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More photos from
Deerfield Beach on
MichiganDaily.com
(CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT)
Thomas Robinson Sr.
watches Michigan football
take on Iowa in Deerfield
Beach, Florida.
Denard Robinson's
childhood home in Deerfield
Beach.
Dorothea Robinson looks
on at the Robinsons' tailgate
for Michigan's game against
Iowa.
The Deerfield Beach High
School drum major leads
his band at halftime of the
Bucks' game against Boyd
Anderson High School.
THEY LJBLLSHNAAL
HIM1[I
BY RYAN KARTJE PHOTOS BY MAX CO LLINS
DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. - A television sits at the edge ofRose Robinson's
one-car garage. Atop a dolley just below eye level, the bulky, off-brand box
overlooks a sea of mismatched folding chairs: a makeshift amphitheatre in
the heart of this South Florida town. The party has yet to begin. Members
of the Robinson family and afew others arrive, in a trickle at first, pulling
their cars onto the grassy patch across SW 10th Court.
DESIGN BY MARISSA MCCLAIN AND SARAH SQUIRE
4 1 FootballSaturday, November 6, 2010
They're waiting. Michigan football kicks off in an hour or so,
and then their family will be complete again. Everyone is here,
with the exception of Denard Robinson, the Wolverines' quar-
terback and the reason why theygather here every Saturday.
It's getting closer to gametime, so they shuffle underneath
a tent in front of the garage to block out the blistering Florida
sun, which always seems to burn hotter in rough neighbor-
hoods.
Kent Robinson takes a seat at the center of the makeshift
amphitheatre. His shirt says it all. It reads: Armed and Danger-
ous, Shoelace.
"I designed that shirt and all the other ones here," he says.
He points around to others beneath the tent a group, which
now includes almost a dozen people. They're all wearing
t-shirts with some reference to Denard's nickname back home:
Shoelace. To everyone in Deerfield Beach - everyone but his
mother, that is - there is no Denard, just Shoelace.
One chair remains at the front of the tent, just right of the
television. The family knows that seat is for Dad. He's still
working - he always seems to be working - but he wouldn't
miss a minute of his boy's game.
With everyone seated, Dorothea Robinson, silent to this
point, steps behind the third and final row of chairs. She refus-
es to sit while Denard is playing. Soon, as kickoff approaches,
she'll be connected with her son again.
They are here to see Michigan's overnight success, though
they've known all along that there's nothing overnight about
him at all. He's the product of a father's hard work and a moth-
er's loving protection, of hard-nosed coaches who pushed him
and remain critical of his every move. With his success have
come worries. Concerns. Can he stay healthy? Can he win a
national title? These are mostly unanswerable, but there are
clues in his past, if you get the people at this party talking.
See SHOELACE, Page 6
TheMichiganDaily, www.michigandaily.com 5*