St. Louis University's Avila has long history with goggles

Although SLU doesn’t have big name opponents, coach Josh Schertz said the schedule is better than some think.

St. Louis University’s Robbie Avila looks to pass at a practice session on Tuesday, June 4, 2024, at Chaifetz Arena.

The rubber lining on Robbie Avila’s goggles was cracked and peeling last season, just as it did so many times from three years of wear and tear.

As usual, he sent them for a quick repair to coach Josh Schertz’s wife, Natalia. She had taped and glued the goggles on many occasions, keeping them in action.

This time, though, Avila had a backup pair that recently had been purchased after he forgot to pack the goggles for an Indiana State road game.

However, Avila wasn’t ready for the new ones.

“I’m superstitious with them,” Avila said. “I’d had that pair since my junior year of high school. I asked Miss Nat to glue them for the next game. She said I could wear the new ones. I said, ‘No, I have to finish the season with these.’”

Avila is breaking in his new goggles at St. Louis University, where he will continue his tradition of wearing the prescription eyewear for sports after transferring from Indiana State. It’s something he has done since he was in second grade.

The 6-foot-10 center has gone through numerous versions since that time and has four with him at SLU. The only pair missing is the one the family dog chewed.

Avila’s problems with his vision from a young age led to a trademark look that firmly took hold last season. He was nicknamed Cream Abdul-Jabbar as a nod to the former NBA great who wore goggles. His image showed up on T-shirts featuring the recognizable specs.

At one point in high school, he wanted to try contact lenses. On his first attempt, he was unable to get them in his eyes. Another visit to the eye doctor was scheduled to try again, but his older brother urged him not to go.

“I had an appointment, but my brother told me, ‘You can’t use contacts. You aren’t you without goggles,’” Avila said. “I’ve stuck with it ever since. I think it’s done me some good.”

Avila’s father, Juan, said his son’s vision was a significant issue from a young age. He was fitted with glasses, and the goggles were first used playing football in second grade. The goggles survived better than the glasses, which Avila broke and had replaced with regularity.

When he broke a pair wrestling with his brother, he was given what might have seemed a punishment. He had to wear the goggles as daily eyewear starting sometime around the sixth grade.

“It was the third pair in a couple of months that he broke,” said his father. “I told him we weren’t spending money on new glasses and that he was wearing the goggles from now on. He embraced it. He didn’t have a choice. He wore them every day for three or four years.”

Avila started wearing goggles in second grade for football — not simply to protect his eyes but because of his sight. He used them the next year when he started playing basketball.

It wouldn’t be until college that the nicknames started. But there were times that opponents scoffed at Avila’s look, his father said, only to be schooled once the game started.

“In AAU, it was more like trash talk,” Juan Avila said. “They’d say, ‘Hey, this guy’s got goggles. He’s got nothing.’ Then he’d make them look silly. Everyone knows he doesn’t fit the prototype, so no one expected it.”

Avila played center and defensive end as he moved through youth football. For his first season, he had to drop 5 pounds to be able to play in his age group, so he was prohibited from eating sugar and drinking soda. Avila barely made weight, and in following years, he played up in age because of his weight.

As a 6-6 high school freshman, he was asked to move to quarterback weeks before the season started. So he ran the triple option for the Oak Forest High junior varsity team. When Avila realized defenses were taking shots at his lower legs, he decided that would be his final year of football.

He already had overcome issues with his sight. He didn’t want an injury to interrupt his basketball development.

Indiana State’s Robbie Avila, right, looks to shoot as he’s pressured by Missouri State’s N.J. Benson in a quarterfinal game of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Friday, March 8, 2024, at Enterprise Center. Avila transferred to St. Louis University for the upcoming season.

After he started playing extensively as a freshman at Indiana State, the school gave out 3,000 pair of goggles at a game. Avila recognized that his look had reached new heights of popularity.

“That’s when I thought, ‘Wow, it’s becoming a thing,’” he said. “I saw so many people in the crowd wearing the same eyewear. In pregame, the whole team had them on along with the coaches. It freaked me out at first, but then I realized the goggles were kind of my thing.”

It was during his sophomore year that Avila came to national prominence. Indiana State was winning at a significant rate and earned a national ranking as he averaged 17.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

In the midst of one trip, Avila realized he had left the goggles at home in his locker. Natalia Schertz planned to attend and travel on game day. So she got into his locker and delivered the goggles.

That’s when the spare pair was ordered, only to wait for use when he arrived at SLU. They’ll be unveiled when Avila plays his first game for the Billikens.

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College reporter

Although SLU doesn’t have big name opponents, coach Josh Schertz said the schedule is better than some think.