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| One of the best rebounders in Tiger history, Ronnie "Big Cat" Robinson teammed with Larry Finch to lead The University of Memphis to the 1973 Final Four. Robinson played on the varsity team from 1970 to 1973 under coach Gene Bartow. |
| Robinson, a Tiger All-American, came to the University of Memphis from Melrose High School with his life-long friend and teammate Finch. Together they rewrote the The U of M basketball record book and led the team to its finest moment.
In The U of M’s run to the title game against UCLA, Robinson averaged 14.0 rebounds a game and had three double-doubles in the Tigers’ four tournament outings. He pulled down 17 boards
against South Carolina, 16 versus Kansas State and Providence, and seven in the loss to the Bruins. |
| Robinson was a three-year starter, who worked as both a center and forward. He averaged in double figures in both scoring and rebounding throughout his career and still holds the distinction of being the one of only two Tigers to have scored 1,000 points and have 1,000 rebounds. |
| Against Tulsa in 1971, Robinson scored a career-high 30 points and, ironically, set the school rebounding record in the same game with 28. |
| Robinson had three other games in his career in which he collected 24 caroms. He was a three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference selection, was named to the Vanderbilt Classic and Sun Bowl All-Tournament teams and received All-America honors (Converse and Basketball News) as a senior. Robinson still holds the school record for highest field goal percentage in a career (57.7) and is the second all-time leading rebounder with
1,066. As a junior, Robinson finished ninth in the nation in field goal percentage. |
| Robinson, who stands 24th on Memphis’s all-time scoring list with 1,150 points, was drafted in the fourth round of the NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns in 1973, but ended up signing with the Memphis Tams of the ABA. |