Jackie Robinson grew up in Pasadena, California. An outstanding all-around athlete at Pasadena Junior College and at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), he excelled in football, basketball, track, and baseball. He withdrew from UCLA in his third year to help his mother care for the family. In 1942 he entered the U.S. Army. After World War II, he played for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, and in 1945 the president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, signed him to a Dodgers farm team.
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