ROBINSON MUSEUM LEADERS HOPE TO ATTRACT BIG NAMES

BY: CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press
November 25, 2006

NEW ORLEANS -- Oprah Winfrey, expect a call from the friends of Eddie Robinson.

Winfrey is one of many big names fundraisers will be calling to ask for help in building a museum honoring the legendary Grambling State football coach. Robinson coached the Tigers for 57 years and sent more than 200 players to the professional football leagues, more than any other college coach.

Robinson, who turns 88 next February, has been suffering from Alzheimer's, which was diagnosed shortly after he was forced to retire following the 1997 season, in which he won only three games.

The fundraising drive will seek to net $5 million to build and run the state-run museum, which is planned to be located on the grounds of Grambling State in north Louisiana.

On Saturday morning, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other officials kicked off the fundraising drive at a downtown hotel amid the party atmosphere enveloping the city during Saturday's Bayou Classic, an annual face-off between Grambling and Southern University. The game was played in Houston last year because of the damage caused to New Orleans and the Louisiana Superdome by Hurricane Katrina.

Robinson family members were scheduled to appear at Saturday's announcement, but they were unable to do so because his wife Doris fell ill and was taken to the hospital.

Karl E. McDonald, Robinson's agent, said Doris Robinson was feeling fine and that the Robinsons "are OK."

"You know, when you're in your 80s, you have your ups and downs," McDonald said at a news conference.

Dave Whinham, the chief fundraiser, said he will reach out to a number of celebrities and he hopes to attract Winfrey to the cause and orchestrate a meeting between the talk show host and Doris Robinson.

"If that happened," Whinham said, "we could reach our (fundraising) goals pretty quickly."

Whinham said he would contact Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, a longtime friend of Robinson's, and ask for his help too.