Chiefs standout safety Robinson elated over Hall of Fame honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It seemed that one by one, members of the only Kansas City Chiefs team to win the Super Bowl would get a phone call or a knock on the door letting them know they had become Hall of Famers.

The quarterback, Len Dawson. The linebackers, Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier. Even the coach, Hank Stram. Eight in all from the team that beat the Vikings in Super Bowl IV were enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

Now there are nine.

Johnny Robinson, the former Louisiana standout-turned-star safety during the years of the AFL-NFL merger, was chosen by 48 selectors after being nominated by the Hall of Fame’s seniors committee. Robinson was passed over six times during the 1980s.

“I’m thrilled,” he said in a statement. “I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have been selected.”

Robinson, 80, declined interview requests through a Chiefs spokesman, but his induction still echoed through the halls of the team’s facility. He is the sixth defensive starter from the 1967 AFL championship team headed to Canton, joining Curley Culp, Buck Buchanan and fellow defensive back Emmitt Thomas, along with Bell and Lanier.

He shined during that 23-7 Super Bowl victory in 1970, too, with a fumble recovery and an interception.

Robinson also contributed greatly to his community after his playing days.

After hearing the plight of a young boy at church, Robinson purchased a home in Monroe, Louisiana, and established Johnny Robinson’s Boys Home for at-risk youth. It has grown from an endeavor launched on a whim into a house that houses 30 boys and young men.

It has been his life’s work for much of the past four decades, through the 1985 death of his own son, Tommy, and the numerous health problems Robinson has battled through the years: arthritis in his spine, thyroid cancer, non-hodgkin lymphoma, a quadruple bypass and a severe stroke.