John Robinson inducted into College Football Hall of Fame

Reporting from South Bend, Ind. — Former USC coach John Robinson, Stanford wide receiver Ken Margerum and Cal Lutheran linebacker Brian Kelley were among the 24 inductees to the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

“I was very lucky to go to USC; we had good players. We were expected to win, but we had the opportunity to win,” said Robinson, who had two stints as USC coach. “The thing I remember the most is my first year. I started out …I was an unknown selection. And I lost the first game, badly. But then we won all the rest of them and went to the Rose Bowl and played a great Michigan team, [coached by] Bo Schembechler. And Bo and I got to be very good friends. Just that year, particularly, stands out.”

Robinson had a 132-77-4 record as head coach of USC and Nevada Las Vegas.

In 1978, Robinson led USC to a 12-1 record and a co-national championship with Alabama after winning the Rose Bowl. He became the Trojans coach in 1976 and led USC to five Pacific 10 Conference championships.

His Trojans made eight bowl appearances, posting a 7-1 record with three Rose Bowl victories. His overall bowl record of 8-1 ranks first all-time in bowl winning percentage (.888).

Robinson was national coach of the year in 1979 and was twice named Pac-10 coach of the year (1976, 1978). He coached two Heisman Trophy winners: Charles White and Marcus Allen, a Lombardi Award winner, Brad Budde, and 18 first-team All-Americans.

“My family is here, friends are here. John Madden, who I grew up with, was coming, but he has an illness in his family and couldn’t come,” Robinson said. “So all of the people who kind of mean a lot to you kind of gather around, pat you on the back, and say, ‘Nice going, Dad.’”

This year’s Hall of Fame class also included Pervis Atkins ( New Mexico State), Tim Brown (Notre Dame), Troy Brown (Marshall), Chuck Cecil (Arizona), Ed Dyas (Auburn), Major Harris (West Virginia), Gordon Hudson ( Brigham Young), William Lewis (Harvard), Woodrow Lowe (Alabama), Steve McMichael (Texas), Milt Morin (Massachusetts), Chris Spielman ( Ohio State), Larry Station ( Iowa), Pat Swilling (Georgia Tech), Gino Torretta (Miami), Curt Warner (Penn State) and Grant Wistrom (Nebraska).

Margerum, a two-time consensus All-American (1979-80) at Stanford, was in South Bend on Saturday but missed the induction ceremony because he was ill.

Drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1981, Margerum played seven years in the NFL, including a stint with the 49ers. He won a Super Bowl ring with the 1985 Bears.

Kelley, who went on to play 10 years for the New York Giants, was a star linebacker with the 1971 NAIA champion Kingsmen and was credited with 17 career interceptions.

“I am pretty flattered to be around guys like Tim Brown and Chris Spielman … guys from the major colleges,” Kelley said. “I am happy that the Hall of Fame — I think it was about 10 years ago — started putting the lower divisional schools in.

“I am flattered for myself, but I am also flattered for my school, California Lutheran University. Here’s a school, when I was there, maybe had 1,200 students. I feel more happy for them than me, believe it or not.”

In addition to Robinson, other coaches inducted were Dick MacPherson, Willie Jeffries and Ted Kessinger.

fmitchell@tribune.com