_Born January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play major league baseball. Despite all the trouble he went through growing up. He was the last of 5 children 3 brother and 1 sister. His mother was the one who cared for all the children because after Jackie was born his father left making Mallie Robinson a single mother. Life wasn't easy for the Robinsons but they did what they could with the things they had.
Jackie and some of his team mates from UCLA.
Before the big leagues
Everyone knows Jackie as the baseball guy but little do people know that he played and was good at multiple sports. He attended John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College, where he bettered his athletic career and played multiple sports: football, basketball, track, and baseball. He was named the region's Most Valuable Player in baseball in 1938. Robinson's older brother, Matthew Robinson, inspired Jackie to continue his talent and love for athletics. Matthew won a silver medal in the 200-meter dash just behind Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Jackie continued to go to school at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became the university's first student to win varsity letters in four sports. In 1941, despite his athletic success, Robinson was forced to leave UCLA just shy of graduation because he didn't have the funds to finish. He moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he played football for the semi-professional Honolulu Bears. His season with the Bears was cut short when the United States entered into World War II. Where he became a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He never saw combat because he was arrested for not moving back in the segregated bus