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Frank Fitzpatrick, Inquirer Staff Writer Posted: Saturday, February 2, 2013, 2:14 AM

The details of Dave Robinson's life were made for a Hall of Fame plaque.

Superstar athlete. Racial pioneer. Engineering graduate. Character in a Broadway play. Number 1 NFL draft pick. Starter in Super Bowl I.

He played for Vince Lombardi and a young Joe Paterno. Countless teammates won great fame (the legendary 1960s Green Bay Packers) and at least one earned eternal shame (Jerry Sandusky).

But there are two discordant notes in the Mount Laurel native's story, notable holes in his heart and his resum.

One of those could be corrected Saturday in New Orleans, where Robinson waits to learn if, at 71, he has at last been elected to Pro Football's Hall of Fame.

The other isn't so easily remedied. It's the absence of his wife, Elaine, who died in 2007, and without whom, Robinson said, a Hall of Fame honor won't mean nearly as much.

"We spent 50 years together," Robinson said this week. "We dated for six years and were married for 44. I know the Hall of Fame would have meant a great deal to her. That's why I have mixed emotions about it. I'm anxious to see if I get in after all these years, but I'm so sorry she won't be here."

Their devotion was so deep that Robinson said if the NFL hadn't asked him to be in New Orleans for Saturday's pre-Super Bowl Class of 2013 revelation, he'd prefer to have experienced the news at his wife's grave in Cinnaminson.

To many, it's surprising to learn that Robinson hasn't already been enshrined in the Canton Hall, not far from Akron, where he's lived and worked the last several decades.

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South Jersey's Dave Robinson awaits word on Hall of Fame