SUPER BOWL XXII : Williams’ Performance Ends Wait for Grambling’s Robinson

Eddie Robinson had just started talking with reporters when an urgent message arrived from the Washington Redskins locker room.

“Coach,” somebody said, tugging insistently at his arm. “Doug wants you back there with him.”

It was no contest. Robinson smiled at the reporters and left.

Robinson, whose long career at Grambling has made him college football’s winningest coach, had waited a long time for this day. And he said he wasn’t sure how much longer he would have been able to wait.

When he finally returned, he said: “I didn’t want time to run out on me before I had a chance to see this. I’m at the age that I didn’t know if I would ever see a Grambling quarterback play in the Super Bowl.”

The day came Sunday. Doug Williams, Grambling ‘78, started in a Super Bowl and was named its most valuable player.

“This is a great moment in my life,” Robinson said.

Robinson said he was not surprised. Williams was 35-5 as a four-year starter and threw for 8,411 yards at Grambling.

“This is the performance he gave us for four years,” Robinson said. “It’s just a different scenario. I’m not excited about the way he played, because I knew he could play this way. I’m excited that he got to this game and did this because it’s the ultimate for a football player.”

Robinson, 68, then thought back to the quarterbacks he had at Grambling.

“We’ve had a lot of people who could have done this at Grambling. But they haven’t been given the chance.

“And who am I to say who should have been given the chance? It just hasn’t happened.”

Robinson said he hoped the black-quarterback issue had ended with this game. And, he said, it’s time to get rid of another one, too.

“I think the NFL has finally removed the stigma of a black man playing quarterback in the league,” he said.

“Now I hope they remove the stigma of a black man being a head coach.”