Robert Khayat excelled in football, basketball and baseball at Moss Point. He then starred in football and was named All-SEC in baseball at Ole Miss, playing in the baseball College World Series and the college football All-Star game against the NFL Champion Baltimore Colts. As a placekicker, Robert led the nation in scoring by a kicker for two years at Ole Miss, then was drafted in the NFL and represented Washington in the 1961 Pro Bowl.

Later in life, Khayat served as President of the NCAA Foundation and then as Chancellor of the University of Mississippi. He is enshrined in the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame and the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, and was named to the Ole Miss Team of the Century.