Today on the blog I begin a short yet fun 1972 sub-set honoring the 25th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947, celebrating different stages of his great athletic life, beginning with his fantastic college career at UCLA:
More
than just a baseball player, Robinson excelled at many sports, and was
actually the first in school history to letter in four varsity
activities: baseball, basketball, football and track.
In
football the Bruins went undefeated in 1939, his first year with the
squad, as he led the NCAA in punt return average while also setting the
(still) record of 12.2 yards per carry out of the backfield.
In
track, he incredibly won the 1940 NCAA championship in the long jump at
24 feet, 10.25 inches, while funny enough, baseball was his "worst"
sport, hitting only .097 in his one season.
Shortly after, he
left school to work for National Youth Administration before embarking
on a semi-pro football career, which was shortened due to the outbreak
of World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The road to
baseball was still a long way off, as Robinson would put in a military
stretch that formed the path that would lead to the sport somewhat by
"accident", as he would return to semi-pro football, put time in Samuel
Huston College as Athletic Director, then as coach of the school's
basketball team, until being contacted by the Kansas City Monarchs of
the Negro Leagues for a tryout after he wrote to the team at the
encouragement of a former player that he met while stationed at Camp
Breckinridge, Kentucky a year or so earlier.
Next stage, and card in the series, the Negro Leagues.
Stay tuned!
