Tom Robinson, says his son, was a humble man who never made much noise about himself. How quiet was he? “A writer getting paid by the word couldn’t make enough off interviewing Tom Robinson to buy a stack of smokes,” one Denver Post scribe groused in 1966, when Robinson was an accomplished, if laconic, 20-year-old, three-sport star at Colorado State University.

Instead, he lived his entire life as the quiet epitome of fair play, and a fair playing field for all.

“He was not a man of many words,” said Colorado High School Activities Association Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green. “But when he did speak, it resonated.”

Robinson, an athlete, educator, coach, referee and administrator, was legendary for his work at Regis Jesuit High School, the Colorado High School Activities Association, the Big 12 and Pac-12 athletic conferences — and for being the shy Latin scholar who swept Denver’s most renowned dancer, Cleo Parker Robinson, right off her dancing feet back in high school. The two were Regis’ prom king and queen in 1964, and married in 1970.

“Tom has been the love of my life for over 60 years,” said Cleo Parker Robinson, who founded her famed company with her husband and others in 1970. “The journey he and I have shared was destined to be. We were devoted to one another in all things, to our family, our dreams and our community.”

Tom Robinson, died Monday of cancer at age 76, just a few months before his second attempt at retiring as associate commissioner of CHSAA was to take effect.

Robinson, who took up refereeing as a side job in 1969, went on to become president of the National Association of Sports Officials. He officiated many college football bowl games, and in 2008 was named the nation’s outstanding college official by the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame. Only Robinson, it seems, could make it through nearly 40 years as a ref without being hated by seemingly anyone.

“Officiating is one of the most difficult things you could ever do, because you are only satisfying 50 percent of the people 100% of the time,” said Bert Borgmann, now in his 33rd year with CHSAA. “But Tom was fair, smart and very capable, so he was respected. More than that, he was liked.”

In 2017, Robinson was given one of the most prominent and pressure-packed jobs in sports: Running the replay booth for the classic 2017 NCAA football championship game won by Clemson, 35-31 over Alabama. That meant monitoring nine cameras in real time for every one of more than 220 plays. He was again honored with being in the hot seat for Alabama’s 52-24 title win over Ohio State in 2021. “I am a blessed man,” he said at the time.

Making Colorado history

Robinson was just the second person of color to be hired as an administrator in the 103-year history of the CHSAA, where he was brought on in 2001, mostly to improve the professionalism of Colorado’s high-school sports officiating across the board. But one of his priorities was also to work for equity between boys and girls in terms of resources, number of contests and educational outreach. He got a bylaw passed that said if any official signed up to referee the boys’ state basketball tournament games, they had to referee the girls’ games as well.

Soon after, he became the first administrator to assign a female official to a boys basketball Final Four game.

Regis Raider roots

Thomas Edward Robinson was born Dec. 15, 1945, and grew up in the redlined Five Points district, attending Sacred Heart School on Larimer Street.

By the time he graduated from Regis Jesuit High School with an emphasis on Latin in 1964, he was considered one of the best all-around high-school athletes in Colorado history, having averaged three touchdowns a game in his final two seasons. His coach, Guy Gibbs, called his star running back “a coach’s dream” and the most mature kid he’d ever seen.

Sixty years later, friends are saying essentially the same thing: “He never got down, and he never got too excited,” said Borgmann. “Part of that comes from coaching, part comes from teaching, and part of that comes from being an official. But mostly that’s just who he was.”

Robinson taught all levels of math at Regis from 1969-2000 and coached multiple sports, including succeeding Gibbs as head basketball coach from 1983-93. Along the way, Robinson earned his master’s degree in public administration from the University of Denver and took on two other big jobs: Serving as business manager for Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, and father to the couple’s son, Malik, now the company’s executive director.

But while Robinson left the teaching profession to join CHSAA in 2001, Borgmann said, “He never stopped teaching. He has been a teacher his whole life.”

Robinson agreed to serve on Regis’ first diversity committee in the 1990s, and a $500,000 equity scholarship now bears his name.

Robinson is also survived by his daughter-in-law Vianey and three grandchildren, Ximalma, Xareni and Nezahualcoyotl. Information regarding a memorial celebration has not yet been finalized.

Tom Robinson