500th Win Adds to Grambling Legacy
SWAC.org
Sept. 17, 2009
By Roscoe Nance
Special to SWAC.org
The Grambling State football legacy - created by Hall of Fame coach Eddie Robinson - and continued by Doug Williams and Melvin Spears after him - is in good hands and continues to grow with Rod Broadway in his third-year at the helm.
The G-Men, who play at Jackson State Saturday in rematch of the past two SWAC Championship Games that won't count in the conference standings, last weekend became the seventh HBCU to register 500 all-time victories. They join Tuskegee (613), Florida A&M (542), Southern University (532), Hampton (518), Virginia Union (508) and Tennessee State (503).
"It's tremendous to have a school that has that kind of history," says Detroit Lions personnel executive James Harris, a former Grambling State All-American quarterback and the first black quarterback to start in the NFL. "It's tribute to all the outstanding players and coaches who have been there. This present team has done a good job of being productive. They do a good job of preparing, teaching and implementing. When you do that, you have a good chance of sustaining productivity."
The G-Men, who began playing football in 1926, reached the 500-win plateau faster than any of the other HBCUs, adding to a list of accomplishments that is too lengthy to enumerate.
"That's a great testament to the type program Grambling has had over the years - Coach Robinson, Coach Williams, Coach Spears and all the guys who were here before," Broadway says. "We're excited to be a small part of the 500."
Grambling State is unparalleled in terms of name recognition among black colleges and holds its own with major schools because of its winning tradition. Former Grambling State All-American and Dallas Cowboys All-Pro cornerback Everson Walls acknowledges some alumni and supporters were spoiled by the Tigers' success. He says some were skeptical that Broadway was the right person for the job when he was hired in 2007 because he didn't have a Grambling background even though he had a successful stint at North Carolina Central in Division II. He led the Eagles to the No. 1 ranking in the Sheridan Broadcasting Network Black College poll during the 2006 season and the top seed in the Southeast Region for the 2006 Division II playoffs.
"Broadway was an outsider and wasn't considered someone to carry on the legacy," Walls says. "But the way he has come in and taken away lot of the question marks to a point of dominance, and the way the players carry themselves, it goes right along with what we're accustomed to. You can't help but be pleased with everything Broadway done. I'm very happy with Coach Broadway."
In his two previous seasons, Broadway guided Grambling State to back-to-back appearances in the SWAC Championship Game. The Tigers won their 22nd conference crown in 2008 and their 14th Black College National championship.
"When you think about Grambling, it's a unique institution," says Williams, an All-American quarterback for the Tigers, who was 43-15 in six seasons as their head coach from 1998-2003. "The name Grambling was put out there because of football and Eddie Robinson. When you think about Notre Dame (football), the biggest thing is they want to win.
"When they don't people get upset. Broadway has come in and done what Coach did, what I did. You have to take your hat off to what he's doing."
The Tigers, 1-1, this season, have won 20 of 26 games under Broadway. Their 11-2 record in 2008 was just the fifth time in school history that a squad has won 11 games in a season.
"It is an honor to coach at a place like this," Broadway says. "Our challenge is to try and develop a football and to win and not get caught up in the things of the past. We had to look toward the future instead of the past. But we knew what was behind us in the great Eddie Robinson."
Robinson put Grambling State football - and the school for that matter -on the map as he practically built the program from scratch. He coached the Tigers for 56 years while wearing a variety of hats. In addition to coaching football he at one point was also athletic director. In his early years as coach, he lined the field before games and wrote stories for the local newspaper after the games ended.
Grambling didn't field football teams in 1944 and '45 because of World War II. During that time, Robinson taught and coached boys and girls basketball at Grambling High.
More than 200 Grambling athletes who played for Robinson went on to pro football careers, including Paul "Tank'' Younger, the first athlete to go directly from an HBCU into the NFL and Pro Football Hall of Famers Buck Buchanan, Willie Brown and Charlie Joiner.
Robinson made Grambling State a household name with the Grambling Hi-Lite Show, which during the 1970s was one of two nationally syndicated college football playback shows. Notre Dame's playback show was the other.
Robinson believed the stadiums of the world were Grambling's home, and he scheduled games for the Tigers in major cities across the nation. In 1976, he took that motto to a new level as Grambling State beat Morgan State 42-16 in Japan in the first college football game played outside the United States.
Robinson was the first coach to win 400 games, is second on the NCAA all-time victory list for all levels with 408 of Grambling State's 500 victories.
Broadway, however, correctly points out Williams and Spears made significant contributions to Grambling State's football legacy.
Robinson had losing records each of his final three seasons. Williams, Robinson's immediate successor, returned Grambling State to prominence with three straight SWAC championships from 200-02 and the 2001 Black College National Championship. Spears led the Tigers to the SWAC and Black College National championships.
"This is a place where they give you an opportunity to be successful," Broadway says.
But high expectations come along with that opportunity.
"I've said it a number of times - high on expectations, short on patience," Broadway says. "But I think I'd rather have it that way than to be in place where they don't expect you to win and still have high expectations. That comes with the territory because of what Coach Robinson, Coach Williams and Coach Spears accomplished here."
Roscoe Nance is a sports journalist with 34 years experience who most recently wrote for USA TODAY.