Robin is a native Texan who, in 1968, ventured to California with Janel, his wife of 57 years, to pursue football and baseball at the University of California at Berkeley. Disenchanted with the tumultuous atmosphere there, he entered California State University at Hayward, earning his BA in political science with a double minor in history and sociology. While in California, he became a competitive bodybuilder under the tutelage of the famous Jack LaLanne and Jack Dellinger (1956 Mr. Universe). After meeting NHRA HOF driver Cecil Yother, drag racing entered the picture. The car he special ordered in 1971 is the feature story in Mopar Collectors Guide (June 2023).
In 1973, at the urging of the San Francisco Giants’ personnel director, Carl Hubbell (MLB HOF), and the Oakland A’s owner, Charles Finley, Robin went to spring training with the A’s in Mesa, Arizona, as an invite. As it appeared he was about to sign and become a member of the A’s starting pitching staff, he tore his UCL, ending that dream. There was no Tommy John Surgery back then. “Bill Posedel, the A’s spring training pitching tutor, was amazing. He built the A’s staff that won three consecutive World Series. He got his ring in ’72. I loved that guy, and MLB has not seen anything like him since.”
Journalism is in his ancestry, as his great grandfather, Dr. J. G. M. Ramsey, was one of the first to settle in Knoxville, Tennessee, just prior to statehood. Dr. Ramsey started several newspapers, wrote political and research papers, and authored a book called Annals Of Tennessee, published in 1853 (still in print). “For two years (’83 & ’84), I was the sports editor for the Deer Park Broadcaster and the Progress. It was a rewarding time because I could make heroes of boys and girls in their respective sports. They loved seeing their name in print.”
After the Dobbins left California in ’74, Robin entered graduate school in Nacogdoches, Texas, at Stephen F. Austin State University and became the pitching coach of the school’s first baseball team. “I studied under the renowned Dr. Richard C. C. Kim, who once turned down the number 3 position in the South Korean Government and the position of president at Howard Payne University. We had a wonderful ‘Plato-Aristotle’ relationship until his death in February 2024 at the age of 100. My area of study was political philosophy, all the thinkers who influenced the formation of world governments. I made a promise to him to someday write something socially redeeming. Burned out on academics, I chose to write two novels. His great grandchildren thanked me and said he saved all my letters. That brought tears.”
Probably the most heartbreaking experiences came from being a big brother in Houston and an outside bill collector for Community Finance in 1967 at age 20. To be a Big Brother, a guy had to be 21 or older, but they made an exception with me because one boy was without.
