Cleburne’s Reggie Robinson, deaf in one ear, living hometown dream with Dallas Cowboys
Life in Cleburne has already changed for Reggie Robinson II.
After being recognized while getting a burrito, Robinson was asked by the sales associate for a picture.
Standing outside the “Rock,” the historic football stadium where he played in high school, Robinson couldn’t even conduct an interview without passersby honking their horns and yelling “good luck Reggie.”
It’s one thing for Robinson to be the first football player selected in the NFL from Cleburne, a town of 29,000 about 30 miles south of Fort Worth, since Rodney Norton was a fifth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1976.
But for it to happen just a stone’s throw or two up the road with the Dallas Cowboys and the favorite of almost everyone close to him has simply been surreal for Robinson and the community.
“It’s really big to have one of your own representing your town as a professional athlete and to be on America’s Team is incredible,” said Cleburne High School defensive coordinator Jason Payne. “He was going to have the support of his hometown wherever he went to but to be with the Cowboys is really special. It’s significant for Reggie and the town.”
Robinson said the people of Cleburne have been on the “Reggie bandwagon” since he started starring in sports in grade school. That continued in high school and in college at Tulsa.
Being picked in the fourth round by the Cowboys, where he could play cornerback or safety — the coaches have told him they are weighing both positions — has brought some pressure and grace.
“The pressure is the hometown kid going to Dallas, right up the road,” said Robinson, who possesses prototypical size at 6-foot-1 and 4.4 speed in the 40-yard dash. “That is what it is. Then there is the excitement of being the hometown kid going to Dallas. It’s cool, either way.”
Even cooler is that Robinson’s rise to stardom in high school and progress at Tulsa was not inhibited by the fact that he is deaf in his left ear.
Cowboys scouting director Will McClay, who has called Robinson his favorite pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, said it was a nonfactor in the draft process.
Being deaf in one in one ear has been no big deal for Robinson ever since being diagnosed in the third grade. It was initially a blessing because that meant the constant yelling from his mom would stop.
“My mom got me checked because she said I wasn’t listening to her,” Robinson said with a laugh.
Mom, Celeta Robinson, remembers the day vividly.
“I found out about him not being able to hear when I kept saying ‘Don’t you hear me call you’,” Celeta said. “So the teacher did a hearing test on him and she called me and said, ‘Reggie is hearing impaired in his left ear’. I was like, ‘no wonder he couldn’t hear me.’”
“I feel bad for yelling now,” she said sheepishly.
Robinson wore a hearing aid for about a year but stopped because he grew tired of all the questions from kids at school.
He learned to position himself in conversations toward his right ear and he uses hand signals from his teammates and coaches to deal with crowds on the field.
“You know how kids are, it was annoying to tell them over and over this is what it is,” Robinson said. “And it was always the one kid that would come up and whisper something in your ear to see if you are really deaf. When I was a kid I was self conscious about it but now it doesn’t bother me.”
His major obstacle now, outside of navigating life as a Cowboys rookie without the benefit of a true off-season transition to the coronavirus pandemic and NFL shutdown of team facilities, is truly converting a family of die-hard Steelers fans into Cowboys fans.
Mom, older sister Torameshia and dad Reggie Robinson Sr. have been rocking the black and gold and waving the Terrible towels in the middle of Cowboys country for years.
They are Reggie Robinson II fans first. But old habits die hard.
“I’m still a Pittsburgh fan,” Reggie Robinson Sr. said. “That is my team. I have been with them for 40 years. I just got a couple Cowboys hats but I have a 100 Pittsburgh hats and a terrible towel in there in the den. My son is now a Cowboy. So I’m a Cowboys fan, too. When they play I will be cheering for No. 41.”
Despite the bluster, Reggie Robinson Sr., who played college football at Grambling State University for the legendary Eddie Robinson, is undoubtedly proud and excited for his son, his namesake.
So much so that he plans to start playing the Madden video game again.
“The way I taught him how to play football was on Madden then he got to the point where he could whip me. We stopped playing,” Reggie Robinson Sr. said. “I told him as soon as the new one comes out I’m going to buy one so I can play with my son on the game. That is pretty cool.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
