Homecoming

NFL Great Johnny Robinson reflects on his life and legacy – on the field and off

ARTICLE BY MICHAEL DEVAULT | PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMERALD MCINTYRE

To hear Johnny Robinson talk about his years on the gridiron must be at least a little like listening to Churchill talk about World War II. It’s not just that he lived the events he’s sharing. He embodies them.

At 80 years old, Robinson is on the precipice of taking his rightful place alongside names like Montana, Lambert and Lombardi. In mid-August, Robinson learned that he had been selected as the Seniors nominee for the NFL Hall of Fame Class of 2019. For fans in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Kansas City, it was an honor a long time coming. For the humble Robinson, it was something else altogether.

“After all this time, I thought I had been forgotten,” Robinson tells BayouLife. “I was so thrilled to be notified. I can’t tell you how pleased I was to be notified.”

The news comes long after his career highlights clips have given way to younger athletes, many of whose worthy records of achievement lack the luster of Robinson’s career. Robinson is, after all, a Super Bowl champion, a three-time American Football League champion and a member of the AFL All-Time Team. He also finished 12 seasons in the NFL with 57 interceptions and 17 touchdowns. For many fans and NFL watchers, Robinson’s absence was an oversight almost impossible to explain.

On some level, Robinson agrees. But, he thinks that there may be a good reason.

“I have no explanation as to why I haven’t already been inducted, except to say that I believe God wanted me to start the Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home, to answer the call He placed on my life,” Robinson says. “The Boys Home and the lives of the young men who have stayed with us is what I have devoted all my time to for the past 38 years.”

For decades, Robinson has fielded questions from NFL colleagues, friends and even Hall of Fame voters about his absence. Yet, in each case, his reply remains steadfast. He answered the call, did the work and changed the lives of every boy who stayed in the home.

“So I don’t ask why,” he says. “I just know that God has led me on the path that He wanted me to take.”

The road to the Hall of Fame may have been a long one, but a close examination of Robinson’s career takes almost as long. That’s saying something about a boy who was born in Delhi, raised in Baton Rouge, played football for University High and caught the attention of legendary football coach Paul Deitzel. Even in his recollection of going to college Robinson demurs.

“My dad was the tennis coach at LSU, so I grew up with LSU in my blood, you might say,” Robinson says. “Even though I played at University High on the LSU campus, I never thought that I would be picked to play football at LSU.”

Deitzel saw the young Robinson’s potential, though, and he placed him on the squad as a running back, alongside Billy Cannon. He also played on the defense side, because “back then, we played both ways.” As the starting safety at LSU, he went on to earn his first National Championship with the Tigers in 1958, when the Tigers went undefeated. They’d repeat the feat for the first seven games of the 1959 season, and an injury ended his season early. The Tigers went on to play in the Sugar Bowl, which they lost, but Robinson found himself selected for the 1959 All-SEC team for the second time.

Under the goal posts at the 1959 Sugar Bowl, Robinson’s future changed. Lamar Hunt owned the Dallas Texans, who, in 1963, moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Chiefs. Hunt and Dallas Texans head coach Hank Stram wanted to know if he was interested in continuing his career.
“I really had not planned to play professional football, so it was a surprise to receive offers to play,” he says. “I had originally planned to join the Air Force after college.”

With an offer to play pro football and a choice of which league he’d play in – there were two leagues in 1959, the AFL and the NFL, and he could play for the Dallas Texans’ AFL squad or the Detroit Lions NFL team – Robinson chose Dallas for two reasons.

“I chose Dallas, because it was closer to home and a whole lot warmer,” he says.

He began his professional career as a running back and flanker. For his first regular-season game, the Texans faced the Los Angeles Chargers at home. For some of the other rookies on the team, it was an overwhelming experience. For Robinson, it was just another day on the gridiron.

“I was used to playing with big crowds in attendance at LSU, but that wasn’t a factor for me,” he says. “I just knew that I was playing with and against great athletes, and the game was faster than college.”

Robinson scored his first pro touchdown in Los Angeles. Three years later, he moved to the other side of the line as a safety – a position he’d remain in for most of his career. As a safety, he’d post an impressive 57 interceptions. The game was a lot different back then. Robinson explains.

“I played during a time when the rules allowed for more contact with a player, and there weren’t as many rules established to protect players from injury,” he says. “A defensive back could contact a receiver or back going down the field, until the ball was in the air. Then, a defensive player couldn’t contact the receiver, until the receiver touched the ball.”

The looser contact rules meant there was a much higher risk of player injury – and injuries happened frequently. In fact, during Super Bowl IV in 1970, Robinson played with three broken ribs and separated cartilage. A thoracic surgeon attempted to relieve the pain by injecting Robinson with Novocain, but it made Robinson very dizzy. Robinson’s brother, Tom, who was in residency at Tulane specializing in ophthalmology at the time, made Robinson aware of a drug they were using to relieve pain in the eye that was much longer lasting. The thoracic surgeon was able to get the medication and inject Robinson’s rib cage in hopes that it would work, and it did. Robinson was injected on Thursday, Saturday, Sunday before the game and again during the game, at half-time. The surgeon sat on the bench during the whole game to monitor Robinson’s condition.

“My brother, Tom, told us about the medicine that enabled me to play in the game,” Robinson says. “The thoracic surgeon injected me in my ribs to help with the pain, and then I was wrapped up with just about all the tape they had. After the injection, Coach Stram threw me a pass, I caught it above my head and that was it. That’s when we knew the medicine would kill the pain and enable me to play.”

By the time Super Bowl IV came around, Robinson was making his second Super Bowl appearance after having played in Super Bowl I when the Chiefs played the Green Bay Packers. For the 1970 championship game, they were the definitive underdogs against Coach Bud Grant’s Minnesota Vikings – the famed “Purple People Eaters.” This Vikings team had been the first NFL team to win 12 consecutive games.

The Chiefs played remarkably and so did Robinson. He made an interception and a fumble recovery while playing with three broken ribs. Overall, the Chiefs made three interceptions, recovered two forced fumbles and held the Vikings to 67 rushing yards and a single touchdown. That Chiefs defense led every measurable defensive statistic that season, an accomplishment that no other modern-day Super Bowl team has matched. All the while, the Chiefs offense posted a staggering 151 yards rushing and scored an impressive 23 points to clinch the title.

His career would end on Christmas Day in 1971, when an injury during the AFC playoff game against the undefeated Miami Dolphins took him out of professional sports for good. The Dolphins went on to win their Cinderella season’s Super Bowl, and they remain the only team in the NFL to post an undefeated season. The Chiefs lost in overtime.

“I always felt that, if I hadn’t been injured in that game, we could have made it back to the Super Bowl again,” he says. “We were a great team.”

Robinson announced his retirement in July of 1972, just days before the start of training camp. Even though Chiefs coach Stram offered him a three-year guaranteed contract – he would be paid whether he could play or not – Robinson declined.

“I had my own expectations of how I should play, and I didn’t want that to ever diminish,” he says. I always performed at the top of my ability, and that’s how I always wanted to be judged.” Robinson completed his career being selected to seven Pro-Bowls, eight All-Pros (six-times AP first team) and being named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s All-Time Team.

During this era of football, it was common for players to have off-season jobs. Robinson worked as a stock broker, a job that required him to travel extensively. Upon retirement, he continued in this role, but in a full-time capacity. Some time later, he received an offer to be a defensive coach for a new professional football franchise in Jacksonville, Florida. Two years later, Hank Stram had been hired as head coach of the New Orleans Saints and called Robinson to offer him a position as a defensive coach on the sideline.

“I didn’t want to live in New Orleans, so I was hired as a scout for the Saints instead, which meant I could remain in Jacksonville,” he says. “I scouted the southeast part of the country.”

That same year, Robinson received a call from Dr. Dwight Vines, President of then-Northeast Louisiana University. Dr. Vines informed Robinson that the university had hired former Heisman Trophy winner and professional football player, John David Crow as the new head football coach for NLU and he, in turn, offered Robinson a position as the defensive coach and head tennis coach. Dr. Vines knew that Robinson was also a star tennis player at LSU, having won the SEC singles and doubles championship with his brother, Tom.

The boy born in Delhi, raised in Baton Rouge, who was the son of the LSU tennis coach, was back in Louisiana, back in football and back at tennis. It was a Louisiana homecoming. By the late 1970s, however, he had begun to feel a much higher calling.

In 1980, Robinson answered the call, and he opened the Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home, a place for troubled boys to find their footing and lay a stronger foundation. Even in the story of the home, Robinson is quick to give credit to God and to the people in his life.

It began one Sunday at church, where Robinson was serving as associate pastor. A woman in the church had been bringing a young boy with her for several Sundays, and when Robinson inquired, he learned the tragic details behind this child’s past.

“She told me that her dad was the warden at the state juvenile prison and that she was allowed to bring the boy to church with her,” Robinson says. “One day I noticed that she wasn’t bringing him to church any longer, so I asked her about him. She said that she was no longer allowed to bring him to church due to circumstances originating at the prison.”

Soon after, the woman asked him if he would visit the boy in prison. Robinson went immediately.
“I went down to the prison and asked if I could visit with the boy, and they allowed me to see him,” Robinson says. “The little boy broke down crying, telling me that he was being sexually abused by older boys there.”

Those were the circumstances that prevented the boy from attending church, and Robinson realized something had to be done. What, however, he didn’t know.

“When I left the prison, I suddenly felt like God was telling me that I had a decision to make right then and there,” he says. “I felt like God wanted me to start a home for troubled boys. As I was driving down the road, after leaving the child, I saw a big home for sale just down the road from the prison, and I knew that I was supposed to buy it for this purpose.”

After purchasing the home, Robinson reached out to the judge on the boy’s case. The judge, as it turned out, was an LSU fan, who had followed Robinson’s football career. “He signed an order of release to my custody and called the prison,” Robinson says. “I drove to the prison and picked him up. That was my first child.”

He had been an associate pastor at a local church, now the founder of a home for troubled boys. His life wasn’t quite complete yet, and his work at the house was growing. By 1980, he knew he needed help, especially with the management of finances. He remembered Wanda, from church, had recently retired from banking.

“I asked her to come to work for me at Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home in 1980,” Robinson says. He knew he was making the right choice. “She had a reputation for being an excellent banker, who was great dealing with finances. Eventually, through the circumstances of life, the Lord brought us together.”

Johnny and Wanda Robinson married and dedicated their lives to their children–between them they have four boys, Matt and Rhett Robinson and Bob and Jason Thompson—but they both know their family stretches far beyond their own kids.

Over the years, Robinson has become as known for the Boys Home as he has for his football career. In 2016, Gov. John Bel Edwards declared May 1 Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home Day, an honor he didn’t expect to receive.
Some of the boys who’ve left the Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home have gone on to become military officers, family men and professionals, who are making their own marks on the world.

“Some boys have gone on to be successful in life,” Robinson says. “We even had one become a millionaire.” It’s the letters and phone calls from boys who have lived in the home over the years and the lives they have had that have made it all worthwhile. “To hear these men tell of the families they now have and about their own children is a real joy to me,” he says. “To me, if it was worth it for just one boy’s success, then it has all been worth it.”