Through the years I have had the opportunity to write three books with Jackie Robinson content and dozens of articles. He has always been one of my greatest sports heroes.
Lest we forget. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia on the last day of January in 1919 and died on October 24, 1972 in Stamford, Connecticut. Robinson attended UCLA, where he won letters in three sports.
He was in the Army during World War II and then played briefly in the Negro Leagues when the war ended. He was signed to a minor league contract with the Montreal Royals in 1946 by Branch Rickey, and the following year came up to the Brooklyn Dodgers and broke baseball’s age-old color line on April 15, 1947.
Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to be signed by a major league team. AP Photos
