If it seems like only yesterday that we were reading about Rainier Beach's Nate Robinson-led charge to the 2002 Washington state 3A boy's basketball championship, maybe it's because all we saw was the blur.
From dunking over Mercer Island, to intercepting passes for the Husky football team, to leading the Husky basketball team to the NCAAs, to declaring for the NBA draft, and then back to the Huskies for more success this season, we have to question how the kid avoids disintegrating from atmospheric friction.
But then, isn't it only fitting that his life mirrors his play style? Fast, hard and determined, for Robinson it's the secret for getting from Point A to Point B.
"We're not going to be here for that much longer so you've got to enjoy it while you can," Robinson asserted. "I'm 20 years old now. I'll be 21 in May. It came that fast. I'm trying to live my life through God the way he'd want me to live. Enjoy life, that's all you can do."
Ominously, it sounds like closure, and that seems to be the buzzword around Robinson these days. Is this his last college basketball season? When pressed, he becomes as evasive as the path he has traveled, but all indications point towards this being the year Robinson departs for the NBA.
That makes the upcoming NCAA tournament all the more special. It's a chance to sit back and enjoy our own little lightning bolt while he's here and contemplate how he, and the Huskies, made it this far.
A rising star's influences
The first place to start is to understand Robinson's role model. It's not a coincidence that he wears the same white sweat band down his right arm at home games that Allan Iverson of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers wears. He grew up idolizing the man, and a lot of it had to do with the similarity that Iverson shares in stature.
"It's just funny to watch somebody who is so small and so much skinnier than the other guys go out there and kill them and just make it look so easy," Robinson said. "That is just somebody that I wanted to be like growing up. I mean I got his shoes, started getting tattoos. I loved watching him play so much because he played so hard and nobody could stop him."
In Iverson it appears Robinson has a duel driving force. Not only do they share a similar frame and the stigma that comes with being small in a game centered on height, but Iverson is a player that has overcome this obstacle while learning to excel at the highest level - something Robinson yearns for.
Perhaps unwittingly last year, The Pit Crew, Oregon's boisterous student section, decided that Robinson would be the target of their ridicule and taunted him with posters of pint-sized child actor Gary Coleman. In the closing moments of that game, the score far out of reach, Robinson showed the Ducks what he thought about it by dunking as the other players were heading for the locker room. It caused a clamor among both the media and the coaches, but it seemed to ignite Robinson as he headed into post season play. As Washington basketball fans, we can only hope that the Gary Coleman Duck fans come out of the woodwork prior to the upcoming Pac-10 tournament.
"He's only 5 foot, 7. He's always being told that he's too short, and he can't do this or he can't do that, and that's what fuels Nate," said Mike Bethea, Robinson's coach at Rainier Beach high school. "He has that will to win. A lot of really talented athletes, they lack that. It can be taught to a certain degree, but to the degree that he has it you can't teach that. The very first day he came down to Rainier Beach as a freshman he said, 'Hey coach, I want to guard Jamal (Crawford, who stand 6 foot, 5,) every day in practice.'"
Although Robinson is fiercely competitive, he also has an extremely humble side. It stands out because it is such a rarity among successful athletes. You get a peak at this aspect of his personality when he talks about Rainier Beach. He considers everyone from the school as part of his family, which shined while he walked its halls with his efforts to help out the incoming freshman.
You also catch a glimpse of his humility when he talks about his newborn son. Having a son seems to have reinforced that demeanor while simultaneously pushing him to excel even more.
"It made me become stronger as a person, made me realize I'm not just working for myself anymore," said Robinson. "Now I'm working hard for my son. I'm trying to pave the way for him so he doesn't have to live like I did, and my dad and my mom. I want him to know that if he works hard he can get where I'm at. I've got to take care of my son for 18 years until he can take care of himself, and then he can teach his kids."
But perhaps work is not the best way to term it. Instead, Robinson has taken what he's been given and played it, and beaten it. He introduced himself to every sport as a kid and was always active and driven, and he never stopped.
Robinson was also very cognizant of the work that both his parents, now divorced, put into helping him become an adult. His mother, who took care of him growing up, took on various jobs, such as braiding hair, in order to help them survive. Such a living example of hard work and family dedication forged the Nate Robinson we see today.
"Just keep working hard," says Robinson of what it took to get where he is. "There are times when you probably can't play basketball because you probably have to go home and do your homework, you have to go eat, sleep, but just work hard at what you do. Be focused. Whatever you want to do just be sure you create a goal and focus towards it. Don't let anyone tell you wrong. Have fun. That's a big thing. You've got to be having fun. Whatever happens you have to be prepared for. Just give it your all and leave everything out on the floor."
Robinson's goal has always been to play at the highest level of basketball, and this is likely the last we'll see of him on our local courts, but it's not the last we'll see of his legacy. He has helped lay the groundwork for many, many other successful players coming up not only through Rainier Beach, but also throughout the South end. It can safely be said that he is a role model for today's youth.
"Just to know that you're walking the same halls as Nate Robinson, Jamal Crawford, and the twins, it makes you feel good because they're out there doing bigger and better things," said Terrence Williams, Rainier Beach's Louisville-bound senior. "Some of the classes that you're in they sat at the same desk probably so it's nice, and there's even more pride when you put on a uniform. They played on the same court in front of the same fans. There's a lot of pride going to the same school they went to."
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