His dad is known as Big Dog, he is GRIII. They both played high school basketball in Indiana and earned a paycheck in the NBA. The latter still is…
Glenn Robinson III was in Phoenix last week when he first learned that his father would be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, set for March 22, 2017. He was informed by Dr. Chris Carr, the team’s psychologist, who joined the team on the trip through the Western Conference.
The Gary, Indiana native will be inducted in his first year of eligibility, too.
“It means a lot,” GRIII said of his father’s latest honor. “He was a great basketball player not only at Purdue and in the NBA, but a lot of people I think forget about high school. He was competing against Alan Henderson for that state championship and won Mr. Basketball because of that game.
“I think that he had a really good career bringing Roosevelt [a title]. A lot of people really looked up to that in the city of Gary. We didn’t have much to look up to and that being one of the things, I think that means a lot and I know it will mean a lot for him to be inducted.”
Robinson Jr.’s Gary Roosevelt team beat Henderson’s Brebeuf Jesuit squad in the state finals, and he indeed went on to be named Indiana Mr. Basketball in 1991. The two then attended rival schools, Robinson to Purdue University and Henderson — also part of the 12-member Hall of Fame Class — to Indiana University.
GRIII wanted to stay in state and go to Purdue just like his dad. But he was never offered a scholarship. Instead, he played two seasons at the University of Michigan and then was drafted 40th overall in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
LISTEN: Pacers Podcast with Glenn Robinson III
His dad was the first overall selection in the 1994 draft, taken by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Robinson Jr. is retired and lives down in Roswell, Georgia. His son says pops hasn’t pulled out the high school tapes, but his coach at Lake Central did.
“My grandma has all of (the tapes),” Robinson III said. “When I was in high school, my high school coach would pull up some clips of him. He went to Highland and my dad went to Roosevelt. I think there was a game he might have played against him, or when he played their school. He used to show me tape back in the day.
“A lot of people say our games aren’t similar, but the way that we run and the shot, you can see him in me. You can see similar things.”
GRIII says they will talk some about his play, but mostly it’s a father-son relationship.
“He watches the games,” The III added. “He tells me a few pointers here and there. My mom is on me more than my dad. If I miss one shot, she’s going crazy. With my dad, we don’t talk about basketball all of the time. Obviously we have that in common, but we talk about life and a lot of other things. But he does give his advice and his take on what happened. Instead of telling me what to do, he tells me what he did wrong and things he would have corrected from playing.”
my #1 fan. pic.twitter.com/JdKCiZcczh
— Glenn Robinson III (@GRIII) December 13, 2016
Robinson Jr. remains the second all-time leading scorer in Milwaukee Bucks team history, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Note: Players are eligible for induction 26 years after their completion of their high school careers.