OT: What a total mess at Grambling

[Icebear]

Doug Williams talks to the players and they agree to return to practice today.

 

[VAUConnFan]

As a football fan old enough to remember that era, it is hard for me to remember one player from Grambling. What was your source for that statement?

Thank you Meyers and Ozzie Nelson for responding and for pointing out sources with which I was previously unfamiliar. My original source was a documentary that aired back when I was a teenager in the 60's, 100 Yards to Glory, that featured, then, Grambling College and Coach Eddie Robinson. This was right before Henry Davis got drafted by the Giants; Remembered because he was also featured along with his impoverished mother. Talk about growing up amid hard times. Among the things most remembered was how fondly Coach Robinson talked of his first NFL signee, Tank Younger, who paved the way for future Grambling and other HBCU players by making NFL/AFL scouts take notice.

Back in the day, Grambling was as highly revered a football program and institution of higher learning as one could possibly imagine. Eddie Robinson stood taller among us than Bear Bryant did among those who revered Alabama Football. It was Coach Robinson who convinced Coach C. Vivian Stringer, to leave her beloved position at Cheyney State;
"Vivian, when the time comes, you must go. You have to consider what it means for you to assume a greater stage, and to give America the opportunity to see a black female in a head coaching position, calling the shots at a major school.... Don't worry about how successful the program has been in the past. You may have to take a step or two back in order to move forward; you're a winner, and you will be a winner. But you can affect far more people if you understand your destiny, and I don't know how much further Cheyney can take you."

I also came across this archived ESPN article earlier today:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4926548

Grambling Football has a deep and cherished history. For those too young to remember and for those who were never aware, the current Grambling headlines might open the door to a room full of memories.

 

[meyers7]

Thank you Meyers and Ozzie Nelson for responding and for pointing out sources with which I was previously unfamiliar.

There is also a book out now titled, "Breaking the Line. The Season in Black College Football That Transformed the Sport and Changed the Course of Civil Rights" by Samuel Freeman.

About the 1967 Season with Grambling and Florida A&M. Coach Robinson and QB James Harris.

Heard the author on the radio the other day (Rome or Cowherd or one of them??). Sounded interesting.