PHOTO: John Robinson with Jimmy Raye on the LA Rams’ sideline.

By TOM SHANAHAN

Many USC legends are paying their tributes to USC’s John Robinson, the College Football Hall of Fame coach who died Monday at age 89.

Among them with posts on Twitter were two of his greatest Trojans, Ronnie Lott and Marcus Allen. Below are few more thoughts I considered.

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RIP John Robinson.

His obituaries need to include he advanced opportunities for Black coaches. Jimmy Raye (photo w/Robinson) was only the second Black coordinator in the NFL when Robinson hired Raye in 1983 with the Rams.

The significance of Robinson hiring Raye — followed by Raye’s impact on young Black coaches into the 21st century — has been overlooked by the media.

When I wrote RAYE OF LIGHT, Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans, I contacted Robinson. He explained to me since he brought most of his USC staff with him to the Rams, he needed NFL experience on his staff.

Raye filled out the staff with league knowledge and experience that was especially valuable in the pre-Internet and data age.

“He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the NFL,” Robinson told me in a quote stated on Page 275. “We would talk about trying something, and he’d say, ‘Well, Detroit tried that in 1978 … or he’d say, ‘If we try this, they’ll cover it this way.’ These days you can call everything up on a computer, but in those days, it was mostly in a coach’s mind how a team would react. He was a very smart guy, and he knew the ins and outs of every team.”

Raye was recommended to Robinson by John Jackson, who had been on Robinson’s USC staff from 1976 to 1981. Jackson was one of the early Black assistant coaches in the 1970s when colleges were slow to add Black assistants. Jackson died in 2017 at age 81.

Raye had been hired by Duffy Daugherty at Michigan State, in 1972. He was one of two Black assistants on Duffy’s staff along with Sherman Lewis, who was hired in 1969.

Tony Dungy, who considers Raye a mentor, wasn’t a coordinator until 1984 and a head coach until 1996. Dennis Green, who wasn’t an NFL coordinator, was a head coach in 1992. But the media considers only Dungy and Green as early influential Black coaches in its sloppily researched history regurgitated over and over sans many facts.

Robinson elevating Raye remains lost in the shadows.

“John was ahead of his time,” Raye told me as stated on Page 275. “He allowed me to be the coordinator. He didn’t get in the way or intervene with play calling. We had a great relationship.”

But the media has such a poor progress of college football integration in the 1960s when Raye was the South’s first Black quarterback to win a national title and the progress of Black coaches in the 1970s and 1980s, Robinson didn’t receive the credit he warrants.

Click here: Emmy Award: The Indelible Legacy of Jimmy Raye – Tom Shanahan Report

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I thought of another player from that time period who could be adding his thoughts if not for the cruel fateful turns of life. Instead, when Arthur Hemingway died in 2009, I called Robinson’s for his thoughts on what might have been for Hemingway.

This was my story from March 2, 2009, when I was part of the Voice of San Diego newsroom that made it one of the first successful launches of an independent website “newspaper.”

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“HE WAS RIGHT THERE WITH THEM.”

— John Robinson on Arthur Hemingway.

By TOM SHANAHAN

This is one of those sad, what-might-have-been stories.

In August 1978, USC welcomed a freshman football class that featured Arthur Hemingway, a promising fullback from Oceanside High. Hemingway was one of many Samoan football legends from Oceanside, the alma mater of Pro Football Hall of Famer Junior Seau.

But Hemingway, who died last week at the age of 49, saw his career ended before it ever began. He was severely disabled when he was struck by a car while standing on a sidewalk near the Los Angeles campus the first week of practice. He was hit by a 17-year-old driver fleeing police.

But to say Hemingway was a promising fullback doesn’t begin to tell the story of his potential.

He was part of a 1978 USC recruiting class that included Marcus Allen, the Lincoln High alum that went on to win the Heisman Trophy, NFL MVP Award and Super Bowl MVP Award. Other future NFL greats in the class were Chip Banks, Riki Gray Ellison and Roy Foster.

Yet 30-plus years later, then-USC coach John Robinson still says this about Hemingway:

“He was one of the brightest prospects we recruited,” Robinson said. “He was a great-looking kid and a real leader at his school. He had a devastating smile.”

Robinson said the Trojans envisioned Hemingway, a Samoan, succeeding graduated Mosi Tatupu, who was a Samoan fullback at USC.

This was a time when Samoans from Hawaii and California were first making an impact on college football in larger numbers and clearing the way for future Samoan stars. Tatupu went on to play 14 NFL seasons.

“Arthur’s potential was unlimited,” Robinson said. “I thought he was going to have a great career for us. I was so impressed by the guy.”

USC’s fullback in 1978 was senior Lynn Cain, who went on to play in the NFL. But the loss of Hemingway left the Trojans without a backup fullback. Robinson filled the hole by switching Marcus Allen, who was recruited as a safety, to fullback.

Allen spent his sophomore year as the starting fullback clearing the way for 1979 Heisman Trophy winner Charles White. Allen has often said that experience as a blocker before he moved to tailback as a junior and senior helped him develop as an all-around NFL football player.

With White graduated and Allen playing tailback, Allen gained 1,546 yards as a junior and 2,342 as a senior to win the 1981 Heisman.

Robinson said had fate not intervened, Hemingway could have been the fullback for two Heisman Trophy winners — White and Allen — before starting his own NFL career. Although Allen was recruited as a safety, he might have ended up in the backfield since the Trojans’ secondary included All-American picks Ronnie Lott, Dennis Smith and Joey Browner.

“Absolutely, there’s no question,” Robinson said. “Arthur was a little taller than Mosi, and he was very athletic. He could have played some tailback for us, too. He had the ability to be a blocker, runner and receiver.”

Hemingway would ultimately undergo 20 surgeries, including brain surgery twice. He needed a wheelchair or motorized cart to get around, but he returned to USC at the age of 30. The school paid for his education, and he earned a bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in education.

He remained a dedicated USC fan that attended many games. He also stayed involved with North County high school football, working with the football coaching staffs at Oceanside and Rancho Buena Vista.

“It was really a shame,” Robinson said. “I think he had only been with us three days when he got hit. He came in with a talented group, and he was right there with them.”

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