Eddie Robinson, who sent dozens of Black stars into the NFL from the HBCU ranks while the longtime coach at Grambling State, was named a candidate for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Williams, who was coach at Grambling State for five decades, won 408 games, 9 Black College National Championships, and helped send more than 200 players into the professional football ranks, was nominated as a contributor for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
Robinson coached three AFL players who would later be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: the Kansas City Chiefs’ Buck Buchanan, the Oakland Raiders’ Willie Brown, and the San Diego Chargers’ Charlie Joiner. Robinson also coached James Harris, who, with the AFL’s Buffalo Bills, became the first Black quarterback in modern Pro Football history to start at that position in a season opener.
He also coached Packers defensive end and Hall of Famer Willie Davis and the Super Bowl XXII MVP, Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, who was the first Black quarterback to start and win a Super Bowl.
Robinson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
The names of the candidates released Wednesday came after a blue-ribbon committee cut the list down from 47 people. It will be reduced to nine candidates in about two weeks, and eventually, there will be one finalist who will be grouped with one coaching candidate and three senior candidates for consideration by the full selection committee for the Hall early next year.
According to ESPN, between one and three of those five finalists will make it to the Hall of Fame if they receive at least 80% of the votes from the full committee.
