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Mike Roberson '87 |
Mike Roberson ’87 was a four-year starter and two-time co-captain of R-MC’s football team, but his involvement on campus wasn’t limited to the football field.
“I also played for a year on the lacrosse team, worked as treasurer of the R-MC barbell club, enjoyed intramural sports, was a member of Kappa Sigma and attended Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church,” says the Hampton, Virginia native.
The
psychology major recalls his first impression of R-MC. “I met the late football coach Ted Keller and Mrs. Stephens, the wife of retired coach Hugh Stephens, and they were both so genuine I felt comfortable right away,” he says. “R-MC was smaller than other campuses that I visited, and that put me at ease. I felt like I could fit in and not get lost in the shuffle.”
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Roberson was recruited to play football and baseball by Gregg Waters, who was the head baseball coach at the time, and he originally set his sights on a biology major, “but after a year, and with the guidance of Professor Elsa Falls (now retired), I made the switch to psychology,” he says. “My sister was a psychology major at VCU and she thought it was a good match for my personality.”
For Roberson, a liberal arts education at R-MC provided the tools needed to face career and personal challenges. “You know you can adjust to most environments and relate to people by being able to find common ground,” he says. “Throughout my career in human resources management and in my current job as director of client development at a staffing firm, I have established meaningful relationships by showing empathy and addressing the needs of individuals and organizations. I realize it is important to know your weaknesses as well as your strengths.”
Roberson especially appreciated the one-on-one attention that he received from the professors in R-MC’s psychology department. “One of my favorite professors was L. Terry Winegar,” he says. “We would talk sports, but he would always bring the conversation back around to applying the knowledge that I had acquired in the classroom.”
Roberson was elected senior class representative, something he remembers fondly. “I was self-conscious of my handwriting, so I got a classmate (Bruce ‘Snowball’ Walker ’87) to help with my posters,” he says. “The slogan was a bit corny, but it worked: ‘A leader on and off the field.’ Everyone chuckled, but they still voted for me!”
The gregarious Roberson regrets that one of his favorite R-MC experiences was not captured on film. “I played Clarence Clemons from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band in an ‘air band’ contest,” he says. “We won two years in a row!”
Roberson also remembers a particularly thrilling football game, during which he intercepted a pass on the first play from scrimmage and returned it for a touchdown against Maryville College. “It was a nose guard’s dream,” he says. “Our team trainer during my first two football seasons was Charlie Russo. If you said, ‘Hey, Charlie, my shoulder hurts when I reach,’ his response was, ‘then don’t do that!’ That was yet another lesson in learning to adapt to every situation.”
Roberson and his wife of 20 years, Loralyn Davis Roberson ’85, whom he met at R-MC, live in Henrico County with their two sons, M.J. and Jacob. Roberson stays connected to R-MC by assisting with freshmen orientation and events sponsored by the Career Center and the Alumni Office. “I have been on the nominating committee and the executive committee of the Society of Alumni, the 20-year reunion planning committee and I try to attend as many events as possible,” he says. “In particular, I have really enjoyed the Richmond Macon Connection alumni events at the Jefferson Hotel. It’s great to be able to meet current students as well as network with alumni and friends of the college.”