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Another cheer for Robinson

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By GEORGE WILKENS

gwilkens@tampatrib.com

Published: September 23, 2009

TAMPA - A half-century ago, some students tapped to attend then-new Robinson High were disappointed about their school reassignment.

Lifelong friendships, however, were born at the sparkling new campus where classmates felt privileged to select Robinson's mascot, colors and alma mater, and initiate traditions still observed today.

Those earliest graduates, who still meet every five years to reminisce, are a driving force behind Saturday's 50th anniversary celebration, something they prefer to think of as a birthday party for their old school.

"At first we were upset; we all thought we were going to be (Plant High) Panthers," recalls 1963 Robinson grad Sherri Baxley Cuffe. "But the minute we walked in, we absolutely loved it," she recalls of entering Robinson High in 1959 as a freshman.

That September, the school's initial football season, the Robinson Knights made history, toppling top-ranked Plant High, said Cuffe, a member of The Knight Gathering, an association of members of Robinson's first five graduating classes.

"Here we didn't even have any seniors, and we beat them," said Cuffe, a hint of excitement still in her voice. "It was such a shocker. The whole world was shocked."

That victory was, Cuffe said, "the birth of the Robinson spirit."

Four years after that landmark win, Robinson's football squad played in the state championship game, narrowly losing to a Coral Gables team in the game's final seconds.

Polled about the fondest memories of their Robinson days, almost all Knight Gathering members regularly rank the football win over Plant High as No. 1, she said. Gene King, the last surviving member of Robinson's first football team's coaching staff, will carry the 50-year-old game ball - bearing the 12-7 final score - to Saturday's celebration.

Events scheduled Saturday at the school, 6311 S. Lois Ave., were organized jointly. "All of our students and all kinds of staff members are involved," said Laura Zavatkay, Robinson's principal for the past five years. Knight Gathering members contacted Zavatkay last year about a golden anniversary observance. "We started brainstorming from there, began planning this event together," said Zavatkay. "Lots of helping hands are getting it all ready."

Events begin with an 11 a.m. welcome and introduction of special guests in the campus auditorium. Alumni will be introduced by class, and there will be an overview of school history, including screening a DVD depicting a half-century of change.

There will be building tours, a cake and the singing of "Happy Birthday." Closing ceremonies will feature students and former students singing the alma mater, adopted 50 years ago.

Cuffe expects up to 200 Knight Gathering guests for the weekend, coming from as far as Hawaii. The group chartered two buses to transport alumni to Robinson from their weekend quarters at Wesley Chapel's Saddlebrook Resort.

When Cuffe, a Carrollwood resident, recently visited the school to deliver black-and-white yearbook photographs, first issues of the student newspaper and other artifacts of the early years, she was impressed how curious the current students are about Robinson's history.

"They used to have pep rallies outside," said Liz Edgerley, 16, a junior on the "Excalibur" yearbook staff. "And there was a soda fountain in the cafeteria. Everything was really '60s," she said.

"The thing that interested me the most," said yearbook co-editor Samantha Driks, "is what they wore."

The dress code of the era dictated girls wear skirts or dresses. "Dungarees, nobody could wear those to school," Cuffe said. Cheerleader skirts were below the knee, but basketball players' shorts were very short, she said.

Robinson, Hillsborough's fifth high school - today there are 27 - opened without a gymnasium, auditorium or stadium. Like all schools of the era, it lacked air-conditioning. There was neither grass nor plants, recalls Cuffe, characterizing the campus as "a desert with four little square buildings."

"It's cool to look back on it and see how much we've grown," said Bruna Bouhid, yearbook editor in chief.

"I don't think they realized how much history can be found inside a high school," said journalism instructor/yearbook adviser Jill Burns, a 1996 Robinson grad. Most of her students, for example, are astounded by prices revealed in yellowed copies of the school newspaper, Knightwriters. In 1961, for example, the school's first yearbook cost $1.50. Today: $75.

Cuffe's most vivid memories are of attending a new school during the rock 'n' roll era, complete with a jukebox in the "cafetorium" and a wonderful, enthusiastic, mostly young faculty.

"It was a very special time, the beginning of a high school," especially during a period when students centered their lives around school, she said. Even on Saturdays, students sold dollar-a-dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts to help pay for a stadium, lights and anything else needed for their new "home," Cuffe said.

"It was a fun time for us to grow up in."

ROBINSON GRADS

Some notable graduates of Thomas R. Robinson High School:

Carol Williams Kurdell (1963), Hillsborough County School Board chairwoman

Larry Smith (1965), running back, Los Angeles Rams, 1969-73; Washington Redskins, 1974

John Reaves (1968), University of Florida quarterback; NFL first-round draft pick played 11 seasons with five NFL teams, starting with the Philadelphia Eagles, 1972-74

Terry Bollea (1970), professional wrestler "Hulk Hogan"

Charlie Bradley (1981), University of South Florida Athletics Hall of Fame men's basketball inductee, 2009

Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew J. Aviles (2002), one of first Iraqi war casualties from the Tampa Bay area, killed in combat, April 7, 2003

ROBINSON GRADUATES

Some notable graduates of Thomas R. Robinson High School:

Carol Williams Kurdell (1963), Hillsborough County School Board chairwoman

Larry Smith (1965), running back, Los Angeles Rams, 1969-73; Washington Redskins, 1974

John Reaves (1968), University of Florida quarterback; NFL first-round draft pick played 11 seasons with five NFL teams, starting with the Philadelphia Eagles, 1972-74

Terry Bollea (1970), professional wrestler "Hulk Hogan"

Charlie Bradley (1981), University of South Florida Athletics Hall of Fame men's basketball inductee, 2009

Andrew J. Aviles (2002), Marine Lance Cpl., one of first Iraqi war casualties from the Tampa Bay area, killed in combat, April 7, 2003

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 259-7124

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