“We have some fun times, and we get to know each other,” said Lewis, a computer science major from Denver. “That’s good because we all have different backgrounds.”

But still, “it’s a big disadvantage not having a place to practice,” said Precious Thompson, a biology/pre-med major from Callaway. She has been playing since she was 4, and she is the top player among the women.

The team isn’t asking for much, said Lenell Johnson, a mass communications major from Chicago.

“Just a three-hole course,” she said. “That would do.”

Justin Thomas and Wade Watson, both of whom average around 85, are also from Chicago.

Chicago is where Robinson spent six years before coming back home to Mississippi in January 2001.

A Marks native, Robinson went to Southern Mississippi hoping to play baseball after playing at Quitman High, where his coach was current Vicksburg High Principal Don Taylor and his father, Erly Robinson, was principal.

That didn’t work out and he wound up at Tougaloo as a chemistry major.

He went to work as a chemist for Unichema in Chicago and started substitute teaching for extra money at Agricultural/Science High, where his mother is still a teacher.

After the chemistry teacher quit, he was asked to come on board full-time.

Shortly after that, the baseball coach quit, and he took over that role, too.

He eventually started up a basketball program and went 56-17 and finished second in the city championships, then started a golf program and became the first predominantly black school to win a city championship.

“Everybody was pretty surprised by that,” said Thomas, a freshman political science major.

“We were honored by the Rainbow-Push Coalition and met Jesse Jackson … .”

Alcorn President Clinton Bristow was impressed, too. He met Robinson at a scholarship dinner in Chicago, told him about Alcorn’s plans to build a practice facility and course through the First Tee Program and offered him a job on the spot.

“I looked at it as a great opportunity to coach at the collegiate level,” Robinson said.

He hit the ground running.

“Tony was the first guy I went to,” he said.

He got some tips for recruiting and got the players there and set his sights on Jackson State, which is the “cream of the crop” in the SWAC, like it was in tennis before Dodgen arrived.

He’s made strides, taking advantage of the 10.5 scholarships (4.5 for men, 6 for women) and minority scholarship opportunities for non-blacks to attract better players.

“We need that fourth guy to shoot in the 70s” to win the SWAC and earn a berth in the NCAA regionals, Robinson said.

He’s made strides, helping the team drop from a 394 average last year to 311 this year.

But there’s one obstacle Robinson has that Dodgen didn’t.

“We’re the only sport that has to travel to practice,” he said.

“Under the circumstances, I’m very happy with what we’ve accomplished.”

The team could be even better, said McMillan, who turned down offers from Virginia, Oregon, Grand Canyon and Sam Houston because of the “great scholarship” Alcorn offered.

“I’ve dropped off since I’ve been here,” he said. “I’ve been leading twice, but didn’t finish it off because I’m not getting to practice.

“If we had somewhere to practice more, everyone would be three or four strokes better.

We haven’t come close to reaching our potential.”