David Robinson

Basketball Player

• Born: August 6, 1965
• Birthplace: Key West, Florida

Basketball player and philanthropist

Robinson was one of the greatest college and professional basketball centers of all time. His dominance on the court ranks with the likes of such National Basketball Association (NBA) greats as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. Robinson is almost equally well known for his philanthropy.

Areas of achievement: Military; Philanthropy; Sports: basketball; Sports: Olympics

Early Life

David Maurice Robinson was born on August 6, 1965, in Key West, Florida, to Freda and Ambrose Robinson. Since his father was in the Navy, the family moved many times before eventually settling in Woodbridge, Virginia. Robinson excelled in school and in most sports, except basketball. He was an athletic 5 feet, 9 inches tall by his eighth-grade year, when he first attempted to play organized basketball. Robinson found he was not fond of the game, so he decided to focus on his academics and other sports. When Robinson was a 6-foot, 7-inch senior, however, after much encouragement from the coach at Osbourn Park High School, he decided to try basketball again. By the end of the season, he had earned all-district honors.

Robinson aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a naval officer. He entered the US Naval Academy in June, 1983. As a freshman, he played basketball for the Navy Midshipmen as a reserve center, receiving limited playing time. However, during the spring of that year, Robinson grew four more inches. Now standing 7 feet, 1 inch tall, Robinson quickly developed into one of the finest college basketball players in the nation. Because of his Navy affiliation, the press nicknamed him “The Admiral.”

Robinson set thirty-three individual school records and became the first player in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to score 2,600 points, collect 1,300 rebounds, and make 60 percent of his shots from the field. He won the Colonial Athletic Association’s player of the year award in 1985, 1986, and 1987 and the prestigious Wooden, Naismith, and Rupp awards as the nation’s best Division I college basketball player during his senior year in 1987. Additionally, Robinson helped lead the Midshipmen to an impressive 106-25 record, including Navy’s very first “Sweet Sixteen” appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Life’s Work

In spite of Robinson’s military commitment, the San Antonio Spurs made him the first overall pick in the 1987 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. After serving for two years in the Navy, Robinson joined the Spurs. The year before his arrival, the Spurs’ record was a dismal 21-61. In 1989, Robinson’s rookie year, the team’s record improved to 56-26, a league-record thirty-five-game improvement. The Spurs won the Midwest Conference title that year, and Robinson won the rookie of the year award, was named to the All-Rookie Team, All-Defensive Team, and the All-NBA Team, and finished sixth in the voting for the most valuable player award. By his second season, Robinson ranked among the NBA’s top twenty players in five categories: rebounding, scoring, blocked shots, steals, and shooting percentage. He claimed the NBA rebounding title in 1991, the blocked-shot title in 1992, and the scoring title in 1994. He was the NBA defensive player of the year in 1992. Robinson has been a member of the All-NBA first team four times (1991, 1992, 1995, 1996), the All-NBA second team twice (1994, 1998), and the All-NBA third team three times (1990, 1993, 2000). He is the only player in NBA history to be named to both an All-NBA team and an All-NBA defensive team in each of his first seven NBA seasons.

Robinson played for three US Olympic basketball teams: on the 1988 bronze medal team, the 1992 gold medal “Dream Team,” and the 1996 gold medal “Dream Team II.” As part of the celebration of the NBA’s golden anniversary during the 1996-1997 season, Robinson was named one of the fifty greatest NBA players of all time. In the 1998-1999 season, Robinson and teammate Tim Duncan led the Spurs to an NBA championship. The team went on to win another title before Robinson retired from the NBA in 2003.

Robinson and his family settled in Key West, Florida, where he operated the David Robinson Foundation, a Christian organization that aimed to help address the physical and spiritual needs of Black families. In particular, Robinson trids to promote the education of children and the development of positive values. In 1997 he and his wife, Valerie Robinson, started the Carver Academy, a private faith-based elementary school in San Antonio. In 2009, Carver cofounded the Admiral Capital Group, a real estate and private equity group whose mission includes making a positive social impact. The Carver Academy converted into a tuition-free charter school in 2012, in partnership with the IDEA Public Schools network.

n 2018, Robinson was named to the board of directors for the V Foundation for Cancer Research, a charity founded in 1993 by ESPN and North Carolina State University basketball coach Jim Valvano, who died of cancer not long thereafter.

Significance

Robinson was one of the most influential African American athletes in college and professional basketball. After serving his country in the Navy, Robinson established a career as one of the best centers to ever play in the NBA. In 2009, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as an individual player, and again in 2010 as part of the 1992 Dream Team. Beyond his achievements on the court, however, his commitment to the Black community and to making a positive social impact is just as integral to his legacy.

Bibliography

Aaseng, Nathan. Sports Great David Robinson. Berkeley Heights: Enslow, 1998. Print.

Hubbard, Steve. David Robinson. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. Print.

McCallum, Jack. “Twice Blessed.” Sports Illustrated 15 Dec. 2003: 58–62. Print.

Simmons, Bill. The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to the Sports Guy. New York: Ballantine/ESPN, 2009. Print.