Robinson grew up on the South Side of Chicago, where his mother was a secretary and his father, who battled multiple sclerosis, worked for the city in the water filtration department. At the strong urging of his father, he resisted overtures from major conference teams like the University of Washington and Purdue University to attend Princeton.

At a family gathering during his senior year of high school, Robinson said he wanted to attend Washington. A day later, Robinson admitted to his father that his main reason for choosing Washington over Princeton was that he would receive a full scholarship with the Huskies.

“If you pick your school based on how much you have to pay, I’ll be very disappointed,” Robinson recalled his father telling him.

“My parents were always clear,” said Michelle Obama, who followed her brother to Princeton. “They always told us that you go to the best school and don’t worry about money.”

Robinson went to Princeton. A 6-foot-6 forward, Robinson developed into a two-time Ivy League player of the year (1982 and ’83) under the Tigers’ longtime coach, Pete Carril. Robinson was drafted in the fourth round by the Philadelphia 76ers, then played professionally in England for two seasons before returning to the United States. He decided he wanted to be a teacher and a coach, but Carril talked him out of it.

So Robinson returned to Chicago and received a master’s of business administration in finance from the University of Chicago. He was a vice president at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter from 1992 to 1999 and then a partner in a boutique firm, Loop Capital Markets.

But his six-bedroom house, closet full of tailored suits and driveway filled with luxury cars did not translate to happiness. “I’m so embarrassed to admit it,” Robinson said. “I had a Porsche 944 Turbo. I had a BMW station wagon. Who gets a BMW station wagon? It’s the dumbest car in the world. Why would you buy a $75,000 station wagon?”