Farewell, Eddie Robinson

At Jessica's request, I'm posting this article about legendary football coach Eddie Robinson, who died last week at the age of 88. Robinson coached the Grambling football team for 57 seasons and was successful enough to send more than 200 players to the NFL over those years, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune (Grambling, in case you don't know, is a historically black college based in Louisiana).

By all accounts, Robinson was more than just a coach to his players--he was a life-changing father figure who provided black men with an opportunity to better themselves when few others existed. That nearly 5,000 turned up to honor his memory at his funeral is a testament to how many lives he touched, and the impact of his work on society at large. As Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana put it earlier today,

"When [Robinson] walked on that field in 1941, it wasn't flat, it wasn't even, it was slanted up sharply. It's not level yet, but because of his life it's getting there and we all are beneficiaries of that."

Despite all this Imus nonsense, amen to that.