PAYTON Robertson named to NAIA All-America Team, • Father played professional baseball in the Phillies Organization and his uncle, Andre, played for the New York Yankees.

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PAYTON Robertson named to NAIA All-America Team, • Father played professional baseball in the Phillies Organization and his uncle, Andre, played for the New York Yankees.

The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the 2021 Baseball All-America teams as selected by the NAIA-Baseball Coaches’ Association All-America Committee. For the second time, former West Orange-Stark standout and LSU-Shreveport standout Payton Robertson was named an All-American. Robertson was selected as a Second Team All-American in 2019, and then as a Preseason All-American the following year to go along with his selection as an Honorable Mention All-American in 2021.

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Robertson had another great year hitting .415 with 86 hits, 61 RBI, 8 homeruns and led the country with 45 stolen bases. He led the Pilots in nine statically categories and helped them win their first Regional Championship in nine years, concluding the season with a trip to the World Series, their first since 2012. He also helped the Pilots win another RRAC Tournament Championship while being named to the RRAC All-Tournament team and repeated as a First Team All-Conference selection.

The first and second teams are also recognized as ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods. The ABCA began recognizing All-Americans in 1949 and named the first ABCA NAIA All-America team in 1969.

Payton Robertson

  • Height
    5-10
  • Weight
    175
  • Class
    SR
  • Bats
    R
  • Throws
    R
  • Position
    UTL
  • Hometown
    Orange, TX
  • Previous School
    Lamar University

Statistics

Fielding GP GS C PO A E PB CI SBA F %
2020-21 43 43 116 64 50 2 0 0 0 0.983
Totals: 43 43 116 64 50 2 0 0 0 .983
Hitting GP GS AB H R 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB SF SH HBP BA OBP SLG
2020-21 43 43 148 59 46 14 5 2 45 28 15 38 4 2 4 0.399 0.495 0.601
Totals: 43 43 148 59 46 14 5 2 45 28 15 38 4 2 4 .399 .495 .601

ROBERTSON NAMED ALL-AMERICAN FOR SECOND TIME

Baseball | Tue, Jun. 8, 2021 at 10:35 AM

 KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the 2021 Baseball All-America teams as selected by the NAIA-Baseball Coaches’ Association All-America Committee. For the second time, Payton Robertson was named an All-American. Robertson was selected as a Second Team All-American in 2019, and then as a Preseason All-American the following year to go along with his selection as an Honorable Mention All-American in 2021. 

Robertson had another great year hitting .415 with 86 hits, 61 RBI, 8 homeruns and led the country with 45 stolen bases. He led the Pilots in nine statically categories and helped them win their first Regional Championship in nine years, concluding the season with a trip to the World Series, their first since 2012. He also helped the Pilots win another RRAC Tournament Championship while being named to the RRAC All-Tournament team and repeated as a First Team All-Conference selection. 

The first and second teams are also recognized as ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods. The ABCA began recognizing All-Americans in 1949 and named the first ABCA NAIA All-America team in 1969.

FIRST TEAM

Position Name Institution Year Hometown
SP Colton Williams Science & Arts (Okla.) Sr. Magnolia, Texas
SP Antonio Frias Faulkner (Ala.) Sr. Panama City, Panama
SP Kobe Foster Tennessee Wesleyan Jr. Huntland, Tenn.
SP Pablo Arevalo Keiser (Fla.) Sr. Miami, Fla.
RP Ruben Ramirez Point Park (Pa.) Sr. Juncos, Puerto Rico
C Joshuan Sandoval MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) Jr. Manati, Puerto Rico
C Kenny Piper Columbia (Mo.) Gr. Florissant, Mo.
1B Nick Bottari Southeastern (Fla.) Sr. Wading River, N.Y.
2B Pedro Castellano Southeastern (Fla.) Sr. Davenport, Fla.
3B Tim Bouchard Keiser (Fla.) Jr. Ashburnham, Mass.
SS Gary Mattis Jr. Tennessee Wesleyan Jr. Broward County, Fla.
UTIL Sergio Macias Central Methodist (Mo.) Sr. Laredo, Texas
DH Cody Muncy Oklahoma Wesleyan Jr. Red Oak, Okla.
OF Luis Vargas Wayland Baptist (Texas) Jr. Boston, Mass.
OF Griffin Keller Georgia Gwinnett Sr. Bilot Butte, Saskatchewan
OF Bryan Leef Cumberlands (Ky.) Sr. Yorba Linda, Calif.
OF Michael Slaten Benedictine (Kan.) Sr. Nacogdoches, Texas

 SECOND TEAM

Position Name Institution Year Hometown
SP Nick Merkel Central Methodist (Mo.) Jr. Spokane, Wash.
SP Chris Wall Columbia (Mo.) Jr. Wentzville, Mo.
SP Corey Jackson Bellevue (Neb.) Sr. Calgary, Alberta
SP Sloan Dieter William Carey (Miss.) Sr. Lake Charles, La.
RP Ryan Munoz Southeastern (Fla.) Sr. Isabela, Puerto Rico
C Billy Hancock Mount Marty (S.D.) So. Wahoo, Neb.
C Trevor Johnson McPherson (Kan.) Sr. San Diego, Calif.
1B Dalton Reed Oklahoma City Sr. Roff, Okla.
2B Tony Monroy Hope International (Calif.) Sr. South Gate, Calif.
3B Kyle O’Brien Missouri Baptist Jr. St. Louis, Mo.
SS Sam Faith Southeastern (Fla.) Jr. St. Charles, Ill.
UTIL Brock Ephan Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) Sr. Kaua’I, Hawaii
DH Livingston Morris Georgia Gwinnett Jr. Woodstock, Ga.
OF Daunte Freeman MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) Sr. Sacramento, Calif.
OF Dalton Bealmer Columbia (Mo.) Sr. Boonville, Mo.
OF Zach Hogueisson Tennessee Wesleyan Jr. El Cajon, Calif.
OF Terry Daniels Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) Sr. Auburn, N.Y.

 HONORABLE MENTION

Name School
Travis Keys Aquinas (Mich.)
Daryl Myers Benedictine (Kan.)
Tyler Jacobsen Benedictine Mesa (Ariz.)
Jacob Wesselmann Briar Cliff (Iowa)
Mason Schwellenbach Central Methodist (Mo.)
Jake Fosgett Concordia (Neb.)
Zack Simon Corban (Ore.)
Thomas Gutierrez Cumberlands (Ky.)
Josh Sears Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)
Hunter Dollander Georgia Gwinnett
Gabe Howell Georgia Gwinnett
Izzy Fuentes Hope International (Calif.)
Brennan McKenzie Hope International (Calif.)
Matt Monahan IU Southeast (Ind.)
Brody Tanksley IU Southeast (Ind.)
Aidan Nagle Lewis-Clark State (Idaho)
Noah Childress Lourdes (Ohio)
Payton Alexander Loyola (La.)
Payton Robertson LSU Shreveport (La.)
Kenneth Stewart Mayville State (N.D.)
James Canar McPherson (Kan.)
Jhon Vargas MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.)
Aaron Saal Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio)
Isaac Wersland Oklahoma Wesleyan
Ethan Underwood Olivet Nazarene (Ill.)
Rylan Cratsenberg Ottawa (Kan.)
Jose Diaz Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
Brett Vasquez Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)
Dylan Jacob Saint Katherine (Calif.)
Cristian Laboy Science & Arts (Okla.)
Ricardo Velez Science & Arts (Okla.)
Austen Seidel Tabor (Kan.)
Joe Moran Taylor (Ind.)
Jorun Hamre Valley City State (N.D.)

 

Payton Robertson
  • Position
    INF
  • Ht./Wt.
    5-7 / 164
  • Class
    Sophomore
  • High School
    West Orange-Stark HS
  • Prev School
    West Orange-Stark HS

Biography

2017 Season:
• Appeared in 26 games with 14 starts at third base or shortstop
• Drove in six RBI, including two RBI apiece against Fairfield on Feb. 25 and against A&M-Corpus Christi on Apr. 15
• Had a career-best two hits in LU’s 19-9 win over Fairfield on Feb. 25
• Scored three of his 10 runs on the year in Lamar University’s 10-4 win over Rice on Mar. 3High School:
• Hit .407 his senior season and swiped 36 stolen bases.
• First-team all-state and all-district shortstop.
• Voted as the SETCA Player of the Year in 2016.
• Four-time first-team all-district shortstop or second baseman.
• State runner-up his junior year.
• Two-year letterman in football and power lifting for three.
• Member of the National Honor Society and Student Council.
• Was an honor graduate with a 3.6 grade point average.
• Coached by Sheal Landry.
 
Personal:
• Born Payton Anthony Robertson on June 29, 1998.
• Son of Brandy and Roderick Robertson.
• Two brothers, Nathan and Nic.
• Four sistsers, Brittany, Ashley, Candice and Gracie.
• Father played professional baseball in the Phillies Organization and his uncle, Andre, played for the New York Yankees.
• Majoring in management.
• Wants to become an operations coordinator for sports franchise.
 

Rod Robertson, (PAYTON’S FATHER)

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Positions: Second Baseman, Shortstop and Third Baseman

Bats: Both  •  Throws: Right

5-9, 175lb (175cm, 79kg)

Born: January 16, 1968 (Age: 53-144d) in Orange, TX us

Draft: Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 3rd round of the 1986 MLB June Amateur Draft from West Orange-Stark HS (West Orange, TX).

High School: West Orange-Stark HS (West Orange, TX)

Full Name: Roderick Cornell Robertson

_______________________________________________________________________________

Andre Robertson

Positions: Shortstop, Second Baseman and Third Baseman

Bats: Right  •  Throws: Right

5-10, 155lb (178cm, 70kg)

Born: October 2, 1957 (Age: 63-250d) in Orange, TX us

Draft: Drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 12th round of the 1976 MLB June Amateur Draft from West Orange-Stark HS (West Orange, TX) and the Toronto Blue Jays in the 4th round of the 1979 MLB June Amateur Draft from University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX).

High Schools: West Orange HS (West Orange, TX), West Orange-Stark HS (West Orange, TX)

School: University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX)

Debut: September 3, 1981 (Age 23-336d, 12,120th in MLB history)
   vs. KCR 3 AB, 2 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Last Game: October 6, 1985 (Age 28-004d)
   vs. TOR 2 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Rookie Status: Exceeded rookie limits during 1982 season

Agents: Richie Bry

Full Name: Andre Levett Robertson

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Yankee shortstop Andre Robertson, PAYTON ROBERTSON’S UNCLE, and ballet dancer reclaimed their lives after horrific car crash

ORANGE, Tex. – This is a story about turns. It’s about the ones you make and the ones you don’t, and about how life keeps throwing them at you, no exemptions provided. It’s about a treacherous turn of roadway, a tragic turn of fate and a transformational turn of mind; about two abundantly gifted young people whose bodies were once crushed, but whose spirits were not.

It begins here in southeast Texas, in Andre Robertson’s family room, in the handsome brick home he shares with his wife, Lanier, and their three children. About four months ago, on a night off from the chemical plant where he has worked for 18 years, Robertson did something he had never done before. He popped a tape in the VCR, and watched himself perform as a New York Yankee.

It was near the 25th anniversary of a moment Robertson would never want to commemorate. A guy at the plant had been asking him about his time in the big leagues, a subject Robertson never brings up. It got Robertson reminiscing. Out came the tape, and there Robertson saw himself, No. 18 in pinstripes, fluid and compact, a 5-10, 160-pound shortstop with bowed legs and fast feet and a tidy Afro above his handsome face. He watched himself grab grounders in the hole, up the middle, doing it with a little Mizuno glove that Robertson’s 12-year-old son, Jace, uses to this day.

“Man, those were some good plays,” Robertson said to himself. “I looked pretty good.”

Indeed, he did, and likely would’ve looked that way for much more than 274 games, the sum total of his big-league career, had it not been for a pre-dawn sightseeing trip he made with a friend and fellow Texan, Shenikwa Dawn Nowlin. The date was Aug. 18, 1983.  The plan was to ride the Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty. The plan was not to be in a horrific wreck on the West Side Highway, a crash that left Nowlin a paraplegic and Robertson, the lucky one, with a broken neck and a career that would never be the same.

“The saddest part about what happened to Andre is that it ended so quick,” says Willie Randolph, his former second-base partner. Randolph loved Robertson’s low-key consistency, his knack for making the superb plays look routine. When he first played alongside him, Randolph’s thought was, “Hallelujah! This kid might be my shortstop for the next 10 years.”

Al LaMacchia, 87, has been a scout for 53 years. He signed Robertson for the Toronto Blue Jays out of the University of Texas (UT), a fourth round pick in 1979, and is still upset that his boss, Pat Gillick, dealt Robertson to the Yankees six months later, an add-on in the trade that sent Chris Chambliss and Damaso Garcia to Toronto, and brought Rick Cerone to the Bronx.

“At the time of the injury he was already the best all-around shortstop the Yankees had had since Phil Rizzuto,” LaMacchia says. “He was a great fielder, and he was going to hit. He would’ve gone down as a great, great shortstop.”

La Macchia pauses. “It’s a shame he never got to be the player he was going to be,” he says.

***

Andre Robertson has lived here for all of his 51 years, amid the low-lying bayous along the Louisiana border, where the air has the consistency of a wet sponge, and is pungent with the aroma from a sprawling lineup of plants that locals call “Chemical Row.”  It’s where most people in Orange (pop. 18,000) work, Robertson included; he is a shift supervisor at DuPont’s Sabine River Works – the same plant where his father, Harvest Robertson, worked for 38 years as a mechanic.

“I always told our kids, ‘Don’t start what you can’t finish,'” Harvest Robertson says.

Harvest Robertson, 73, won a football scholarship to Tennessee State more than a half-century ago. His father made him stay home to work in a grocery store. He married his wife, Julia, 51 years ago, and saw his athletic genes pass on.

Youngest son, Roderick, played pro ball and made it as high as Triple A. Middle son, the late Harlan Robertson (he died of a stroke nine years ago) excelled in football and baseball . Andre, the oldest, was the best athlete of all, a star quarterback and point guard who could dunk a basketball and high-jump 6-7, but whose greatest talents were for playing baseball and breaking barriers.

Andre integrated the local Little League in the mid 1960s, and a decade later, became the first African-American to earn a baseball scholarship to UT.  Robertson heard the ‘N’ word more times than he can count, but says he paid it no mind, and just focused on playing the game he loves.

“I’ve always been able to get along with all the folks I was playing with,” Robertson says, in a deep Texas twang.

Joining the Yankees in the spring of 1980, Robertson’s glovework drew immediate raves. He made the World Series roster in 1981, and after a few stints on the Columbus shuttle, became the Yankee shortstop in 1983, emerging rapidly as an integral part of the team, his defense tightening the infield, his average rising over .290 before two hit-by-pitches hindered his stroke.

By mid-August, the Yankees were a game behind the Blue Jays in the AL East. The White Sox came to town. On the night of Aug. 17, the Sox beat the Yankees in 13 innings. The game took over four hours and ended after midnight.

Robertson had agreed to meet a friend who was in town visiting from Texas after the game. Her name was Shenikwa Nowlin. A law student at UT who was born and raised in Austin, Nowlin was a ballet prodigy, former beauty pageant winner and Texas cheerleader – and the girlfriend of Philadelphia Eagle tight end Lawrence Sampleton. She and Robertson were friends, and now she was back in the city for the first time in nearly seven years, after she spent two years in Arthur Mitchell’s renowned Dance Theater of Harlem. Nowlin was ready to have a good time. Robertson was happy to oblige.

Neither of their lives would ever be the same.

“I’d give anything to take that accident back,” Nowlin says. “Every day I think about New York. Every day.”

***

Robertson called Nowlin after the game, and they met at Studio 54, where they danced and reconnected.  They neither drank nor took drugs; Robertson later testified to that in court. It was around 4 a.m. by now, and the Yankees had a curfew (three hours after the end of a night game), but neither Robertson nor Nowlin was ready to turn in. All the Yankees had the next day was the completion of the Pine Tar game.

They decided to go see the Statue of Liberty. Robertson drove back to his Ft. Lee apartment to pick up a camera. He crossed back over the George Washington Bridge, and turned south onto the West Side Highway. He passed 125th St., 96th St. and then 79th St. Robertson was driving about 70 MPH in a 55 MPH zone, police estimated. He had never been on the road before. He came up fast on 72nd St. A notorious ‘S’ curve awaited there. By law, the sign announcing it should’ve been placed 350 feet ahead of the turn. Instead it was at the place where the turn began. By then it was too late.

An instant later, Robertson’s jade-green 1982 Buick Riviera was slamming into the concrete median, then into another barrier on the right side, the car flipping over, its occupants thrown onto the cobblestone roadway.

“To see the car, I don’t even know how they got out of it alive,” Harvest Robertson says.

His son had a broken neck, a cracked rib, a right-shoulder contusion that would never allow him to throw the same way again. Doctors told him that he’d been a millimeter from paralysis or death. It took Robertson a few days to regain his faculties.

“What about Shenikwa? How’s Shenikwa?” he asked. Nobody wanted to tell him: his friend was in a coma, her spine crushed, her dancing days done. Just the day before,  Nowlin had spoken to Arthur Mitchell about returning to ballet.

“To me the worst part of all was for Shenikwa, because of the paralysis,” Robertson says. “With all (the dancing) she did in her past, it had to be devastating.”  Robertson spoke to Nowlin twice on the phone several months after the accident. He said he was so sorry, and told her what happened – that he didn’t know the road, didn’t see the curve until it was too late.

When they met in court years later – a proceeding that would earn Nowlin a $7.5 million judgment from the city – Robertson told her she was as pretty as ever, and then said, “I wish it would’ve happened to me and not you.”

***

Shenikwa Nowlin went through three years of depression and pain after the accident, crying every day for what she’d lost. Once she had danced before the Queen of England. Now what? She tried to fight off bitterness, and anger toward Robertson.

“He was my friend. He was always a nice guy. I wanted to remember him that way, not as the person who put me in a wheelchair,” she says.

She got her law degree, and thought about how things could’ve been worse, how she could’ve been a quadriplegic, or suffered brain damage. Still, she searches for the positive.

“No matter how bad things feel, you move on, try to get through it,” she says. “There’s hope for everything – a way to find something good that’s worth breathing for every day.”

Nowlin lives in Dallas with her two daughters, Cecily, 14, and Hannah, 9, and has returned to practicing law after a 14-year hiatus. Her specialty is personal-injury law, an irony that makes her laugh.

“I know better than anybody (what’s involved),” Nowlin says.

For Robertson, the loss was not mobility, of course, but of his big-league career, his promise and millions of dollars. He returned to the Yankees the year after the accident, but wasn’t the same player. He had a great spring in 1985, then ripped up his knee and needed surgery. He hit .328 that year in a part-time role, but at age 27, was viewed more as a spare part than an infield anchor. He got traded with Ken Griffey to the Braves, then bounced through the minors for four seasons, never to play in the majors again.

Robertson went back home. He got a job at the plant, earned his college degree on the side, and settled back into the comfortable rhythms of small-town life, surrounded by family and friends. Like Nowlin, he isn’t one to wallow, or be consumed by bitterness. “How can I be bitter?” Robertson says. “I got to do what I dreamed of doing. How many people get to say that?”

Robertson’s oldest child, Chrystina, 23, is going for her R.N. degree. Son, Ryan, 21, was the first African-American valedictorian in his high school’s history, and is a college senior. Twelve-year-old Jace stars in the classroom and at shortstop, with his father’s glove.

“I’m more proud of my kids than I am of being on the Yankees roster in the World Series,” Robertson says. “You want to see your children do as well or better than you, and I think they are on the way.”

Last week Robertson coached Jace’s basketball team against a local powerhouse. Robertson’s team was undersized and overmatched, and lost 48-5. He never raised his voice and never stopped encouraging, his calm as palpable as the humidity.

“It’s not about winning. It’s about how you go about trying to win,” Robertson says.

Before heading to the plant two days ago, Andre Robertson decided he needed to make a call. It was long overdue. He dialed a 10-digit number.

“Hello?” Shenikwa Nowlin answered. They hadn’t spoken in probably 15 years. Robertson was never sure what to say, and never wanted to make her relive the nightmare.

But the time felt right, so he called. It was a good conversation, about their lives, their families. Before they were done,  Nowlin asked Robertson how he would feel about going back, together, to the site of the most fateful turn of their lives, a quarter century ago.

“Let’s go to New York, let’s drive that West Side Highway. Let’s just do that,” she said. “Let’s put this behind us.”

Shenikwa Nowlin thinks the trip would be cathartic, and bring closure for both of them. Andre Robertson told her he liked the idea, and sure would like to do it if they could work it out. And then he took his boy to lunch and got ready for work, full of admiration for his friend’s spirit, and not worrying at all about the next turn life might bring.

“It’s all about moving on,” Andre Robertson says.

 
 

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