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In August 2003: GHill wrote: "Robinson was clearly a mind-boggling long jump talent. He got his PR of 25-6 1/2 for Pasadena JC in 1938, setting a World Junior Record and having the farthest jump in the world that year. I've only got a passing knowledge of his activities in those days, but far as I know, football and baseball occupied most of his time, so unlikely he would have been an Olympics kind of guy. In 1940, the year he won the NCAA, 6th-place in the AAU was under 23-feet, so i doubt he even competed.
ps--in 1938, when Jackie led the world, brother Mack ('36 Olympic 200 silver medalist) was No. on the list at 24-10 1/2. Anybody think of two brothers on the top 10 of the world list in the same year in an event."
At that time I responded:
"Robinson was also a starter on UCLA's basketball team and as I recall led the old PCC in scoring one year and was All Coast. As a wingback ob UCLA's football team he set an NCAA record for average yards per carry (9.something) which was later bested by a pretty good high school track man himself by the name of Glenn Davis (Mr. Outside of Army football fame) who was a good sprinter and jumper at Bonita H.S. in Laverne, CA".
A couple weeks ago the Los Angeles Times ran an article on the first professional basketball team in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Red Devils. In the one year (1946)they were in existence they had one of the two best professional basketball teams in the U.S.(along with the George Mikan led Chicago Americans). This was all pre NBA. The leading scorer on the team was one Jackie Robinson, who led the old Pacific Coast Conference in scoring for two years at UCLA. The article went on to say that Robinson also played pro football that year with the Los Angeles Bulldogs, which if memory serves me was a member of the old All American Conference with the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers among others. The article also indicated that was the same year he played baseball with the Brookland Dodgers triple AAA affiliate in Montreal, thereby being the only athlete to play professionally in 3 different sports in the same year. Not bad for a 25'6" long jumper who could have probably been an olympic champion if it weren't for a World War and the demands of other sports.
ps--in 1938, when Jackie led the world, brother Mack ('36 Olympic 200 silver medalist) was No. on the list at 24-10 1/2. Anybody think of two brothers on the top 10 of the world list in the same year in an event."
At that time I responded:
"Robinson was also a starter on UCLA's basketball team and as I recall led the old PCC in scoring one year and was All Coast. As a wingback ob UCLA's football team he set an NCAA record for average yards per carry (9.something) which was later bested by a pretty good high school track man himself by the name of Glenn Davis (Mr. Outside of Army football fame) who was a good sprinter and jumper at Bonita H.S. in Laverne, CA".
A couple weeks ago the Los Angeles Times ran an article on the first professional basketball team in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Red Devils. In the one year (1946)they were in existence they had one of the two best professional basketball teams in the U.S.(along with the George Mikan led Chicago Americans). This was all pre NBA. The leading scorer on the team was one Jackie Robinson, who led the old Pacific Coast Conference in scoring for two years at UCLA. The article went on to say that Robinson also played pro football that year with the Los Angeles Bulldogs, which if memory serves me was a member of the old All American Conference with the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers among others. The article also indicated that was the same year he played baseball with the Brookland Dodgers triple AAA affiliate in Montreal, thereby being the only athlete to play professionally in 3 different sports in the same year. Not bad for a 25'6" long jumper who could have probably been an olympic champion if it weren't for a World War and the demands of other sports.
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