duncan228
09-18-2009, 03:11 PM
Basketball's Admirable Admiral (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125322080193420783.html)
David Robinson Discusses Life After Basketball and Being the Guy Next to Jordan at the Hall of Fame Induction
By Greg Corcoran
The Wall Street Journal
Amid all the hoopla last weekend, basketball fans might have been forgiven for thinking David Robinson was just the really tall guy standing next to Michael Jordan at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Of course, that would be unfair to the 44-year-old Mr. Robinson, who has a glowing resume of his own: He won two National Basketball Association titles with the San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003) and was named in 1996 as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. He played on the legendary U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992 and won a second gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. He also was a two-time All-America while at the U.S. Naval Academy and earned 1987 college Player of the Year honors.
This from a man who entered the Naval Academy in 1983 at 6-foot-7 and was more interested in mathematics than in basketball. Of course, Mr. Robinson quickly spurted to 7-foot-1 and his last game as a collegian was a 50-point effort against Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.
Since retiring in 2003, Mr. Robinson has been kept busy raising his three boys (ages 16, 14 and 12), leading a private school he founded in San Antonio and, more recently, entering the field of private equity. He is co-founder of Admiral Capital Group, a company that calls attention to his nickname as a player. WSJ.com caught up with Mr. Robinson by phone to talk with the tallest member of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2009. Excerpts:
The Wall Street Journal: When you entered the Naval Academy, what were your basketball aspirations?
Mr. Robinson: None. I had talked with the coaches at the Naval Academy about playing. I had played one year of high-school basketball. I though it might be a way to pursue a college scholarship, but that was the limit.
WSJ: Bill Walton was always listed as 6-foot-11 because he thought 7-feet had a certain freakish stigma. You grew to 7-foot-1 in the Naval Academy. How did you feel about that?
Mr. Robinson: I embraced the freakishness. I was always a good athlete. I was never the awkward tall guy, because I had done a lot of gymnastics as a kid. Everyone has their strengths. Mine was that I was tall and lithe. There was never any awkwardness to it, except on the living side, you know, taking a shower and the shower head hits you in the stomach. But there is just something about being tall that commands attention.
WSJ: When did you realize that more was possible for you in basketball?
Mr. Robinson: Probably the first game into my pro career. My summer-league games were rather unremarkable. But I remember my first game, playing the Los Angeles Lakers, with Magic Johnson, and I put up some good numbers. I thought, wow, this wasn't actually all that hard, that I can do this every single night. I think I can be one of the best players in the league. And we had such good coaches. [Current Spurs Head Coach Gregg] Popovich was so good at teaching me about the game. Really, I've had some ridiculous coaches all along the way, Chuck Daly, Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson, Paul Evans. Every one of them taught me something about how to play the game of basketball.
WSJ: What would you have done if basketball hadn't developed the way it did?
Mr. Robinson: I would have been perfectly happy doing what I was doing. I had planned to spend my five years in the Navy after graduation as a civil engineer, then probably moving to a firm. I've met a lot of my Academy friends and there isn't one who hasn't done well. Accomplished in business, president of a company. I just figured I'd be one of those guys.
WSJ: You were something of an electronics nerd and even built your own television. How did that happen?
Mr. Robinson: It was supposed to be a project that me and my father did together. But my father had gone to sea for a few months with the Navy, and the kit was just sitting there. I started on it. I had just finished a shop class in high school and had learned how to solder. And I'm the kind of guy who, once I start something, I've got to finish, which I did before my father got home. Professionally built TVs are so neat, the wires all wrapped together. I had wires going in every direction. And when I first turned it on there was just a flat line on the screen. It took me a few hours to discover that I had this one circuit put in backward. After that, it worked fine.
WSJ: What was your favorite moment in professional basketball?
Mr. Robinson: I'd have to say the last moment. I remember thinking as I was walking off the court, holding my children and having won an NBA championship, that this is the way to leave. I had known that this was going to be my last season, so being able to walk off the court that way was the most ridiculously great moment.
WSJ: You are one of four players officially credited with a quadruple-double (http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Records/Boxscores/Robinsonquad.html), or registering double figures in four statistical categories in 1994. What does that feel like? Do it feel like you are involved in, or dominating, every play?
Mr. Robinson: That was my hope. As a defensive-minded player, I wanted to do a little bit of everything. The team wanted me to score, which I could do. But I also wanted to accomplish as much as I could on the defensive end of the floor. It was a pretty cool accomplishment. Generally, I'm not into individual statistics. Even when I scored the 71 points in a game (to win the NBA scoring title in 1994, beating out Shaquille O'Neal), I wasn't very interested. But my coach, John Lucas, told me before the game that he wanted me to get the ball every time so that I would have a chance to take the scoring title, because he said this was a great opportunity for me. I was like, ahhh, OK. You don't shoot for those kinds of individual awards, but when it happens, afterward, you are glad you did it.
WSJ: What was the lowlight of your pro career?
Mr. Robinson: The NBA semifinals loss to the Houston Rockets in 1995 in Game Six on their floor. It had been built up as kind of a me-versus Hakeem [Olajuwon] thing, and I thought I had failed [Mr. Robinson outscored Mr. Robinson 39-19.]. And I remember sitting in the locker room afterward and hearing on the loudspeaker in the background, the announcer telling Houston fans when NBA Finals tickets would be going on sale, and I remember thinking that this was the worst you could feel in basketball.
WSJ: So here you are, named one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever in 1996. You are in this year's Hall of Fame inductees, you have two NBA championships to your credit, and all the attention seems to go to Michael Jordan?
Mr. Robinson: To me, it was just an incredible honor, and having Michael Jordan in my class made it even better. If people thought the rest of us were afterthoughts, well, it wasn't that way for me. Well, maybe for my son. He's just 14, so when we talked about my going into the Hall he said, "Aw, that's easy." But to sit up there on the dais and to see Meadowlark Lemon, guys like Moses Malone, such great players and wonderful accomplishments, it was very cool for me.
WSJ: What has your career been after basketball?
Mr. Robinson: Starting off, I was a minister at church, and was trying to be a dad in a way I hadn't been able to be as a professional athlete. My wife had done a great job, but kids needs a dad, too. We don't realize how much we miss when we are away. All those years on the road, I thought I had been there a lot. But when you are around everyday, as I am now, you realize how much you missed.
I have been able to expand now. Real estate. The private-equity fund.
WSJ: Why private equity? How did this happen?
Mr. Robinson: A friend of mine, Daniel Bassichis, who I got to know through a friend from the Naval Academy, worked at Goldman Sachs Group. He started helping out at the Carver Academy. He understood my mentality, like in basketball, that I see business as a great way to impact the community. And where we invest, we will have partnerships that facilitate investment in the surrounding communities as well. We started Admiral Capital in 2007. At first, the timing seemed awful, with the financial crisis. But we were fortunate. We had a little bit of money out there at work but we weren't hurt. Now there are going to be opportunities galore. Who knows when they are going to be there, but this is a really exciting time.
WSJ: And you helped found the Carver Academy, a private elementary school in San Antonio. How is that going?
Mr. Robinson: It's been great. This is our ninth year of operation. I'm a teacher at heart, and graduating from the Naval Academy and being a part of that great history and sense of service. I said, "Why can't I start teaching kids this about serving beyond self when they are four or five?" We started as pre-kindergarten through second grade, adding a grade a year. And we have had four graduation classes. I think we might stop when we get to eighth grade. But there is much more to do. Most of our kids are on scholarship. And the endowment now is something like $4 million. We would like to get that to $50 million. I am the board chairman now, so I do a lot of fund raising and traveling for fund raising, but I try to be a daily presence.
David Robinson Discusses Life After Basketball and Being the Guy Next to Jordan at the Hall of Fame Induction
By Greg Corcoran
The Wall Street Journal
Amid all the hoopla last weekend, basketball fans might have been forgiven for thinking David Robinson was just the really tall guy standing next to Michael Jordan at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Of course, that would be unfair to the 44-year-old Mr. Robinson, who has a glowing resume of his own: He won two National Basketball Association titles with the San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003) and was named in 1996 as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. He played on the legendary U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992 and won a second gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. He also was a two-time All-America while at the U.S. Naval Academy and earned 1987 college Player of the Year honors.
This from a man who entered the Naval Academy in 1983 at 6-foot-7 and was more interested in mathematics than in basketball. Of course, Mr. Robinson quickly spurted to 7-foot-1 and his last game as a collegian was a 50-point effort against Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.
Since retiring in 2003, Mr. Robinson has been kept busy raising his three boys (ages 16, 14 and 12), leading a private school he founded in San Antonio and, more recently, entering the field of private equity. He is co-founder of Admiral Capital Group, a company that calls attention to his nickname as a player. WSJ.com caught up with Mr. Robinson by phone to talk with the tallest member of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2009. Excerpts:
The Wall Street Journal: When you entered the Naval Academy, what were your basketball aspirations?
Mr. Robinson: None. I had talked with the coaches at the Naval Academy about playing. I had played one year of high-school basketball. I though it might be a way to pursue a college scholarship, but that was the limit.
WSJ: Bill Walton was always listed as 6-foot-11 because he thought 7-feet had a certain freakish stigma. You grew to 7-foot-1 in the Naval Academy. How did you feel about that?
Mr. Robinson: I embraced the freakishness. I was always a good athlete. I was never the awkward tall guy, because I had done a lot of gymnastics as a kid. Everyone has their strengths. Mine was that I was tall and lithe. There was never any awkwardness to it, except on the living side, you know, taking a shower and the shower head hits you in the stomach. But there is just something about being tall that commands attention.
WSJ: When did you realize that more was possible for you in basketball?
Mr. Robinson: Probably the first game into my pro career. My summer-league games were rather unremarkable. But I remember my first game, playing the Los Angeles Lakers, with Magic Johnson, and I put up some good numbers. I thought, wow, this wasn't actually all that hard, that I can do this every single night. I think I can be one of the best players in the league. And we had such good coaches. [Current Spurs Head Coach Gregg] Popovich was so good at teaching me about the game. Really, I've had some ridiculous coaches all along the way, Chuck Daly, Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson, Paul Evans. Every one of them taught me something about how to play the game of basketball.
WSJ: What would you have done if basketball hadn't developed the way it did?
Mr. Robinson: I would have been perfectly happy doing what I was doing. I had planned to spend my five years in the Navy after graduation as a civil engineer, then probably moving to a firm. I've met a lot of my Academy friends and there isn't one who hasn't done well. Accomplished in business, president of a company. I just figured I'd be one of those guys.
WSJ: You were something of an electronics nerd and even built your own television. How did that happen?
Mr. Robinson: It was supposed to be a project that me and my father did together. But my father had gone to sea for a few months with the Navy, and the kit was just sitting there. I started on it. I had just finished a shop class in high school and had learned how to solder. And I'm the kind of guy who, once I start something, I've got to finish, which I did before my father got home. Professionally built TVs are so neat, the wires all wrapped together. I had wires going in every direction. And when I first turned it on there was just a flat line on the screen. It took me a few hours to discover that I had this one circuit put in backward. After that, it worked fine.
WSJ: What was your favorite moment in professional basketball?
Mr. Robinson: I'd have to say the last moment. I remember thinking as I was walking off the court, holding my children and having won an NBA championship, that this is the way to leave. I had known that this was going to be my last season, so being able to walk off the court that way was the most ridiculously great moment.
WSJ: You are one of four players officially credited with a quadruple-double (http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Records/Boxscores/Robinsonquad.html), or registering double figures in four statistical categories in 1994. What does that feel like? Do it feel like you are involved in, or dominating, every play?
Mr. Robinson: That was my hope. As a defensive-minded player, I wanted to do a little bit of everything. The team wanted me to score, which I could do. But I also wanted to accomplish as much as I could on the defensive end of the floor. It was a pretty cool accomplishment. Generally, I'm not into individual statistics. Even when I scored the 71 points in a game (to win the NBA scoring title in 1994, beating out Shaquille O'Neal), I wasn't very interested. But my coach, John Lucas, told me before the game that he wanted me to get the ball every time so that I would have a chance to take the scoring title, because he said this was a great opportunity for me. I was like, ahhh, OK. You don't shoot for those kinds of individual awards, but when it happens, afterward, you are glad you did it.
WSJ: What was the lowlight of your pro career?
Mr. Robinson: The NBA semifinals loss to the Houston Rockets in 1995 in Game Six on their floor. It had been built up as kind of a me-versus Hakeem [Olajuwon] thing, and I thought I had failed [Mr. Robinson outscored Mr. Robinson 39-19.]. And I remember sitting in the locker room afterward and hearing on the loudspeaker in the background, the announcer telling Houston fans when NBA Finals tickets would be going on sale, and I remember thinking that this was the worst you could feel in basketball.
WSJ: So here you are, named one of the 50 greatest NBA players ever in 1996. You are in this year's Hall of Fame inductees, you have two NBA championships to your credit, and all the attention seems to go to Michael Jordan?
Mr. Robinson: To me, it was just an incredible honor, and having Michael Jordan in my class made it even better. If people thought the rest of us were afterthoughts, well, it wasn't that way for me. Well, maybe for my son. He's just 14, so when we talked about my going into the Hall he said, "Aw, that's easy." But to sit up there on the dais and to see Meadowlark Lemon, guys like Moses Malone, such great players and wonderful accomplishments, it was very cool for me.
WSJ: What has your career been after basketball?
Mr. Robinson: Starting off, I was a minister at church, and was trying to be a dad in a way I hadn't been able to be as a professional athlete. My wife had done a great job, but kids needs a dad, too. We don't realize how much we miss when we are away. All those years on the road, I thought I had been there a lot. But when you are around everyday, as I am now, you realize how much you missed.
I have been able to expand now. Real estate. The private-equity fund.
WSJ: Why private equity? How did this happen?
Mr. Robinson: A friend of mine, Daniel Bassichis, who I got to know through a friend from the Naval Academy, worked at Goldman Sachs Group. He started helping out at the Carver Academy. He understood my mentality, like in basketball, that I see business as a great way to impact the community. And where we invest, we will have partnerships that facilitate investment in the surrounding communities as well. We started Admiral Capital in 2007. At first, the timing seemed awful, with the financial crisis. But we were fortunate. We had a little bit of money out there at work but we weren't hurt. Now there are going to be opportunities galore. Who knows when they are going to be there, but this is a really exciting time.
WSJ: And you helped found the Carver Academy, a private elementary school in San Antonio. How is that going?
Mr. Robinson: It's been great. This is our ninth year of operation. I'm a teacher at heart, and graduating from the Naval Academy and being a part of that great history and sense of service. I said, "Why can't I start teaching kids this about serving beyond self when they are four or five?" We started as pre-kindergarten through second grade, adding a grade a year. And we have had four graduation classes. I think we might stop when we get to eighth grade. But there is much more to do. Most of our kids are on scholarship. And the endowment now is something like $4 million. We would like to get that to $50 million. I am the board chairman now, so I do a lot of fund raising and traveling for fund raising, but I try to be a daily presence.