Knicks’ center Mitchell Robinson dishes out heart-warming assist to his Chalmette High coach

Forget about those 2,538 rebounds or the 602 blocked shots Mitchell Robinson has recorded in his six seasons playing for the New York Knicks. 

This is the story about a Robinson assist, one that won’t show up on any stat sheet. 

The date was September 16, 2023.

Butch Stockton was making one of the toughest walks he’d ever have to make, straight down the aisle of the St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home. The occasion was the funeral for Stockton’s wife Dawn, who lost her brief battle with metastatic cancer three days before.   

“I’ll never forget walking down that aisle for my wife’s funeral,” Stockton said. “Mitchell put his arms around me and said ‘Coach, don’t worry about nothing. I got you.’”

Robinson proved to be a man of his word. 

Robinson played for Stockton at Chalmette High School, a man among boys during his two seasons playing for the Owls after moving to Louisiana from Florida. One of the life lessons Robinson remembers Stockton teaching him was a simple one: “Follow your heart.” 

Their bond was strong during Robinson’s playing days. It has tightened even more since Robinson graduated in 2017 before getting drafted a year later in the second round. Six years later, that bond is unbreakable, about as tight as it could possibly be after the two became roommates in New York after Mrs. Stockton’s death.

“Coach is like a grandpa to me,” Robinson said. “There was no way in hell I could let this man just stay down here by himself. He had just lost someone. I didn’t want him here by himself. I know he sees me as a son or grandson or whatever. It was going to be tough (for him) after being married for 30 years. I can only imagine how it feels.”

Stockton still gets teary-eyed when he mentions Dawn. She would call him before every game and wish him good luck and call again after every game and ask “Did we win?”

The answer was usually “yes.” Stockton, afterall, is approaching 800 career victories.

Dawn was an avid New Orleans Saints’ fan. She was also a huge Mitchell Robinson fan. Robinson was just as much a fan of hers. When she was hospitalized in late August, Robinson was the first one to visit. On one of those visits, she told Robinson about how she planned to come see him play when the Knicks visited New Orleans to play the Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center.

“I knew in my mind that she probably wouldn’t get to,” Stockton said.

Stockton decided to step away from coaching after his wife’s death.

“Under the circumstances, I just needed to get away from it for a while,” he said.

So he took Robinson up on his offer. Stockton, who had only lived in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi where he was born and raised, packed his bags and headed to the East Coast.

And just like that, a modern day version of the TV series The Odd Couple was born. 

One black. One white.

A 7-foot guy from Generation Z and a 5-foot-something Baby Boomer, living together in Katonah, New York. They shared a love for basketball. And now they shared the same address. Two men born and raised in the South now living an hour away and from the bright lights and hectic pace of New York City. 

“I don’t even know how I get my truck through that traffic like that,” Robinson said. “It’s crazy. It’s different. I’m making the best of it and having fun and going out there and doing my thing.”

His roommate/high school coach is making the best of it, too.  

Stockton attended all but one Knicks’ home game this past season. He has met some of Madison Square Garden’s most faithful citizens, including Knicks’ fanatics Spike Lee and Tracy Morgan. Stockton’s seats are in the tenth row, just two rows behind the mother of Knicks’ star guard Jalen Brunson. The seats are in the familiy section, which shouldn’t come as a surprise because Robinson considers Stockton family.

““I can make sure he is good because he did that for me all those years,” Robinson said. “Without him, I probably wouldn’t even be here.”

The two of them were back in Chalmette on Monday at the Val Riess Sports Complex where Robinson’s MR23 Foundation held a free basketball camp for kids. Pouring back into the city that poured so much into him is important to Robinson. 

“As soon as I got to (Chalmette when I was in high school), they treated me like family,” Robinson said. “So I just try to give back. … These kids, you can give them a dream, give them hope.”

Robinson’s story has been an inspirational one around NBA circles, although they never planned for it to be. The story drew headlines in late November when Stockton mentioned it during an in-game interview with a Madison Square Garden sideline reporter.

Robinson, who was busy helping the Knicks beat the Pistons that night, was unaware of the interview. By the time he got to the locker room after the game, his cell phone was going off non-stop and he had no idea why.

“I didn’t know if I did something bad or good or what,” Robinson said. “Then I saw things saying stuff like ‘Mitch is a class act.’ … It’s pretty cool to get recognized for your good heart. But that was never my intention to let it get out there.”

Things are starting to get back to normal for Robinson and Stockton. Both are healing. Robinson is recovering from an ankle injury. Stockton is mending a broken heart.

“The only thing I wish is that it was under different circumstances, where my wife could experience this,” Stockton said. “… She’d be the happiest person in the world, just seeing how Mitchell turned out.”

Stockton plans to return to coaching at Chalmette High this season, when he will likely get win No. 800. 

Robinson, meanwhile, is hoping this is the year the Knicks, with all their offseason acquisitions, can reach the NBA Finals. They last reached the Finals iin 999 when Robinson was a 1-year old. Now Robinson has a soon-to-be 1-year old of his own. His daughter Riley, who he carried in his arms as he made his way from one basketball court to another at Monday’s camp, will celebrate her first birthday Sunday.

“It’s amazing,” Robinson said about being a new dad. “Seeing her smile and her energy. That is me right there. Always happy. Living life.”

All while making sure his high school coach is happy and living life, too.