Johnny Robinson (safety)

Johnny Robinson

Robinson on a 1961 Topps trading card
No. 42
Position:	Safety / Flanker
Personal information
Born:	(1938-09-09) September 9, 1938 Delhi, Louisiana, U.S.
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school:	University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
College:	LSU
NFL draft:	1960 / round: 1 / pick: 3
AFL draft:	1960 / round: 1
Career history
Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs (1960–1971)
Career highlights and awards
Super Bowl champion (IV) Pro Bowl (1970) First-team All-Pro (1970) NFL interceptions leader (1970) AFL champion (1962) 6× AFL All-Star (1963–1968) 5× First-team All-AFL (1965–1969) 2× Second-team All-AFL (1963, 1964) AFL interceptions leader (1966) AFL All-Time Team Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Fame National champion (1958) First-team All-SEC (1958) Second-team All-SEC (1959)
Career NFL statistics
Interceptions: 57 Interception yards: 741 Defensive touchdowns: 2 Offensive touchdowns: 15 Stats at Pro Football Reference
Pro Football Hall of Fame

Johnny Nolan Robinson (born September 9, 1938) is an American former professional football player. He was primarily a safety, but also played on offense as a halfback and flanker early in his career. He played college football for the LSU Tigers.

Robinson played his entire twelve-year professional career with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He led the AFL in interceptions with ten in 1966, and led the NFL in 1970 with ten. He had 57 interceptions during his career. Robinson is a 2019 inductee to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, becoming the ninth member of the Chiefs' Super Bowl IV championship team to be inducted.

Early life

Born in Delhi, Louisiana, Robinson was an all-state football, tennis, and baseball player in high school. He became starting fullback in his freshman year at University High School at LSU in Baton Rouge. Robinson and his older brother, Tommy, won the national boys' junior tennis championship when they were at U-High, where their father, Dub Robinson, was the LSU tennis coach for forty years.

College career

Robinson committed to play college football at LSU under head coach Paul Dietzel; in his junior season in 1958, the Tigers won all ten games in the regular season, the Sugar Bowl, and the national championship.

Also while at LSU, he won the SEC tennis championship in singles and SEC doubles championship with his brother Tommy.

Professional career

Robinson was selected by the Dallas Texans (became the Kansas City Chiefs in 1963) in the first round of the 1960 AFL draft, and selected third overall by the Detroit Lions in the 1960 NFL draft. In his third season, the Texans won the 1962 AFL title with a 20–17 double-overtime victory over the two-time defending AFL champion Houston Oilers in the longest professional football league championship game ever played.

Robinson played in the first Super Bowl in early 1967. Three years later in Super Bowl IV, the underdog Chiefs decisively defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 23–7. Robinson played that game with three broken ribs he received in the previous game. Late in the first half, he picked up a Minnesota fumble and made an interception in the second half to help seal the win.

During his first two years in the AFL, Robinson played flanker on offense, rushing for 658 yards on 150 carries and had 1,228 receiving yards on 77 receptions, and fifteen touchdowns. He was moved to safety after his second year and continued as a standout for ten of his twelve years. His last game came on Christmas Day 1971, when the Chiefs lost to the Miami Dolphins 24–27 after 22 minutes and forty seconds of overtime. Robinson suffered a career-ending injury that game, which remains the longest game in NFL history, and the last NFL game in Municipal Stadium. Robinson thus played in the sport's longest championship game in 1962 and in its absolute longest game, each game closing out professional football in its respective stadium.

After twelve seasons with the same franchise, Robinson retired at age 33 in July 1972, prior to training camp.

Legacy

Robinson was a seven-time first-team All-Pro and three-time second-team All-Pro selection. He is a member of the All-time All-AFL Team and one of only 20 players who were in the AFL for its entire ten-year existence.

The Chiefs had a 35–1–1 record in games that Robinson made an interception. He is an inductee of the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and was elected into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in February 2019, the ninth member inducted from the 1969 Chiefs; his bust at Canton was sculpted by Scott Myers. Later that year, he was recognized as an SEC Football Legend for LSU.

Career statistics

Legend
	Won the AFL championship
	AFL & Super Bowl champion
	Led the league
Bold	Career high

Year	Team	League	GP	Int	Yds	TD	Lng
1960	DAT	AFL	14	—	—	—	—
1961	DAT	AFL	14	—	—	—	—
1962	DAT	AFL	14	4	25	0	20
1963	KC	AFL	14	3	41	0	19
1964	KC	AFL	10	2	17	0	17
1965	KC	AFL	14	5	99	0	50
1966	KC	AFL	14	10	136	1	29
1967	KC	AFL	14	5	17	0	10
1968	KC	AFL	14	6	40	0	16
1969	KC	AFL	14	8	158	0	33
1970	KC	NFL	14	10	155	0	57
1971	KC	NFL	14	4	53	0	29
Career			164	57	741	1	57

Personal and later life

After he retired as a player, Robinson was a scout for the Chiefs until Hank Stram was fired in 1974. He then coached defensive backs for the Jacksonville Express of the World Football League in 1975. The league folded that year, and he became a scout for the New Orleans Saints, again under Stram.

Robinson founded and operates a youth home called Johnny Robinson's Boys Home for troubled boys in Monroe, Louisiana, and has been a long-time supporter of children's causes.