Paul Zeise
Jun 17, 2025
Link to article is here.
Former Pitt star Shawn Robinson had an opportunity to join the Bears front office many moons ago, and given everything I know about him, I have no doubt he would have been a general manager by now and a really good one at that.
Robinson turned it down because for him, it is and always has been about the mission and his vision to be a mentor and teacher to student-athletes from middle school until their final years of college. As a former athlete himself, he understands the challenges and the areas in which young people need leadership and guidance, so he and the organization he founded, Orange Arrow Players Association, want to stand in the gap and fill that void.
I covered Robinson when he was at Pitt from 2000-03 and I had no doubt he would be successful at whatever he did. I also knew he would be a leader in the community because he was all about community projects and volunteering his time even back in his playing days.
Most athletes get it. Some, like Robinson, really get it and want to make sure they can give back and mentor young people who are going through many of the same struggles they faced. Robinson is one of the good guys — actually, scratch that, he is one of the great guys. Maybe excellent is an even better word. He’s someone who has made a difference pretty much since he was vaulted onto the stage as a high-profile athlete.
“It is a mission. It has always been that for me. I view it as ministry,” Robinson said. “I feel like it is purpose-driven and it is much bigger than me. The other day, I talked with a former intern who was also a part of our mentoring program named Kayla. She just finished law school. She is all grown up and she said that her internship with Orange Arrow was the best experience she had.
“She was so appreciative of mentorship we gave her and the foundation we armed her with, and that is why I do this. Those stories keep me motivated, looking for more ways to make more of an impact.”
Robinson’s organization is really tailored to real-life needs of student-athletes and young people. It isn’t just about education. They truly work through the entire gamut of issues young people face today, from financial literacy to mental health to an etiquette program they just had for athletes of North Carolina, NC State and North Carolina Central universities.
Robinson founded Orange Arrow in 2013, and it has grown by leaps and bounds. He has used his platform and the connections he made at Pitt to get it off the ground. He is amazed by the generous nature of so many athletes, organizations, teams and people looking to help him because his work is so important.
I asked him why he still does it all, and he basically said he doesn’t think he was called to do anything else and he always wants to give back. It is incredible for me to watch, as he was just a teenager playing football when I first met him. I’ve watched him grow into an important leader in the community, as he has programs in schools all over the Pittsburgh area.
One area in which he has seen a major need in recent years is mentoring the mentors, as the landscape has changed dramatically and the needs of young people are so different in so many ways than ever. And by mentors, he means the coaches, the trainers, the sports medicine people, the school administrators — all of those adults who are charged with teaching, coaching, role modeling and mentoring young athletes.
That’s why Orange Arrow is going to have what I think is a very important symposium called OASIS 2025 (Orange Arrow Symposium in Sports) at Pitt on Sunday-Tuesday (June 22-24) devoted to exploring “what it takes to build winning cultures for life, business, and community.”
The keynote speaker will be former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, and it will be full of two days of speakers and workshops designed to start a discussion among those whose careers combine education and sports. There will be a number of other speakers like former Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, Robert Morris men’s basketball coach Andy Toole and Pitt athletic director Allen Greene, and the focus will be helping adults who work with young athletes navigate what could be difficult waters at times.
“I think one of the things we are always asking the kids, the athletes, the young people to evolve and get better,” Robinson said. “So my question then became — how do we as the adults get better? That was really what is at the heart of all this, as I think that there are challenges facing kids today that we didn’t have 10 or 20 years ago and it can be tricky to deal with them.
“There just seems to be a void of opportunities for the adults to get better, and coaches are dealing with a lot of different things. I think the mental aspect of it is important to continue to work on, as well. Young people need the adults who mentor them to be on top of their game, and this symposium is going to bring together a whole lot of people who have a lot of experience exchanging ideas and learning from them.”
Robinson said OASIS, like everything Orange Arrow does, isn’t just about what happens on the field but also how lessons from sport — teamwork, discipline, perseverance — translate into thriving careers and stronger communities. You can get tickets for the symposium at the Orange Arrow website.
One thing Robinson said has been incredible is the number of people who came through Orange Arrow as players, then gave back as interns and mentors and still to this day support everything the organization does. He read me a list of former Pitt players, some Steelers and players from other schools so long I would need another column to list them.
Robinson had a number of big moments during his time at Pitt, but his biggest one came in the 2002 Insight Bowl, when he returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown to break open the game 24-10 and the Panthers eventually won over Oregon State 38-13. It was actually one of Pitt’s best and biggest wins over the last two decades still, and Robinson had the biggest play in the game.
However, the only highlight we seem to see from that game is of a freshman named Larry Fitzgerald making a ridiculous diving catch in the end zone. That was an incredible play, but it was early in the game and it was only 7-0 at the time. Robinson’s play changed the game and put Pitt on the path to win it, so I always give him a hard time by saying, “Why is it we only see the Larry Fitzgerald catch in the highlights from that game?”
“Well, he is Mr. Hall of Famer after all,” Robinson laughed. “Let me just say this — if I have to take a backseat to someone, it might as well be that guy they call Larry Legend.”
The funny thing is this: Robinson doesn’t have to take a backseat to anyone because he is a winner at everything he has tried and more importantly, he has helped literally thousands of young people figure out how to win at life, as well. That’s just as impressive and far more important than making any Hall of Fame.
First Published: June 17, 2025, 7:09 p.m.Updated: June 17, 2025, 9:57 p.m.