Tony Robinson appreciation thread

#51
#51
VOLnMiami said:
I can appreciate what TR did as a UT football player but as a human being he was and is a complete failure who ruined his life when he had it all in the palm of his hands...I have no sympathy for someone like that...He is and always will be an embarrassment to the University of Tennessee.
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What a warm, caring human being YOU must be. The only embarrassment to our beloved University of Tennessee is your ridiculous, asinine post.
 
#52
#52
7maxims said:
:rock:
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Many thanks, maxims. Still got that SI issue stored in the safe. My wife and I were at the game and reveled in Tony's dazzling perfrormance and Dale Jones & Co. busting Bo on damn near every Auburn offensive snap. Magical!!!
 
#54
#54
Vision1966 said:
Simply the most talented QB ever to play on the hill. Never saw a QB on any level throw a better long ball but unlike most strong armed QB's, had such a soft touch on short passes. Could run when he had to but it was his arm that could kill you. Like many great qb's his biggest problem was trying to do too much. Only QB we had that i felt like could beat the other team by himself.
That redskin article was wrong. Was not caught on a traffic stop with a brick of coke. His roommate Cooper had been selling to undercover agents, the agents kept telling him to get tony there so that his wife could meet him. After numerous attempts, tony was present at a buy. Not saying Tony was pure as the driven snow on this but he gets a worse rap than what he should. The asst DA made his career on that case. He went on to bigger and better things.
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Your story is the one I heard, Vision. In those days, our all-knowing Congress had enacted the Class X felony drug laws; cocaine possession and distribution being the most targeted. Many a kid did major time in the big house with hardened criminals for relatively small amounts. The "war on drugs" did nothing but penalize kids and poor folks who couldn't buy their way out by "lawyering up". And no, I'm not condoning drug use or bad choices, but they don't call it the "sweet bird of youth" without reason. Been there.
 
#55
#55
Tony Robinson was before my time, so i never got to see him play. It sounds like he was an awesome QB for Tenn. Its sad that he has/had drug problems. I wouldnt wish that on anyone. I hate it anytime sometime that went to Tenn is in the paper for something bad. (example-drugs, holding someone up with a pellet gun). Does it mean that they are bad people NO. It means that they made a bad choice. We have all made bad choices. The differnece is our bad choices arent published in the paper or on national tv.
 
#56
#56
VOLnMiami said:
I can appreciate what TR did as a UT football player but as a human being he was and is a complete failure who ruined his life when he had it all in the palm of his hands...I have no sympathy for someone like that...He is and always will be an embarrassment to the University of Tennessee.
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As far as I know, he never hurt anyone but himself. He did some stupid stuff. If I had to make a list of people I wish had never been associated with UT athletics, Tony Robinson would be way down on the list.

GAVol said:
I don't remember it being anything other than what happens when a QB runs around and meets up with a monster LB. Can't remember whether it was Jerimiah Castille or Cornelius Bennett that made the kill shot, but both of those guys were beasts.
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It was Curt Jarvis and Cornelius Bennett. They have both denied many times that they did it on purpose, and Johnny Majors accepted that in his book, but I don't.

I'd rather remember that game for Mike Shula-complete-to-Dale Jones, though. They took out T-Rob, but we still got the SEC Championship and they got the Aloha Bowl.

Voltillyafall said:
I remember DD coming in and the first play was a five yard square out. The Bama cornerback jumped the route, the ball hit him in the hands, but he dropped. I have always said that if the corner had intercepted it, our season is totally different.

Now, with you saying it was intercepted, it is causing me to question my recollection...are you sure?
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He did drop it. It was a pick six if he'd held on. We were up 13-7, inside their 10, and the way it was going, a touchdown would have pretty much done Bama in.

They took Tony out, and Daryl came in ice-cold, without warming up, in a passing down. He threw a bad pass, but the Bammer dropped it. Johnny went conservative, as he should have, and Reveiz kicked for a 16-7 lead.

Alabama scored later on, and then at the end of the game, their kicker Van Tiffin (Leigh's dad) tried a 61-yard field goal that would have been good from 59. But luckily for us, it was 61. And we had our fourth straight win in the series--and three cupcakes ahead of us for our first SEC title in 16 years.
 
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#57
#57
jsc1973 said:
As far as I know, he never hurt anyone but himself. He did some stupid stuff. If I had to make a list of people I wish had never been associated with UT athletics, Tony Robinson would be way down on the list.



It was Curt Jarvis and Cornelius Bennett. They have both denied many times that they did it on purpose, and Johnny Majors accepted that in his book, but I don't.

I'd rather remember that game for Mike Shula-complete-to-Dale Jones, though. They took out T-Rob, but we still got the SEC Championship and they got the Aloha Bowl.



He did drop it. It was a pick six if he'd held on. We were up 13-7, inside their 10, and the way it was going, a touchdown would have pretty much done Bama in.

They took Tony out, and Daryl came in ice-cold, without warming up, in a passing down. He threw a bad pass, but the Bammer dropped it. Johnny went conservative, as he should have, and Reveiz kicked for a 16-7 lead.

Alabama scored later on, and then at the end of the game, their kicker Van Tiffin (Leigh's dad) tried a 61-yard field goal that would have been good from 59. But luckily for us, it was 61. And we had our fourth straight win in the series--and three cupcakes ahead of us for our first SEC title in 16 years.
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Damn,1973, thanks for bringing it home, my friend. My bride of 33 years and I were there, but time fogs the memory. Thanks, again, big time!!!
 
#58
#58
ZZ13 said:
He was the backup to Ed Rubbert on the Redskins during the 3 1987 scab games. Only played in the Dallas game and that was because Rubbert got hurt early in the game. I believe he was playing in a semi pro league in Richmond when Gibbs picked him up for those three games (that part is fuzzy).
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I'm acquiring that game on DVD soon and i'm gonna upload his highlites to my youtube channel.
 
#59
#59
Last I heard, he's living in St Augustine.

A friend of mine played against him when TR was at UT. He said when they were watching film, the coaches said pay attention to the QB, because he's the best you will ever see.
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#60
#60
Sudden Impact said:
Jail and Drug abuse. He played during the strike year as a replacement player, I do believe. Had a perfect touch and an awesome QB got hurt in the Alabama Game and made a hero out of Darrel Dickey. Would have been something special in the pros.
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He was a great QB, who got hurt as stated above and then like a flash was no longer ..........His off field problems escalated .Because we probably would have played for the National championship that year had Toney not gotten hurt! He was so awesome on the field!
 
#61
#61
VOODOOVOL said:
Last I heard, he's living in St Augustine.

A friend of mine played against him when TR was at UT. He said when they were watching film, the coaches said pay attention to the QB, because he's the best you will ever see.
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Thanks for the validation, VOODOOVOL. Tony Robinson was really something special in Vol folklore.
 
#62
#62
Of all our QBs, Tony was my favorite. He had a ton of talent, but he looked very thin or skinny, especially his lower body. I always worried that he was going to get hurt because he lacked size and the Bama injury confirmed my worst fear when he played. I feel sad about how his life turned out.
 
#63
#63
VolSwaff said:
I'm acquiring that game on DVD soon and i'm gonna upload his highlites to my youtube channel.
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I have the game on VCR and the Auburn game it is time to crank up the machine and watch them both. I for some strange reason still think that DD threw an interception at some point in that game.

Dale Jones interception in that game was also a highlight to be remember.
 
#64
#64
VOLnMiami said:
Well gee since We are appreciating old VOLS and what wonderful accomplishments they have achieved who can forget one of UT's most famous or should I say infamous graduate's Bruce Davis...Fantastic member of the UT debate team of 1965...Great things were expected of ole Bruce as he graduated UT with a degree in business...Unfortunatly Bruce is serving a life sentence for the killing of Shorty Shea and at one time was rumored to be the Zodiac Killer.....Good ole Bruce was a member of the Manson Family but hey other than that he was one hell of a debater...But all that killing and debauchery he did shouldn't matter because he accomplished great things while at UT....That's exactly what this thread sounds like...Ignore the bad things and look at how he could throw a football or could run.
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This may be the dumbest post I have ever seen. Comparing murder with doing coke. And this is coming from someone that has never done drugs, but can still be realistic.
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#65
#65
Sudden Impact said:
I have the game on VCR and the Auburn game it is time to crank up the machine and watch them both. I for some strange reason still think that DD threw an interception at some point in that game.

Dale Jones interception in that game was also a highlight to be remember.
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The game i'm talking about is the Dallas/Washington NFL game. I have a ton of his college games though....
 
#66
#66
UTKVolFan said:
This may be the dumbest post I have ever seen. Comparing murder with doing coke. And this is coming from someone that has never done drugs, but can still be realistic.
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I like your avatar. is that from my Chuck Webb youtube video? FYI, in that photo, Chuck is saying, "Roland Poles, that's my fullback ya'll"
 
#67
#67
peppervol said:
Damn,1973, thanks for bringing it home, my friend. My bride of 33 years and I were there, but time fogs the memory. Thanks, again, big time!!!
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You're welcome. I remember that game like it was yesterday. I remember more from that game than I do the Auburn one that year, and as much as I do Miami. We had every reason to fold. Tony was going to win the Heisman that year, and Alabama was as good as any team in the country--they were about six points from being 12-0 in 1985. But we held them off.

I MISS THE BOWL BROS. said:
.Because we probably would have played for the National championship that year had Toney not gotten hurt! He was so awesome on the field!
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I don't think we would have won the national championship. We already had a loss and a tie on our record by that time. In our next game, Johnny didn't turn Dickey loose against Georgia Tech's great defense until it was almost too late, and we got a 6-6 tie.

With Tony, we win that game, but we only finish 9-1-1. Going into the bowls, Penn State was 11-0, Iowa, Oklahoma and Miami were all 10-1, Florida was 9-1-1 and so was Michigan. We probably would have entered the Sugar Bowl ranked seventh instead of eighth. We might have finished No. 2 instead of No. 4, but Oklahoma still would have been 11-1 and still would have beaten top-ranked Penn State.
 
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#68
#68
jsc1973 said:
You're welcome. I remember that game like it was yesterday. I remember more from that game than I do the Auburn one that year, and as much as I do Miami. We had every reason to fold. Tony was going to win the Heisman that year, and Alabama was as good as any team in the country--they were about six points from being 12-0 in 1985. But we held them off.



I don't think we would have won the national championship. We already had a loss and a tie on our record by that time. In our next game, Johnny didn't turn Dickey loose against Georgia Tech's great defense until it was almost too late, and we got a 6-6 tie.

With Tony, we win that game, but we only finish 9-1-1. Going into the bowls, Penn State was 11-0, Iowa, Oklahoma and Miami were all 10-1, Florida was 9-1-1 and so was Michigan. We probably would have entered the Sugar Bowl ranked seventh instead of eighth. We might have finished No. 2 instead of No. 4, but Oklahoma still would have been 11-1 and still would have beaten top-ranked Penn State.
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IIRC Florida (Kerwin Bell in paticular) beat the crap out us of us early in the year. I think we actually tied them for SEC champs, But they were on on probation so they couldn't be the official winners. But I don't think we could have won the Nat'l title that year because of that loss. It was pretty ugly.
 
#69
#69
17 10 is not a crap beating. FL was the only loss that hurt. This is the year that UCLA we had down 26 10 with 5 minutes left and they scored twice with 2 2 pt conversions. By the end of the year with DD we were the hottest team in college football.

The GA Tech game was raining and miserable. I think we had to save that tie. Majors never thought outside the box in certain games and became too predictable. We should have beaten GA Tech by 2 touchdowns at least.

Majors always let the Non Conference games go for some strange reason. UCLA, Ga Tech, Wake Forest, and Memphis State were all in the Game that year. All four could have beaten us.

We had a new DC Larry Lacewell that must have performed an exorcism of defensive Demons to transform that team into the defense it became. Lacewell ofter stated that we were not recruiting SEC caliber players and got several boosters riled and upset.

2 years later Doug Matthews was let go or reposition or screwed for an incident and because of Majors dislike for him. Both but that was a hugh loss. It should be noted it was probably the start to the end of Majors career and his antics in practices were not much better than other coaches let go.

There was plenty of blame to go around but everybody was pointing fingers. Lacewell left, Matthew gone and it was a miserable period of nowhere. It took 6 years to get it across.

The only game that T Robinson should have won that he did not was the Flordia Game that year. FL presented several packages that kept him at bay for most of the game. He did manage to put together a 99 yard drive in that game.

Oh well coaching and prep cost us a shot at the national championship that season. An injury was not the only factor but it did contribute.

Had there been a Playoff. We would have won it with DD as QB. This was the first year I wanted the mess of a playoff system placed into affect.
 
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#70
#70
Sudden Impact said:
17 10 is not a crap beating. FL was the only loss that hurt. This is the year that UCLA we had down 26 10 with 5 minutes left and they scored twice with 2 2 pt conversions. By the end of the year with DD we were the hottest team in college football.

The GA Tech game was raining and miserable. I think we had to save that tie. Majors never thought outside the box in certain games and became too predictable. We should have beaten GA Tech by 2 touchdowns at least.

Majors always let the Non Conference games go for some strange reason. UCLA, Ga Tech, Wake Forest, and Memphis State were all in the Game that year. All four could have beaten us.

We had a new DC Larry Lacewell that must have performed an exorcism of defensive Demons to transform that team into the defense it became. Lacewell ofter stated that we were not recruiting SEC caliber players and got several boosters riled and upset.

2 years later Doug Matthews was let go or reposition or screwed for an incident and because of Majors dislike for him. Both but that was a hugh loss. It should be noted it was probably the start to the end of Majors career and his antics in practices were not much better than other coaches let go.

There was plenty of blame to go around but everybody was pointing fingers. Lacewell left, Matthew gone and it was a miserable period of nowhere. It took 6 years to get it across.

The only game that T Robinson should have won that he did not was the Flordia Game that year. FL presented several packages that kept him at bay for most of the game. He did manage to put together a 99 yard drive in that game.

Oh well coaching and prep cost us a shot at the national championship that season. An injury was not the only factor but it did contribute.

Had there been a Playoff. We would have won it with DD as QB. This was the first year I wanted the mess of a playoff system placed into affect.
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Ken Donahue was the DC that year. He benefited from having very athletic, versatile corners(Andre Cramer, Tommy Simms, Terry Brown) that could cover almost anyone in the SEC. He could design elaborate blitz schemes out of a multiple 3 down lineman defenses as good as anyone.

That said, the reason '85 is so rich in the hearts of Vol fans is because there was no good reason why we won more than 6-7 games. Besides Robinson, Mcgee, Dale Jones, David Douglas, and Bruce Wilkerson, we returned nobody outside of the aforementioned defensive backfield, who couldn't get off the field in the lackluster '84 campaign.

If there was a playoff, Oklahoma's wishbone and Keith Jackson would have decimated us.
 
#72
#72
Ulysees E. McGill said:
IIRC Florida (Kerwin Bell in paticular) beat the crap out us of us early in the year. I think we actually tied them for SEC champs, But they were on on probation so they couldn't be the official winners. But I don't think we could have won the Nat'l title that year because of that loss. It was pretty ugly.
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They beat us 17-10, and we were deep in Florida territory late in the game when we turned the ball over. It was a very even game, and if it hadn't been in Gainesville, I think it would have turned out the other way. It wasn't ugly at all, although if we had won, we probably would have won the 1985 title, as the nation's only unbeaten team from a major conference (Fresno State was 11-0-1 in the Big West that year).

They were 5-1 in the SEC, same as us. But we owe no apologies for that. That Florida team was the benchmark for a bought-and-paid-for team in the SEC until that Bama team that bought the '99 SEC title. The SEC should have dealt with the '85 Florida team the way the ACC dealt with Clemson's 1982 and 1983 teams (also purchased by Charley Pell). The conference simply didn't count any game Clemson played in the standings until they went off probation.

I recall that a lot of people were upset at the effect that Florida team had on the 1985 SEC title race. Alabama didn't play Florida that year, but all the other contenders did. They still had a chance to tie us for the SEC title even after we beat them. But they tied LSU in a game where Ray Perkins inexplicably kicked a PAT for a tie late in the game. (I can't imagine he thought Ole Miss, UK or Vandy would beat us.) After that, we were in total control of our destiny.
 
#73
#73
VolSwaff said:
Ken Donahue was the DC that year. He benefited from having very athletic, versatile corners(Andre Cramer, Tommy Simms, Terry Brown) that could cover almost anyone in the SEC. He could design elaborate blitz schemes out of a multiple 3 down lineman defenses as good as anyone.

That said, the reason '85 is so rich in the hearts of Vol fans is because there was no good reason why we won more than 6-7 games. Besides Robinson, Mcgee, Dale Jones, David Douglas, and Bruce Wilkerson, we returned nobody outside of the aforementioned defensive backfield, who couldn't get off the field in the lackluster '84 campaign.

If there was a playoff, Oklahoma's wishbone and Keith Jackson would have decimated us.
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Damn I am getting old you are right it was Ken Donuhe. He was the one that told the boosters that we did not have SEC caliber talent on this team and that it needed to be fixed.
 
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#74
#74
VolSwaff said:
That said, the reason '85 is so rich in the hearts of Vol fans is because there was no good reason why we won more than 6-7 games. Besides Robinson, Mcgee, Dale Jones, David Douglas, and Bruce Wilkerson, we returned nobody outside of the aforementioned defensive backfield, who couldn't get off the field in the lackluster '84 campaign.

If there was a playoff, Oklahoma's wishbone and Keith Jackson would have decimated us.
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Just like they "decimated" Miami that year, I presume?

Nobody was playing as well as Tennessee was at the end of the 1985 season. Including Oklahoma, a team that didn't have a freaking clue how to defend against any team that didn't run the ball 90 percent of the time. If we had played Oklahoma, we would have torched their defense the same way we did Auburn's, for the same reasons. Maybe they outscore us, but I'd take Ken Donahue in '85 over whoever was calling OU's plays that season.

Miami had more talent on its roster in '85 than anyone else, and it wasn't even close. I have a copy of the Sugar Bowl program, and I looked at the Miami roster once. It looks like the roster of an NFL team. They had guys that couldn't get on the field who later played on Sundays for years. There's no reason we should have been better than them at all, let alone 35-7 better...but we were. Would have been 35-zip if they hadn't fooled us with the fake punt at the start.

Our problem in 1984 was an inexperienced defensive line. Reggie White had carried the D-line in '83, but when he graduated, we had big problems in '84. The '85 line was more experienced, and the DBs and linebackers could play with anybody. A few of them were still around in '87, when we had another team play over its heads and won 10 games.
 
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