Greenfield’s Robinson only has time for golf

Posted: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 12:00 pm

By MIKE HUTCHENS
Press Sports
An athlete for all seasons at Greenfield High School, Tony Robinson will narrow his focus to just one sport starting this fall.
Robinson — who has shined on the baseball diamond, the basketball court, the golf course and even joined the Yellowjacket football team late in his senior season — signed a golf scholarship with Bethel University on Friday.
The well-rounded and humble GHS student-athlete, who ranks third in his graduating class with a 4.0 GPA and 98.7 average in all, is expected to immediately join the Wildcat rotation in his first year on the collegiate level.
Robinson qualified for the regional tournament in both his junior and senior years at Greenfield despite not picking up golf until just before his freshman year, he said.
He has been a regular playing partner since then with good friend Haley Rawls, who signed with Bethel last spring after a widely-decorated career at Greenfield that saw her qualify for the state tournament in consecutive seasons.
Both Robinson and BU coach Monte Cunningham believe his best days on the links are ahead of him — partly because of the improvement curve and also due to his involvement with other sports on the prep level.
“I’ll concentrate all my sports time on golf then,” Robinson said Friday. “It won’t be something seasonal; it’ll be something I work on year-round. And I expect to get better.
“Sports has pretty much been my life and I’ve loved it so much for as long as I can remember. I’m proud that it could help me and be a part of me starting a new chapter in my education.”
An all-district performer as a centerfielder for a Greenfield baseball team that has won four consecutive 14A championships, and the leading scorer for the ’Jacket basketball club this past season, Robinson added football to his resume last fall when he put on pads for the first time.
He said the experience was priceless.
“I thought joining the football team this year would help me get a fill for all sports, and it did,” he said. “I really liked it.
“It’s really been a privilege to play all sports and be a part of different teams. Part of the great thing about going to a small school like Greenfield is that you can play everything. And each sport has helped me in some way.”
Cunningham said Rob-inson’s multiple abilities in several sports are commonplace among his current roster.
“Of the five guys in our rotation right now, three of them played at least two sports in high school,” the BU golf skipper said. “I like those different abilities and competitiveness, and once they start concentrating on one sport, they really begin to blossom as golfers.
“It’s equally important that Tony and his family are good people. I’ve known his dad, Greg, since I’ve been at Bethel, and we look for those types of people and families for our program.”
Golf will not only become Robinson’s sport of choice in college, but he hopes to make it a career.
“If I can’t make it to the next level as a player, I’d like to get into golf course management,” he said.
In (and on) any field, Robinson is sure to be a success.

Published in The WCP 4.30.13