College Sports Information Directors of America

Collie J. Nicholson, Grambling State University's first sports information director, has died in Shreveport. He turned 85 last July.

"Collie J. is the one who put (former GSU coach) Eddie Robinson out there in the media and kept all of us out there," said Doug Williams, an ex-player who succeeded Robinson as coach. "Everything got started at Grambling because of Collie J."

Nicholson died at his residence at 7:08 this morning, family members confirm. His wife Ophelia, daughter and son were at his bedside. Funeral arrangements are still pending.

Hired by second GSU president R.W.E. Jones in 1948, Nicholson would work at the school for 30 years, helping to establish several benchmarks in the Grambling legend.

Nicholson conceived of the classic-game concept, where Grambling traveled with its marching band to major American cities including the ground-breaking 1960s sell-out at Yankee Stadium. He is credited, along with former GSU coach Eddie Robinson, with starting the neutral-site Bayou Classic rivalry game against Southern, which remains a cash cow for the university.

Nicholson also arranged a first-of-its-kind overseas trip for the program, as Grambling played games in Tokyo twice in the late 1970s.

"I would like to be remembered as someone who tried to find a way to fit the Grambling program into the general marketplace," Nicholson told The Monroe News-Star in 2003. "I've tried my best to do that."

Nicholson's tireless promotion of the young Doug Williams in the 1970s helped establish Grambling as a widely known football school.

Williams sparked national headlines, thanks to Nicholson, as the first player from a predominantly black college ever chosen as a first-team All-America by the Associated Press, a Heisman Trophy finalist and the first black quarterback to be picked in the first round of the NFL Draft.

Nicholson retired to Shreveport not long after Williams left for the pros, but he continued to write for newspapers across the nation on a range of topics. He received lifetime recognition from the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and the College Sports Information Directors of America Trailblazer Award 12 years later.

The University of Louisiana System Board, which oversees GSU, approved a plan in May to rename the Robinson Stadium press box on campus after Nicholson.

Nicholson, who experienced health problems in his early 80s, did not attend the ceremonies. But his family members were on hand.

Ophelia Nicholson said her husband's abiding passion was always promoting and supporting Grambling. "This is the fulfillment of that dream," she said.