LaMont" ShowBoat" Robinson the founder of the American Basketball Hall of Fame was born in Cleveland, Ohio on July 23, 1961, to his parents Clarence and Dolores Robinson, who raised him in the city of  Warrensville Heights, Ohio from the age of 5 years old. As a child, he was told he could be anything he wanted to be as long as he worked hard and kept God 1st. ShowBoat did just that and it has paid off. 

The 6’2” Robinson, a playground legend who had a 40-inch and vertical jump who played at Warrensville and Jeannette High School, went on after high school to Kankakee Junior College in (Illinois), where his team was 30-2 ranked third in the nation. Then he moved on to play at Central State University in Wilberforce (Ohio).

ShowBoat went on to play basketball professionally in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1987 as well as the Long Island Knights of the USBL in 1988 and the Columbus Horizon of the CBA. In 1989 he traveled to Russia with the Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals.

 In addition to playing with Harlem Globetrotter great Meadowlark Lemon (“The Clown Prince of Basketball”) for 10 years as his player/coach for Lemon's two teams. Showboat has played and traveled to over 75 countries and has played in over 3,500 games. 

ShowBoat is hailed as the modern-day “Comedy King of Basketball, he has” visited schools all over the world with his impact program, “Say No to Drugs, Yes to Life and Family.

After playing 28 consecutive years and owning two barnstorming basketball teams the Harlem Roadkings and the Harlem Clowns, Showboat was inducted into the American Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2019 and he has been nominated 5 times to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame from 2018-2022 as the only non-NBA player to be nominated as a player.