One of his star players called him “more of a life coach than a basketball coach.” Another said he was “simply the best.” One friend called him “a civil rights pioneer.”
But he was denied countless opportunities because, in his words, “he was too Black.”
Will Robinson was the first African American basketball coach in NCAA Division I history, leading the Illinois State University men’s program to a 78-51 record from 1970-75. Robinson coached a string of NBA talent at Illinois State and never had a losing season.
“He taught me the essence of life,” said Doug Collins, who was Robinson’s biggest star at Illinois State, in a 2008 interview. “He was more of a life coach than a basketball coach.”
Robinson’s time at Illinois State was just one successful chapter in a remarkable life. Not only did he win on the college level in Illinois, but his high school coaching career in Detroit remains the stuff of legend—as does his involvement in pro sports.
Born on June 3, 1911, in Wadesboro, N.C., Robinson was raised by his grandparents as both of his parents, who were teenagers when he was born, died before the age of thirty.
At Steubenville High School in Ohio, Robinson became the first high school player in the state’s history to letter in five sports and was the quarterback in an undefeated season with no points allowed. He also qualified for the state tournament at Columbus in golf, the only black player in the field.
However, he was not allowed on the course at the same time as the white players. Despite the disgraceful treatment, Robinson carded a one-over 73 and finished second.
Robinson eventually continued his playing career at West Virginia State, earning 15 letters in four sports. After graduation, his color kept him from many jobs. Robinson earned a master’s degree in physical education from the University of Michigan.
He then spent five years coaching YMCA basketball in Pittsburgh and Chicago before being hired as the head coach at DuSable High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood of the South Side of Chicago. After a year, he was hired as the head coach at Miller High in Detroit, a city that had endured a series of race riots the previous summer.
In Detroit, Robinson kept smashing barriers. The first Black head coach in Michigan high school history—and Detroit’s only Black coach for 16 years—Robinson is still a revered figure in southeastern Michigan, over a half-century after coaching his last game there.
Robinson coached basketball and football at Miller until 1957 when he accepted a head coaching position at Detroit’s Cass Tech, long a hotbed for collegiate talent. In 1960, he switched to Pershing High School, winning the state basketball title in both 1967 and 1970.
The 1967 Pershing squad was particularly notable for its depth of star talent. All five starters later played professional sports, including future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Spencer Haywood and five-time ABA All-Star Ralph Simpson. Glenn Doughty and Paul Seal later starred at Michigan before long careers in the NFL, while Marvin Lane appeared in ninety games with the Detroit Tigers in the 1970s.
They were among the 16 players Robinson sent to one of the major leagues in his 26-year high school career in Detroit. The list also includes Mel Daniels, a seven-time ABA All-Star and one of the greatest players in Indiana Pacers history; Eugene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb, a two-time first-team All-Pro in a 10-year NFL career; and Ted Sizemore, the 1969 National League Rookie of the Year in Major League Baseball.
Robinson, though, was proudest of the fact that over 300 of his old high school players went on to graduate from college. One source called him “one of [Detroit’s] most respected and admired men.”
But he seemed always to be passed over for big-time jobs. Always known for his candor, Robinson later said, “It wasn’t that I was too old. I was that I was too Black.”
In 1970, Robinson was hired as the head men’s basketball coach at Illinois State, becoming the first Black coach of a major college basketball team. In his five years in Normal, he coached some of the greatest names in ISU history – led by one player in particular.
That was Doug Collins, the program’s all-time leading scorer, who is considered the most decorated athlete ever at Illinois State. In his sparkling career, Collins averaged 29.1 points per game, including 32.6 in the 1971-72 season. Collins played on the 1972 U.S. Olympic team that fell to the Soviets in the bitterly contested gold medal game, and was the number-one overall pick in the 1973 NBA draft.
A four-time NBA All-Star, Collins later was a successful head coach in the NBA with Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Washington before an award-winning career as a broadcaster. In 2009, a statue of Robinson and Collins was unveiled on the Illinois State campus.
Among Robinson’s other standouts at Illinois State were Jeff Wilkins, who played professional basketball for seventeen years, including six years with the Utah Jazz; Robert “Bubbles” Hawkins, who scored a school-record 58 against Northern Illinois on Feb. 20, 1974; Ron Devries, who holds ISU career, season, and single-game rebounding records; and Rick Whitlow, who both the NBA and ABA drafted. Ten of Robinson’s Illinois State players were drafted by professional teams.
Robinson’s ISU teams were known for their up-tempo offense. In his five years in Normal, the Redbirds reached the 100 mark in 26 games, including four straight from Feb. 12-22, 1975.
Sadly for Robinson and the Redbirds, the specter of racism still haunted them. An Illinois State source notes that “along with the victories came strange and troubling moments that occurred when [the] Redbirds ventured into hostile territory, especially where segregation had been a way of life.” Robinson later admitted that he “was tired of the abuse.”
Among Robinson’s most meaningful victories at ISU were road wins at Marshall University and West Virginia University in his final season. As the aforementioned ISU source reported, “Both schools in Robinson’s home state were closed to blacks when he went to college.” Robinson recalled that “they wouldn’t even let me in their gyms to watch a game.”
But Robinson cherished his five years at Illinois State. “I loved the people there,” he later said. “They treated me wonderful, better than any place I had been.”
Robinson left Illinois State in 1975 and went back to Detroit, where his legend continued to grow. That same year, he was hired as a scout by the Detroit Pistons, a job that was nothing new to him. As he had coached his wildly successful Detroit high school teams, he had also spent 22 years as a part-time scout for the Detroit Lions.
Not surprisingly, Robinson helped the Lions land some of the greatest players in franchise history, including defensive back Lem Barney, the 1967 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a seven-time Pro Bowl selection in an 11-year career with the Lions, and Charlie Sanders, who also was a seven-time Pro Bowler in a 10-year career with Detroit. Both Barney and Sanders are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Robinson also scouted the Lions’ Mel Farr, who was the 1967 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and a two-time Pro Bowl pick.
As with the Lions, Robinson was responsible for some of the top names in Pistons history, including Joe Dumars, a six-time NBA All-Star who was the point guard on Detroit’s title teams of 1989 and 1990. He later spent nineteen years in the Pistons’ front office and was president of basketball operations from 2000-14. Detroit reached at least the conference finals in six straight postseasons from 2003-08.
Dumars referred to Robinson as “simply the best.” Longtime Detroit trainer Mike Abdenour labeled Robinson as “a civil rights pioneer.”
Robinson also helped the Pistons land Dennis Rodman and John Salley, who were integral parts of the 1989 and 1990 world championship teams.
That was hardly Robinson’s only impact on the Pistons. In 1983, the franchise hired Chuck Daly, the head coach of the championship teams, who took the job after Robinson had turned it down.
Jack McCloskey, Detroit’s general manager during the 1980s, later called Robinson “a very, very competitive individual. And he expected everybody else to be that way, too.”
Robinson finally retired in 2003 as Dumars’ assistant. During the 2003-04 season, the Detroit locker room was named the “Will Robinson Locker Room of Champions.” It was fitting, as the Pistons won another NBA title that season.
On April 28, 2008, Robinson died in Detroit at the age of 96. In his honor, the Pistons wore black patches for the rest of their run in the NBA playoffs that season, which ended in the Eastern Conference finals.
A biographer, John Telford, aptly summarized Will Robinson as “an indomitable man and a righteous man” who “used sports to teach.”
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville, Ill. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.