Oscar Robertson: All-star entrepreneur

Oscar Robertson’s basketball stats are impressive: 12-time NBA all-star, career average of 26 points a game, nearly 10,000 assists, making him one of the best all-around athletes ever to play in the NBA. His record as an entrepreneur is pretty good, too, but not nearly as well-known: founder of three businesses, including the leading minority-owned speciality chemical manufacturer in the country, Orchem Corp. He’ll need to make room in his trophy case for a Lifetime Achievement Award for Entrepreneurship, just awarded by the Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research at the University of Cincinnati. Robertson’s a University of Cincinnati grad who played most of his career with the old Cincinnati Royals.  He founded Orchem in 1981 in the Cincinnati suburb of Fairfield, providing cleaning and sanitizing chemicals to a variety of industries.

Charles Matthews, executive director of UC’s E-Center, recalls meeting Robertson 25 years ago at a UC event and hearing about his then-fledgling business. “I have been following his entrepreneurial journey ever since,” Matthews says. “Most folks look at Mr. Robertson and see one of the all-time great basketball players,” Matthews says. “When I look at him, I see one of the all-time great entrepreneurs.” The Big O’s portfolio of businesses also includes Oscar Robertson Solutions, which provides document management and administration, print management, knowledge management, facilities management and staffing, and Oscar Robertson Foods, which makes processed meat sold mainly to military bases.

Writer: David Holthaus
Source: Charles Matthews, University of Cincinnati