Paul Harvey Robinson (born December 19, 1944) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

for two seasons in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) and five seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL).

Early life

Robinson was one of 12 children of Leslie Robinson Sr. (1907–1987) and Levada Mallard Robinson (1909–1956), both of

Crockett, Texas Crockett is a city and the county seat of Houston County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 6,332. Houston County is the oldest county and Crockett the fifth-oldest city in Texas. History The town was named ...

, who were married in 1926. In 1951, the family moved to Marana, Arizona where Leslie worked as a farm contractor. Paul attended

Marana High School Marana High School is one of three high schools for the town of Marana, Arizona. It was established in 1975. Academies The student body is organized into distinct academies, each with a focus on specific career fields. Freshmen are introduced to ...

, where he played basketball and football, but he especially excelled at track. He graduated from high school in 1963 and attended Eastern Arizona College, a community college in

Thatcher, Arizona Thatcher is a town in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2010 Census, the population of the town is 4,865. It is part of the Safford Micropolitan Statistical Area. Thatcher is the home of Eastern Arizona College (EAC), ...

. He then received a track scholarship to the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first ...

and ran track for two years for the Wildcats. But when his track scholarship ended, Robinson turned to football out of necessity for one season, becoming the team's #2 running back his senior year.

Professional football career

Robinson was chosen in the third round (82nd overall) of the 1968 NFL/AFL Draft by the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. In his first year as a professional, he gained 1,023 yards rushing to lead the league and scored eight

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

. He also caught 24 passes for 128 yards and one touchdown. He was the second man to gain over 1,000 yards in his first year in professional football in the U.S., the first being

Cookie Gilchrist Carlton Chester "Cookie" Gilchrist (May 25, 1935 – January 10, 2011) was an American football player who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). Career A star player at Har-Brack High S ...

. Robinson is the only running back in professional football history to gain over 1,000 yards in a season for a first-year expansion team. He was the 1968

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and ''

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AFL Rookie of the Year The Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running profess ...

and finished second in the MVP voting to

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college fo ...

. He was named to the 1968 and 1969 AFL All-Star Team and led the 1968 Western AFL All-Star team to victory over the Eastern All-Stars. He also scored the first-ever Bengals regular-season touchdown on September 6, 1968. His two-yard run gave the Bengals a 7–0 lead over the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

at San Diego, although the Bengals lost 29–13. In his second season, 1969, he gained 489 yards in 160 attempts for a 3.1 yards-per-carry average and four touchdowns. He rebounded his third season, 1970, for 622 yards in 149 attempts for a 4.2 average and six touchdowns. In 1971, he gained 213 yards on 49 carries for a 4.3 average with one touchdown. In 1972, in four games with the Bengals, he gained 94 yards in 21 attempts, a 4.5 average. On October 24, 1972, he was traded along with running back

Fred Willis Fred Willis (born December 9, 1947) is a retired American football running back who played six seasons in the National Football League for the Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Oilers. Early life Willis grew up in Natick, Massachusetts and attende ...

to the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

for wide receiver

Charlie Joiner Charles B. Joiner Jr. (born October 14, 1947) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. He is best known for his career ...

and linebacker

Ron Pritchard Ronald David Pritchard (born April 2, 1947) is a former American football linebacker and professional wrestler. Pritchard played nine seasons with the Houston Oilers and the Cincinnati Bengals, first in the American Football League, then in the ...

. For the Oilers, he played in eight games, gaining 355 yards on 86 attempts for a 4.1 average and three touchdowns. His final year in the NFL was 1973 for the Oilers, when he gained 151 yards on 34 attempts for a 4.4 average and two touchdowns. For his career, he gained 2,947 yards on 737 carries for a 4.0 average with 24 touchdowns. He caught 90 passes for 612 yards (a 6.8 average) for two touchdowns. He returned 40 kicks for 924 yards, a 23.1 average, and he returned two punts for one yard. In 1974, he played for the

Birmingham Americans The Birmingham Americans were a professional American football team located in Birmingham, Alabama. They were members of the four-team Central Division of the World Football League (WFL). The Americans, founded in late December 1973, played in th ...

of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the ...

, where he helped the Americans win the WFL’s only championship game before the team folded during the offseason.Birmingham Americans history
at WorldFootballLeague.org

Personal life

Paul Robinson was married to the late Arlene (Hines) Robinson. They had three daughters and also a son, Paul Harvey "PJ" Robinson Jr., who died in 2009. Paul is also the granduncle of

University of Texas 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 ...

running back

Bijan Robinson Bijan Robinson (born January 30, 2002) is an American football running back for the Texas Longhorns. He won the Doak Walker Award in 2022. Early years Robinson attended Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, Arizona. During his career he had ...

. He currently resides in

Safford, Arizona Safford ( Western Apache: Ichʼįʼ Nahiłtį́į́) is a city in Graham County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 10,129. The city is the county seat of Graham County. Safford is the principa ...

References

External links

NFL.com player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Paul 1944 births Living people People from Crockett, Texas People from Marana, Arizona Sportspeople from the Phoenix metropolitan area Players of American football from Tucson, Arizona American football running backs Arizona Wildcats football players Birmingham Americans players Cincinnati Bengals players Houston Oilers players American Football League players American Football League All-Star players American Football League Rookies of the Year American Football League rushing leaders

Early life

Professional football career

Personal life

See also

References

External links