EDDIE ROBINSON..."he Was the Martin Luther King of Football"

Coach Rob as he was called by his players and the students of his beloved Grambling State University may not have been the Martin Luther King of football, he was however someone who took tough circumstances and made major gains and strides in the lives of his players, children, students and country. Coach Eddie Robinson is thought by many including me to be the best college football coach to ever coach the game. Eddie Robinson "...he was the Martin Luther King of football" sheds a new light on the life and times of Coach Eddie Robinson, coach of the Grambling State University Tigers.

Coach Rob thought he lived in the greatest country even though most of his life was spent in segregated situations. He was a proud man who knew from his early years that he was put on this earth to shape the lives of young men.

As detailed in the book, Coach Rob was many things to many people. He was the beloved husband to Doris his wife who dutifully cared for him as long as she could toward the end of his career and life. It was evident to all who knew them-they were in love. He was Jack LaLane to his players. There were no weight machines, no state of the art training equipment for his players so Coach Rob used make shift equipment to train his players. Coach Rob was a hero to the African American community.

Eddie Robinson was a man who knew that in order to allow his players to make a mark in the civil rights struggle was not to have them participate in sit-ins, it was for them to win football games, to win as many as possible and win they did. Grambling State University traveled the United States and everywhere they went whether win or lose they left their mark. These young men were taught to be 'men' among men. Coach Robinson taught them to show the world that there was nothing they couldn't do even in the face of adversity.

Mr. Dressman's book is a wonderful tapestry of the highs and lows of Coach Robinson's life. Mr. Dressman vividly illustrates that Coach Robinson was before his time. Many thought that he would become the first African American head coach of a National Football League team. In this respect, he was more like the Satchel Page of pro football.

The number of people who were willing to give interviews about their encounters with Coach Rob is a testament to his character as a man. These interviews show the loving care that Coach Rob gave to his players and the students of Grambling State University.

At the end of his career, Coach Rob and the other coaches of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) saw their players being recruited by the larger, more financially affluent schools, and their influence becoming a footnote in the world of college athletics. As you read the pages entitle Eddie's Pros with the names of the players that went on to play professional football, you will find yourself saying "I didn't know he went to Grambling".

Mr. Dressman does not make Coach Robinson out to be a god, he instead allows him to be what he was-a strong American man. He lets you know that Eddie Robinson was not only the face of Grambling State University, the face of the city of Grambling, the face of Louisiana, or the face of Black college football. He was a true man among men. This is an insightful book about a man and his times in the country he called the greatest in the world.