Anthony Robinson

[JACKGUYII]

There is a very good article regarding Anthony Robinson in the November 9th addition of the Collegian called "Man behind the Headlines". Anthony has a lot of support from his friends and would like to return to SDSU and get his degree in electrical engnieering when he completes his degree. Seems this is the case of a good guy who messed up and wants to make amends

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Here is the article for those who have not read it. Part 1

Home > Front Page News
Man behind the headlines
A personal look at Anthony Robinson
By Michelle Herrick
Published: Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Article Tools: Page 1 of 1
Anthony Robinson poses with Black Student Alliance member James Covington and BSA President Darquie Taybior at the Multicultural Meet and Greet Sept. 30.

A year ago, Anthony Robinson came to SDSU with a scholarship in football and a bright future as an electrical engineer.

Tuesday, Nov. 2, he was sentenced to two years in prison for distributing marijuana. Wednesday he withdrew from all of his classes and Thursday he moved out of his apartment. Friday at 9 a.m. he left for the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

At his sentencing Robinson told the judge he had squandered away his love of football by selling drugs.

But with 30 or so of his friends behind him, the gavel dropped on the next two years of Robinson's life.

With tears in their eyes, his friends filed out of the courtroom. They shook his hand, patted him on the back, hugged him and touched his arm. Their glances echoed what words couldn't.

"I just wanted to show that I'm there for him, and to show the judge that too," said Trevor Hohn who played football with Robinson.

Robinson, 23, grew up in California with his mom and his seven brothers and sisters. Though he moved around a lot, he graduated from high school in Fontana, Calif. He was recruited to play football at SDSU last year.

Robinson's friends say they had no idea he was selling drugs until they read about it in the news. Robinson said he certainly wasn't doing it for the glory.

"I felt all alone and I wasn't going to keep asking my family," he said. "I was just trying to eat. I wasn't trying to have a fabulous house, I was just trying to survive."

Former basketball player Marquise Richardson was also sentenced on the same day as Robinson.

Though the two crimes were unrelated, the court system and the media conveniently lumped together the trials of Richardson and Robinson. Rozyher Aware, program advisor for multicultural programs, is worried that people might stereotype the two black athletes.

"We don't have a large minority population," Aware said. "They're both athletes, both from out of state. But they made mistakes, they aren't bad individuals. The media made an example of these two students."

Cory Koenig, who met Robinson in football, agrees. He said Robinson's treatment in the press has forced him to defend Robinson to people at school.

"I have to tell them that he's not like that, not what you think," Koenig said.

Last fall, an SDSU football recruiter approached Robinson and gave him only a few hours to decide if he wanted to come here. When Robinson accepted the scholarship the only thing he knew about South Dakota was that blue and yellow were the colors of the Jackrabbits and that it got cold here in the winter.

"My family didn't want me to go," he said. "I didn't even know where South Dakota was. I knew it would be a culture shock."

He quickly discovered South Dakota was much different than California.

"It was very slow," he said. "There wasn't a lot of traffic. No Taco Bells. No malls. Not crowded. Not that diverse. It's just a bunch of little cities."

When Hohn met him, he remembers Robinson asking what the winters were like in South Dakota.

"It was funny how he was this California kid and he would ask questions like, 'Can I wear a short-sleeved shirt here in the winter?' " said Hohn, a sophomore health promotion major from Mitchell.

But Robinson says he's learned to like it here. Besides playing football, he was vice president of the Black Student Alliance and was part of a focus group of students to offer suggestions about the new student union.

Aware, advisor to the Black Student Alliance, said Robinson ran for vice president at the very first meeting he attended.

"That day he just went for it. You know - people have this image of football players, but when Anthony made a speech you could see he wanted to make a difference and he cared about the purpose of the organization," she said.

Koenig, who helped Robinson move out of his apartment this past week, said it was really tough not knowing when he might see Robinson again.

"He's the type of person that is not going to let someone feel sorry for him," said Koenig, a sophomore pre-med major. "But you could see it every once in a while on his face that it would hit him and he would realize where he was going to go."

Koenig, who is from Council Bluffs, Iowa, said he understands what Robinson was going through not having his family close by.

"I don't know how I'd make out in college without the support from my family," he said. "They live three hours away. I don't know what it would be like to have them live half a country away."

Ashleigh Walton, a 19-year-old sophomore broadcast journalism major from Sioux Falls, said Robinson was like a big brother to her and her roommates.

[SDSUFAN]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Part 2 Anthony Robinson.

"There's five of us girls that all live in the dorms together. He was like our guardian. He used to cook us dinner a lot last year. He loves to cook," she said.

The judge told Robinson he could get out in a year on good behavior. Robinson expects to come back to SDSU and finish his degree, though he knows it's not going to be easy.

"My main objective is I want to come back to school, but I won't be able to get financial aid, so I'll have to start working. I'll have to save my money, so I might not be able to jump right back into it," he said.

Aware says she along with his friends will be with Robinson every step of the way.

Article Tools: Page 1 of 1




Forum:

[Rabbit_FB_Alum]

Re: Anthony Robinson

I don't know the guy, but from the amout of weed they found in his apartment I think it is safe to say he was doing a little more than "trying to survive". I hope he can turn his life around, but I don't feel sorry for him one bit. There are many people who have it much worse than he ever did that don't turn to crime. He claims to be just surviving, but at the cost of the kids he sold drugs to. I promise you, the ones he sold to will have much bigger problems in their lives than just sitting in the Pen. for a year.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Anthony Robinson

I'm with Rabbit_FB_Alum on this one. I don't really buy the pity angle.

But I am a great believer in second chances. I hope he gets an opportunity to finish his education and prove that he's the kind of person his friends describe.

[jacks02]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Rabbit_FB_Alum,
I also played at SDSU and disagree with you. I DO agree the amount he had was crazy. How ever I know anthony fairly well. You said you didn't know him. Yet you said "there are many people who have it much worse then he ever did that don't turn to crime." If you don't know him then how do know how bad he "has it"? Do you know where he is from? How and where he grew up? I disagree with the way he went about "survivng" and think the surving term maybe used a little losely. But you are doing the same thing the media and all the anti-SDSU people are doing. Jumping to conclusion and assuming things!

[Rabbit_FB_Alum]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Rabbit_FB_Alum,
   I also played at SDSU and disagree with you. I DO agree the amount he had was crazy. How ever I know anthony fairly well. You said you didn't know him. Yet you said "there are many people who have it much worse then he ever did that don't turn to crime." If you don't know him then how do know how bad he "has it"? Do you know where he is from? How and where he grew up? I disagree with the way he went about "survivng" and think the surving term maybe used a little losely. But you are doing the same thing the media and all the anti-SDSU people are doing. Jumping to conclusion and assuming things!

1.  I can say that without knowing him because all you have to do is turn on the t.v. and everyday you can see a story about people overcoming the most horrid situations imaginable without turning to crime.

2.  He was able to go to COLLEGE, which MILLIONS of young people around the world will never get the opportunity to do.  I'm pretty sure he had it better than them.  Education is the key to life in our society, he had that key and CHOSE to thow it away.

3.  I don't care how bad he had it where he came from.  That is no excuse to become a drug dealer.

4.  I am not jumping to conclusions.  It is simply a fact that he was caught with a HUGE amount of dope.

In closing, I have no personal hard feelings towards this kid.  I hope he pays his debt and is able to turn his life around.  I just don't feel sorry for him one bit, and it seems to me that was the purpose of the article.

By the way, calling me an anti-SDSU person is about the lowest insult you can hurl at me.  So if that was your intent, you hit the mark. My opinon on this kid has nothing to do with my opinion with SDSU or Jackrabbit football. I am smart enough to realize that the poor choices of one kid does not define SDSU in any way.

[Rabbitlivinginverm]

Re: Anthony Robinson

I'm not going to buy the pity angle either.  He's a criminal.  Do I want him to turn his life around, I sure do.  He didn't become a drug dealer overnight.  People do come from the similar situations or even worse situations yet the do not choose a life of crime.  The choose to be responsible.  I did say life of crime because it takes a lifetime of choices to get caught with 10 lbs of pot.  This may have been the most he ever dealt but it wasn't the first time he'd ever dealt.  Criminals are con artists throughout their criminal lives.  He will need to change his thinking patterns if he wants any chance at success in the future.  I wish Anthony the best of luck and really do hope he can turn his life around.  I'm sure he's had plenty of sleepless nights to think about it already :-/

[MilwaukeeJacksAlum]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Larson Manufacturing (Saw Operator and Door Fabricator)

Daktronics (Circuit Board Manufacturer)

Prest Rack (Welder and Fork Lift Driver)

Some of the various jobs I worked my tail off at during the summer so I would have enough money to survive during the school year. All I had to do was say that I was a football player looking for a well paying (most I ever made was $7.00/hr plus OT - a lot of OT) summer job so that I could make ends meat. No one ever turned me away. They love hard workers.

My point: there are plenty of ways to survive without resorting to selling drugs. You toss in the scholarship that pays for the schooling and there's no excuse. Sorry.

Hope he learns his lesson and doesn't become another statistic. From what Stig says he's a good kid that went down the wrong path. I value his opinion. Now, let's hope he finds his way back to the right one.

[OK_Jackrabbit]

Re: Anthony Robinson

A little context: I knew a friend of a friend in college who sold pot. He had one pound in his apartment once and showed it to us. Loosely packed, it filled a garbage bag. Ten pounds of pot is really a huge amount, and would be worth between $32,000 to $45,000 on the street in SD. (I have no personal knowlege of prices, but I googled it and according to marijuanaprices.homestead.net, 1/8 ounce goes for $25 to $35 in SoDak.)

We're talking about drug distribution here, which is pretty serious. And it's not a trivial amount. I think it's a little insulting to all the kids, including many student athletes, who work their butts off cleaning rooms at the Staurolite or sopping out the grease trap at Perkins, to suggest there are circumstances that somehow make possessing $32,000 worth of pot acceptable or even understandable.

I hope Mr. Watson turns it around. If he's the good person that others have suggested, he deserves another chance, once he pays his debt to society. I'll be rooting for him to succeed, but let's don't lose site of the fact that he put himself in this situation.

[jackmd]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Should be plenty of opportunity for him to rehabilitate himself whilehe is a part of the penal system in our great state. He can focus his studies without the distractions of peddling pot to the young people on the campus at SDSU and in Brookings. If he completes his sentence without distraction then his attendance at SDSU can be reconsidered.

[jacks02]

Re: Anthony Robinson

Rabbit_RB_Alum,
I don't mean to bring this up again and beat a dead horse. Some of you brought up some great points. Some where stupid! That is your opinion and the fun thing about this board. One thing I need to clear up is your assumption that I called you "anti-SDSU". That was not true at all. I simply stated that I thought you where jumping to conclusion much like the anti-SDSU people. So please don't take that as a personal attack on you. That was not the intent or the case! Take Care and cheer for the Rabbits!

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Anthony Robinson

If Anthony is as good a person as friends, coaches and teamates have indicated then I think we might hear from him again and this time for the right reasons.