Jackie Robinson Biography Essay

Jackie Robinson was an African American professional baseball player, who was one of the most influential people in both sports history and African American history. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. Despite countless encounters with racism and discrimination, Jackie Robinson continued to show the whole world his remarkable athletic ability. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He belonged to a family of sharecroppers. A year after his birth, Jackie’s father, Jerry, abandoned the family. Now raised by a single mother, Jackie was the youngest of five children. Shortly after the abandonment of Jackie’s father, Jackie moved to Pasadena, California with his mother,

He was a very athletic and talented individual. While attending John Muir High School, Jackie played five sports. To start off his collegiate career, Jackie attended Pasadena Junior College. He excelled in basketball, football, track, and baseball. He even played tennis. In basketball, he averaged 19 points per game, and led his team to the California Junior College Championship. In football, he played quarterback and safety. In his second football season at Pasadena Junior College, Jackie ran for over 1,000 yards and scored 17 touchdowns. In addition, he led his team to 11 straight victories. One of his greatest plays was when he returned a kickoff for 104 yards. In track, Jackie was an excellent long jumper. Jackie set a junior college broad jump record of 25 feet, 6 ½ inches. On that same day, Jackie Robinson had to rush across town so that he could help his baseball team win the league championship. In his baseball career at Pasadena Junior College, Robinson played shortstop, and had a batting average of .417. He even stole 24 bases in 25 games. Robinson was a standout in baseball at the time, but surprisingly, it wasn’t his best sport. In his second year at Pasadena Junior College, Jackie was named the Southern California Junior College MVP in the spring of 1938. Because of his athletic achievements at Pasadena Junior College, mainstream colleges began to look at him. In 1939, Robison was offered a scholarship from UCLA, in

He continued to play basketball, football, track, and baseball. In fact, Jackie was the school’s first four-letter winner. This meant that he was on varsity for all four sports. His overall athletic prowess was unmatched. While on the football team, Jackie was one of four black players on the team. The other three players were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett. During the 1940’s, there was a lot of segregation and discrimination towards African Americans. Many white people wanted nothing to do with black people. This meant that not a lot of colleges would recruit African Americans to play sports for their school. With the small amount of black collegiate football players in mainstream football, UCLA’s football team was the most integrated college team in America. In track, Jackie won the 1940 NCAA Men’s Track and Field Championships in long jump. He jumped 24 feet, 10 ¼ inches. In baseball, Jackie had a low batting average of .097 in his only season, even though he stole home twice and went 4-for-4 in his first game. Baseball was his worst sport at the time. In his senior year at UCLA, Jackie met his future wife Rachel Isum. She was a nurse in training at the time. In spring of 1941, Jackie left UCLA for financial reasons. He also believed that there was no future in sports for him. In his autobiography I Never Had It Made Robinson said, “I felt I was living in an academic and athletic dream