Will the FIRST: The saga of sports/civil-rights pioneer Will Robinson

William Joseph “Will” Robinson, who in 1943 at the age of 32 became the first African-American coach in the Detroit Public School system (as well as in any school in the entire state of Michigan) was unquestionably a rare and audacious visionary. He always intuitively envisioned the total scenario, and that keen intuitive acuity enabled him to give wise counsel to either a youngster or a peer, or to evaluate an athlete’s potential in the arena, or to mentor some callow new National Basketball Association impending multi-millionaire. Will Robinson was a legendary human-rights pioneer in the field of athletics, and most specifically in the sport of basketball. For much of Will’s nearly 97 years of life, he was also an incarnate historic icon.