If they call you “Mr. Western,” you must be a special person. Lee Robertson, who is known by that moniker, is a walking inspiration to the thousands who know him and the thousands who have heard about him. When he turned 100 years old on June 16, 2022, Western Kentucky University hosted a huge celebration for his milestone birthday at its Alumni Center. Hundreds of friends were there, with many traveling from several states. Each of the guests was given an opportunity to have a photo taken with Robertson.
Robertson has achieved about every recognition his alma mater can bestow. After more than six decades of employment at WKU, he continues to show up for work five days a week at the school’s College Heights Foundation office at the edge of campus. “I feel like I’m still productive … have something valuable to say,” Robertson said. “I’m still helping people. When I’m not, I’ll get out of here.”
Prior to working at the foundation, Robertson served as the WKU Alumni Affairs director from 1960-1985. How has he done it day after day, year after year, and decade after decade? “It’s been life in moderation and always being positive inward and outward,” he said.
It doesn’t hurt that good genes run in Robertson’s family. His mother lived to 96, sister Clara passed away at 95, and brother Sam lived to 97. “Dad died in his 70s. He was sick the last four years of his life,” Robertson said.
Donald Smith, president of the College Heights Foundation, sees Robertson on a regular basis. “He has an uncanny ability to remember names, hometowns and stories about each and every person he meets,” Smith said. “There is no doubt that WKU is a better place because of his extraordinary service.”
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Robertson grew up in McLean County, and after his family lost their farm, his dad moved them to Calhoun to find work. “We owed $5,000—a lot of money—and couldn’t pay it,” Robertson said. “Back then, even like families today, we did what we had to do to make it.”
As a youngster, Robertson went by his given first name, June. It wasn’t until high school that he became Lee. “My parents named me June Lee Robertson,” he said. “I was born in June, so they were creative with the name.”
In the late 1930s, basketball was Robertson’s favorite sport, but the high school coach at Calhoun took one look at Robertson and cut him from the team. All these years later, Robertson is quick to say, “He never gave me a chance. Never saw me play. He took one look and said, ‘Robertson, you’re too little.’ ”
He didn’t let his lack of size keep him from becoming a good baseball player.
After graduating in 1941, Robertson didn’t know what his future would be, but Uncle Sam decided for him. “I was drafted in August 1942 and put on a bus to Evansville,” he said. “I saw my first crap game … didn’t know what I was doing … lost $12. I didn’t know anybody, but, before long, I knew everybody.”
As a new inductee in the United States Army, he had stopovers at several posts before boarding a troop ship for combat in World War II. “I was trained as a tank driver with a five-man crew,” Robertson said. “We were headed for New Guinea and then the Philippines. I think it took us about a month on that ship to get there.”
Robertson’s tank battalion fought in the Philippines for two months before liberating the country. “I actually saw Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur wade ashore on his famous return.”
To this day, details of Robertson’s involvement in WWII are deeply etched in his memories, and his ability to recount them in chronological order is spellbinding. “In August 1945, when we dropped the bombs on Japan, it ended much of the war,” he said. “I know it was horrible and killed a lot of people, but had it not happened, we would have lost even more Americans. It was war.”
Four months later, on Dec. 1, 1945, Robertson headed back to the United States. “You got points to come home early based on your age, marriage and kids,” he said. “My age didn’t help, and I wasn’t married or had any kids, so I was one of the last.”
A two-week ship ride landed him in San Diego. From there, it was a troop train to Fort Knox, where on Dec. 23, he was discharged from the Army. Robertson recalled, “As I was completing everything, signing my final papers, they ask me if I wanted to sign up for the reserves. ‘No, thank you. I’ve had enough,’ I said.”
Robertson was going home. He had experienced and seen things any other young man from Calhoun might never have imagined. For several hours, his thoughts were on just getting home again. He traveled by train from Fort Knox to Owensboro, where he boarded a bus for Calhoun, 21 miles away. It was 5 a.m. on Christmas morning when, for Robertson, the war finally was over and he was home. His parents; older brother Sam, who recently had returned from the war; and younger sister Clara were all there. “You could say we had a special Christmas,” he said.
Robertson was spinning his wheels, not knowing what he was going to do after the war, when “a buddy of mine came by and said, ‘Lee, let’s go to college,’ ” he recalled. “College, when I graduated high school, was only for the elite. We had 32 in our class, and only one went to college. So, when he said ‘college,’ I thought he was crazy. But he said there was this thing called the GI Bill. I figured I could do that and get paid $70 a month. We headed to Bowling Green for college.”
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It was the summer of 1946.
By that time, Robertson had become a pretty good left-handed baseball pitcher—good enough to catch the eye of Ed Diddle, who coached both basketball and baseball at WKU. “I was playing for Morgantown in the old Sunday League back then, and Coach Diddle saw me and said he’d like for me to join the Western baseball team.”
Robertson lettered for three years, but—better than that—he got to know Coach Diddle. “He was a psychologist,” Robertson said. “No, he wasn’t trained, but he had a way with words that made you believe you were better than you really were. You wanted to play for him.”
By the fall of 1950, Robertson was a college graduate with a major in physical education and minors in biology and English.
Robertson’s first teaching and coaching job landed him at Park City High School east of Bowling Green. His star basketball player was Van Vance, who went by the nickname of Hawkeye. Vance went on to sportscasting fame in Louisville and was the play-by-play guy for the Kentucky Colonels of the old American Basketball Association.
Two years after Robertson’s stint at Park City, he was at Livermore High School in McLean County. That’s where he became reacquainted with Joyce Bennett, a young lady whose family he had known while he was in high school. They were married in early April 1953 in Calhoun.
Robertson was offered the assistant superintendent position at Barren County Schools in 1957. A year later, he became superintendent and served in that position until 1960.
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In 1960, WKU President Kelly Thompson wanted Robertson to fill a position that would later become the director of Alumni Affairs. It was a pay cut for Robertson, but a desire to work at WKU was motivation enough for him to accept the new job. “I always thought my main purpose was to raise friends for the university,” Robertson has said many times.
His immediate efforts led to the establishment of alumni chapters throughout the nation, with the first outside of Kentucky being in Atlanta. Louisville’s WKU alumni chapter has emerged as the largest. An annual golf scramble sponsored by the chapter carries Robertson’s name, along with that of fellow alum Gary Sundmacker. The event draws numerous golfers, some of whom didn’t attend WKU but have become friends. “I turned 100 on June 16, and on June 27, I played in our Louisville golf tournament,” Robertson said.
As Robertson’s Alumni Affairs role became more important and expanded, newsletters, annual giving funds and magazines followed.
When he retired in 1985, Robertson had become better known at WKU than anyone, including the Big Red mascot, and his absence left a void among thousands of graduates who had come to know him. “Where’s Lee? How’s Lee?” they would ask.
Two years later, he was back. For a short time, he served as the director of WKU’s Glasgow campus, and then for six years, he was the men’s golf coach. WKU President Gary Ransdell then asked Robertson to assist in some major capital fundraising projects.
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A life-size bronze statue of Robertson, unveiled in late 2013, welcomes visitors into the Eva and Jim Martens Alumni Center. It was a crowning career moment for Robertson. “I don’t know that I deserve it, but I’ll appreciate it,” he said. “Everything that’s happened to me at Western has been a highlight.”
For the most part, good health for Robertson has been the norm. There was, however, a brief setback when he broke his hip. “I think it was about 15 years ago,” he remembered. “Joyce and I were leaving a wedding reception at Lost River Cave. A friend grabbed me and asked me to dance one more. Well, we both fell, and I broke my hip. I was sidelined for a while.”
His wife of 69 years, Joyce, has been there waving the red towel right by his side. “We’d go on trips and, rather than go sightseeing, Lee enjoyed just sitting and talking to people,” she said. “Talking to people about Western has been his life.”
“Being here, being active and being around young people keeps me going,” he said. “My spirit for my school makes my life meaningful. It makes me proud.”