Carroll Bennett Robinson was born in Columbia, South Carolina, April 11, 1941. From age nine; he grew up at the Presbyterian Home for Children in Black Mountain, NC. (At nine, he changed his name to Joe from Joe Bazooka Bubblegum wrapper).

In high school he played football, basketball, baseball and track. He held the shot and discus record for his school. He lettered all four years in football, basketball and track. He also was active in Church and was the Moderator of Asheville Presbytery. He was also president for three years and president of the student body his senior year. He received a full football grant with Jim Tatum at UNC, where he played running back and lettered for two years. He was also high scorer at the Gator Bowl against the Air Force in a 35-0 win; UNC’s first bowl victory. After
graduation, he became assistant football coach at Wilson Fike, where he also and started the wrestling team.

He returned to Carolina for a masters’ degree, but was drafted by the Army, where he headed up special services for 140,000 troops in Maryland, training them in football, basketball and softball.

After service duty, Joe coached VMI freshmen and returned to complete his masters’ degree at UNC. There, he coached the freshman team in football before being defensive line coach at Duke before becoming wide receiver coach at Virginia. In 1973, Joe became the Westminster High School head coach in Atlanta for football and golf. His football team won the state championship in 1978 for all divisions and he was named coach of the year for Georgia. He then became athletic director and football coach at Episcopal High School, and in 1984, his team won the IAC state championship in Virginia.

In 1985, Joe went back to UNC as the Director of Recruiting under John Swofford (athletic director) and Dick Crum (head football coach) and head coach Mack Brown. Joe was instrumental in moving the high school football playoffs to college campuses, hosting the first at Kenan Stadium.

Joe became a Hall of Fame recipient for Charles B. Owen High School in Black Mountain, N.C.

The last few years, Joe has spent in private business in Wilmington. He has been on the board of the Greater Wilmington Sports Hall of Fame for over 13 years and works with the golf tournament. He has organized the 1963 Gator Bowl Reunion several times in Chapel Hill. He was honored at Westminster in 2015 by having a film about him directed by his granddaughter Cate Davis. The name of the film was: Touchdown for Hope”.