TCA’s Robinson stays close to home to join Union golf

Trace Robinson sat quietly at the table in the chapel at Trinity Christian Academy on Tuesday, Nov. 29, as the school’s athletic director, Dexter Williams, told a crowd of about 100 friends and family gathered what he thought about Trace.

Williams said he’s everything you’d want a young man from TCA to be and a great competitor on the court.

Trace’s father and high school golf coach, Phillip Robinson, nearly made it through discussing his son’s attributes and accolades before having to pause for a moment as the emotion of the day got to him.

“I’m just so proud of you, son, for what you’ve accomplished and what you become,” the elder Robinson said. “And I hope you keep God at the front of everything you do in life.”

It was Trace who had to break the tension of the moment when it was his turn to speak. He spoke and talked for a couple minutes to thank everyone who’d helped him get to this point.

Trace Robinson was about to sign his national letter of intent to play college golf at nearby Union University.

Union coach Ryan Chandler was quoted by Williams as saying he saw everything he needed to see from Trace when he went to a TCA basketball game and saw the way he competes on the floor.

“If you’ve been to one of our games, you know you can’t miss Trace, he’s all over the place,” said Williams, who’s also the school’s boys’ basketball coach. “And someone who competes like that on the court will be a competitor in everything he does, and Trace does that.”

Trace’s long list of accolades included qualifying for the state tournament every year he played varsity golf for the Lions, moving up the leader board each year before finishing in the final group this past season.

“That was one thing I was proud of was to show that I and TCA can compete on a statewide level,” Trace said. “This last year playing at state, I was playing in a group with a couple of guys who signed to play with some big schools, and I felt like by the end of the day I’d proven I could play with them.”

Union’s roster is made mostly of players from across Tennessee, and Trace already has two former teammates playing for the Bulldogs – TCA graduates Will Brown and Garrett McCraw. He said having them there played into the choice to stick with Union.

“I had offers from a few other schools, but I didn’t want to go too far from home,” Trace said. “I play every so often with Will and Garrett, and they’d ask me sometimes if I knew where I was going yet.

“They told me about playing at Union for Coach Chandler, and I’m looking forward to that. I’m just glad to be able to keep playing golf. Playing college golf has been a dream of mine for a long time.” Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news