The Rick Robey Interview
By:
Michael D. McClellan
|
Sunday, February 26th, 2012
You were born in Coral Gables, Florida and went to high school in Louisiana. Please tell me a little about your childhood – the sports you liked to play, the schools you went to, and the memories that stand out.
My dad
worked for the federal government, so we moved around quite a bit. We lived in
three different
places in Florida, and then we lived in Memphis, Tennessee. From
the time I was seven years old until I was about ten, we lived in Kodiak,
Alaska. Kodiak is probably the place where I really learned to like basketball,
and it was probably the place where I learned to play like I did. It was so cold
there, so there wasn't a whole lot to do. We lived on a naval base, so I played
a lot at the gym against different military people and people that were older.
My mother came down with cancer while we were up there and passed away at a
young age. She died at thirty-six. We really moved to New Orleans because of
Ochsner Clinic, because it was one of the top cancer clinics in the country at
that time. After her passing we ended up staying put, which was from my sixth
grade year all the way through high school graduation. My dad ended up being the
head of naval intelligence for that region.
You went to Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. What memories stand out about your high-school career?
Brother Martin High School is a private school. I was in the public school system in junior high, at Edna Karr Junior High, and in New Orleans they tend to recruit the good players into the private schools. So I ended up going to Brother Martin. In fact, I had to sit out a year due to the transfer, so I got to play my junior and senior years there.
Ironically, during my sit out year Brother Martin ended up playing against Robert Parish and his team. We ended up beating Robert for the state championship. Robert was Player of the Year in Louisiana that year. And then two years later we ended winning the state championship, and I ended up being the Louisiana Player of the Year that year.
It's a small world – Robert and I ended up playing together with the Celtics, and his high school played against my high school for the championship, and we were both recognized as the best players in the same state. He and I also played together at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, so those are some of the things that tie us together.
Let's talk Kentucky basketball. What were your first three years at Kentucky like?
I was recruited by just about everybody, but I had pretty much narrowed it down to Kentucky and Notre Dame and ended up going to Kentucky. I had four great years there. I started as a freshman and played with four seniors – Kevin Grevey, Bob Guyette, Mike Flynn and Jimmy Conner. We ended up making it the finals, losing to UCLA in John Wooden's last game as head coach.
My sophomore year was exciting because we won the NIT Championship, but that was also the year I had a knee injury and ended up missing half of the season due to that. So it was also a little bit frustrating in that respect.
My junior year we advanced to the Eastern Regionals, losing to North Carolina. That was back when there wasn't a shot clock, and they got the lead and were able to run the four-corner offense. The hit 35-of-36 free throws in that game, and ended up beating us, so that was disappointing. But we knew we had a lot of potential coming back the next season.
