The Eddie G. Robinson Museum: A dream fulfilled

In the almost three years since his death, the project to build a museum honoring the late Eddie G. Robinson has taken wing.

Work continues at a furious pace on the Grambling State campus where he coached for six decades, just weeks before a grand opening that some organizers feared might never come.

Robinson died from complications related to Alzheimer’s on April 3, 2007 at age 88. The Robinson Museum is now slated to open on the anniversary of his birth this February. Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is set to serve as keynote speaker.

Eddie Robinson Jr., who played for and then coached with his father at Grambling, became deeply involved with the museum project late in Robinson Sr.’s life. He’s witnessed firsthand how the coach’s passing helped push the initiative along.

“It has taken off,” Robinson Jr. said. “That’s so great for the family. It’s an inspiration to all of us. We’re all so very happy about that.”

Help flowed in both from Grambling graduates and from faraway fans. Museum organizers, for instance, set up an informational table during the emotional day that saw Robinson’s body lay in respose in 2007 at the Capitol rotunda in Baton Rouge — only to run out of brochures in a flurry of activity.

Donations began showering down within days, from strangers and from familiar supporters alike. By June 2007, two of Robinson’s most famous former quarterbacks, Doug Williams and James “Shack” Harris, had given $10,000 to the project. They did it again last year.

The Louisiana Legislature promised funding, then, later in the year, upped the pledge to $2 million for restoration of an on-campus gymnasium and grounds, as well as the museum’s primary exhibit.

In the spring of 2008, the University of Louisiana System board, which oversees GSU, approved a lease agreement to provide exhibit space on campus. In September of 2008, an emotional groundbreaking ceremony was held.

Donated memorabilia and other signature items then began flowing in from across the Grambling community. In May of last year, Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire CEO of Tracinda Corporation, underwrote a $100,000 gift in the name of the former Grambling coach’s first Pro Football Hall of Famer, Willie Davis.

“We are seeing so many people working on the same page, working as a team,” said John Belton, the governor-appointed board chairman of the Robinson Museum commission. “Coach was all about that kind of effort, never about ‘I.’ This project has always been about uplifting that message, from Day 1.”

That it took Robinson’s passing to achieve this momentum is no small irony, in particular to longtime friends like Wilbert Ellis, who coached baseball at Grambling for more than 40 years.

“We wanted this to happen so badly in Coach’s lifetime,” said Ellis, now working as a fundraiser and spokesman for the proposed museum. “That didn’t happen, but the time did finally come. Donations and offerings of help started happening right away after this death. There’s no question, it was a rallying point. Eddie Robinson touched the lives of so many people.”

A museum in Robinson’s honor was first proposed more than a decade ago — two seasons after Robinson’s 1997 retirement at Grambling and several before the onset of his final illness.

One of the points of contention for years was where the museum would be located, though that was resolved when GSU and its oversight board agreed to make room for exhibit space in the school’s former women’s gymnasium — where Robinson had once coached basketball early in his career, as well.

“What better thing can happen than for that museum to be housed on campus?” Ellis said.

A temporary exhibit of Robinson-related items opened in the lobby of the Grambling Stadium Support Facility in June 2005. But Hurricane Katrina’s devastation sapped promised state dollars to build on that momentum.

Robinson’s passing, organizers say, quickly refocused attention on the museum. The funds followed.

“We’ve been overwhelmed, and we continue to be,” said Belton, his voice coloring with emotion. “I can only say that it’s almost like he has his hands on the project from up in heaven. That’s the best way I can put it.”

Robinson’s son said his still-grieving family finds solace within the ongoing efforts to honor Grambling’s fallen coach.

They’ve helped ease the pain associated with losing a loved one — not to mention other subsequent health issues within his immediate family — and kept Eddie Robinson’s contributions in people’s thoughts, he said.

ABOUT EDDIE ROBINSON
Eddie G. Robinson won 408 games over six decades of coaching at Grambling State University, a still-standing Division I record. He sent more than 200 players to the NFL while winning 17 conference titles and 8 black college national championships. Donations to the ongoing museum efforts in his honor can be sent through robinsonmuseum.com.