University of Minnesota Athletics
Black History Month: Linda Roberts
2/15/2021 9:32:00 AM | Women's Basketball, M Club
Written by Charles Hallman, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Linda Roberts (1977-81) is Minnesota's first female basketball superstar.
It took nearly two decades after the St. Paul-born Roberts' playing career concluded for the school she helped put on the women's college basketball map in the late 1970s, in the waning years of the pre-NCAA era to really recognize her accomplishments.
On January 15, 2006, Roberts became the first Black female basketball player to have her jersey hoisted in the Williams Arena rafters. Roberts was the first of 11 St. Paul Central graduates to sign to play basketball for the Gophers, two years after she led Central to the first Minnesota Class AA girls' basketball tournament in her junior year (1976) and a repeat appearance in the 1977 state tournament.
Then wearing Maroon and Gold, Roberts stood tall in her full coiffed Afro, controlled both ends of the court, and voted three times as team MVP. She led the Gophers to a school-record 28 wins in her senior year, and consecutive trips to the AIAU National Tournament, the forerunner of the NCAA. She became the first of six Black female players to score 1,000 or more points for her career (1,856) and became Minnesota's all-time leading scorer finishing her Gopher career with a 38-5 home record.
She still today hold the school record for most free throws attempted (25) and most free throws made (21) in a game (1979), and free throws attempted; and in the top ten in several statistical categories: 3rd in career starts, 6th in total points, 7th in shot attempts, 8th in made field goals, 9th in scoring average (14.4 ppg).
Roberts still is the Gophers' all-time rebounder (1,413) and second in rebounds average (11.0) and she also was Minnesota's first two-time Wade Trophy finalist (1980 and 1981).
After college, Roberts briefly played pro ball with Minnesota Phillies, then she embarked on an administrative career, beginning in the Hubert Humphrey Job Corp., then returned to her alma mater in 1992, and became the school's first Black female administration assistant, where Roberts served until the men's and women's athletics merged in 2002. She remained in the merged department and directed several programs for student-athletes for 27 years.
Soon after I began my three-decade stint as Gopher women's basketball beat writer, we wondered aloud and often why haven't Roberts been more recognized. It took consistent writing efforts over the course of several years by the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder to finally convince school officials to rightly honor her.
Number 21 now prominently hangs alongside teammate Laura Coonan, Shudlick, Whalen, Banham and Janel McCarville in the Barn. Providing whatever assistance we could to see Roberts watch her jersey go up that January afternoon is as much memorable as her remarkable career.
She deserves her honor of being Minnesota's first female basketball superstar.