Jackie Robinson was on Path to be Olympian before 1940 Olympics were Canceled

By Adam Kopet, DyeStat Editor

Jackie Robinson will forever be known as the baseball player who broke the color barrier in 1947.

However, years before, Robinson, who starred as a four-sport athlete at John Muir High, Pasadena City College and UCLA, could have found himself on a different path than the one that brought him to fame, according to The Sports Examiner Editor Rich Perelman.

Early indications of Robinson's track and field potential came in 1938 while competing for Pasadena City College. He established the world lead in the long jump at 25 feet, 6.5 inches in Claremont. Robinson then went on to finish third at the National AAU Championships with a jump of 24-2.5.

Two years later, Robinson found himself on a path that could have led to the Olympics. Competing for UCLA, he was in the middle of his worst baseball season, batting .097 in his only season for the Bruins.

Meanwhile, in track and field, Robinson continued to compete at the top of his game. He won the NCAA Championship long jump in 1940 and was ranked fourth in the world with a season's best jump of 25 feet. He had three of the top seven jumps in the world.

However, in 1940, the world was being drawn into military conflicts on both sides of the globe. Tokyo was set to host the Olympics that year, but Japan was already involved in a conflict in China. And much of Europe was already at war.

Had the 1940 Olympics still been held, there was a definite possibility that Robinson could have made a major impact, potentially earning an Olympic medal. It is a "what if" that could have dramatically changed Robinson's entry into Major League Baseball.