Biography
Before Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a leading voice in the civil rights movement, before the Supreme Court's Brown decision to desegregate public schools in 1954 and before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, there was Jackie Robinson; a true American hero whose exploits and success reached far beyond the sports pages, influencing new perceptions of awareness and fairness among all people across the nation, indeed, throughout the world.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historical occasion when Jackie Robinson put on a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform to break what had been known as baseball's color line, an unwritten manifesto that prevented blacks from playing major league baseball.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Football Foundation and it is with pride that tonight The Foundation presents posthumously its 1997 Gold Medal to Jack R. Robinson.
Most of the country is aware of his brilliant career over a 10-year span with the Dodgers (1947-56). That great legacy has been kept alive. Many, perhaps, have forgotten, or were not even born when Jackie Robinson first proved himself as the greatest all-round athlete in UCLA's glorious sports history.
Yes, he was a star baseball player at UCLA, but his additional accomplishments in other sports are truly mind-boggling. First, he teamed with Kenny Washington (1939-40) to give the Bruins what was certainly one of the most explosive backfields in college football history.
Both Robinson and Washington were All-America players. Robinson carried the ball 183 times for 1,148 yards, an incredible average of seven yards per carry. He completed 44 of 98 passes in his career as a halfback and he also returned punts.
He was truly a star in baseball and football at UCLA. But there was much more. Jackie was twice the leading basketball scorer in what is today known as the Pacific-10 Conference. In 1940 Jackie Robinson won the NCAA broad- jump title with a remarkable leap of 2410 1/4 feet. He won the conference golf championship and reached the semifinals in what was then the National Negro Tennis Tournament.
It was this great athlete who was destined to be tapped by the late Branch Rickey to carry the uncommon burden of being the first black to play major league baseball.
Jackie Robinson did not ask to be a flag bearer for black people. Before Rickey's "Noble Experiment," the then Dodger general manager told Robinson in no uncertain terms what he would face when he stepped on a major league field for the first time. Rickey also impressed firmly on Jackie the manner in which he must respond if, indeed, the experiment was to be successful.
Jackie Robinson never waivered. He shouldered the burden as somehow Rickey knew he would. He never whined. He took every jibe thrown at him from baseball players and fans alike. Through the ordeal it seemed Robinson inherently realized he had been given a special chance to lead, not only on the baseball field, but off the field as well. He sensed he was given an opportunity to open other doors for black people. And he did.
Yes, his baseball career was a smashing success. It started in 1945 when Rickey first asked Robinson if he felt he was ready to take that giant step into history. Rickey knew Robinson had the "guts," but Rickey also asked Robinson if he "had the guts not to fight back." Then, after a minor league season in Montreal, it was to the Brooklyn stage.
In his rookie Year, Jackie batted .297, hit 12 homers and 31 doubles, had 48 RBIs, scored 125 runs, stole 29 bases and was named National League Rookie of the Year. He went on to play in six World Series, all against the New York Yankees, winning one in 1955. He had a streak of six consecutive years when he batted over .300, a streak among active players at the time that was matched only by Ted Williams and Stan Musial.
It was after baseball that Robinson contributed additionally to the black people. As a vice president at Chock Full O'Nuts, he became the most prominent black corporate officer in America. He helped form a black-owned bank in Harlem. He started a company, that built and operated housing for working-class people in New York. He served as a key aide to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and implored the Republican Party to appeal to black people.
Jackie Robinson, born in Georgia, was one of five children, raised by his mother, Mallie, who worked as a maid. The family moved to Pasadena, CA, and then it was on to UCLA.
It was only 10 years after being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame that Jackie Robinson died in 1972 of diabetes and heart failure. Shortly before his death, Robinson was asked to comment on his life, baseball and history. Mr. Robinson replied, "I honestly believe that baseball did set the stage for many things that are happening today and I'm proud to have played a part in it, but I am not subservient to it."
Rachel Robinson, Jackie's wife and partner all through his years of struggle and success, 26 years ago formed the Jackie Robinson Foundation to give financial, academic, cultural and artistic help to school-age children whose potential might be suffocated by poverty.
Mrs. Robinson joins us tonight to proudly accept on behalf of her late husband the National Football Foundation's highest honor, The Gold Medal. Jack Roosevelt Robinson would be proud, too.
