Dale Robinson, father of Kentucky star Wan’Dale Robinson, explains journey from prison to business owner

Dale Robinson, the father of Kentucky standout Wan’Dale Robinson, has an inspiring story that he shared Friday morning a week after his son was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round.

The elder Robinson was a guest on “McElroy and Cubelic In the morning” on WJOX out of Birmingham, Alabama. He explained how he was once a football player at Western Kentucky, and after then-coach Jack Harbaugh wanted to drug test him weekly because of his marijuana history, he quit the team and went home, Franklin, Kentucky. At the time, Wan’Dale was 6 months old, and had an older brother who was 5-years-old.

“I fell away to the streets and ended up going to the streets in 2001,” Dale Robinson said, and added that he spent 4 years in federal prison in West Virginia. “I didn’t take the time to better myself or educate myself to be a better man, or better father.”

Robinson then told the story being surrounded by federal agents with a duffle bag full of cocaine he planned to sell for $250,000.

“That was probably one of the worst days of my life, sitting on the curb with the police officers ready to go to jail,” he said. “… That was like my world came to an end. My head’s down. I’m sick, I’m depressed, I’m sad, I’m upset at myself, and all I’m thinking about is what am I going to tell my child. How am I going to explain this. That was really the gut punch to me.”

Robinson then shared the bottom came when he talked with Wan’Dale in prison, and told him he wouldn’t see his son for a while.

“You’ve got to come back a better man, you’ve got to come back a better father, not just for your kids, but for you and your community,” he said.

Now Robinson runs his own gym, G.U.R.U. Fitness, and wrote a book, “The Making of a Guru.”

AMAZING interview with @DRobinson_Guru father of @UKFootball standout and @Giants WR @wanda1erobinson as he discusses his life and growth from prison to business owner! https://t.co/zFXcySeNsR

— McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning (@macandcube) May 6, 2022

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.