Jackie Robinson (87 page)

In 1997, Jack’s older brother Mack Robinson and his sister, Willa Mae Robinson Walker, until her death in June 1997, were still living in Pasadena. Mack, however, is severely incapacitated by a stroke suffered a few years ago. He lives at home with his wife of more than thirty years, Delano Robinson. Their daughter Kathy Robinson, who has worked hard to recover and preserve the Robinson family’s history, also lives in Pasadena.

In various ways since his death in 1972, the nation has officially honored the memory of Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson. On March 26, 1984, President Reagan gave him the nation’s highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. In 1996, in an even rarer honor, a bill approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Clinton authorized the minting of gold and silver coins of the realm to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson’s entry into major-league baseball in 1947. And on April 15, 1997, came the announcement that his Brooklyn Dodgers number, 42, would be retired from major-league baseball for all time to come.

1.
I wanted to see everything!
: Ron Gabriel to author, interview, Oct. 13, 1996.

2.
supreme, a model athlete
: New York
Daily Mirror,
Jan. 25, 1962.

3.
What I remember
: Ron Gabriel, interview.

4.
I feel inadequate
: New York
Daily News,
July 24, 1962.

5.
I could not be here
: SN, Aug. 4, 1962.

6.
who was as a father
: NYT, July 24, 1962.

7.
are all here today
: ibid.

8.
I’m positive I won’t
:
Newsweek,
Jan. 23, 1962.

9.
If I had been white
: ibid.

10.
He has a talent
: New York
Daily News,
Jan. 6, 1962.

11.
The aggressive Robbie carried
: NYT, Jan. 5, 1962.

12.
Jackie, I know
: Philadelphia
Inquirer,
Jan. 7, 1962.

13.
a hero of the struggle
: NYT, July 21, 1962.

14.
There are days when
: Richard Nixon to JR, Jan. 23, 1962, JRP.

15.
He has demonstrated
: John F. Kennedy to Chairman, JR Testimonial Dinner, July 18, 1962, JRP.

16.
He has the right
: Martin Luther King Jr., Address, Hall of Fame Testimonial Dinner, July 20, 1962, JRP.

17.
You are the richest
: “Brock” [L. I. Brockenbury?] to JR, July 25, 1962, JRP.

18.
I’m a tremendously
: JR, Address, Hall of Fame Testimonial Dinner, July 20, 1962, JRP.

19.
I thanked Rickey
: Ron Gabriel, interview.

20.
Brooklyn N.L.
1947
: Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, N.Y.

21.
To see Robinson’s career
: Roger Kahn, “Jackie Robinson: Man of the 25 Years,”
Sport,
December 1971, p. 86.

22.
Again, Robinson was like
: Ron Gabriel, interview.

1.
the Egypt of the Confederacy
: W. E. B. Du Bois,
The Souls of Black Folk
(A. C. McClurg, 1903), p. 122.

2.
a period of broken
: Harold Henry Spangle,
The History of the Black Community of Thomas County, Georgia from
1827
to
1909
(Thomasville, Ga.: Thomas College Press, 1994), p. 25.

3.
Although there were white
: Spangle, p. 54.

4.
the interesting fact
:
Cairo and Grady County
(Board of Trade, Cairo, Ga., 1911–12), unpag.

5.
We were living just
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes,” misc. ms., n.d., JRP.

6.
It’s true, my grandmother
: Olin Faulk to author, interview, May 13, 1996.

7.
You’re about the sassiest
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes.”

8.
a tall, rawboned man
: William J. Vanlandingham to author, interview, May 12, 1996.

9.
You might as well
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes.”

10.
If you want to get
: ibid.

11.
In those days
: Charles Copeland to author, interview, May 13, 1996.

1.
the most beautiful sight
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes,” misc. ms., n.d., JRP.

2.
really very much a loner
: Willa Mae Walker to author, interview, Feb. 10, 1995.

3.
“Mattie” Robinson
: Pasadena City Directory, 1921–1922, Pasadena Public Library, Pasadena, Cal.

4.
the richest city
:
California: A Guide to the Golden State
(Works Progress Administration of the State of California) (N.Y.: Hastings House, 1939), p. 247.

5.
a civic pride running
: Delilah L. Beasley,
The Negro Trail Blazers of California
(L.A., 1919), p. 143.

6.
Sophisticated and wealthy
: Ann Scheid,
Pasadena: Crown of the Valley
(Pasadena: Windsor Publications, 1986), p. 96.

7.
the beginning of the transition
: Earl L. Cartland, “A Study of the Negroes Living in Pasadena,” M.A. thesis, Whittier College, California (June 1948), p. 13. Pasadena Historical Society.

8.
to come together and
:
California Eagle,
Feb. 28, 1919.

9.
You couldn’t live east
: Ernie Cunningham to author, interview, Feb. 10, 1995.

10.
a single policeman
:
California Eagle,
Aug. 1, 1940.

11.
The condition of affairs
:
California Eagle,
Nov. 7, 1924.

12.
We had apples
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

13.
Sometimes
there were only
:
I Never,
pp. 16–17.

14.
We went through a sort
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

15.
The police were there
: ibid.

16.
My mother never lost
:
I Never,
p. 18.

17.
Nigger! Nigger!
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

18.
My mother divided
: ibid.

19.
Mallie loved to sit
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

20.
We knew that we
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

21.
I remember sitting
: WP, Aug. 22, 1949.

22.
God watches what you do
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes.”

23.
Prayer
is
belief
: Arthur Mann,
The Jackie Robinson Story
(N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 33.

24.
I was Jack’s little mother
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

25.
When I was eight
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

26.
but it was only
: Sid Heard to author, interview, Sept. 10, 1995.

27.
would get to school
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

28.
always had a kind word
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

29.
a deep, embedded friendship
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

30.
they put all of
: Eleanor Peters Heard to author, Feb. 10, 1995.

31.
Gardener
: Transcript of grades, Washington Elementary School, Pasadena.

32.
He was a special
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

33.
We used to play
: Sid Heard, interview.

34.
When I was in
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

35.
a constant user
: Unidentified clipping, n.d., JRP.

36.
I used to be
: Ray Bartlett to author, interview, Sept. 8, 1995.

37.
I guess I was
: WP, Aug. 24, 1949.

38.
to tell the truth
: ibid.

39.
didn’t have the things
: Van Wade to author, interview, Feb. 10, 1995.

40.
because some of us
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

41.
We didn’t know him
: Mack Robinson, interview, c. 1985, JRP.

42.
My father’s will and spirit
: JR, ms., fragment, speeches, JRP.

43.
I could only think
:
I Never,
p. 16.

44.
she wasn’t going to
: Willa Mae Walker, interview.

45.
somewhat sickly sometimes
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

46.
Edgar was mentally retarded
: Ray Bartlett, interview.

47.
There was always something
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

48.
tall and thin
: ibid.

49.
I remember going
: ibid.

50.
In many places they
: PP, July 2, 1938.

51.
When it was a cold
: PSN, April 7, 1987.

52.
I think he thought
: PSN, April 7, 1987.

53.
we was right there
: Mack Robinson, interview, c. 1985, JRP.

54.
I will take care
: Jack Gordon to author, interview, Feb. 21, 1995.

55.
soured him on life
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

56.
Many times I felt
: Cited in PSN, April 7, 1987.

57.
Through some miracle
: WP, Aug. 23, 1949.

58.
At that time Jackie
: Ernie Cunningham, interview.

59.
Our gang was made up
:
I Never,
p. 18.

60.
There was no drugs
: Ray Bartlett, interview.

61.
We never got into
:
I Never,
p. 18.

62.
Hardly a week went by
: ibid.

63.
About nine feet tall
: Ernie Cunningham, interview.

64.
He was always ready
: WP, Aug. 22, 1949.

65.
to his office “often”
: “Mrs. Robinson’s Notes.”

66.
I think he did
: Ray Bartlett, interview.

67.
He made me see
:
I Never,
p. 19.

68.
He also organized
: Sid Heard, interview.

69.
I always thought Pasadena
: WP, Aug. 21, 1949.

70.
At the Kress soda fountain
: Bernice Gordon, interview, Feb. 21, 1995.

71.
The Robinson the world
: L.A.
Times,
April 4, 1977.

72.
The only curse word
: Sid Heard, interview.

73.
exceptionally good
: John Muir Technical High School Yearbook, 1935.

74.
You [toe] the line
: WP, Aug. 22, 1949.

75.
much ability
: Muir High School Yearbook, 1936.

76.
mainstay
: ibid.

77.
the nucleus of the squad
: John Muir Technical High School Yearbook, 1936.

78.
Jack was always very
: Eleanor Peters Heard, interview.

79.
He was a hard loser
: Ray Bartlett, interview.