Tracy Robinson couldn’t figure it out.
He would look at his 6-foot mother, Darlene, and his 6-foot father, Tracy Sr., not to mention uncles who were at least 6-6.
He would glance at his ample feet and recall a doctor’s prediction that he would be a person others would look up to.
Then he would gaze into the mirror and see some 5-9 squirt staring back, a guy who happened to be one of the shortest players on Leo’s freshman basketball team.
If Robinson Inc. was supposed to be a growth stock, he was, as Wall Street analysts say, underperforming, and he was less than thrilled about it.
“He’d say, `Aw, man, everyone is taller than I am,'” his mother said. “
`When am I going to grow?'”
Shortly after that season, however, something big started to take place.
By his sophomore season Robinson was 6-1. A year later he was 6-3 and, he believed, topped out.
Uh, not quite.
Last summer his clothes and shoes continued to shrink, and by the start of this season Robinson was nudging up to 6-7.
What has resulted has been the usual collection of double-takes and exclamations of “Man, you’re tall,” many coming from girls, which made Robinson–and his teammates–realize that life in the clouds has its advantages.
“I was like, what was he eating and drinking to get that tall?” said 6-2 senior guard Keelan Donald, who had played with, and looked down on, Robinson since 7th grade. “I want some.”
According to his mother, Robinson was eating nearly everything in sight to fuel his great leap upward, although you wouldn’t know it from his rail-thin physique. When she wasn’t buying more groceries, she was buying Tracy shoes and clothes more by the month than by the season.
“Every time I’d go to buy shoes I was a half or a whole size bigger,” he said. “I got jeans from my freshman and sophomore years that I try to put on, and they look like baby jeans.
“My mom said she started to buy clothes bigger since I was growing by the second.”
Meanwhile, big changes were taking place on the court as well, with Robinson, the point guard, becoming Robinson, the “small” forward.
He has sacrificed a smidgen of quickness to his growth and is still adjusting his shot form to account for arms longer than a Harry Potter novel, but he retains his ballhandling skills and more quickness than many of the forwards who guard him.
Most importantly, Robinson is comfortable in his new position and his new frame.
“It feels good,” he said.
Robinson is one of five senior starters back from a Leo team that finished 18-12 last year. He averaged 10 points and six rebounds a game, trailing guard Alan Downing, who averaged 19 points, and forward Frank Clair, who averaged 16 points and nine rebounds.
“Tracy is versatile and plays with a lot of intensity,” Leo coach Noah Cannon said. “He’s a good shooter, and with his long arms he can block shots.
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“He just needs to get stronger. His frame has not caught up muscle-wise.”
Cannon also has a strong group of underclassmen, including a 6-8 sophomore and a 6-7 freshman. All of this gives him more than enough firepower to contend for the Class A state title, which Hales Franciscan won last season after eliminating Leo along the way.
“We have big expectations this year,” Robinson said. “We had a tough loss to Hales. That could have been us going Downstate.”
A state tournament run would attract recruiters’ attention and help Robinson achieve his goal of playing college ball. College coaches might want to know that Tracy only turned 17 in late August and recently jumped another shoe size.
“Some height may be coming again,” his mother warned.
This short story, in other words, may continue to be a tall tale.