He spent two years playing semi-professional football for integrated teams in leagues in Hawaii and California before being drafted into the U.S. He accepted a job as an athletic administrator, but his dreams remained focused on the field of play. Jackie ultimately left college in the spring of his senior year, just a few credits short of his graduation. More to History: The Father of Negro League Baseball Jackie Robinson in the U.S. Jackie also met his future wife, Rachel, while at UCLA.ĭid you know? In 1997, 50 years after Robinson integrated baseball, his number, 42, was permanently retired by every team in Major League Baseball. There, he became the first Bruin to earn varsity letters in four sports - the same four in which he starred in high school - and he won the NCAA long jump championship in 1940. Following the death of another older brother, Frank, in a motorcycle accident, Jackie decided to honor his memory by enrolling at UCLA in 1939. His older brother Mack, a silver medalist in track and field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, inspired him to pursue his interest in athletics, and the younger Robinson ultimately earned varsity letters in baseball, basketball, football and track while at Muir.Īfter graduating high school, Jackie attended Pasadena Junior College for two years, where he continued to have success in all four sports. That began to change when Jackie enrolled at John Muir High School in 1935. Though Pasadena was a fairly affluent suburb of Los Angeles at the time, the Robinsons were poor, and Jackie and his friends in the city’s small Black community were often excluded from recreational activities. He was the youngest of five children.Īfter his father abandoned the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California, where his mother, Mallie, worked a series of odd jobs to support herself and her children. ![]() Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, to a family of sharecroppers.
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