency runs for supplies.
Even into the 1960s, as Grambling began its national barnstorming football tours, the team still traveled to conference games in a Bluebird school bus — and was forced to stay and eat on the opposing team’s campus, since many local establishments wouldn’t have them.
"With what he accomplished — and the way he accomplished it, starting from scratch — there are very few that have done it any better," said Monroe native James "Shack" Harris, a quarterback on those mid-’60s teams under Robinson who is now a high-ranking NFL official. "Even with what he had to go through, there was no one more dedicated — and no one who enjoyed it more along the way."
Robinson, who at the time might have just finished leading his team into signature sports venues in major metropolitan areas, was once again reduced to second-class citizenship.
"You played, then you got on the bus and tried to make it back to Grambling before breakfast," Porter said. "You might make one stop, so guys could use the bathroom."
Sometimes, that meant a trip into a wooded area, if no safe haven could be found.
Later generations were surprised to learn that the Robinson legend was first established not on a brightly lit Bayou Classic dais but with leftovers and friendly handouts.
"Rob never grumbled," Porter said. "He might take a light-hearted approach, rather than finding negativity in the situation. He knew that in the final analysis, if we won, that was the main thing. He stayed focused."
Robinson’s passion for his job, and for this country, never wavered. As a consequence, his players’ never did, either.
"The fervor that he had for America endured, even though the playing field wasn’t level," Jackson said.
‘HE CAN NEVER BE REPLACED’
Jackie Robinson, as important as he was to baseball, didn’t solve all of its problems. The same could be said of Eddie Robinson, despite his sweeping influence in the game he loved.
Lapchick notes that there are fewer black college coaches today than there were 10 years ago when he began work on "Never Before, Never Again" with Robinson.
Some wonder if there ever will be another like the steel-willed Eddie Robinson, who coached so long at one place and did so much for so many. His patient pursuit of excellence would eventually convince the masses, one winning season at a time.
"He came to Grambling, in the middle of nowhere, and produced quality people," said Larry Metevia, a 1966 all-conference center for Robinson who later played four seasons for the Houston Oilers. "That’s all because of him. He was a leader in the civil rights struggles, as well as a great coach. He can never be replaced."
Lapchick would like to encourage others to try.
He is calling on NCAA President Myles Brand to create a rule which would require that blacks be part of the interview process for prospective college football coaches — similar to the so-called Rooney Rule in the NFL.
He said it should be called the Robinson Rule, and others said it would be a fitting tribute.
Though its unclear if he would have considered such a thing, it’s startling to think that Robinson — even as he established a Division I record for career wins that still stands — never got another college job offer, and barely a sniff from the NFL.
"He is a man that would have been special in any endeavor," Harris said. "We were just fortunate he ended up as a football coach at Grambling."
The field is still not level, despite the gains made by Robinson and his many former players.
"But it’s levelling more," said U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who presented a special proclamation honoring Robinson at his funeral, "thanks to him."
Like Jackie, late Grambling coach was gentle giant in fighting racism
April 17, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — A man named Robinson left this country forever changed, opening minds and then doors for generations of black athletes.
The focus this week has been on Jackie Robinson, the pioneering baseball player who broke the Major League color barrier 60 seasons ago.
Those who knew Eddie Robinson, Grambling’s late longtime former coach, say he belongs in the conversation, as well.
"Two men named Robinson changed America," said Richard Lapchick, who directs the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport and writes the annual Racial and Gender Report Card.
Eddie Robinson, who retired in 1997 having coached 57 seasons at GSU, died April 3 at age 88 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease.
"The breakthroughs provided by the work of Coach Robinson might have been less dramatic than the day Jackie Robinson donned the Dodger uniform," said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "However, they were no less meaningful."
Those thoughts were echoed throughout Eddie Robinson’s lavish funeral, held last Wednesday on the Grambling campus. Many focused on Robinson’s contributions outside of sports, calling him a deeply underappreciated civil rights activist.
"He knew the climate and could bridge that gap," said Curtis Armand, a Monroe school administrator and coach who played for Robinson in the 1940s. "The man was ahead of his time."
Grambling’s Robinson suceeded in a fashion remarkably similar to baseball’s Robinson, quietly excelling and, in so doing, altering sensibilities.
"None of my players or coaches were seen at demonstrations in the 1960s. We made our own," Robinson told Lapchick for the biography "Never Before, Never Again." "The civil rights movement was helping to change the laws. Our goal was to help to change attitudes."
By the time he’d finished, Robinson’s tiny college program had sold out Yankee Stadium, become the first to play overseas, established an annual football game on national broadcast television and sent hundreds of players into groundbreaking roles in the pro game.
His coaching career reached back into pre-war 1941, through the upheaval of the 1950s and ‘60s, past integration in the ’70s and into widespread acceptance, even celebrity.
"The contributions Eddie Robinson made changed the color of football in America," Grambling’s late longtime publicist Collie J. Nicholson once said. "He made his impact in an inobtrusive way. That helped to break down barriers in other areas."
Along the way, his life ran parallel to — and, in many ways, helped propel — momentous changes in the way people look at black America.
That included the people who played for him.
"He made a difference for rich and poor, for black and white," said former Robinson player Joseph B. Johnson, who later served as president at Grambling for 14 years through 1991. "He had a mission that did not include hate. He used his education and status in athletics not for personal gain, but for progress."
Lapchick rightly noted that Robinson would one day lie in state at the Louisiana capitol, just across town from the state-run Louisiana State University that once refused to sell him a ticket to a football game.
"He used the gridiron to bring us together," said Gov. Kathleen Blanco said, "and became one of the most important civil rights leaders in Louisiana history."
Her comments came during that remarkable memorial service in Baton Rouge. Only five others had ever been so honored at the capitol’s Memorial Hall.
"He tore down barriers to open the door for all players," Blanco said. "He always said, in America, anything is possible."
That would, however, take some time.
‘STARTING FROM SCRATCH’
"I’ve seen a lot," Robinson once said. "I have ridden on the back of the bus. I’ve drunk at segregated fountains. But I’m not trying to make anybody pay. All I wanted was an opportunity to prove that I can do what other people can do. I got that at Grambling."
In his earliest days as a coach in the Jim Crow-era, Robinson would have to map out friendly places along the route between games. That included minority-owned business and even other historically black colleges.
"You had to figure out where you could buy sandwiches, where you might be able to use the facilities," said former Grambling assistant coach Douglas Porter.
Lighter-skinned players and coaches, those who could pass as white, were sent on emergency runs for supplies.
Even into the 1960s, as Grambling began its national barnstorming football tours, the team still traveled to conference games in a Bluebird school bus — and was forced to stay and eat on the opposing team’s campus, since many local establishments wouldn’t have them.
"With what he accomplished — and the way he accomplished it, starting from scratch — there are very few that have done it any better," said Monroe native James "Shack" Harris, a quarterback on those mid-’60s teams under Robinson who is now a high-ranking NFL official. "Even with what he had to go through, there was no one more dedicated — and no one who enjoyed it more along the way."
Robinson, who at the time might have just finished leading his team into signature sports venues in major metropolitan areas, was once again reduced to second-class citizenship.
"You played, then you got on the bus and tried to make it back to Grambling before breakfast," Porter said. "You might make one stop, so guys could use the bathroom."
Sometimes, that meant a trip into a wooded area, if no safe haven could be found.
Later generations were surprised to learn that the Robinson legend was first established not on a brightly lit Bayou Classic dais but with leftovers and friendly handouts.
"Rob never grumbled," Porter said. "He might take a light-hearted approach, rather than finding negativity in the situation. He knew that in the final analysis, if we won, that was the main thing. He stayed focused."
Robinson’s passion for his job, and for this country, never wavered. As a consequence, his players’ never did, either.
"The fervor that he had for America endured, even though the playing field wasn’t level," Jackson said.
‘HE CAN NEVER BE REPLACED’
Jackie Robinson, as important as he was to baseball, didn’t solve all of its problems. The same could be said of Eddie Robinson, despite his sweeping influence in the game he loved.
Lapchick notes that there are fewer black college coaches today than there were 10 years ago when he began work on "Never Before, Never Again" with Robinson.
Some wonder if there ever will be another like the steel-willed Eddie Robinson, who coached so long at one place and did so much for so many. His patient pursuit of excellence would eventually convince the masses, one winning season at a time.
"He came to Grambling, in the middle of nowhere, and produced quality people," said Larry Metevia, a 1966 all-conference center for Robinson who later played four seasons for the Houston Oilers. "That’s all because of him. He was a leader in the civil rights struggles, as well as a great coach. He can never be replaced."
Lapchick would like to encourage others to try.
He is calling on NCAA President Myles Brand to create a rule which would require that blacks be part of the interview process for prospective college football coaches — similar to the so-called Rooney Rule in the NFL.
He said it should be called the Robinson Rule, and others said it would be a fitting tribute.
Though its unclear if he would have considered such a thing, it’s startling to think that Robinson — even as he established a Division I record for career wins that still stands — never got another college job offer, and barely a sniff from the NFL.
"He is a man that would have been special in any endeavor," Harris said. "We were just fortunate he ended up as a football coach at Grambling."
The field is still not level, despite the gains made by Robinson and his many former players.
"But it’s levelling more," said U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, who presented a special proclamation honoring Robinson at his funeral, "thanks to him."
Thursday, April 12, 2007
LAID TO REST
Robinson's players huddle up for last goodbye
Memories, tears flow throughout emotional reunion for proteges of late coach
April 10, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE -- Former players made a gathering to mark Eddie Robinson’s legendary 57-year career at Grambling into a lively reunion that crossed generations.
Members of Robinson teams from 1941-97 met for a private event before the general public was allowed into the state capitol for an all-day memorial, something typically reserved for heads of state.
“I’m so happy this happened for Coach,” said Frank Lewis, a wide receiver and running back at Grambling in the late 1960s. “Coach was so special. He deserves it.”
The day was marked by stark emotional contrasts -- beginning as the players, wearing white gloves and standing in parallel lines, passed Robinson’s cherry-wood casket up the imposing steps of one of Louisiana’s most iconic buildings.
GSU standouts Albert Lewis and Doug Williams, the lead pallbearers, were joined by more than 100 Robinson protégés in that solemn task, which led inside to Memorial Hall, the ornate, two-story space between the state’s Senate and House chambers.
Director Larry Pannell led the Tiger Marching Band through a sad, but swinging rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” from the top of the steps.
“There’s no topping this legacy,” said Lewis, a Grambling defensive back in the early 1980s. “I consider Coach Robinson one of the greatest individuals -- not coaches, individuals -- in this country’s history.”
The 88-year-old Robinson, who still holds the record for Division I wins, died April 3 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. But not before shaping the lives of generations, said Williams, a former GSU quarterback who succeeded Robinson as coach.
“We’re all an extension of Coach Eddie Robinson,” Williams said. “He lives on through each of us. We are part of what Coach Robinson was, and what he will always be.”
Quiet sorrow turned to open grieving as the casket was opened.
A trio of state troopers presented the colors --- the United States, Louisiana and Grambling flags --- and placed them behind Robinson. Wreaths from the university and the state were also placed by former players, including Adolph Byrd, a tackle on Robinson’s first 1940s teams.
Robinson’s family sat at the feet of the former coach, while his ex-players lined up again to pass a football, hand to hand, from the back of the group to the waiting hands of Williams --- who held the ball aloft before handing it to Doris and son Eddie Robinson Jr. They then placed it in the casket with Robinson.
Robinson Jr. stood behind the GSU flag as more tributes followed, including a powerful speech by Williams, famous even now for his 1988 Super Bowl MVP performance.
“This is such a showing of support for what he did,” said Robinson Jr. “Just to know that so many people admired him, it’s an honor for the whole family.”
Personal touches surrounded the casket, including a painting by Ruston artist Reggie McLeroy, previously hanging in the Robinson family living room.
Next to it was a new creation by McLeroy that featured the former coach, wearing his familiar red suspenders and carrying his briefcase, walking across a football field. A shimmering image of Robinson rises in the clouds above.
“It’s a testament to him, when you get this kind of representation,” said Michael Haynes, a late 1970s-era defensive back. “He was charismatic. I will say this, the world lost a great one -- and heaven has truly gotten better.”
The team event’s finale included an emotional singing of the Grambling alma mater, and several players were overcome -- including Williams, who had to briefly leave the hall.
That somber moment turned to celebration with the Tiger Marching Band’s segue into the GSU fight song. Players and family members alike, tears still in their eyes, suddenly filled the Memorial Hall with ringing joy.
“This isn’t just what he taught us about football,” said Darrius Matthews, a defender on Robinson’s final black college national championship team in 1992. “It was about what he taught us about life.”
The players poured out on the capitol steps once more, where team mates from every decade gathered for what quickly became raucous group photos.
More than one player, when there was an unexpected hitch in the proceedings, reused Robinson’s well-worn practice mantra: “Run it again!”
Melvin Lee, a 1950s-era player for Robinson, later coached alongside him for 40 seasons. He ended up in nearly every photo.
“To see people come back and pay tribute to Coach Robinson like this, it’s sad but great at the same time,” said Lee, who still lives in Grambling. “It’s great to share stories and relive the memories.”
Henry Dyer, a running back for Robinson in the early 1960s, stepped out to take his own picture of former teammates.
“It was a great day for a great man,” Dyer said. “It was a celebration of a great life.”
Even as the band filed past the players on the capitol steps, a group of well wishers and fans had begun lining up for the public viewing of Robinson that followed. Back inside, many gathered around an exhibit of memorabilia, including a series of photos taken by James Terry.
Robinson’s casket remained under the towering brass doors that lead to the Senate until 4:30 p.m., when his body was moved into the House chambers for a memorial service. More than 3,000 passed in the first few hours of viewing.
Players lingered for a while, reminiscing about their time with Robinson and sharing tall tales.
“There’s a million words you can say,” said Larry Metevia, a center for Robinson in the early 1960s. “But, mostly, I’d like to say: Thank you.”
g g g
Outpouring overwhelms busy Williams
April 10, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE — Former Grambling standout Doug Williams stood in the Louisiana House chamber and took stock of a powerful day.
He had spent the balance of Monday in the towering Memorial Hall that connects this room with the state Senate, overseeing the public memorial to his late college coach, Eddie Robinson.
More than 1,000 people an hour had entered the Capitol for the public viewing of Robinson, who died April 3 at 88 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease.
Williams was overwhelmed.
"I can honestly say that today we've had some heavy hearts, but it was a great day," Williams told the packed House chamber. "So many people passed by, took pictures, shook hands. We saw parents bringing kids — and the only way they are going to know who Eddie Robinson is, what Eddie Robinson was, and what he will always be, is if we tell them."
Williams appeared as part of a Monday night memorial service that featured Gov. Kathleen Blanco as the keynote speaker. State Sen. Bob Kostelka R-Monroe, and state Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Grambling, two area legislators, were also featured — along with state Sen. Charles Jones D-Monroe of the Legislative Black Caucus.
Guests included LSU coach Les Miles, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, former Alcorn State and Southern University administrator Marino Casem, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and former GSU coach Melvin Spears, among others.
Blanco presented Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of more than 65 years, the American flag that had flown over the Capitol building on Monday.
Williams began the day overseeing a private event for players. More than 100 former teammates shared the duty of carrying Robinson up the steps and into the Capitol's Memorial Hall earlier that morning.
"To see so many former players come and pay tribute to Coach Robinson made me feel good," Williams said. "Only Eddie Robinson could have done what happened today."
Williams immediately followed Jones, who had given an animated tribute sprinkled with poetic verse and snippets of Shakespeare.
But Williams, still flush from that morning event, said he remained undaunted — even if he couldn't match the poetry of Jones' speech.
"Ordinarily, I would want to wave the white flag, coming in after Senator Jones," Williams said. "But I was fortunate to be coached by Eddie Robinson, and he said if you are going to lose, lose trying to win."
Williams played quarterback for Robinson from 1974-77 before an NFL career that included Super Bowl MVP honors in 1988. He then succeeded Robinson as coach at Grambling, winning a trio of league championships between 2000-02.
g g g
It's time
April 09, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
It's been eight years since the Legislature approved the idea of a state-run Eddie Robinson Museum. There's still no museum.
For all that time, the mantra amongst the organizers was getting it done before Robinson passed. That day has come, and gone.
There's still no museum.
But those who believe in the project think the museum could gain new life in the aftermath of Robinson's death, that some glimmer of hope might emerge from the grief over losing an American hero.
Doris Robinson, the late coach's wife of more than 65 years, is one of those people. (She was the one who asked the information on donating to the museum be distributed during today's memorial in Baton Rouge.) So is Doug Williams, Robinson's most visible protege this week.
"It's unfortunate that it took his going home for so many people to know what we already knew about Eddie Robinson," Williams said. "He was more than a football coach. He was more than 408 wins and 200 guys in the NFL. He was a great American."
I don't know why Robinson had to pass for us to get to that place, even though I'm glad that it might be possible.
After all, Robinson didn't send any more players to the NFL this week. He didn't win a 409th time. All that happened long ago.
It's time. Time for the university to sign off on the space. Time for the alumni to gather itself in mighty support. Time for this thing to happen.
There's still no museum. And that's a shocking rebuke to everything that is happening around Robinson right now. All of these tributes mean nothing if there isn't action to back up the sentiment.
g g g
'His spirit will be with us'
Thousands come to Grambling to say goodbye to Eddie Robinson
April 12, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — They talked about the son of a sharecropper who rose to national fame, about a racial pioneer who refused to let the country's inequities dim his passion, about a football coach who cared more about people than games.
Services for Eddie G. Robinson, who had a 57-season tenure at Grambling, were Wednesday. He died April 3 at age 88 from complications related to Alzheimer's.
"Let's grieve and let's celebrate," said Willie Davis, a key member of Grambling State University's undefeated 1955 team before joining the legendary Green Bay Packers teams of the 1960s. "But let's walk away feeling better because he touched our lives."
The crowd, which numbered in the thousands, included scores of former Grambling players like Davis. Several of them spoke during the event, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Willie Brown, Davis and Charlie Joiner; former Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams; and James "Shack" Harris, one of the NFL's highest ranking black executives.
Davis admitted that Robinson's very constancy made his passing seem impossible.
"You can never prepare for an occasion of this type," said Davis, who later became a business leader in California. "We are witnessing a legend passing on, but his spirit will be with us forever."
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu announced a proclamation recognizing Robinson's accomplishments and presented the former coach's family with a flag that flew over the Senate during the body's deliberations.
Wednesday's event included comments from GSU President Horace Judson; Secretary of State Jay Dardenne; Grambling Mayor Martha Andrus; Robinson biographer Richard Lapchick; civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and former Grambling president Joseph Johnson and Shreveport pastor E.E. Jones, both of whom also played for Robinson.
"As we say goodbye to Coach Robinson, I know God is saying hello," said Joiner, now an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Williams revealed that he and Brown — an assistant with the Oakland Raiders, where he played pro ball — had a side bet on who would cry first. Williams won, but only because he spoke last.
"I loved the man," Brown said, then moved away from the podium to compose himself. He pointed at Williams and nodded, before continuing.
Brown said he had been overcome when his gaze fell on Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of more than 65 years.
"Thank you for letting Coach Robinson be a part of our lives," Brown told Doris Robinson, finally.
Williams cut his own message short as he again was brought to the verge of tears.
"Coach used to say that the first to cry was a sissy," Williams said. "I've been a sissy all week."
Harris, a Monroe native, brought the crowd out of its solemn mood by remembering some of Robinson's best-known lines, comments that many of the players around him then echoed word for word.
"Coach always said he wanted a piece of us," Harris said. "Today we are all better for having a piece of him."
The Robinson family had asked that donations be made to the long-delayed Eddie Robinson Museum effort in lieu of flowers.
"I stayed with him until the last," said Wilbert Ellis, a close friend and former GSU baseball coach, as he too fought back emotion. "He was a great man, who stood for great things. He loved dear old Grambling."
Robinson's memorial was the first event to be held at Grambling's newly constructed Assembly Center, a project first envisioned when Johnson was president of the school in the late 1970s. Flags in front of the new building flew at half-staff in honor of Robinson.
"This facility will forever be a special place," said Judson, "a consecrated place."
Robinson family friend George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, couldn't attend, but sent a representative in his place. Singer Mary Griffin, a Grambling product, performed, as did the GSU choir and its Tiger Marching Band.
The services ended with Eddie Robinson IV, the former coach's great-grandchild, re-enacting one of Robinson's signature morning rituals — ringing the bell to wake his players for school.
Jackson's thoughts
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson called the late Grambling coach Eddie Robinson a national treasure, saying his legacy of commitment would remain an important lesson to every American.
"I say to (former Grambling players) James (Harris) and Doug (Williams), you don't have a monopoly on Coach," Jackson said. "He was everybody's coach."
Jackson was added to the list of speakers when he made a surprise appearance Wednesday to honor Robinson, who established a Division I college football record for wins in a career that spanned 11 presidents and several wars between 1941-1997.
Jackson went on to connect Robinson's accomplishments in breaking through racial barriers with heroes from biblical times as well as the decade of the 1960s that produced Jackson's mentor, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In closing crescendo, he led the crowd in a rousing cheer for Robinson: "Put your hands together like Grambling is playing Southern!" Jackson exhorted.
He then knelt before Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of 65 years, and son Eddie Jr. and spoke privately with the family.
g g g
A break in the clouds
April 12, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
As somber and quietly sorrowful as the Monday memorial for Coach Robinson had been in the state capitol, his final services back in Grambling were a consistent celebration.
Maybe it was an air of reunion that surrounding the school's new assembly hall, as generations -- literally -- of former Robinson players gathered, many for the first time since graduating.
Maybe it was because that earlier day in Baton Rouge had been so reverential.
The campus gathering was typified by comments like those of longtime Grambling trainer Eugene "Doc" Harvey, who had worked with Robinson for 32 years. He certainly mourned the passing of this giant, but there was a good bit more joy in the remembering.
"When we awoke today, it was clouded up," Harvey said on Wednesday, "and on days like that (when Eugene and Robinson worked together with the team), sometimes we would be slow going to the stadium to dress. Coach Robinson never understood that. He'd say: 'Why are you guys not dressed? It's not going to rain in Grambling!'"
Robinson, the enternal optimist, had given his old friend one last boost.
"I thought about that today, when the sun came out just before the service," Harvey said, moments before Robinson's casket was closed for a final time and the memorial began.
"He was a great, great man," Harvey added, then paused. "A great man."
Memories, tears flow throughout emotional reunion for proteges of late coach
April 10, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE -- Former players made a gathering to mark Eddie Robinson’s legendary 57-year career at Grambling into a lively reunion that crossed generations.
Members of Robinson teams from 1941-97 met for a private event before the general public was allowed into the state capitol for an all-day memorial, something typically reserved for heads of state.
“I’m so happy this happened for Coach,” said Frank Lewis, a wide receiver and running back at Grambling in the late 1960s. “Coach was so special. He deserves it.”
The day was marked by stark emotional contrasts -- beginning as the players, wearing white gloves and standing in parallel lines, passed Robinson’s cherry-wood casket up the imposing steps of one of Louisiana’s most iconic buildings.
GSU standouts Albert Lewis and Doug Williams, the lead pallbearers, were joined by more than 100 Robinson protégés in that solemn task, which led inside to Memorial Hall, the ornate, two-story space between the state’s Senate and House chambers.
Director Larry Pannell led the Tiger Marching Band through a sad, but swinging rendition of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” from the top of the steps.
“There’s no topping this legacy,” said Lewis, a Grambling defensive back in the early 1980s. “I consider Coach Robinson one of the greatest individuals -- not coaches, individuals -- in this country’s history.”
The 88-year-old Robinson, who still holds the record for Division I wins, died April 3 from complications related to Alzheimer’s disease. But not before shaping the lives of generations, said Williams, a former GSU quarterback who succeeded Robinson as coach.
“We’re all an extension of Coach Eddie Robinson,” Williams said. “He lives on through each of us. We are part of what Coach Robinson was, and what he will always be.”
Quiet sorrow turned to open grieving as the casket was opened.
A trio of state troopers presented the colors --- the United States, Louisiana and Grambling flags --- and placed them behind Robinson. Wreaths from the university and the state were also placed by former players, including Adolph Byrd, a tackle on Robinson’s first 1940s teams.
Robinson’s family sat at the feet of the former coach, while his ex-players lined up again to pass a football, hand to hand, from the back of the group to the waiting hands of Williams --- who held the ball aloft before handing it to Doris and son Eddie Robinson Jr. They then placed it in the casket with Robinson.
Robinson Jr. stood behind the GSU flag as more tributes followed, including a powerful speech by Williams, famous even now for his 1988 Super Bowl MVP performance.
“This is such a showing of support for what he did,” said Robinson Jr. “Just to know that so many people admired him, it’s an honor for the whole family.”
Personal touches surrounded the casket, including a painting by Ruston artist Reggie McLeroy, previously hanging in the Robinson family living room.
Next to it was a new creation by McLeroy that featured the former coach, wearing his familiar red suspenders and carrying his briefcase, walking across a football field. A shimmering image of Robinson rises in the clouds above.
“It’s a testament to him, when you get this kind of representation,” said Michael Haynes, a late 1970s-era defensive back. “He was charismatic. I will say this, the world lost a great one -- and heaven has truly gotten better.”
The team event’s finale included an emotional singing of the Grambling alma mater, and several players were overcome -- including Williams, who had to briefly leave the hall.
That somber moment turned to celebration with the Tiger Marching Band’s segue into the GSU fight song. Players and family members alike, tears still in their eyes, suddenly filled the Memorial Hall with ringing joy.
“This isn’t just what he taught us about football,” said Darrius Matthews, a defender on Robinson’s final black college national championship team in 1992. “It was about what he taught us about life.”
The players poured out on the capitol steps once more, where team mates from every decade gathered for what quickly became raucous group photos.
More than one player, when there was an unexpected hitch in the proceedings, reused Robinson’s well-worn practice mantra: “Run it again!”
Melvin Lee, a 1950s-era player for Robinson, later coached alongside him for 40 seasons. He ended up in nearly every photo.
“To see people come back and pay tribute to Coach Robinson like this, it’s sad but great at the same time,” said Lee, who still lives in Grambling. “It’s great to share stories and relive the memories.”
Henry Dyer, a running back for Robinson in the early 1960s, stepped out to take his own picture of former teammates.
“It was a great day for a great man,” Dyer said. “It was a celebration of a great life.”
Even as the band filed past the players on the capitol steps, a group of well wishers and fans had begun lining up for the public viewing of Robinson that followed. Back inside, many gathered around an exhibit of memorabilia, including a series of photos taken by James Terry.
Robinson’s casket remained under the towering brass doors that lead to the Senate until 4:30 p.m., when his body was moved into the House chambers for a memorial service. More than 3,000 passed in the first few hours of viewing.
Players lingered for a while, reminiscing about their time with Robinson and sharing tall tales.
“There’s a million words you can say,” said Larry Metevia, a center for Robinson in the early 1960s. “But, mostly, I’d like to say: Thank you.”
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Outpouring overwhelms busy Williams
April 10, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
BATON ROUGE — Former Grambling standout Doug Williams stood in the Louisiana House chamber and took stock of a powerful day.
He had spent the balance of Monday in the towering Memorial Hall that connects this room with the state Senate, overseeing the public memorial to his late college coach, Eddie Robinson.
More than 1,000 people an hour had entered the Capitol for the public viewing of Robinson, who died April 3 at 88 from complications related to Alzheimer's disease.
Williams was overwhelmed.
"I can honestly say that today we've had some heavy hearts, but it was a great day," Williams told the packed House chamber. "So many people passed by, took pictures, shook hands. We saw parents bringing kids — and the only way they are going to know who Eddie Robinson is, what Eddie Robinson was, and what he will always be, is if we tell them."
Williams appeared as part of a Monday night memorial service that featured Gov. Kathleen Blanco as the keynote speaker. State Sen. Bob Kostelka R-Monroe, and state Rep. Rick Gallot, D-Grambling, two area legislators, were also featured — along with state Sen. Charles Jones D-Monroe of the Legislative Black Caucus.
Guests included LSU coach Les Miles, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, former Alcorn State and Southern University administrator Marino Casem, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer and former GSU coach Melvin Spears, among others.
Blanco presented Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of more than 65 years, the American flag that had flown over the Capitol building on Monday.
Williams began the day overseeing a private event for players. More than 100 former teammates shared the duty of carrying Robinson up the steps and into the Capitol's Memorial Hall earlier that morning.
"To see so many former players come and pay tribute to Coach Robinson made me feel good," Williams said. "Only Eddie Robinson could have done what happened today."
Williams immediately followed Jones, who had given an animated tribute sprinkled with poetic verse and snippets of Shakespeare.
But Williams, still flush from that morning event, said he remained undaunted — even if he couldn't match the poetry of Jones' speech.
"Ordinarily, I would want to wave the white flag, coming in after Senator Jones," Williams said. "But I was fortunate to be coached by Eddie Robinson, and he said if you are going to lose, lose trying to win."
Williams played quarterback for Robinson from 1974-77 before an NFL career that included Super Bowl MVP honors in 1988. He then succeeded Robinson as coach at Grambling, winning a trio of league championships between 2000-02.
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It's time
April 09, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
It's been eight years since the Legislature approved the idea of a state-run Eddie Robinson Museum. There's still no museum.
For all that time, the mantra amongst the organizers was getting it done before Robinson passed. That day has come, and gone.
There's still no museum.
But those who believe in the project think the museum could gain new life in the aftermath of Robinson's death, that some glimmer of hope might emerge from the grief over losing an American hero.
Doris Robinson, the late coach's wife of more than 65 years, is one of those people. (She was the one who asked the information on donating to the museum be distributed during today's memorial in Baton Rouge.) So is Doug Williams, Robinson's most visible protege this week.
"It's unfortunate that it took his going home for so many people to know what we already knew about Eddie Robinson," Williams said. "He was more than a football coach. He was more than 408 wins and 200 guys in the NFL. He was a great American."
I don't know why Robinson had to pass for us to get to that place, even though I'm glad that it might be possible.
After all, Robinson didn't send any more players to the NFL this week. He didn't win a 409th time. All that happened long ago.
It's time. Time for the university to sign off on the space. Time for the alumni to gather itself in mighty support. Time for this thing to happen.
There's still no museum. And that's a shocking rebuke to everything that is happening around Robinson right now. All of these tributes mean nothing if there isn't action to back up the sentiment.
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'His spirit will be with us'
Thousands come to Grambling to say goodbye to Eddie Robinson
April 12, 2006
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
GRAMBLING — They talked about the son of a sharecropper who rose to national fame, about a racial pioneer who refused to let the country's inequities dim his passion, about a football coach who cared more about people than games.
Services for Eddie G. Robinson, who had a 57-season tenure at Grambling, were Wednesday. He died April 3 at age 88 from complications related to Alzheimer's.
"Let's grieve and let's celebrate," said Willie Davis, a key member of Grambling State University's undefeated 1955 team before joining the legendary Green Bay Packers teams of the 1960s. "But let's walk away feeling better because he touched our lives."
The crowd, which numbered in the thousands, included scores of former Grambling players like Davis. Several of them spoke during the event, including Pro Football Hall of Famers Willie Brown, Davis and Charlie Joiner; former Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams; and James "Shack" Harris, one of the NFL's highest ranking black executives.
Davis admitted that Robinson's very constancy made his passing seem impossible.
"You can never prepare for an occasion of this type," said Davis, who later became a business leader in California. "We are witnessing a legend passing on, but his spirit will be with us forever."
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu announced a proclamation recognizing Robinson's accomplishments and presented the former coach's family with a flag that flew over the Senate during the body's deliberations.
Wednesday's event included comments from GSU President Horace Judson; Secretary of State Jay Dardenne; Grambling Mayor Martha Andrus; Robinson biographer Richard Lapchick; civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and former Grambling president Joseph Johnson and Shreveport pastor E.E. Jones, both of whom also played for Robinson.
"As we say goodbye to Coach Robinson, I know God is saying hello," said Joiner, now an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Williams revealed that he and Brown — an assistant with the Oakland Raiders, where he played pro ball — had a side bet on who would cry first. Williams won, but only because he spoke last.
"I loved the man," Brown said, then moved away from the podium to compose himself. He pointed at Williams and nodded, before continuing.
Brown said he had been overcome when his gaze fell on Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of more than 65 years.
"Thank you for letting Coach Robinson be a part of our lives," Brown told Doris Robinson, finally.
Williams cut his own message short as he again was brought to the verge of tears.
"Coach used to say that the first to cry was a sissy," Williams said. "I've been a sissy all week."
Harris, a Monroe native, brought the crowd out of its solemn mood by remembering some of Robinson's best-known lines, comments that many of the players around him then echoed word for word.
"Coach always said he wanted a piece of us," Harris said. "Today we are all better for having a piece of him."
The Robinson family had asked that donations be made to the long-delayed Eddie Robinson Museum effort in lieu of flowers.
"I stayed with him until the last," said Wilbert Ellis, a close friend and former GSU baseball coach, as he too fought back emotion. "He was a great man, who stood for great things. He loved dear old Grambling."
Robinson's memorial was the first event to be held at Grambling's newly constructed Assembly Center, a project first envisioned when Johnson was president of the school in the late 1970s. Flags in front of the new building flew at half-staff in honor of Robinson.
"This facility will forever be a special place," said Judson, "a consecrated place."
Robinson family friend George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, couldn't attend, but sent a representative in his place. Singer Mary Griffin, a Grambling product, performed, as did the GSU choir and its Tiger Marching Band.
The services ended with Eddie Robinson IV, the former coach's great-grandchild, re-enacting one of Robinson's signature morning rituals — ringing the bell to wake his players for school.
Jackson's thoughts
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson called the late Grambling coach Eddie Robinson a national treasure, saying his legacy of commitment would remain an important lesson to every American.
"I say to (former Grambling players) James (Harris) and Doug (Williams), you don't have a monopoly on Coach," Jackson said. "He was everybody's coach."
Jackson was added to the list of speakers when he made a surprise appearance Wednesday to honor Robinson, who established a Division I college football record for wins in a career that spanned 11 presidents and several wars between 1941-1997.
Jackson went on to connect Robinson's accomplishments in breaking through racial barriers with heroes from biblical times as well as the decade of the 1960s that produced Jackson's mentor, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In closing crescendo, he led the crowd in a rousing cheer for Robinson: "Put your hands together like Grambling is playing Southern!" Jackson exhorted.
He then knelt before Doris, Eddie Robinson's wife of 65 years, and son Eddie Jr. and spoke privately with the family.
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A break in the clouds
April 12, 2007
By Nick Deriso
nderiso@thenewsstar.com
As somber and quietly sorrowful as the Monday memorial for Coach Robinson had been in the state capitol, his final services back in Grambling were a consistent celebration.
Maybe it was an air of reunion that surrounding the school's new assembly hall, as generations -- literally -- of former Robinson players gathered, many for the first time since graduating.
Maybe it was because that earlier day in Baton Rouge had been so reverential.
The campus gathering was typified by comments like those of longtime Grambling trainer Eugene "Doc" Harvey, who had worked with Robinson for 32 years. He certainly mourned the passing of this giant, but there was a good bit more joy in the remembering.
"When we awoke today, it was clouded up," Harvey said on Wednesday, "and on days like that (when Eugene and Robinson worked together with the team), sometimes we would be slow going to the stadium to dress. Coach Robinson never understood that. He'd say: 'Why are you guys not dressed? It's not going to rain in Grambling!'"
Robinson, the enternal optimist, had given his old friend one last boost.
"I thought about that today, when the sun came out just before the service," Harvey said, moments before Robinson's casket was closed for a final time and the memorial began.
"He was a great, great man," Harvey added, then paused. "A great man."
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