TicketsApril 11, 2007
He remains one of the most admired and accomplished athletes of all time. Athlete, entrepreneur and philanthropist Oscar Robertson is the featured speaker for the spring University of Cincinnati All-University Commencement Ceremonies. Commencement will be held at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., Saturday, June 9, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. Robertson will receive an honorary doctoral degree in Humane Letters.
Robertson earned a bachelor of business administration degree from the UC College of Business in 1960. The "Big-O" established 19 school records and 14 NCAA records during his college career, was voted College Player of the Year his sophomore, junior and senior years at UC, and led the nation in scoring. By the time he finished his college basketball career at UC, he gained 2,973 total points for the Bearcats in an era where freshmen were ruled ineligible for varsity play. He is a member of the UC Hall of Fame and has had his jersey number retired. Robertson was also co-captain of the undefeated 1960 gold-medal U.S. Olympic team.
During his professional basketball career, Robertson played for the Cincinnati Royals (1960-1970, winning Rookie of the Year in 1961) and the Milwaukee Bucks (1970-1974). He was the NBA Most Valuable Player in 1963 and won the NBA Championship in 1971. Robertson is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was named one of the NBA's 50 Greatest Players of All Time. As a sports commentator, he worked for CBS, ABC and the Metro Conference TV Network. He was named "Indiana Living Legend" by the Indiana Historical Society in 1999, and received the Player of the Century Award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2000.
Robertson is currently president of OR Solutions, a holding company for his business ventures including Orchem Inc., which supplies chemicals to clean food-processing plants; Orpack-Stone Container, which manufactures corrugated boxes; Oscar Robertson Document Managing Services; and Orflex, Ltd., which manufactures specialty packaging. He also owns Oscar Robertson Foods, Inc., and Oscar Robertson & Associates.
Among his many UC honors, Robertson is the 2003 recipient of the William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement, UC's most distinguished alumni honor; the UC Award for Excellence in 1975 and the UC Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award in 1970. An eight-foot bronze statue of Robertson by nationally acclaimed artist Blair Buswell was unveiled on campus in 1994.
His humanitarian causes have included serving as chairman of the Cincinnati Urban League, a national board member of the Salvation Army, and involvement with the American Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, NAACP and the United Negro College Fund Celebrity Tennis Tournament. He raised awareness about the need for organ donation after donating a kidney to his daughter, Tia, in 1997.
Robertson and his wife, Yvonne, who earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from UC, established three scholarships at the university - one for an incoming student to any UC program, one for future teachers who want to work in urban schools and one to be awarded as part of the annual Cincinnatus Scholarship competition at UC.