STACY ROBINSON, the former St. Paul Central football, basketball and track standout who went on to win two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, was honored a couple of weeks ago after a field was renamed after him.
Robinson, who played as a youth at Jimmy Lee, died of multiple myeloma in May 2012 at age 50.
The community and Robinson’s family looked on as Jimmy Lee Fields at Oxford Community Center was renamed Stacy L. Robinson Field after the man nicknamed “Bird” for his outstanding athletic ability.
Robinson helped raise around $200,000 to improve the facility, which now has synthetic turf, bleachers, and a scoreboard bearing his name.
Robinson, who played his first organized football game at Jimmy Lee, enrolled as a sophomore in St. Paul Central in the fall of 1977, and the rest is history. Though he ended up playing wide receiver for the NFL, Robinson gained high-school fame participating in basketball and track and field.
As a sophomore, he helped the “B” squad boys’ basketball team to the Twin Cities Championship. During his junior season he was point guard, teaming with forwards RICKY SUGGS and JOHN WILLIAMS, center FARRON HENDERSON, and guards BRIAN DUNGEY and DAVEY GIVENS to lead Central to a Twin Cities victory over Minneapolis North in 1979 and a Class 2A runner-up finish in the state tournament.
Many credit the 1979 team as the one that started Central’s dominance as one of the premiere basketball programs in the state during the 1980s.
His senior year, he was quarterback for the football team, led the basketball team back to the state tournament, and defeated rival JEFF BYRD (Minneapolis Central) to win the 100 meter dash at the 1980 state track meet.
Upon graduation he enrolled at Prairie View A&M University but transferred to North Dakota State University the following year. As a receiver, he led the Bison to the NCAA Division II national title in 1983. He became an All-American in football and track and left as one of the greatest receivers the school has ever produced.
In 1985, Robinson was drafted in the second round and played six years in the NFL, helping the Giants capture Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991.
Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from NDSU and a master’s degree in business from Fairleigh Dickinson University. His last job was with the National Football League Players Association as director of player development.
Robinson was honored on Saturday, June 15.
Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader responses to mmcdonald@spokesman-recorder.com.
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