Jackie Robinson

From fall 1939 to spring 1941 at UCLA, Jackie Robinson became the first athlete in the school's history to letter in four sports in the same year: baseball, football, basketball, and track. He was a charter member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame in 1984. With the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1956, he became the first African American to play in the major leagues in 1947, was National League Rookie of the Year that year, National League Most Valuable Player in 1949, and won the National League batting title with a batting average of .342 in 1949. He was a six-time all star, the 41st Spingarn medalist in 1956, and was inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. His number 42 was retired at a ceremony he attended at Dodger Stadium in 1972. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired number 42 on the 50th anniversary of his breaking the baseball color line. In 2003, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for his achievements in sports, civil rights, and business. Number 42 endures as a symbol of a stellar athlete, a man of courage, and a life lived well.

Los Angeles, California · United States