2 Nate Robinsons at UW create campus confusion

By Stuart Eskenazi
Seattle Times staff reporter

JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Nate Robinson, editorial cartoonist for the UW Daily newspaper, plays with ideas.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

Ever since two students named Nate Robinson enrolled at the University of Washington two years ago, one has had to field e-mails and phone calls meant for the other.

One Nate Robinson arguably is the biggest man on campus, despite standing only 5 feet, 9 inches. So admired are his exploits on the basketball court that one fan has launched a Web site — www.naterobinson.com — as "an homage to the greatest pure athlete ever to attend the UW."

The other is an unassuming editorial cartoonist for the Daily, the student newspaper, which publishes his work two or three times a week.

Nate Robinson, athlete Age: 20 High school: Rainier Beach, Class of 2002 Major: American ethnic studies Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Weight: 180 pounds UW varsity letters: 3 Vertical leap: 43 inches Praise: "Arguably the most exciting player in college basketball." — Lorenzo Romar, UW head basketball coach

Guess which one is having to endure the slights of being mistaken for the other?

"The most annoying part of being the other Nate Robinson happens every quarter on the first day of class," cartoonist Nate said. "When the professors are calling roll and they get down to my name, there's this gasping and every person in class turns around to look. Then they realize it's just some white boy sitting there and there's this sigh."

As athlete Nate takes to the Hec Edmundson Pavilion floor tonight for the start of the UW basketball season, cartoonist Nate is preparing for a full-court press. Heightened attention on the Huskies' acrobatic guard means a ratcheting in the number of misdirected e-mails and phone calls.

The UW publishes an online directory of student names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Students can opt out of it. Athlete Nate did. The cartoonist, though, is listed as junior Nathaniel J. Robinson.

Nate Robinson, cartoonist Age: 20 High school: Bellevue, Class of 2002 Major: Political science and communication (journalism) Height: 5 feet, 9 inches Weight: 145 pounds UW varsity letters: 0 Vertical leap: 12 inches Praise: "Arguably one of the best college cartoonists in the country." — Heather Cope, UW Daily editor in chief

"I can take my name off at any time, too, I guess, but I want this charade to continue," said cartoonist Nate, who gets as many as four e-mails a week from the other Nate's fans, detractors, friends, wannabe friends, media folk, solicitors, teachers and tutors.

One fan wanted athlete Nate to sign a jersey. His seventh-grade teacher invited him to speak to her class. Sports Illustrated called the other week to request an interview.

"I get the feeling a lot of teachers simply want to talk to Nate," cartoonist Nate said. "Funny, I've never had a single professor ever e-mail me about anything."

The Nates have never met. Cartoonist Nate never has seen athlete Nate play basketball. Athlete Nate has seen a few of the other Nate's cartoons in the Daily and thinks they're pretty good.

"Everybody asks me on campus if that's me drawing the cartoons," athlete Nate said. "Girls and guys come up to me: 'You're a good artist, too? You're good at everything.' I'm like, 'That's not me!' It's crazy."

	JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Nate Robinson, basketball player for the UW Huskies, plays with abandon.

Cartoonist Nate, the son of an Army colonel who moved around a lot, was penning a comic strip for the Bellevue High School newspaper about a teenaged dork named "Big Ned" at the same time the son of Huskies football legend Jacque Robinson was leading Rainier Beach High School to a Metro League championship in football and the Class 3A state championship in basketball.

Bellevue High jocks knew of the Rainier Beach Nate and kidded their classmate about it.

"Then I read that the other Nate signed a letter-of-intent to play at U-Dub and I figured this was going to be trouble," cartoonist Nate said. "But I really had no idea what I was in for."

When the two entered the UW in 2002, one nervously walked into the Daily and asked the editors if they wanted to publish his "Big Ned" strip. They didn't, but they did assign him an editorial cartoon.

The other rose quickly as a two-sport superhero, an ascent that began with a key interception in the 2002 Apple Cup that sparked a Huskies comeback victory and evolved into status as a crowd favorite at Hec Ed.

	COURTESY OF NATE ROBINSON

By then, cartoonist Nate was finding his niche at the Daily — and learning a lot about what life must be like as athlete Nate. At first, he would reply to seemingly urgent e-mails to let senders know they had reached the wrong Nate. These days, he rarely bothers.

One time, though, cartoonist Nate replied with a high-flying jam worthy of the other Nate.

Fans of the University of Oregon basketball team seethed last season when, during the final seconds of a game in Seattle that the Huskies safely had in hand, athlete Nate streaked down the court and dunked on the Ducks.

An onslaught of e-mails followed, sent unknowingly to the UW's other Nate Robinson.

"There was a lot of cursing," cartoonist Nate said. "One guy threatened my girlfriend."

He replied by thanking the writer for his letter to the Daily and promising it would be published. He never heard from the guy again.

Before practice Wednesday, athlete Nate said he hoped to meet the other Nate one day — and he offered counsel on handling all the misdirected e-mails.

"Hang in there," he said. "Just delete all the bad ones."

Stuart Eskenazi: 206-464-2293 or seskenazi@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...