Introduction to Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31,1919 and little did he know that he would be the one to change baseball for the world. He was born in the small city of Cairo, Georgia, which is smaller than Johnstown,Colorado, and he was raised by his single mother in a small house. He attended John Muir High School and lettered in varsity track, baseball, football, and basketball. He then went on to Pasadena Junior College where he lettered in the same four sports. After he finished junior college, he started to attend the University of California; Los Angeles(UCLA) where he became the first athelete in the schools history to letter in four sports, which were the same four sports he always lettered in. When Jackie graduated college he went on to play football for the semi-professional Honolulu Bears in Hawaii. His career was put on halt when the U.S. went into World War II. Jackie served in the U.S. army from 1942-1944 as a second lieutenant and he never saw combat. Jackie was arrested and court-martialed during his bootcamp because he refused to move to the back of the segregated bus. All of the charges were dropped shortly after and he was given an honorable discharge.