- Jun 11, 2014
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Founding Member
#42 - Jackie Robinson [h=3]Pasadena Junior College[/h] Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC), where he continued his athletic career by participating in basketball, football, baseball, and track.[SUP][25][/SUP] On the football team, he played quarterback and safety. He was a shortstop and leadoff hitter for the baseball team, and he broke school broad-jump records held by his brother Mack.[SUP][14][/SUP] As at Muir High School, most of Jackie's teammates were white.[SUP][23][/SUP] While playing football at PJC, Robinson suffered a fractured ankle, complications from which would eventually delay his deployment status while in the military.[SUP][26][/SUP][SUP][27][/SUP] In 1938, he was elected to the All-Southland Junior College Team for baseball and selected as the region's Most Valuable Player.[SUP][21][/SUP]
[h=3]UCLA and afterward[/h]
Robinson in his UCLA track uniform
After graduating from PJC in spring 1939,[SUP][34][/SUP] Robinson transferred to UCLA, where he became the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track.[SUP][35][/SUP][SUP][36][/SUP]
He was one of four black players on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team; the others were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson made up three of the team's four backfield players.[SUP][37][/SUP]At a time when only a few black students played mainstream college football, this made UCLA college football's most integrated team.[SUP][38][/SUP][SUP][39][/SUP]
In track and field, Robinson won the 1940 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships in the Long Jump, jumping 24 ft 10 [SUP]1[/SUP]â„[SUB]4[/SUB] in (7.58 m).[SUP][40][/SUP] Belying his future career, baseball was Robinson's "worst sport" at UCLA; he hit .097 in his only season, although in his first game he went 4-for-4 and twice stole home.[SUP][41][/SUP]
After the government ceased NYA operations, Robinson traveled to Honolulu in fall 1941 to play football for the semi-professional, racially integrated Honolulu Bears.[SUP][44][/SUP][SUP][46][/SUP] After a short season, Robinson returned to California in December 1941 to pursue a career as running back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League.[SUP][47][/SUP] By that time, however, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place, drawing the United States intoWorld War II and ending Robinson's nascent football career.[SUP][44]
Y'all know the rest of the story.[/SUP]
[h=3]UCLA and afterward[/h]
Robinson in his UCLA track uniform
After graduating from PJC in spring 1939,[SUP][34][/SUP] Robinson transferred to UCLA, where he became the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track.[SUP][35][/SUP][SUP][36][/SUP]
He was one of four black players on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team; the others were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson made up three of the team's four backfield players.[SUP][37][/SUP]At a time when only a few black students played mainstream college football, this made UCLA college football's most integrated team.[SUP][38][/SUP][SUP][39][/SUP]
In track and field, Robinson won the 1940 NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships in the Long Jump, jumping 24 ft 10 [SUP]1[/SUP]â„[SUB]4[/SUB] in (7.58 m).[SUP][40][/SUP] Belying his future career, baseball was Robinson's "worst sport" at UCLA; he hit .097 in his only season, although in his first game he went 4-for-4 and twice stole home.[SUP][41][/SUP]
After the government ceased NYA operations, Robinson traveled to Honolulu in fall 1941 to play football for the semi-professional, racially integrated Honolulu Bears.[SUP][44][/SUP][SUP][46][/SUP] After a short season, Robinson returned to California in December 1941 to pursue a career as running back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League.[SUP][47][/SUP] By that time, however, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place, drawing the United States intoWorld War II and ending Robinson's nascent football career.[SUP][44]
Y'all know the rest of the story.[/SUP]
