Read Online Jackie Robinson by Arnold Rampersad - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Arnold Rampersad
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never brought his anger home, as Willa Mae and others would attest. Jack could not and would not use profanity in his mother’s home, or rebel against her or his sister and brothers. “The only curse word he would ever use,” Sid Heard recalled with amusement, “was ‘Dadgummit!’ When he said that word, that was it. Yessir, ‘Dadgummit!’ Then he’d go and beat your brains out!”
E ARLY IN 1935 , in the middle of the school year, Jack finished at Washington Junior High and enrolled at the John Muir Technical High School, where Mack and Willa Mae were also students (Mack would graduate in June). Once a vocational school, Muir Tech was now in every sense a typical high school, one of Pasadena’s two public high schools, with a full range of academic courses. Muir offered first-rate facilities, with handsome buildings designed in the local California Mediterranean style, and landscaping that made the most of its fine location, within sight of the San Gabriel Mountains. In addition, by 1935 Muir Tech had developed an outstanding regional reputation as a sports powerhouse. It would provide the backdrop for Jack’s first emergence as a star school athlete.
Before the summer of 1935, he had established himself as the most versatile of the Muir Terriers. He also sang in the glee club, but sports were his mainstay. Light but nimble at 135 pounds and with excellent, even uncanny, hand-to-eye coordination, that spring he nailed down a spot on the baseball team as a shortstop in what one enthusiast called an “exceptionally good” infield. He then shone for Muir Tech as a star at the annual regional baseball tournament in Pomona, when the Muir Terriers went to the finals before losing to Long Beach. Despite conflicts with baseball and little time to train, he also earned honors that spring in both the broad jump (or long jump), in which Mack also competed, and the high jump. Even his casual efforts left him far ahead of most competitors. As he later recalled, he particularly loved the broad jump: “You [toe] the line and spring forward with all your strength. Then you jump—you really try to jump off the earth and your legs churn the air like you wanted to reach the moon. Then you come down to earth in soft sand and you have to remember to fall forward so that there are no marks behind the back of your heels.”
In the fall of 1935, he went out for Terrier football but, still a lightweight, had to bide his time on a brilliant team that was dominated by the brothers Bill and George Sangster, two white youths who were among thefinest athletes in Pasadena history; the Terriers went undefeated that year. (In all of Jack’s schools, most of his teammates were white, just as all the student bodies were predominantly white.) Late in the season Jack saw some action as quarterback, running and passing the ball, and showed “much ability,” according to one judge. When the football season ended, he switched at once to basketball, where Jack’s speed and deftness in ball handling, his aggressive play under the basket on both defense and offense, as well as his unselfish style, made him an outstanding guard and a “mainstay.” Contending all season for the league championship, the Muir Terriers lost it in the last game of the season.
From basketball, he cycled back into baseball and track to establish his athletic routine of the next few years. In 1936, having lost several lettermen, Muir Tech had a mediocre baseball season, but Jack excelled despite moving from shortstop to catcher for the team’s sake. That year, he earned a place on the annual Pomona tournament all-star team, which included two other future Hall of Fame players: Ted Williams of Hoover High in San Diego and Bob Lemon of Long Beach’s Wilson High. In track, where the Terriers also struggled much of the season, Robinson was one of seven athletes hailed as “the nucleus of the squad.” He went out again for the broad jump but also competed for Muir in
E ARLY IN 1935 , in the middle of the school year, Jack finished at Washington Junior High and enrolled at the John Muir Technical High School, where Mack and Willa Mae were also students (Mack would graduate in June). Once a vocational school, Muir Tech was now in every sense a typical high school, one of Pasadena’s two public high schools, with a full range of academic courses. Muir offered first-rate facilities, with handsome buildings designed in the local California Mediterranean style, and landscaping that made the most of its fine location, within sight of the San Gabriel Mountains. In addition, by 1935 Muir Tech had developed an outstanding regional reputation as a sports powerhouse. It would provide the backdrop for Jack’s first emergence as a star school athlete.
Before the summer of 1935, he had established himself as the most versatile of the Muir Terriers. He also sang in the glee club, but sports were his mainstay. Light but nimble at 135 pounds and with excellent, even uncanny, hand-to-eye coordination, that spring he nailed down a spot on the baseball team as a shortstop in what one enthusiast called an “exceptionally good” infield. He then shone for Muir Tech as a star at the annual regional baseball tournament in Pomona, when the Muir Terriers went to the finals before losing to Long Beach. Despite conflicts with baseball and little time to train, he also earned honors that spring in both the broad jump (or long jump), in which Mack also competed, and the high jump. Even his casual efforts left him far ahead of most competitors. As he later recalled, he particularly loved the broad jump: “You [toe] the line and spring forward with all your strength. Then you jump—you really try to jump off the earth and your legs churn the air like you wanted to reach the moon. Then you come down to earth in soft sand and you have to remember to fall forward so that there are no marks behind the back of your heels.”
In the fall of 1935, he went out for Terrier football but, still a lightweight, had to bide his time on a brilliant team that was dominated by the brothers Bill and George Sangster, two white youths who were among thefinest athletes in Pasadena history; the Terriers went undefeated that year. (In all of Jack’s schools, most of his teammates were white, just as all the student bodies were predominantly white.) Late in the season Jack saw some action as quarterback, running and passing the ball, and showed “much ability,” according to one judge. When the football season ended, he switched at once to basketball, where Jack’s speed and deftness in ball handling, his aggressive play under the basket on both defense and offense, as well as his unselfish style, made him an outstanding guard and a “mainstay.” Contending all season for the league championship, the Muir Terriers lost it in the last game of the season.
From basketball, he cycled back into baseball and track to establish his athletic routine of the next few years. In 1936, having lost several lettermen, Muir Tech had a mediocre baseball season, but Jack excelled despite moving from shortstop to catcher for the team’s sake. That year, he earned a place on the annual Pomona tournament all-star team, which included two other future Hall of Fame players: Ted Williams of Hoover High in San Diego and Bob Lemon of Long Beach’s Wilson High. In track, where the Terriers also struggled much of the season, Robinson was one of seven athletes hailed as “the nucleus of the squad.” He went out again for the broad jump but also competed for Muir in
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