The American military is central to David Robinson’s identity. It’s why we call him “The Admiral,” a nickname that took root during his time at the Naval Academy and has followed him ever since. It was at the Naval Academy that Robinson blossomed into a force on the basketball court, winning the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, the Wooden Award, and being named a consensus first-team All-American, giving us the first tantalizing hints of his future Hall of Fame career.
But his time at the Academy wasn’t just about basketball. Robinson took his military obligation seriously. When the Spurs drafted him in 1987, they had to wait two years while he fulfilled his active duty requirements. Because of height restrictions, Robinson was prevented from serving at sea, but eventually became a commissioned officer in the Naval Reserve — despite the nickname, Robinson’s rank topped out at lieutenant.
Today, Robinson still keeps close ties with his fellow service members. He’s partnering with the USAA to promote one of college football’s biggest annual rivalries, the Army-Navy game that is set to kick off on Saturday, Dec. 12 at West Point. Though civilians won’t be able to attend because of COVID, the Army-Navy House promotion is giving fans an opportunity to win a trip to next year’s contest and offering an interactive way for fans to join the fun from home.
We caught up with Robinson this week to talk about the game and what it means to be able to help bring sports to the masses amid the turmoil around the country and restore some semblance of normalcy as we wrap up a year that has been anything but.
Obviously, it will be a different atmosphere without having fans in attendance on Saturday, so what’s the key to maintaining that fan engagement from afar?
Yeah, with the limited attendance at the game this year, just the Midshipmen and the Cadets will be able to go, but we know a lot of people want to be connected to the game. It’s such a big event for our nation and always a timely event when everyone needs encouragement. So we have ArmyNavyHouse.com, so people can come in and still feel connected to the game. They can send pictures of themselves celebrating, and someone’s going to win a trip to the next year’s game. So it should be an exciting way for people to be connected and enjoy the celebration together.
You’re talking about an Army-Navy game, so the energy is going to be there. No one wants to lose this game. There’s a lot at stake. The Midshipmen, students at both of the schools are counting on trying to get some extra days off or some kind of liberties or something. So there’s going to be some intensity there one way or the other. But it’s also a great feeling knowing that the whole country pays attention to it and it means something to others. So in that sense, it’s going to be a little disappointing that fans can’t be there, but certainly the intensity is going to be there. I think these guys know how to compete. They want bragging rights and they’re going to go out and play for it.
Your military service has always been a big part of your identity, so what are you personally most excited about for this game?
Well, I think for me just…I wasn’t able to really go to any games when I was there. So these last few years, about four years ago, I was able to go to my first game, and now, I just enjoy the pageantry of it. So to me, now that I know what it feels like to be in the stadium when all of this stuff is happening and the planes are flying over and just all this, it’s an amazing game and an incredible intensity. So I look forward to just seeing that and seeing how the guys are going to respond. You never know what’s going to happen in a game like this.
This is truly the heart of college sports, or what you kind of hope college sports is. There’s two teams. Either one of them can walk away with this win. And they’re going to play hard, and they’re going to play fair, and at the end of the day, they’re going to shake hands and work together to save the world. Yeah, it’s kind of the ultimate of what sports is about to me.
The game is typically held at a neutral site, but because of COVID, this will be the first time since 1943 that it’s going to be held at West Point. Is there a little bit of a home field advantage there?
[Laughs] A little bit. It’s all right. Without the full crowd there, maybe it’s not as intense as it would be, but it is what it is. I love it at the bigger venues. It means so much to the country, I think it’s nice to see them at those bigger venues. But certainly it’s not going to take away anything from this game.
It’s been such a challenging year, in so many ways, as we all try to navigate the pandemic. What does it mean for college sports, in general, to be able to move forward amid all these challenges and still host these major annual competitions that are such a huge part of the tradition?
I think it’s very meaningful. I know just personally, my wife and I were just sitting around when sports was kind of not happening. And we were looking at each other like, my goodness. We didn’t even realize how much it really meant to us day by day, just to have something to watch and something to cheer for. And you’ve always got a lot of things happening, but I think it means a lot to everyone to have some of these rivalries happening, just to show that life is going to get back to normal at some point.
You have three sons who are all athletes and have competed at the college level, so what does that mean to you just in terms of being able to come out and support all these young people, whose futures have really been put on hold and thrown into uncertainty this past year?
I love being able to support these kids because they’re our future. I know what it’s like when we’re there. We all feel like we’re young. We don’t know what we’re doing. But we’ve been trained as leaders. We’ve been trained in probably the best place on the planet to be trained as a leader. And so we know we got a lot of responsibility, and we know that we got to go, hey, if we got to lay down our lives for our country, that’s what we’re going to do. These are the most exciting kids to support.
They’re going to take on tremendous responsibility. They call me The Admiral, but nobody’s life is in my hands. The real admiral’s out there; they’re making decisions that impact people’s futures. And so it’s a big deal for these young guys because they know they’re going to be in that role of leadership soon.
You played in the basketball version of the Army-Navy game. What are some of your fondest memories from that experience?
I think part of it was just no matter how good we were, we never felt safe. We were ranked, I think we were 8th or 10th in the country at the time. And I think we beat them by one point. We went into West Point and you just never know what you’re going to get in a game like this. And I guess that’s part of what’s exciting about it.
To switch gears a little bit, what are you looking forward to most with the Spurs in the coming season?
Just kind of getting back at it. We have a lot of really good, young, talented guys, and it’s hard to keep a culture that you built for so many years. Obviously, our young guys want to maintain it and build upon it. But they really have to build their own culture. They have to figure out what being a part of the Spurs means to them. There’s not a Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili or Tony Parker around anymore. So how do you maintain and build upon that and really take it to the next level? This is not their team anymore. This team belongs to these young guys, this young team.
And so, I just want to see our guys embrace it and accept the responsibility and enjoy the challenge of being Spurs. It’s what we’ve been able to do over the last 25 years that has been incredible from a worldwide standpoint, and in a small market, too. And so is it easy? No. No, it’s not. But it’s a great challenge for these guys to step up to it and say, look, we want to keep this excellence going. Can we do it? And my answer is, yeah, I think you can. But that’s not easy.