By Angelita Faller
GRAMBLING, LA – A reception honoring baseball great Henry “Hank” Aaron and former members of the Atlanta Braves to raise money for the Eddie G. Robinson Museum ended with a surprise donation of $10,000 from Aaron.
Due to the $1.6 billion deficit in the state budget, funding for the museum was cut forcing the museum to only be open one day a week beginning in April. The Friends of the Eddie G. Robinson Museum (EGRM) do not believe that is nearly enough time for visitors to experience the historic significance of Coach Robinson’s impact on college football.
“The museum is named after one of American’s greatest, Eddie G. Robinson, who coached at Grambling for 57 years and is in every Hall of Fame you can name,” said Wilbert Ellis, president of the Friends of EGRM. “He’s touched the lives of so many individuals, including myself. We want young people to see this great American and his contributions and what he has done for Grambling State University and the whole country.”
Coach Robinson has the second-highest wins in NCAA football history with 408 wins. The Friends of EGRM have pledged to keep the museum open four days a week, and are raising funds to cover the cost of operating the museum the additional three days a week no longer covered by state funds.
“This museum does not need to be open one day a week. It needs to be open all the time so people traveling on I-20 can appreciate what Eddie Robinson meant to the world of football, what he meant to the state of Louisiana,” said Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne.
An auction was held featuring autographed sports memorabilia, including baseballs and bats signed by Aaron and basketballs signed by Willis Reed, a Grambling alumnus and former New York Knicks player. One mysterious benefactor anonymously matched the donations of the last Hank Aaron baseball and bat purchased during the auction, which brought in a total of $6,000 for the last bat auctioned at the fundraiser.
Aaron played 21 seasons for the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League and two seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League. When he retired at the end of the 1976 season, he held more Major League batting records than any other player in the game’s history. His most famous home run came in Atlanta on April 8, 1974, when he hit his 715 home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s seemingly untouchable record.
Four former Atlanta Braves players, who are all Louisiana natives, were honored at the reception: Wayne Causey, Gary Eaves, Ralph “Roadrunner” Garr and George Stone.
Stone, a graduate of Ruston High School and Louisiana Tech University who was a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, described how Aaron’s accomplishments inspired African Americans.
“He’s the most respected baseball player ever in the history of the game. Not necessarily for what he did on the field, but it’s how he did it, with grace, with character, with dignity, with integrity,” Stone said. “I think one of the reasons he was really focused, he was playing for a whole race of people that desperately needed something to cling to at that particular time.”
“We are life-long Louisianans, and this museum is more than a little important to our way of life,” said Mark Neal, an attorney from Monroe who purchased an autographed baseball for his family for $1,500. “I have been a fan of Hank Aaron for many years. There is no greater baseball player ever to live.”
Aaron, who was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Grambling’s 2015 Spring Commencement earlier in the day, surprised museum officials by announcing a personal donation of $10,000 from him and his wife, Billye Aaron.
The total amount of money raised from the fundraiser is still being tabulated. The event was sponsored by Toyota, First National Bank and Squire Creek Country Club.
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