4 Chapter 3 All-Around Athlete

Chapter 3 All-Around Athlete As a teenager, Jackie was quiet and uneasy around people he didn't know well. Jackie felt closest to his older brothers Frank and Mack. "Frank was always there to protect me when I was in a scrap," Jackie once wrote. "Even though I don't think he could knock down a fly." Mack inspired Jackie. While Jackie was still young, Mack was already a star athlete in track and field. Even when a doctor told Mack he had heart trouble, Mack kept training. And he kept getting better.

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Jackie had a tight circle of friends, too. They called themselves the Pepper Street Gang. All the boys were from poor families. They were all looking for something to fill their time. They'd swipe fruit from local stands. They'd throw dirt at passing cars. Sometimes they'd take

golf balls from a golf course, then sell them back to the players. It wasn't right, but the boys never did anything violent or got into big trouble. Even with a strong mother like Mallie, it was hard for Jackie to grow up without a dad. Men from the neighborhood stepped in to help guide Jackie. One told Jackie being in a gang was just following the crowd. Jackie listened. Then the minister of his church gave Jackie a place to go after school. Now he didn't have to hang out on street corners. And, of course, he had sports.

By high school, Jackie was playing sports year round. He was a star athlete in track, basketball, football, and baseball. Jackie could do it all. Reporters wrote about him in local papers. The

Pasadena Post put a big picture of Jackie on the front page of its sports section. He wasn't the only Robinson in the news. In August 1936, Jackie and his family sat close by their radio, listening to the Summer Olympics broadcast from Berlin, Germany. Mack had made the US track team! He was running in the 200-meter dash.