Robinson has Been Terrific for the T-Bears
Tom Ando
Wednesday July 4, 2001
For the past month, the 26-year-old Robinson has surprised the league with amazing performance week after week. On June 16, Robinson had a 19-yard run for a touchdown, five receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown and three kickoff returns for 80 yards, including a 56-yarder for a touchdown. Defensively, he had two tackles and a pass deflection, earning him league Iron Man of the Week honors.
Individual awards are nothing new to Robinson, who was a First-Team All American his senior year at Kentucky Wesleyan. He is the Panthers all time leader in career receptions with 191, most career receiving yards with 3328, most career touchdowns with 46, and most career all purpose yards with 5601. He participated in the Snow Bowl his senior season, which is the division II All Star game, and was also was selected National Offensive Player of the Year by Football Gazette. His number 25 was retired after breaking 22 team records.
After college, Robinson began to play Triple-A baseball in the Cleveland Indians organization before a friend convinced him to start playing football again for the Peoria Pirates of IFL.
Last season, with the Pirates going 17-0 to capture the league championship, Robinson scored 128 points for Peoria and finished tenth in the IFL in scoring last season. Overall, Robinson caught 42 passes for 592 yards and a team-best 14 touchdowns. He also had 32 rushes for 167 yards and six scores for the Pirates. Robinson chipped in 23 tackles and a forced fumble on defense. In the Gold Cup Championship, Robinson was named the game’s MVP as Peoria defeated the Bismarck Blaze, 63-42. Robinson scored six touchdowns, four rushing and two receiving in the win. His totals on the day included 103 yards rushing and four receptions for 98 yards.
With the AF2’s purchase of the IFL occurring this past off season, Robinson signed with the Houston ThunderBears, but upon his arrival, he learned of the sale of the team to the league, which would force the team to play all of it’s home games at neutral sites.
“ Once I’d got here, that’s when I found out,” said Robinson. “I didn’t understand it, and I really didn’t like it, but it turned out alright.”
There are obvious downs to playing on the road every week, but Robinson also believes that there are ups as well.
“It does make the team closer. It gives us energy as a team, but it’s kind of hard traveling every week, going to different places, but it’s pretty cool getting to go to different places all the time. Sometimes it gets a little draining.”
If the road schedule is draining Robinson, he is doing a masterful job of hiding it. Through 11 games, he has two rushing and two kickoff return touchdowns this season, and receiving, he has 38 receptions for 461 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, he has 19 tackles, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and two interceptions, both coming on June 22 against Carolina, and both being run back for touchdowns, including the game winning score in overtime.
Just one day after his remarkable game in Carolina, Robinson headed to Illinois where he was to be inducted later in the day into the Peoria Hall of Fame for his two-year contributions to Pirates, yet another great award in Robinson’s young career, but he doesn’t let that get to his head.
“I don’t really concern myself with awards because it’s the contributions to the team that mean more,” explained Robinson.
Robinson hopes to make it back to the NFL someday, a goal of his since he was a child.
“I remember when my father asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I said ‘play football,’ he just asked me if I thought I was big enough,” said Robinson. “I always knew I had enough heart to make it, and I did believe I was big enough but he just stood by me. He didn’t mean it as an insult, he just wanted to know if I really thought I was big enough.”
Robinson does have the heart, as do most of his teammates on a team that he hopes can stick around next season.
“I just hope next year it’s even more sweeter,” said Robinson. “Because everybody knows if the team plays we can win.”
This season the team hasn’t had to much luck in the win column, losing five games by five points or less, but Robinson believes the team is capable of making a run and going deep into the playoffs.
“We’ve been to every place, and no one has just taken it to us and beat us, so we can play with anybody. We can beat anybody.”
"Touchdown" Tom Ando is a free lance writer from South Buffalo, NY and has been covering the Arena Football League in one capacity or another since the 2000 season, when he was 17 years old. Tom Currently writes for Sports & Leisure Magazine in Buffalo covering the NLL's Buffalo Bandits and NCAA Division I football. In 2001, Tom was the only writer in the country to cover the Houston "Travelin' " Thunderbears, where he befriended his mentor John F. "Hondo" Hahn.
