Robinson chosen for Hall of Fame; part of the NCHSAA Class of ‘22

Published 4:12 pm Wednesday, January 26, 2022

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Washington native and former Williamston High School football coach and athletic director Harold Robinson is part of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

He will be formally inducted during an August ceremony in Cary along with the three others in the Class of ’22 and the four members of the Class of ’21, whose enshrinement was postponed because of COVID-19.

“It is an unbelievable honor to be chosen,” Robinson said. “The most accomplished coaches and athletes in our state are part of this and I’m amazed and humbled to be joining them. I have been very fortunate to have worked with supportive players, assistant coaches and administrators who were of tremendous help along the way. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Robinson won 239 games in 24 years as Williamston’s head coach, including 1A state titles in 1995 and ’99 along with four other trips to the championship game.  His teams also won seven conference titles.

WHS won 10 Conference Cup trophies for overall athlete excellence during his time as athletic director and was also an assistant coach for back-to-back state championships in 1974 & 75.

He’s won numerous Coach of the Year Awards from the Associated Press in 1999, Greenville Daily Reflector in 1983, 1996, and 2000and the Washington Daily News for 1982, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2002.

He served as a coach in the 1989 East/West All-Star Game. He was President of the NC Football Coaches Association in 1994-1995 and also served in that role for the NC Coaches Association. He has served on the NC Coaches Association Board of Directors and on the NC Athletic Directors Association Board of Directors.

Notably, Robinson is credited with founding the statewide NC Shrine Bowl Combines and served as the Shrine Bowl head coach for NC in 2002 and as an Assistant in 1996, all the while helping young coaches learn the professional ropes.

“He’s been a huge help to me since I’ve been at Washington High School,” coach Perry Owens said. “He’s helped me organize my practice schedule and given me ideas on how to find solutions to things that come up. He is a wealth of knowledge and I’m grateful for his wisdom and feedback. I can ask him anything and he’ll have an answer. He has done everything in the coaching profession and very much deserves to be enshrined with the best in our state.”

Other members of the Class of ’22 include Franklin “Danny” Anderson of Granite Falls, who coached at Starmount, Maiden and West Caldwell, Raleigh-area coach and athletic director Hal Stewart and long-time Wilmington Laney tennis and volleyball coach Ruby Sutton.

2021 members who had to wait a year are former Enka HS (Asheville) volleyball and basketball coach Susie DeWeese, the late Jonathan McKee, who coached football and was the athletic director at Greensboro Dudley HS, former Lee County baseball coach Charlie Spivey and former Swansboro HS soccer coach Bob Vroom.