By Jonah Broos
For years, Sun Devil Athletics has listed the first triple-double in Sun Devil Basketball history as one recorded by the great Ryneldi Becenti in 1992.
Becenti was a prolific scorer and playmaker. The two-time All-American honorable mention played professional basketball overseas and was the first women’s basketball player to have her number retired by Sun Devil Basketball. She played in the Phoenix Mercury’s inaugural season and remains the only women’s basketball player in the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. She is truly one of the greatest Sun Devils of all time across all sports.
For all of Becenti’s truly noteworthy accomplishments, her triple-double in 1992 wasn’t the Sun Devils’ first.
The first triple-double was five years earlier in 1987, against Washington, by Robin Butler, then Robin Connolly. Butler actually knew about her achievement and the oversight as early as 2012, but only recently did she alert others (and did it in a nice, efficient and polite manner).
Meet Robin Butler
So, who is this mysterious first triple-double scorer, Robin Butler?
Robin Butler grew up in Cottonwood, Arizona. Her ties to basketball were immediate, growing up in what she calls a “basketball family.”
“I had brothers who were stars on their team, and I had a dad who coached girls' basketball for years,” Butler recalled, “I was really interested in basketball from a very young age. We had a court in our driveway. I can still remember that I was about four or five years old when I made my first basket on that. It was a granny shot, but it made me so happy.”
Butler played on a boys’ team in the fifth and sixth grades before playing for her dad, and then winning an Arizona State AA Championship at Mingus Union.
“In fifth and sixth grade, they didn’t have a girls’ basketball team back then, so I played on the boys’ team,” Butler said. “That was pretty fun. Then, in seventh and eighth grade, my dad was my coach. That was hard, but it was fun. In high school, I had a very good coach, Bill Thompson, who led us to a state championship my senior year.”
According to Butler, Thompson was instrumental in preparing her for the next level.
“He taught me a lot, and he knew how to work with the college coaches and where to play me instead of playing me inside,” Butler explained. “He played me as a guard where I would flourish when I went on to the next level.”
Butler stood out on the volleyball court in high school as well, and her decision to come to Arizona State came down to a choice between spikes or jumpshots.
“It kind of came down to whether I'd go to BYU and play volleyball or ASU and play basketball,” Butler recalled. “I chose basketball just because that was kind of more ingrained in the fiber of my being.”
Arizona State was immediately a good fit for Butler.
“Coach Simpson was the coach. I learned a lot from her and from my teammates and from the coaching staff,” said Butler. “They did a great job. About halfway through my freshman year, I broke into the starters. I started from then on, and just had a really, really good career there. I'm very grateful for that time.”
What type of player and teammate was Butler? Butler’s former ASU teammate and roommate, Stephanie Norman, returned to her alma mater in April 2025 as associate head coach and director of basketball strategy. She’s complimentary of Butler’s abilities.
“Robin was really an all-around player in terms of her abilities,” said Norman. “She was a tall wing player, she could handle the ball, and she could definitely shoot it. She was strong, agile, and she had a really good skill set because she could score at all three levels. She could hit an outside shot; she could put it on the floor. She was good in transition, so yeah, she could fill it up, and she was just a good all-around player. She rebounded, and she facilitated the break; you didn't always have to get it to the point guard. She could bring it up, and she was long at her position, so it allowed her to play above-average defense.”
As a teammate?
“She was a great teammate,” Norman recalled. “She was goofy; she had a quiet sense about her, but at the same time, she sort of led by example. She wasn’t like a rah-rah vocal person, but she always had little snide remarks and comments, and really kind of led by what she did on the court.”
Butler’s senior year, the team took a trip north to play Washington and Washington State. She scored a career-high 30 against Washington State and followed it up with 16 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds in an upset win against Washington.
“That was a really good week for me, kind of my highlight of my career, you would say,” Butler explained. “The wins were awesome because they were two really, really good teams, and we upset both of them. That's what I remember the most.”
Butler doesn’t remember putting much thought into the first Sun Devil triple-double until the following weeks.
“It was fun to have my career high and a triple-double, but honestly, I did not even know what a triple-double was at that point,” Butler recalled. “It was the first time I'd ever heard of it. It just kind of went in one ear and out the other. I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, sweet.’ It wasn't until probably the next week, when it came out, that I was Pac-10 Player of the Week. Then USA Today mentioned it in their article, and the Arizona Republic, and even Sports Illustrated. I was like, 'Oh sweet, maybe this is a bigger deal than I thought.'”
After she graduated, Butler taught elementary school and coached in Tucson for 10 years before focusing on her family.
“During that time when I was teaching, I got my master's degree and also got married,” Butler recalled. “We started a family. After 10 years of teaching, I decided to stay home with my two-year-old boy. From then on, I was a mom. I have a son and two daughters, and they're the love of my life along with my husband. A few years after that, we moved to Utah. My husband got a job here, and so we've been here ever since. Now I transport my kids to and from school and to their athletic events and to different field trips, and stuff like that. That's what I'm doing now. It's fun.”
Butler realized that she wasn’t credited with the triple-double twelve years ago, seeing Becenti being celebrated for the feat on Facebook.
“I was like, ‘wait a second,’” said Butler. “‘That was in 1992, and mine was in 1987.’ Mad respect for the player and for the person.”
Butler saw word of the 50-year reunion for Sun Devil Women’s Basketball in September, where she was urged to reach out to Norman regarding the statistical error.
“To get us all together was really fun,” said Butler. “I received pretty strong prompting to reach out about this. Since it was somebody that I had a personal connection with, (I thought) maybe this was the right timing for it to be addressed and corrected.”
Norman was more than happy to help correct the decades-old mistake.
“I was like, ‘Girl, don't worry about it,’” recalled Norman. “‘We're gonna get this right because not only is it proper, I was there and I witnessed it. It's pretty cool to be able to fill up a stat sheet like that. I remember when she got it, and it was a pretty stinking awesome accomplishment.”
Sun Devil Athletics was quick to correct its statistical error. Doug Tammaro, Sun Devil Athletics’ Senior Associate Athletic Director of Media Relations, noted that a strong tie to its alumni was paramount in spurring the department to correct the mistake.
“The credit goes to our alumni association in the first place for putting together such a wonderful event with this 50th anniversary luncheon,” said Tammaro. “Because of that event, Robin was reached out to in a very efficient way.”
“It's great that we hired an alum (like Norman),” Tammaro explained. “When you hire an alum, connections are made. She felt comfortable enough to tell someone, but she didn't want to tell anybody because she certainly didn't want to distract from Rinaldi's career.”
The department is happy to uncover a lost piece of their history and celebrate an alumnus who made their mark in Tempe.
“I don't know what happened 30 years ago that someone missed it,” Tammaro noted. “I'm just glad that we're going to be able to correct it and publicize her for this wonderful thing, because it truly is.”
While it remains unclear as to how this statistical mishap withstood the test of time, Sun Devil Athletics is excited to celebrate a recovered piece of its storied history.