Alumni Spotlight-Greg Robinson
By Jamie Kornegay
GSD Reporter
At GSD, we pride ourselves
on charting the progress of our
current students. We're also
watching to see how students
perform when they graduate
and how their experiences here
shape their journey into the
wider world.
This month we spotlight an
athlete whose success on the
Grenada High School gridiron
culminated in a notewo1thy
career in the NFL and induction
in the Mississippi Community/
Junior College Sports Hall of
Fame.
Greg Robinson, son of Cleo
Robinson and brother of
Michelle Robinson, graduated
from Grenada High School in
1988. He currently lives in
Lewisville, Texas, with his wife
Angel and their four children,
Alexandra, Arion, Aliyiah, and
Addison.
"Growing up, my family
didn't have everything,"
Robinson recalls. "It was all
about tough love at my house.
My parents taught us how to
provide for ourselves, how to
be accountable, and how to
work hard to achieve what we
wanted."
Robinson applied those principles
to athletics at Grenada
High School, showing great
skill at rushing and receiving
for the Chargers football team.
After graduation he shined as an
all-star running back at Holmes
Community College, racking
up an impressive 1,700 rushing
yards in two seasons. Later,
in 2010, when Holmes chose
its inductee to the Mississippi
Community/Junior College Hall
of Fame, they presented Robinson
with the honor.
He capitalized on that early
success during his next two
seasons at Northeast Louisiana
University, where he gained
1,700 more rushing yards as
well as 25 touchdowns, catching
the attention of the NFL.
In 1993, Robinson was an
eighth round draft pick with the
Los Angeles Raiders. It was a
dream come true for the young
player, but Robinson remembers
thinking, "Why did they draft
me?"
The Raiders, scrambling to
fill the massive shoes left by
the recently departed Hall of
Farner Marcus Allen, had five
running backs positioned ahead
of Robinson, including fellow
Mississippian Tyrone Montgomery.
But in the lead-up to
the season opener, the Raiders'
line-up grew slimmer from cuts
and trades. As good fortune
would have it, a spot opened up
for Greg Robinson.
"For a kid from Grenada,
Mississippi, to be called up to
the NFL is one in a million,"
Robinson says. "It was a real
eye-opener to go from a Mississippi
town of 12,000 to a city
of three or four million. But
I embraced it. I told myself,
it's time to dig deep. The Lord
didn't bring me here to sit on
the bench."
Robinson was the first rookie
since Allen to land a coveted
starting spot on the Raiders'
offense. He used every opporttmity
to enhance his game and
contribute to the team's 10-6
record that year, which cuhninated
in a divisional playoff loss
to the Buffalo Bills, who went
on to the Super Bowl that year.
At his peak, Robinson had He found renewed purpose
a three-game hot streak in November of 1993, rushing for 70, 90, and 89 yards consecutively against the Chicago Bears, Kansas City Chiefs, and San Diego Chargers.
In 12 games, he led the team in rushing with 591 yards caught 15 passes for 142 yards.At the time, no other rookie had such impressive numbers.
But life always throws surprises. Like many promising athletes, Robinson was sidelined by a late-season knee injury against the Buffalo Bills, forcing him to sit out the rest of the season and the next as well. He fought his way back and landed a spot with the St. Louis Rams in 1995, where he rushed for over 450 yards with one touchdown in two seasons. With his old knee injury continuing to plague him, Robinson left professional football after a bid with the Kansas City Chiefs in
1998.
Though forced to retire from professional athletics, Robinson wasn't defeated. He searched for ways to reinvent his life andfound that paying forward the lessons he'd learned back in Grenada Gave him as much satisfaction as glory on the football field.
He found renewed purpose
working for Boys and Girls
clubs in Texas, where he met
plenty of at-risk kids who didn't
have the same guidance he had
growing up. "I worked hard all
my life," Robinson says. "Often
I was mad at my dad when he
and made me mow the grass or do
other hard jobs at home. But I
that with me, and in hindsight, I'm thankful he pushed me. I think my work ethic is
what helped make me successful."
He currently serves as
supervisor at a juvenile detention
center, where he tries to counsel
youth offenders and helps them back on the road to success by sharing his knowledge about
life.
His advice for today's GSD
student is the same he offers the
With kids he mentors. "Dream big,
dream early," he says. "Love,
camaraderie, friendship - that's
what it's all about. Put the effort in."
He adds, "No matter what
you accomplish, you still have
to fight at every level. Success
doesn't just find you, but when
the opportunity to succeed the presents itself, you have to be
prepared to act on it."