There is a huge soccer community in Los Angeles. It's been around for a long time. Los Angeles football experienced a resurgence in the '60s and '70s, as old-school Angelinos can still remember the days of John McKay's USC Trojans and Chuck Knox's Los Angeles Rams. The mighty Trojans, led by players like Sam “Bam” Cunningham, Lynn Swann and former Rams quarterback Pat Haden, lit up the scoreboards Saturday night, while Knox's “Ground Chuck” rushing attack propelled the Rams straight into the playoffs on Sunday.
While fans were thrilled by the successes of the time, John Robinson, a little-known assistant from Daly City, California, was building his own football foundation. Robinson spent the 1960s watching McKay build a dynasty from the opposing sidelines. A member of what was then the Athletic Association of Western Universities, now commonly known as the Pac-12 Conference, Robinson was an assistant at Oregon during the decade that brought USC back to national recognition.
However, it was McKay who recognized Robinson's talents and brought him to LA to serve as USC's offensive coordinator from 1972 to 1974. During that time, Robinson inspired a new generation of Angelinos by winning the then-Pac-8 Conference all three seasons and capturing national titles in 1972 and 1974. Robinson moved to the Raiders in 1975 after McKay took over the expansion Buccaneers. In 1976, USC brought Robinson back – but this time as head coach.
Robinson was the head coach at USC from 1976 to 1982, where he won three conference titles and the 1978 national championship. After Ray Malavasi was fired at the end of the 1982 NFL season, Rams owner Georgia Frontiere hired Robinson, beginning the longest winning streak the team and city had ever had in Los Angeles until the hiring of Sean McVay in 2017 had seen.
Robinson wasted no time and got to work. With his first two picks, he helped organize the selections of Eric Dickerson and Henry Ellard and launched a productive offensive attack that captivated Southern California. Robinson was already a known winner, but the pressure was on and he came through. From 1983 to 1989, Robinson had six winning seasons, six playoff appearances, five double-digit win seasons, four playoff wins, and the Rams made two trips to the NFC Championship Game.
During this time, Hall of Fame players such as Dickerson, Kevin Greene, Jackie Slater and Jack Youngblood played for Robinson.
After losing in the 1990 NFC Championship Game, things went downhill for Robinson and the Rams and the team won just eight total games over the next two years, leading to Robinson's firing. However, his nine seasons as head coach remain the longest in team history.
During his time with the Rams, Robinson's teams featured three 1,000-yard rushers in Dickerson, Charles White and Greg Bell. Dickerson also set the single-season rushing record in 1984. wide receiver Flipper Anderson set the record for most receiving yards in a game in 1989. Jim Everett was the NFL's passing touchdown leader in 1988 and 1989 and, at the time of writing, Robinson's 75th regular season wins remain the most in franchise history – one more than McVay's 74.
After the Rams, Robinson returned to his old role at USC and led the Trojans to two more conference titles in five years, securing victory in the 1996 Rose Bowl. During his second tenure, Robinson coached Hall of Famers Willie McGinest, Tony Boselli and first overall pick Keyshawn Johnson. Robinson has a 4-0 record in Rose Bowl games as a head coach and six total wins in the granddaddy of them all.
Robinson later became the head coach at UNLV, where former USC Trojan and Compton native Jason Thomas moved, bringing his West Coast experience to the Vegas Valley. Both won the 2000 Las Vegas Bowl, the UNLV Rebels' last bowl victory.
Robinson later worked as a counselor at LSU after he and his wife moved to Baton Rouge in the 2010s to be closer to family. At the age of 84, he won his fourth and final national title with the Tigers in 2019. Despite his age, Robinson was at the LSU football facility every day and was often one of the first to arrive.
And that's what John Robinson's life was about. Finding the fun in things through hard work. Along the way, Robinson became friends with champions like John Madden and Ed Orgeron long before they won trophies.
He mentored boys on the football field and watched them become men on the gridiron. He tried things, succeeded in some, failed in others, and kept trying until his last breath. He was human and his humanity immortalized his life through the people he touched and the places he served.
He is an indelible icon in Los Angeles. A beam that started the USC dynasty. A pillar of the golden age of Rams football. The man who made my alma mater, UNLV, relevant, even for a wonderfully brief moment.
Robinson on Monday. He may be gone, but he will not be forgotten. The images of him in his sweater vest will forever remain etched in the minds of Angelinos, as well as the hearts of the players he led into battle.
