Class of 1992
Robert Dandridge
Sport : Basketball : Norfolk State University
Bobby Dandridge is a native of Richmond, Virginia and attended Maggie Walker High School from 1962 to 1965. He also attended Norfolk State University from 1965 to 1969 and was a record-setting basketball player who went to stardom in the professional ranks. While attending Norfolk State University, he was selected as All Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) from 1967 to 1969 and was chosen as CIAA Tournament Most Valuable Player in 1968. Sports announcers and color analysts used Dandridge as the model to measure the performances of other forwards. With the ImpressionÕs theme song ÒWeÕre A WinnerÓ often playing in the background as the Spartans took the court, ÒPickÓ, as he was often called by teammates, helped the Spartans finish the season as the nationÕs number one scoring team, which averaged 110 points per game in 1969 (his senior year). The Spartans were 21-4 that season marking Norfolk StateÕs first appearance in Sports Illustrated Magazine.
He was selected as a fourth-round draft choice by the Milwaukee Bucks and enjoyed an eight-year journeyman career with them. He became a three-time NBA All-Star with the BucksÕ and a member of their 1972 NBA World Championship Team which included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robinson.
Dandridge signed with the Washington Bullets and played with them for four years. While playing with the Washington BulletsÕ he was an NBA All-Star and a member of their 1978 NBA Championship Team.
After serving a total of 12 years in the NBA, Dandridge continued in basketball as an assistant coach for Hampton University from 1987 to 1992. He maintains a home in Norfolk and currently develops youth programs and believes that we as adults must be the example of leadership for our youth. Constantly, he stresses the importance of receiving a good education to all youths.
A renown basketball camp facilitator and clinician, Dandridge often wooed aspiring hoop hopefuls by telling a defender where he would take him on the floor, where he would shoot from, and all the while informing his incredulous opponent that there was absolutely nothing he could do short of fouling him to keep him from making his patented jump shot.