UCLA Baseball: Bruins Honor the Legacy of Jackie Robinson

UCLA multi-sport star Jackie Robinson would be 105 on Wednesday.

Wednesday would've been the 105th birthday of sports legend Jackie Robinson. 

Robinson was a multi-sport athlete at UCLA before breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

“Jackie Robinson’s impact on society is immeasurable,” said Martin Jarmond, the Alice and Nahum Lanier Family Director of Athletics at UCLA. “What he accomplished through adversity demonstrated a level of resilience, sacrifice and love that serves as a model for all of us to this day. 

Martin Jarmond via UCLA Newsroom

UCLA baseball posted a tribute to him on social media to wish the late Robinson a happy birthday.

Honoring the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson on what would have been his 105th birthday.#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/6DJpmQNSq0

— UCLA Athletics (@UCLAAthletics) January 31, 2024

Robinson attended UCLA from 1939-41 and lettered in baseball, football, basketball, and track and field. 

Surprisingly, baseball was not his best sport in college. In his lone season with the Bruins, he batted a horrendous .097.

Despite not being a great collegiate baseball player, UCLA’s baseball stadium was built in 1981 and named in his honor and a statue of Robinson is now on the facility grounds. 

On Nov. 21, 2014, UCLA announced that a series of 22 recreation and athletics facilities would be named in honor of Robinson, the Jackie Robinson Athletics and Recreation Complex. The following day, the University retired his number, 42, across all sports.

Robinson died of a heart attack on Oct. 24, 1972.