LOOKIN' BACK

Yesterday Joe Paterno tied Eddie Robinson (Grambling coach forever) as the winning-est college football coach in history. Not to take anything away from Joe but I seriously doubt he is in the same league as Eddie.

Back in the mid-80's I was honored by my employer to go to the south and recruit employees from five of the all black agricultural colleges. I had always been a Grambling fan and was always amazed at the number of players Eddie seemed to graduate to the pro's. I always thought it would be really neat to meet and talk to him. Well as luck would have it we arrived on the Grambling campus the night they were playing a football game. I can't remember who they were playing but I talked one of other guys that was with me on the trip to go down to Eddie Robinson stadium (it was brand new at the time) and look at the field.

When we arrived at the field the entry gates were locked. While we were looking over the field there was an old guy down on the sidelines pacing up and down the field. I told the guy that was with me that I thought that was Eddie Robinson. He said nah it can't be, he has got to be getting ready for the game. I told him I was sure it was Eddie and climbed over one of the gates. He asked me what I thought I was doing and I told him I was going to meet Eddie Robinson. I opened the gate and invited him to go with me. To my surprise he came into the stadium.

Now picture this---two white guys had just broken into Eddie Robinson Stadium on the all black (at the time) campus of Grambling University. We walked directly down the stairs toward where this guy was pacing and after a few hundred stairs we reached the edge of the field. The guy walked over to us and asked what we thought we were doing. I asked him if he was Eddie Robinson and he answered in the affirmative. I told him it had always been a dream of mine to meet him personally.

We visited about football and his old teams and the players I was familiar with from the pros. It was fun to have this guy welcoming us to his field even though by rights we had no business being there. It is one of the days in my life that really stands above most of the others. During the discussion I told him that I was always amazed at the numbers of kids he placed in the pros (over 200 in the NFL---not counting coaches he raised).

He smiled at me and said "THAT DOESN'T EVEN COMPARE TO THE NUMBERS OF KIDS I HAVE PLACED IN LIFE."

I dunno Joe---I think it would be really hard for you to top EDDIE ROBINSON. In my book EDDIE WILL ALWAYS BE THE GREATEST.

INKLINGS THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF THE RULES NOT APPLYING!