Kevin A. Roberson (October 25, 1970 – May 8, 1993) was an American basketball player known for his collegiate playing career at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

from 1988 to 1992. He etched himself into the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) record book for blocks; Roberson's 409 career blocks was the third-highest total in Division I history at the time of his graduation, and as of the 2013–14 season it remains the 21st highest. Five different times he recorded 10 or more blocks in a single game,Top ten UVM men's basketball players of all time. (March 21, 2010). ''examiner.com.'' Retrieved on January 18, 2014. including a career-high 13 against

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

on January 9, 1992. Roberson also scored 1,503

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

and grabbed 1,054

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, which were second and first in school history, respectively, at the time of his graduation. Roberson recorded five

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

s in his career as well. In his

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

and

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

seasons he was a two-time All-

North Atlantic Conference The North Atlantic Conference (NAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are primarily small liberal arts colleges in the New England state ...

(NAC) First Team selection, and his senior year in 1991–92 saw him be named the NAC Player of the Year. He averaged 18 points and 11.2 rebounds en route to the award.

Death and legacy

Roberson went undrafted in the

1992 NBA draft The 1992 NBA draft took place on June 24, 1992, at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. The draft is considered to be one of the deepest in NBA history. The top three picks (Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner) were conside ...

, and less than a year after graduating from the University of Vermont, he was killed in a car accident in his hometown of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

on May 8, 1993. He and his sister, Michelle, were hit head-on in an intersection by a drunk driver. Basketball fans throughout the region were stunned. Roberson's coach, Tom Brennan, said "Looking back, what really sticks out is the reaction of everyone to Kevin and I mean everyone. As brilliant as Kevin's career was; as electric a player as he was; everyone talked about Kevin as a person." Roberson was immediately inducted into the University of Vermont Hall of Fame in 1993. The conference player of the year award was later renamed the "Kevin Roberson America East Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year." Since fall 1993, there has been an annual Kevin Roberson 5K Memorial Run/Walk dedicated to him. Roberson's jersey number (33) also became the first men's basketball number ever retired by the school.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberson, Kevin 1970 births 1993 deaths American men's basketball players Basketball players from Buffalo, New York Centers (basketball) Road incident deaths in New York (state) Vermont Catamounts men's basketball players 20th-century American sportsmen

Death and legacy

See also

Further reading

References