Madison Park's Roosevelt Robinson Honored at Fenway Park Event

Photo Credit: Melissa Ostrow

Written by: Robert Zeitz
Last December, Roosevelt Robinson's Madison Park Cardinals nearly won a State Championship on the snowy turf of Gillette Stadium, barely losing to Cathedral in double overtime. This June, Coach Robinson was awarded a $1,000 grant for MP football at a fundraising breakfast in Fenway Park's State Street Pavilion. The event was hosted by the Boston chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA), and featured a panel discussion with Red Sox Manager John Farrell, BC football Head Coach Steve Addazio, Notre Dame football Head Coach Brian Kelly, and Head Coach of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun Anne Donovan. The PCA works closely with the Boston Scholar Athletes program.

Photo Credit: Melissa Ostrow

Coach Robinson was named a Double-Goal Coach by the PCA, which describes a Double-Goal Coach as someone "Whose first goal is winning, and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports."

And that's true of Roosevelt Robinson, who has coached the MP Cardinals to success on the field, guiding them to numerous MIAA playoff appearances, including last season's trip to the Division 4A Super Bowl. He was also named City League Coach of the Year (along with Dorchester's Rich Moran), and last year the Cardinals won their first playoff game in program history, 18-6 over Bristol-Plymouth.

Coach Robinson also uses sports to teach life lessons to his players, to guide them through what PCA founder Jim Thompson describes as the "Development experience," that sports can provide for kids. For example, a mistake on the field provides an opportunity for kids to recover and struggle and learn.

Coach Robinson has been teaching and coaching for 25 years, teaching cabinet making at the vocational Madison Park High School. He is also President of the Boston Raiders youth football organization which fields multiple football and cheerleading teams for kids ages 7 to 14.

What Robinson seemed the most proud of, as he spoke to those attending the PCA benefit at Fenway, was how successful his players have been off the field. He beamed as he mentioned the number of seniors he's coached who have all gone on to college, trade schools, or the military. And that's more important to coaches like Roosevelt Robinson than all the trophies, honors, and awards in the world.

Congratulations, Coach Robinson. And congratulations to Madison Park football.

Photo by Robert Zeitz, December 1, 2012

Full photo gallery of the event on our Facebook page