This week has been practice as usual for the Grambling Tigers.
Eddie Robinson, going for victory No. 400 Saturday, oversaw workouts, watched the players who missed breakfast run laps, gathered up the equipment, locked up the field as it was getting dark, then went to meet with his coaches.At 9 p.m. Thursday, Robinson went to a pep rally on campus.
"He hasn't been to one this year, and the kids are so excited he just felt like he had to go for a while," said Doris Robinson, the coach's wife of 50 years. "Goodness knows he has enough to do. I'll be glad when this is over and things settle down some."
So will the 76-year-old Robinson.
For Robinson, who gets up at 5 a.m. and arrives at the athletic dorm with cowbell in hand to wake his players, football season is busy enough without having to run a gauntlet of reporters, fans and well-wishers every time he turns around.
"All it means is that I've been around a long time," Robinson said.
In the 54 years Robinson has coached Grambling, he's had only five losing seasons, earned nine black college national championships, and became the winningest coach ever.
He would have won 400 games earlier, except Grambling discontinued football for two years during World War II.
"I haven't blocked or tackled anybody," Robinson said. "I have just tried to give encouragement to the young men who have played for Grambling. The record belongs to everybody, all the former players, all the assistant coaches and all the loyal fans that have supported Grambling throughout the years. Eddie Robinson sure hasn't done it alone."
Many of his former players will be back on campus Saturday when Grambling plays Mississippi Valley. Fittingly, Robinson got victory No. 200 against Mississippi Valley in 1971.
"We all share in that streak, because we had a lot of talent down there that won a lot of games," said Jake Reed, now of the Minnesota Vikings. "A lot of guys went on to the NFL and did well. I'm happy for him."
The tiny African-American college has sent 200 players to the NFL.
Willie Brown, Buck Buchanan and Willie Davis are in the Football Hall of Fame. Doug Williams was a Super Bowl MVP. Seven players - Williams, James Hunter, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, Richard Harris, Frank Lewis, Alphonse Dotson and Buchanan - were first-round draft picks. In 1971, Grambling had 43 players in NFL training camps.
"The thing I feel best about is that almost all my boys have gone on to get their degrees," Robinson said. "If they don't have it when they leave here, I stay after them until they get it."