Stan Robertson isn’t one for talking about himself when it comes to his former life as a standout athlete.

He even admits that some of his coaches and former teammates probably remember more about his playing career than he does. It was all such a blur and he’s far removed from those days.

“Not a whole lot looking back on it to tell you the truth,” Robertson, who graduated from Plainview High School in 1990, said in a phone interview with The Herald. “I’ve just been moving forward. Not a lot of time wishing you had done this, wishing you had done that.”

Still, Robertson remains one of the top names when it comes to former Plainview High School athletes. A standout in both baseball and football, Robertson tried to make a go of it in both when he left Plainview.

Actually, Robertson’s athletic prowess was first on display in Carlsbad, New Mexico. There, he honed his skills on the baseball field thanks to what he credits as Carlsbad’s great system for coaching kids at a young age.

While in Carlsbad, Robertson had caught the eye of some Major League Baseball scouts during his freshman year. It was the early stages of talks, more get-to-know-you chats than anything. Then the Robertsons packed up and moved to Plainview, which put Robertson in a bit of a bind.

“One of my biggest concerns was are these scouts going to remember who I was, where I’m going?” recalled Robertson of his family’s move to Plainview.

Luckily, Robertson didn’t have to worry about that, because Plainview had another MLB prospect that brought the scouts to almost every game: Willie Ansley.

Lance Lahnert, who covered Plainview baseball for the Amarillo Globe-News for many years, was on-hand for one incident that helped put Robertson back into the scouts’ focus in what he called “the race.”

It started innocently enough. A scout from the Chicago Cubs was in attendance at a Bulldogs game in Plainview and he wanted to see Ansley run.

Something unexpected happened, though.

Ansley, who was known as a speedster, lost the footrace to Robertson. So, they had the duo race again, just to get a second look. Robertson won again.

“Willie wasn’t too happy about any of that,” said Robertson with a chuckle.

“Willie’s like ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’” said Lahnert. “So, here’s Willie in front of all these scouts and they’re seeing Stan beat him.”

Losing the two short-distance races didn’t hinder Ansley. He wound up being picked seventh overall by the Houston Astros in the 1988 draft. In the end, the race had bigger implications for Robertson.

“Did I feel like Willie had an influence on scouts getting to see me? The answer is an emphatic yes,” said Robertson. “I attribute that wholeheartedly to Willie Ansley. He had a big impact on me getting drafted.”

Over the next two-plus years, more and more scouts made the trip to Plainview, something they got used to during Ansley’s run with the Bulldogs. This time it was to see Robertson, the 6-foot-1, 190-pound prospect. Robertson finished his senior year hitting .451 with four home runs and stealing 21 bases in 22 attempts.

Like Ansley, Robertson had some decisions to make.

Not only were teams interested in taking Robertson in the 1990 MLB Draft, big-name colleges also wanted his services for both football – as a safety – and baseball. His five official on-campus visits were to Texas A&M University, the University of Texas, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Texas Tech University.

Texas, despite being an incredibly strong football brand back in the 1990s, was lower on Robertson’s list than the others. That was because the Longhorns didn’t offer him the chance to play both sports.

“Everybody was on board with me playing baseball too, except UT,” said Robertson. “They were saying in the spring is when you win your position and all that. I was not ready to give up baseball at all. If a football team told me I couldn’t play baseball, then that football team was not strong on my list.”

Robertson settled on Texas Tech for both sports, signing his Letter of Intent in February 1990 just before the start of his final baseball season. Being a draft pick was still a strong possibility, but according to Robertson, the football teams that recruited him weren’t too concerned about that.

“I think the football coaches, really, they couldn’t imagine me going to play baseball,” said Robertson. “I think that was their mindset.”

Actually, the football coaches that recruited Robertson were so confident he wouldn’t pick pro baseball, he was featured in the media guide for the 1990 Texas Tech football team.

Robertson didn’t think pro baseball was too realistic of an option, especially with the rules he put in place for himself. The first was he need to be a first-round draft pick. The second rule was the signing bonus had to meet his expectations.

In the June draft, both rules were met. The Montreal Expos – which became the team now known as the Washington Nationals – had what are called several “sandwich picks.” Those picks are given to teams that lose a certain level of free agent. Teams that lose big-name players get some extra draft selections to help supplement the loss of talent.

Montreal used its last sandwich pick, which came at No. 40 overall, on Robertson. He was technically a first-round pick and the Expos met Robertson’s contract request of paying for four years of college. The franchise offered Robertson a “six-figure signing bonus,” as reported in the June 7, 1990 edition of the Plainview Daily Herald.

“Naturally it wouldn’t be worth bypassing college if the signing bonus didn’t make it worth our time,” said Robertson. “They basically came in, met our request for what they were going to pay for and that basically meant I was going to forgo my college baseball career.”

Unlike Ansley, who took a couple of months to agree to a deal, Robertson’s contract was negotiated after just two hours of conversation two days after the draft. His plans of playing football for the Red Raiders was off the board…for now. With the ink dried, Robertson was off to Florida.

Robertson played rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League where he played 48 games. He had 36 hits in 161 plate appearances, hitting five doubles and three triples. He returned to the Gulf Coast League for his second year, playing another 55 games and getting 46 hits and hitting his lone home run of his minor league career.

After getting through his first two years, Robertson started to experience discomfort in his shoulder. Turns out he had developed tendinitis.

“I met with doctors and it was one of those things where they said the only way to fix it was to rest it,” said Robertson. “You’re playing 160 games a year, there’s no such thing as rest.”

Shoulder problems didn’t go away for the remainder of his baseball career. He gave it a go, but each step of the way, his shoulder injury kept him back.

“Once it starts hurting, it only gets worse week to week,” Robertson said of his shoulder. “I knew my future in baseball was going to be short-lived unless I wanted to have surgery and I just didn’t want to have surgery.”

Robertson kept plugging away until spring training of 1994. As was usual for Robertson at that point, his shoulder felt good going into camp that year, but a short while later, the pain returned. He was done after that. He was never even invited up to Montreal while in the Expos organization, though he eventually got up there for other reasons.

“I called Coach (Spike) Dykes and said, ‘Hey, are you still offering me a scholarship to play football?’ and he said yes,” recalled Robertson. “My wife had just graduated from Tech at the time. She got a teaching job in Lubbock, so when he said yes, that he’s still offering me a scholarship to play, that’s when I came back and played football at Tech.”

With that, Robertson made his official entrance into the 1994 media guide.

On top of being part of the Red Raider football team, Robertson got started on his studies. Turns out, being an athlete and choosing architecture as a major can present some problems.

“Man, that’s a tough degree to be playing a sport with because we just never slept,” said Robertson. “We were always working on projects. Kind of tough going to 6 a.m. workouts, supposed to be running wind sprints when you never went to bed the night before.”

Another thing that took its toll on Robertson was his age. Though not an old man, Robertson was at least four years older than everybody else on the team while he was dealing with a bum shoulder.

“Pro baseball, it had taken the blood out of my eye for football,” said Robertson. “I was an old man by then compared to the rest of these kids in the locker room. I felt guilty taking up a scholarship spot when I was late to practice almost every day of the spring because of my architecture classes. We had one that was four hours long, started at 1 p.m., over at 5 and practice started at 3 every day. I just didn’t feel right about that. I told Coach Dykes that he needed to use that scholarship on someone that could give them something.”

By 1996, Robertson’s athletic career was completely over. He hardly saw the field for the Red Raiders in three years with the team. And he was OK with it.

Robertson spent the rest of his time in college strictly working as a student, finishing up his master’s degree in 1998. After that, he and his wife Angela moved to Colorado Springs. The couple had their first son in 2001, then moved to Lubbock a year later to be closer to grandparents.

Success for Robertson hasn’t been hard to find off the playing field. Today, he’s the founder and owner of Halo Architects, Gone Virtual Studios and Summit Stewardship Service in Lubbock. Athletic success runs through the Robertson bloodline, so he’s not quite done with sports just yet.

Stan’s son, Sawyer Robertson, who will be a senior this year, is the quarterback for Lubbock Coronado and recently announced his verbal commitment to Mississippi State to also play both football and baseball. His other son, Trael, is set to run track for Lubbock Christian University this season. And his younger sister, Alesha (Robertson) Ellis, is the current head coach for the Wayland Baptist Flying Queens women’s basketball team.

When talking to Stan about his playing career, he’s quick to point out that he doesn’t remember a lot of it. He says that Seth Parr – a former teammate of his and Sawyer’s current head coach at Coronado – probably remembers more about his playing days than he does. But he doesn’t like talking about the past too much, so maybe it’s for the best.

“I look back on it, know it was a great experience,” said Robertson. “I know a lot of people don’t get that opportunity like that, so I’ve always been thankful for that. I’ve always looked forward. I really haven’t just thought about it a whole lot.

“I just enjoyed it when it was happening and kind of started walking through doors when those doors opened up in life, including playing football at Tech and starting a career, getting married, having babies, the whole bit.”