Personal Life
Robertson is the son of Mazell and Bailey Robertson. He has two brothers, Bailey Jr. and Henry. He remembers a tough childhood, plagued by poverty and racism. Due to his troubled childhood, Robertson was known to be sullen and prone to violent outbreaks. However, after winning the Olympic gold medal, then signing his first big contract with the Royals and marrying his sweetheart Yvonne Crittenden within several months, he blossomed into a calm, content young man. His U.S. Olympic teammate Jerry West remarked amicably how much Robertson had "grown up" in that year. In the following years Robertson' family grew with daughters Shana Yvonne (b. 1962) and Tia Elaine (b. 1964) and he led a quiet private life; when a biography was going to be written about him in the 1990s, Robertson joked that his life had been "dull", and that he had been "married to the same woman for a long time". In 1997, Robertson donated one of his kidneys to his daughter Tia, who suffered lupus-related kidney failure. He has been an honorary spokesman for the National Kidney Foundation ever since. In 2003, he published his own biography, The Big O, after his own nickname. Robertson also owns the chemical company Orchem, based in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Regarding basketball, Robertson has stated that legendary Harlem Globetrotters players Marques Haynes and "clown prince" Goose Tatum were his idols. Now in his seventies, he refrains from playing basketball, although he still follows it on TV and attends most home games for the University of Cincinnati, his alma mater. He now lists woodworking as his prime hobby. Robertson adds that he still could average a triple-double season in today's basketball, and that he is highly skeptical that anyone else could do it. On June 9, 2007, Oscar received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Cincinnati for both his philanthropic and entrepreneurial efforts.
Read more about this topic: Oscar Robertson
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