A Gifted Athlete

Jackie Robinson excelled as an all-round athlete from an early age, combining exceptional athletic ability with a fierce competitive nature and a will to win. Some have called him the greatest American athlete, arguing that he was actually better at track and field, football, and basketball than baseball. As a student at UCLA, he became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball (1940), basketball (1940), football (1939 and 1940), and track and field (1940). In 1940, he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I championship in the long jump. On May 7, 1938, at Pasadena Junior College, he established a national junior college record in the long jump with a jump of 25 feet 6 1/2 inches. He was inducted into the UCLA Sports Hall of Fame on June 10, 1984, as a charter member, and into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Daytona Beach, Florida · United States