Len “Truck” Robinson Transcript

Well I was a rookie with the Bullets of course in 74 and there’s Duvall and we called him Sweet D and he went to Syracuse and he was a rookie like myself also. And early in preseason or something you know I was 6’7” about 230, the guys, they push you, hold you, shove you, and Wes Ansul told me, you’re going to have to get a reputation, I don’t want to tell you how, I don’t want you to fight, but you need a reputation for your size and guys are going to try you. So I was a football player in high school and he was right, guys started just pushing me for nothing , I was just standing here. So I hit a couple of guys, ran over a couple guys. I remember running over Bill Bradley one time. We were fighting for the ball and he pulled his shoulder out of place or something like that. So then I ran over a few more guys and then it evolved and it was like man he’s a truck. An official told me when I was going to the basket, because I was the driver, I was trying to avoid guys in the lane, he said, we are not going to let guys camp out in the lane and throw charges and I was like really? So when there were guys in the area of the basket, I just ran over them. So Dennis Duvall said man you’re 6’7”, 22 years old, 235, so I just ran over the guys. It kind of stuck a little bit later on when I went on. Believe it or not, there were some bigger guys who moved to the side a little bit. I guess they thought I was crazy.

Well, my first year of course being a rookie, I had veteran Casey Jones who didn’t believe in rookies a lot. In Boston, he didn’t play his first few years, he actually played football, Casey Jones, a few years with the Rams because Barcuzza was playing. So I get dressed as a rookie and it rubbed off on Casey, he didn’t want me playing that much, too much being a rookie an everything. It was just great to be on a team with Wesney and Phil and Kevin Porter and guys like that. Veteran guys that were there that I got to learn a lot from. We got to the east later so I was learning an awful lot real fast with veteran guys. It’s a little different now, because there are so many 21 and 20 year-old guys playing. So I had those guys and then we beat Buffalo in the playoff, McAdoo, and that was like wow. Then we beat Boston and we were like that’s what a ship is we’re going in, we just beat these two guys and I’m pretty sure we beat them both games regular season so there goes my little championship as a rookie and the dynasty. But we won 60 games and were the best team in the league but didn’t win. I guess that had happened before in sports. But we were playing cards playing dirty hearts and aw man, just being in DC itself. I was 22 years old so, the ratio of women was 13 to 1 then so that was pretty good. It was great being in Maryland and being close to DC and all it was just wonderful.

Well those games were real serious, I made my first all-star team in 77-78 and I remember Cowans was on the team and I was stretching, I was serious like the young guy who was stretching. The young guy didn’t need to be stretching. But we were real serious. It wasn’t about the money we made from the games. They were rough and physical, they weren’t kill each other, but we went at it pretty good. The game they had this year, I watched it for about 5 minutes and then turned it off. Four nothing break, between the legs and off the backboard and alley oop, it just, I guess it could be good for basketball but I don’t like it that much, any of it too much.

Well, I was a scout a long time in New York and Milwaukee and I scouted college boys. I like that a lot more than scouting pros, and then I coached the last two years in Sacramento. There’s a big difference with the young guys. They make a lot of money, they talk back, they’re undisciplined, they don’t have the work ethic. I’m not that guy, I’m the no nonsense kind of guy. As long as you want to work, we can work. Questioning everything I tell them to do. Why do I have to do that? Why should I do that? I just tell them that I’ve done it a couple of times and they say okay coach. So it’s difficult with young guys when all they’ve had their way through AU and then through college a year or so, two years, it’s just very difficult coaching the young guys today, so they’re thinking the game is lacking a little bit because of experience of young guys. I watched them lose after 20 point lead at half the last forty seconds or whatever they only got 4 offensive rebounds. Somebody got to get the glass. And so everybody’s got to get the guards, everybody’s maturing and learning how to win. Learning what they have to do to get a bucket, let’s get together and stop, stop, and then we’ll get a good shot when we come down. It’s just all about experience. That’s the way it is. Older guys playing against young guys.

Well I really didn’t play golf. I was a tennis player, most of the guys back then played tennis. I didn’t know anyone back then who played golf, and I was like “playing golf, man? I don’t play no golf.” I went of the NBA trip and started playing. I think Moises Malone, the deceased Dennis Johnson, was playing. I was like, “what do you guys shoot like?” Well Moses shot like 122 and I was like, that’s kind of high… I can do that. And they’re like no Truck, it’s too tough. So I borrowed clubs and shot like 118 or 117 and after that I got the book and magazines and video tapes. Waking up at five oclock waiting for the sun to come up and here we go again. But I don’t have the bug anymore.

Yeah, I was watching it the other day until I came over here and I found out Tiger hit the ball out of bounds, but he should have a 2-3 shot lead starting. It would be good for television and everything to start playing well again.

No I’m the baby of my family with 12 kids and so my nieces and nephews are just as old as I am. I have an 84 year-old brother, just lost a sister about three weeks ago to diabetes I and I have 6 brothers and sisters left out of twelve and 125 immediate family member people. So I’m used to being around family. Most of my brothers and sisters are a lot older than me, they could be my daddy or my mother but it’s just a camaraderie thing when you’re with players. You’re all together practicing, traveling, you fight with some on the court. You’re together all the time, you eat after games. You go to church, you go to shoot around you’re with the guys all the time. I know a lot of golfers and tennis players or whatever they marry partners all the time, ice skaters marry partners. So these guys are really family guys and I’m friendly with many of them now so it’s a big, big thing. I don’t know about the younger guys, I don’t really know too much.

Well that was so great because I saw Mike Raydin who, I don’t think I’ve seen Mike since we quite playing. Obviously he quit before I did and It was great. Bobby D. who

I played against all those years, he’s just like a teammate. We went to little black schools, both of us. God, it was so crazy. We talked and joked and he introduced me to his kids. And Stan Lowe, all those guys. Miller who used to be with the Hawks, holding me all the time, so it was good. And I just saw Bob Fehr who drafted me and his wife and God man, I hadn’t seen those guys in 30 some years. And they look good. Jerry Sachs, you know who helped sign me. Just folks who were memorable to me. It all started right here, gave me the opportunity to be drafted, to play here and then my career went from there. I never regret that the Bullets ever traded me.

Well, Phil actually thinks he’s the best hearts player in the world, anyone that played hearts played him for 10 cents a point and he was scared of the queen, scared of the lady, so drop the queen on him whenever you get the chance. Mike we always were laughing and joking because we had guys, when you play you get up, and Mike and I had about 80 points a piece and Phil was up and he was going for the run and I knew he’d put me out, he wasn’t going to give me 26, so he’s reading the paper and whatever it is and I laid the queen on him and he never will forget til today. So we had a lot of fun laughing about stuff 35 years ago. It was pretty good. It was good to see those guys, they look pretty good. None of them look, you know. Wes is heavy now, but most of the guys are pretty good for old guys.

I don’t miss playing at all. I was a football player and a basketball player growing up, but I didn’t play basketball until I was about 16 years old. So I was a late bloomer and thought I was going to be a baseball player. And I was a quarterback in high school. Nah, I don’t miss playing basketball, I’ve played with my son the past couple years in Sacramento and he’s pushing me down and knocking me down, but it’s fun helping guys and working with guys like that, but I don’t miss playing, I don’t think I would be interested in playing that much. I mean people ask me all the time, “do you miss playing? How many points would you make now?” Impossible. I’m 60 years old. So I don’t worry about the stuff like that, making money and what they doing. I did my thing, all of us when we was in the lime light and it’s their turn.