I Never Had It Made

Jackie Robinson first gained national attention as a football player for UCLA in 1939, where he led the nation in rushing yards-per-attempt and played alongside Kenny Washington and Woody Strode, who both would break the National Football League’s color barrier in 1946. After serving in the United States Army during World War II, Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues in 1945 and was recruited by Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, to break Major League Baseball’s unwritten color line. In 10 years with the Dodgers, Robinson won a Rookie of the Year Award and a National League Most Valuable Player Award. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. 

After baseball, Robinson turned his attention to business and became vice president of Chock full o’ Nuts, a coffee company based in New York City, and later served as chairman of the board for Freedom National Bank. He also became actively involved in social and political activism, serving on the board of the NAACP and working in the administration of Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Robinson died in 1972 at the age of 53. In the same year, his autobiography, I Never Had It Made, was published.