Jackie Robinson Timeline

Jackie Robinson was a famous baseball player and a civil rights activist. He was the first person to win the varsity letters in four sports - baseball, basketball, football and track at UCLA.

He became the first African-American major league baseball player of the modern era in the year 1947. In the same year, he won two prestigious awards such as The Sporting News Rookie of the Year Award. After two years, he received the National League MVP award. Given is his entire timeline, which narrates some important events in his life.

1919: On January 31, Jackie Robinson is born to Mallie and Jerry Robinson in Cairo, Georgia.

1920: His father deserts the family. His mother, Mallie moves to Pasadena, California along with the family. Jackie is brought up in poverty by a single mother.

1923: Mallie buys a house on the Pepper Street in Pasadena. Jackie joins the Pepper Street Gang of the minority boys and poor whites.

1935: Jackie enters John Muir High School. There, he plays from different Muir Tech sport teams.

1937: Jackie joins Pasadena junior college. He continues to excel in sports. He plays safety and quarterbacks for the football team, lead off hitter and shortstop for the baseball team.

1938: Is elected in the All-Southland Junior College baseball team. Chosen as the region's Most Valuable Player.

1939: Enrolls in the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and becomes the first four-sport letterman. He is the highest scorer in the Pacific Coast Conference basketball and national champion long-jumper. Before completion of graduation, Jackie leaves the college to join a National Youth Administration work camp as an athletic director.

1941: Joins the semi-professional integrated Honolulu Bears professional football team.

1942: Inducted into the United States Army. He is posted at Fort Riley in Kansas with Joe Louis. With the help of Truman Gibson, he is accepted into the Officer's Candidate School and commissioned as a lieutenant.

1944: Refuses an order to ride in the rear of the bus at Fort Hood, Texas. As a result, he is court-martialled.

1945: Discharged from the army because of weak ankles. Joins the Negro Leagues and plays for the Kansas City Monarchs. Brooklyn Dodgers' president Branch Rickey, who was searching an ideal black player to break MLB, interviewed Jackie Robinson on August 28. On October 23, Jackie signs the Dodgers' farm team, the Montreal Royals, in the International League.

1946: Marries Rachel Isum. Their son, Jackie Jr is born.

1947: Wears the uniform No.42 for his major league debut on April 15. He is voted the first major-league rookie of the year. Also receives the fifth rank in the National League's most valuable player voting.

1949: Joins Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella and Larry Doby as the first African-Americans to play in an All-Star Game.

1957: Announces his retirement from the major league baseball. Becomes the Director of Personnel for Chock Full O'Nuts, a restaurant chain founded by William Black in 1926.

1960: Supports Senator Hubert Humphrey in the primaries. Later switches to the Republican Party and Richard Nixon for the presidential campaign.

1962: Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

1963: Marches with Martin Luther King in Birmingham, Alabama.

1966: New York governor Nelson Rockefeller appoints him as a Special Assistant for the Community Affairs.

1968: Supports Hubert Humphrey in the presidential campaign.

1970: Becomes the owner of a construction company, which built housing for the blacks.

1971: His eldest son, Jackie Jr. dies in a car accident, after overcoming drug addiction.

1972: Dies of heart attack on October 24 in his home at Stamford, Connecticut.

One of the best all-round athletes that America has seen, Jackie Robinson has won the hearts of all.