Robinson next AIC star to join Hall?

LITTLE ROCK — Some basketball heroes of the Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference in the 1950s (Deward Dopson, E.C. O’Neal, J.P. Lovelady, Ken Saylors, Jimmy Culp, etc.) had to wait, but eventually were acknowledged by Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame inductions.

Is it possible John Robinson’s time is coming?

Robinson, 73, recently retired after seven years of administration at Cabot High School. The previous 25 years he had coached at Corning, Jefferson Davis Junior High at North Little Rock, Scott High School, three schools in Texas, Blytheville High School, the University of Memphis as an assistant, and Mills High School from 1977-1987.

“And when [coaching] was all over,” he said in a recent phone interview, “I checked the numbers and found I had 608 wins and 116 losses, plus 2 state championship finals, 5 state semifinals, 12 conference championships, 1 city championship (junior high - Little Rock and North Little Rock).”

Playing for Central Arkansas (then called Arkansas State Teachers College). Robinson scored 30 or more points in seven games and scored more than 500 points twice in two seasons (525, 513). In 85 UCA games, he scored 1,551 points, an 18.1 average.

Lawrence Mobley was a successful coach at Little Rock Central High School. His control system usually produced a winning score on the order of 35-27.

“We had Harry Vines at center, and he went to Oklahoma University,” Robinson said. “I went to UCA, but all the colleges sure weren’t hot after me. Butch Ferriter and Marshall Day went to UA-Monticello. Skip Coffman went to Arkansas.

“The big rivalry then was ASTC and [Arkansas] Tech. There was a great athlete from Dover, J.P. Lovelady. then Kenny Saylors enrolled at Tech a year or two later. Another great player.

“Charley Eagle from North Little Rock also landed at UCA. When Coach Cliff Horton put Charley on Lovelady the first time, nobody could believe it because Charley was smaller and slower than Lovelady. I think we beat Tech four or five consecutive times with Charley on him. To anybody who would listen, Charley would tell you, ‘Lovelady is just missing his shots.’ Finally Lovelady had a great night against us.

“When Eagle was playing in high school, he’d usually get 20 to 28 points in a game. But when we were together in college, he became more and more a defensive player, and he rarely scored more than 12 points.”

Coach Sam Hindsman won or shared 12 AIC basketball championships at Tech, and he’d even won an AIC title for UCA before he moved to Tech. I was fascinated when Coach Hindsman told the media, after a loss to the Bears: “They were ready and we weren’t. And that Robinson is as fine an outside player as this conference has seen.”

Of the dozen or so games I saw Robinson play in from 1957-1961, the one I most vividly recall was a stubborn struggle the Bears barely survived, 68-67 against Ouachita Baptist.

Afterward, Robinson reminded his teammates: “One point is as good as 100.” He happened to score 31 points that night.