Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. Jackie was the youngest of five children, he was raised in relative poverty by a single mother. Jackie’s family was the only black family on their block and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. Growing up Jackie and his family a lot of discrimination from the people on their block. Growing up in a large, single-parent family, Jackie was push by his older brothers to do good in all sports and learned to make his own way in life (Jackie Robinson Biography,n.d).
Jackie attended John Muir High School then transferred Pasadena Junior College. He was an excellent athlete and played four sports: football, basketball, track, and baseball. …show more content…
He became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: football, basketball, baseball and track. In 1941, Jackie was named to the All-American football team. He was very successful in college with being an outstanding student and athlete. In college Jackie worse sport was actually baseball. In 1941, despite his athletic success, Robinson was forced to leave UCLA just shy of graduation due to financial hardship. Jackie move to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he played football for the Honolulu Bears and became a star football player (Jackie Robinson Biography,n.d.). His season with the Bears was cut short when the United States entered into World War