Jackie RobinsonHis Contributi Essay Research Paper Jackie

Jackie Robinson-His Contributi Essay, Research Paper

Jackie Robinson: His Contribution to Sports

There was once a time when Goliath white men roamed the earth. They had names similar to Boog, Harmon, and Moose (Richmond 184). They wandered throughout the empty countryside carrying wooden sticks, smacking harsh fastballs delivered by pitchers with names like Whitey and Don and Bob. Peter Richmond writes, They lived for one thing and one thing alone: to swat mighty homeruns that would make us roar in delight. They were the stars of the favorite game in the land. In the meantime, the grass turned into plastic and a new group of sluggers swiped through the artificial turf. Then catastrophe struck the game of baseball. Greed, complacency, and unions took the sport into a Dark Age, and the people began to lose interest. As other sports transcended baseball s popularity, the once national pastime started to become extinct. Then, the game discovered a new way to survive: by adapting, and by promoting and embracing and marketing its multiethnic heritage (Richmond 184). A legendary hero, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, was born. Robinson is a pioneer of modern society he set a personal standard for determination and in doing so raised the power of African- American athletes, thereby transforming the sports world.

On January 31, 1919, Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia; he was the last child of sharecroppers Mallie and Jerry Robinson. His mother became the heart of the Robinson household. Frustrated and overwhelmed by an inadequate income, Jerry abandoned his wife and five children. Alone, Mallie could not meet the physical demands of the farm, so she moved with the children to join her brother in Pasadena, California. In Margaret Davidson s biography of Jackie Robinson, he states, She was wise in the ways of human beings. I thought she must have some kind of magic to do all the things she did, to work so hard, and never complain and make all of us feel happy (Davidson 15). For Jackie, the house contained one thing that mattered the most: love (Davidson 14). He grew up in a positive environment that would exhibit an affect on his life in years to come.

During this time, America was two worlds that were afraid of each other; life was unkind to black people who tried to bring together these worlds (Aaron 104). Segregation made Robinson angry. He expressed this feeling by joining the Pepper Street Gang, made up by Japanese, Negroes, and Mexicans. The gang utilized its free time by stealing balls from a local golf course, swiping fruit from stores, and throwing dirt at passing cars (Davidson 16). Carl Anderson worked in shop across from where the gang spent most of its time. Anderson observed Robinson s actions and asked him, How do you think your mother would feel if one day she had to watch you being taken off to jail (Davidson 18). From this point forward, Robinson left the gang. After this, sports enabled him to keep his balance. They gave him a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of doing something. Jackie was infuriated with intolerance and wanted to release his anger of being black in a white environment (Davidson 18-19). Sports helped vanquish the stigma of race (Early 2-3). Robinson s friends observed his brilliant athletic ability. One friend stated, He was one of a kind. He was not just going to be a spectacular athlete, but was going to be different (Davidson 5). With that, Robinson took his talent into Muir Technical High School, where he graduated in June 1937. In the following fall, he entered Pasadena Junior College. John Thurman, Karl Metton, and Tom Malley, the three coaches at Pasadena, were excited by Jackie s entrance. They thought that he displayed potential greatness in every activity he tackled. During the fall, he played football. When that season was over, he reported for basketball. For the duration of the spring, Jackie competed in baseball and track and field simultaneously (Mann 47). He graduated from Junior College in 1939 and entered the University of California at Los Angeles in September, needing only two years of college for completion and a degree. The athletic director at UCLA, Wilbur Johns, articulated, He was always in perfect condition he never drank or smoked and he always placed the welfare of his team above his chance for greater stardom (Mann 59). Jackie was more than just an outstanding athlete, but by far the greatest athlete in the history of sports at UCLA. To this day, he is the only winner of four varsity letters in the four sports that the college had to offer (Mann 77). By 1941, Robinson left UCLA to take a paying job at the National Youth Administration. Because the NYA was composed of young males of all colors, Jackie saw it as an ideal instrument for the correction of the very factors that had so deeply influenced his life (Mann 80). His job there lasted only until March 1942, when he was drafted into the army and sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, for basic training. In November 1944, Robinson was honorably discharged from the army. After his dismissal, he experienced repeated incidents of racial inequality; he held the army accountable for its black soldiers. In 1949, the armed forces were integrated (Rhoads 2). This event caused the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers , Branch Rickey, to notice Robinson s willpower. Robinson, to him, was the catalyst that baseball needed.

During the war, baseball did not prospe