Larry Robinson is an American former professional basketball player better known for his college career at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

between 1971 and 1974. Robinson was the first African-American to sign a

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to play basketball at Texas and is considered a pioneer of racial integration at the school, which at the time was mostly Caucasian and predominantly a

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school. A native of

Hobbs, New Mexico Hobbs is a city in Lea County, New Mexico, Lea County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 40,508 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, increasing from 34,122 in 2010. Hobbs is the principal city of the Hobbs, New Mexico microp ...

, he was unheralded for most of

Hobbs High School Hobbs High School (HHS) is located in Hobbs, New Mexico, United States. It had a student population of about 1900 students as of 2017. In addition to Hobbs it serves Monument, Nadine, and North Hobbs. Ralph Tasker coached basketball at HHS ...

career. Texas head coach

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recruited him however, and Robinson enrolled in the fall of 1970.

College career

Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

rules at the time,

freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

were not eligible to play varsity sports, so Robinson was forced to play on the Texas freshmen basketball team in 1970–71. In the three years that followed, Robinson etched his name into the Longhorns record book. As a

sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...

, Robinson led Texas to a

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, where they made it to the Sweet Sixteen. He was named to the all-conference first-team as well as being voted as the Southwest Conference Player of the Year. As a

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, Texas did not win the conference nor get a postseason invitation. In Robinson's final year (1973–74), he once again led the Longhorns to a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, where they lost in the first round. He earned his second all-conference team and conference player of the year honors. Robinson finished his collegiate career with 1,377 points and 623 rebounds.

Professional career

He was selected in the

1974 NBA draft The 1974 NBA draft was the 28th annual NBA Draft, draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 28, 1974, before the 1974–75 NBA season, 1974–75 season. In this draft, 18 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur ...

by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

in the fourth round, 59th overall, but never played in the

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. Robinson instead played in Europe and spent 10 years in Sweden where he was a star, at one point averaging over 35 points per game for a season. In his post-basketball life, Robinson spent a long time as an executive for

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in Europe. He was inducted into the University of Texas Hall of Honor in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Larry Living people American expatriate basketball people in Sweden American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Mexico Forwards (basketball) Hobbs High School alumni Houston Rockets draft picks People from Hobbs, New Mexico Texas Longhorns men's basketball players Year of birth missing (living people) Alviks BK players Sportspeople from Lea County, New Mexico