[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8553-8554]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   IN MEMORY OF COACH EDDIE ROBINSON

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I rise today in morning business to 
speak about the passing of an extraordinary man. Today, in Baton Rouge, 
in the capital, the son of a sharecropper will lie in state. It is a 
fitting tribute to Coach Eddie Robinson, the winningest coach in the 
history of football, but a man who excelled beyond the playing field, a 
man whose life touched hundreds and thousands of athletes, on the field 
and off, and millions of lives in a positive way around the world.
  I rise to pay him tribute today. He is a true American hero. He began 
coaching in 1941 at Grambling State University. During his 57-year 
coaching tenure, he won more than 400 football games--more than any 
other coach before him--and 17 championships in the Southwestern 
Athletic Conference.
  Coach Robinson shattered the glass ceiling that had always held back 
the true potential of African-American players and coaches. He did it 
with a strong and indomitable spirit and with determination and love of 
country.
  In a time before the civil rights movement, when overt and state-
sponsored racism was the order of the day and permeated both college 
and professional sports, Coach Robinson proved that all athletes 
deserve to compete on the same playing field.
  Through the years, more than 200 of his players have played in the 
NFL, including Paul ``Tank'' Younger, the first NFL player from a 
predominantly African-American college.
  Coach Robinson was personally responsible for paving the way for 
hundreds of African-American players to have the opportunity to play in 
the NFL and, as well, to play in majority White colleges and 
universities throughout the country.
  His legacy includes one of the most exciting annual matchups in 
college sports held every year: the Thanksgiving Bayou Classic football 
game,

[[Page 8554]]

held usually in New Orleans, LA, between Grambling State, his beloved 
university, and Southern University of Baton Rouge.
  But his achievements are not limited to his athletic victories. He 
taught the players the meaning of teamwork and patriotism, self-respect 
and hard work. He provided them with real lessons of life that extended 
far beyond the playing field.
  After their experience at Grambling, I know how proud he was to see 
his young athletes excel and move all over the world, impacting the 
wider community in business and in athletics, as well as in general 
community service in multiple ways.
  He leaves behind a vibrant legacy. He leaves behind a legacy of 
mentorship that is truly unmatched. He leaves behind a loving and 
wonderful family, a faith that permeated his entire life and had impact 
throughout the community. He leaves behind a life well lived and a 
model for all.
  One of his former players said it best when he said: ``Everyone 
wanted to be like Eddie.''
  Mr. President, I close these remarks today by saying that I, like 
most everyone in Louisiana, knew Coach Robinson. We had been in his 
presence. We had watched him coach. We had heard him laugh. I had the 
great privilege of spending some time with him recently at his home in 
Grambling, with his wife Doris and some of the family members. I could 
not help to be, even at his late age of 88, impressed with his strong 
and wonderful spirit. When he was just a few years younger, as he 
walked into the room, you could feel that spirit immediately.
  So it is with great sadness that we say good-bye to Coach Eddie 
Robinson. But it is with great joy we share with the world this man, 
the son of a sharecropper, a man who refused to let the limits of even 
the laws of those times and the limits of the culture in which he lived 
to stop him or to stop his belief in the young men and women he coached 
and served.
  So we say good-bye today. But he is getting a proper tribute lying in 
state at our State capital in Baton Rouge, and we are confident his 
legacy will live on.
  In my last visit with his family, I hoped and suggested we could 
build a museum in his honor. I am hoping it is something in which 
Members of this Congress will join with our leaders at home--not just 
any museum but a museum that will honor his life and legacy; a place 
where athletes, professional and amateur, could receive ongoing 
training and support both scholastically as well as in terms of general 
leadership, so his legacy could live on. Perhaps this place or the 
center of learning and leadership should be located either on or 
somewhere very near the Grambling campus where he served for so many 
years.
  So, again, it is with great sadness we say good-bye, but with great 
pride in a true American hero, Eddie Robinson.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from Iowa.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to yield back the 
remaining time in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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