He blew his whistle earlier than almost 20,000 followers at Madison Square Garden. He was chosen to name NBA exhibition video games. He labored Olympic coaching camp video games.
He had a small position in a Hollywood film. He was screamed at by full-throated followers in state-of-the-art services and run-down gyms.
Through 50 years and an estimated 8,800 video games, irrespective of the venue or crowd measurement, one factor was sure: Alex Robinson was half showman — and all enterprise — when he officiated basketball video games.
Robinson, 93, one of many best referees New England has produced, handed away Dec. 16 in Cumberland, Maine after a interval of declining well being.
His referee profession began in 1958 when he was assigned a sport between the school and college students at Westford Academy.
“The crowd was hanging from the rafters and I never had so much fun in my life,” the 30-year Chelmsford resident instructed The Sun in 1988. “I enjoyed being in the middle of everything. The theatrical part of it got to me. After that game I knew this was something I really wanted to do.”
Westford was additionally the positioning of his final sport. On Dec. 28, 2008, he hung up his whistle after calling a sport at Nashoba Tech. By then, all that operating up and down courts had taken its toll. There was little cartilage left in both knee. If he labored 8,800 video games and ran a mean of a mile and a half every sport, that’s 13,200 miles.
“If there was a gym and he was free,” marveled John Rafferty, the IAABO Board 95 guidelines interpreter and a longtime Robinson buddy, “he was there. As long as it was a game. As long as there were five kids and a basketball. He would be there. There were a lot of good referees who came after him, but nobody at his level.”
Rafferty laughs on the 8,800 video games Robinson labored.
“You’ll never see that again,” Rafferty mentioned. “Bizarro world. Alex was a unique individual. He was basketball 24 hours a day for a lot of his career. He was a perfectionist. Alex had a fiery temper. It was his way or the highway.”
“Dad thought he was part of the show,” his son, Dracut resident Andrew Robinson, mentioned. “He always said, ‘When I die, I’m going to hoop heaven.’ Every night before a game he would blow his whistle as loud as he could in his office, which was next to the dining room. He considered himself part of the entertainment, part of the show. He was a showman as much as he was a referee. He loved the big stages more than anything.”
Former Chelmsford resident Alex Robinson, proper, labored with Celtics legend Ok.C. Jones to run the All-Pro Basketball School. (Courtesy photograph)Robinson was no shrinking violet. He had a big ego and didn’t again right down to aggressive coaches or rowdy crowds. But he additionally by no means mentioned no to any task — massive or small — if he was accessible.
In 1996, he appeared in “Celtic Pride,” a comedy starring Daniel Stern, Dan Aykroyd and Damon Wayans. He performed a referee in a non-speaking position.
Born Charles Alexander Robinson III on Aug. 14, 1929 in Providence, R.I., Robinson was a star athlete at Moses Brown. He had faculty choices, however determined to attend Brown University. He remained a Brown man via and thru.
In 1950, he married Patricia Calkins. She was with him each step of their 72-year marriage. They lived in Chelmsford for 3 a long time, and Nashua, N.H., for greater than a decade earlier than shifting to Maine. He is survived by his spouse and their six kids: sons Charles, Joseph and Andrew, and daughters Laura, Marcy and Alexandra.
Robinson began a basketball camp on household land in New York, Camp Poke-O-Moonshine. From humble beginnings the All-Pro Basketball School was born. Before lengthy he teamed up with Celtics legend Ok.C. Jones. The camp quickly moved to Paul Smith’s College in New York after which Norwich University in Vermont. It later was held at different websites in New England.
Larry Bird spoke to Robinson’s campers in 1980 following his rookie 12 months with the Celtics. The All-Pro Basketball School instructed hundreds of gamers.
A video tribute to Robinson was proven at his 2009 retirement occasion at Long Meadow Golf Club in Lowell.
“I really enjoyed being up there and thank you very much,” mentioned Jones, who handed away in 2020.
Alex Robinson, left, is proven with fellow referees through the making of the 1996 film “Celtic Pride.” (Courtesy photograph)Robinson was a 50-year member of IAABO Board 95 and a three-term president. One of his shut mates was Larry Kelleher, a longtime official and sport assigner.
“He was an ambassador of basketball in the area,” Kelleher mentioned. “Anything that had to do with basketball had Alex’s handprint on it.”
In the video tribute, the late Tony Romano remembered being a younger coach stuffed with confidence and bravado previous to a 1964 sport. Then Robinson walked into the fitness center.
“I would just be taken aback by a game official of his presence and his demeanor. I quickly learned when Alex Robinson was doing one of your games that he was the authority,” Romano mentioned.
Robinson labored all the highest highschool video games in Massachusetts. So valued was his capacity that some athletic administrators would reschedule their video games to suit Robinson’s schedule if he was booked.
There was a lot extra to Robinson’s life than basketball. He was knowledgeable tennis referee, a highschool athletic director and coached baseball at North Middlesex Regional High School, main the Patriots to 12 state match appearances in 13 seasons.
A non-public burial is deliberate for this spring at Lakeview Cemetery in Willsboro, N.Y.
“He was a great referee,” mentioned Rafferty, “and once you got to know him he was a great person.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com