Former Spartan watches son play on same court

The last time Ronnie Robertson had been in Iowa he was a sophomore forward for the late Ron “Fox” Clinton on the Southwestern Community College basketball team 36 years ago.

Wednesday night he returned to the gym where he played two seasons for the Spartans. This time, he watched his son McKelary play as a freshman guard for the second-ranked North Iowa Area Community College Trojans against the Spartans.

The younger Robertson scored five points on a 3-pointer and two free throws in NIACC’s 98-68 victory as the Trojans improved to 11-0.

Ronnie Robertson was seated in the front row, just in front of Ruth Clinton, wife of his former coach who died last January. Being back in the gym brought back a lot of memories.

“It was really different here back then,” Ronnie said. “Oh my goodness, you have dorms everywhere now. People who look like me everywhere. The diversity and inclusion is huge here and I love that. People are so friendly. When I came up here to school from Alabama I was one of three black students on campus. I’m proud that I was the first black homecoming king at Southwestern, voted by the student body. I made the dean’s list. I think the three of us kind of changed the thinking and the stereotypes.”

A high school opponent of Ronnie Robertson, Raynard McWilliams, was coached by former SWCC assistant Jerry Todd at the time in Athens, Alabama. Both McWilliams and Robertson came to SWCC through that connection between Todd and Clinton, along with 6-5 center Eugene Maye of Orlando, Florida.

They formed the nucleus of the final two men’s basketball teams coached by Clinton, who turned over the job to a young Bill Krejci at the time as Clinton took over the college’s softball team.

Ronnie went on and finished his college career at Simpson College in Indianola, also the alma mater of Clinton.

He now resides in Woodbury, Minnesota, a suburb of St. Paul. McKelary Robertson played at Woodbury High and was looking to land a spot on a junior college roster when his father had a conversation with Krejci for the first time in more than 30 years.

“I called Krejci in March and told him my son had some offers, but was looking to go the juco route and wondered about the schools down here,” Ronnie said. “Krejci contacted coach Mohl at NIACC, the guy who was at SWCC at the time (Blake Peterson) and some others, but my son liked the idea of going to NIACC. They were 25-5 last year with mostly all freshmen, and made it to the regional finals.”

National champion Kirkwood ousted the Trojans last year, but this year McKelary said NIACC has aspirations of the championship.

Ronnie Robertson said it was fun watching his son play on the same court where he has so many memories.

“It’s fun to get back here and see how it’s changed,” Ronnie said. “I heard SWCC won a national title a few years ago. Now, I hope my son can do that with NIACC.”