Jacide Robinson and touched off one of the most momentous events in a half century of sport when Rickey signed Jackie to a contract to play in organirt baseball. Rickey broke the game's notorious "unwritten law" against Negro players and Jackie's great play paved the way for dozens of Negro stars in baseball, other spoit THE ERA Talented Brooklyn Dodger star is symbol of best decade for Negro in spoils BY A. S. "DOC" YOUNG N OCTOBER, ten years ago, a young Chicago magazine publisher toric beyond all expectations. Today, EBONY is the world's largt's!, I and a veteran Brooklyn baseball executive got set to activate two Negro publication. And today, Jackie Robinson ranks as an all-tim ideas that were as different as day and night, yet as closely related as major league great. And, because of him, Negro players have becoi 5 aud 6 p.m. absolute necessities to the game. These men were racially dissimilar, but they had this in eommon: It seems to be particularly apropos that in its Tenth Anniversa tiiey were pioneers. Tlieir ideas were based in widely remote fields, Issue EBONY should pause to review the past ten great years in spoi but they incorporated these common elements: they were new, they a decade which must become known in sports history as the "]à were daring, they were gambles. Robinson Era." The magazine publisher was John H. Johnson. He believed that a The impact of Jackie's spectacular success as a ballplayer fanii pictured magaziue devoted to a presentation of the brighter side of out to encompass far more than baseball. It encompassed many other Negro life would prove successful. He founded EBONY. sports and the less glamorous, every-day facets of life. Surely, beciin« The baseball executive was Branch Rickey, president of the Bxook- of Jackie Robinson, the climate in human relations in America is mucii lyn Dodgers. He believed that the time was ripe for the introduction more pleasant today than it was a decade ago. of Negro players into modern organized baseball. Before Rickey signed him, the total of Jackie Robinson's professioiiiJ On October 23, 1945, while EBONY was making its debut on the na- baseball experience was one season with the Kansas City Monarcln tion's newsstands, Rickey startled the sports world with this announce- But it was no accident that Jackie was selected for the job of breaking ment: he had signed Jackie Robinson, Negro, to a playing conti'act down Jim Crow bars in organized ball while veteran Negro leagi'^ with the Brooklyn organization. Robinson would begin his career in stars were passed by. Jackie's selection was the result of Rickey's «• organized ball with Montreal in the spring of 1946. pensive scouting program, a most searching interview of Robinson ") Here was the EBONY kind of story. The signing of Robinson was Rickey in the Dodger office, and the favorable references of Roliin- big progress. It was the most significant de\'elopment in 50 years of son's past. sport. "I hatl to get a man," Rickey explained later, "who could carry tlif Both Johnson's idea aud Rickey's idea have proven heioic and his- burden on the field. I needed a man to carry the badge of martyrdnni !'i 152 y a iiero to aii American k\ds, Jackie Robinson is a symbol of clean, hard sportsmanship. An all-time Dodger great and tlic outstanding major leaguer of his time, 'nson served a tough apprenticeship during his early years wben he couldn't fight back when prejudiced players showed tbeir hatred of him because of his race-

Conflnuúd on Nexf Page 153 JACKIE ROBINSON ERA The près, had to accept him. He had to stimulate a good ruction of the Negro race itself, for an unfoitunate one migiit have solidified an- NTP c tagonism of people of other colors. ,\nd t had to consider the attiti.de of the man's teammates." That Rickey's man would have to cairy a heavy load was a naturu fact No Negro, his race fully admitted, had performed m organized baseball in modem times. Many nf the players and tans were Soiith- emers. The tradition of the game was Jim Crow. The reasons for this ranged from simple lethargy to hard-core racial prejudice. One major league club head had expressed himself on the subject of Negro players in conversation with Mrs. Effa Manley, then general manager of the Newark Eagles. "I would Uke to sign Negro players." the club head said, Tint yoiEt know how fans idolize ballplayers. Many o£ otur fans are white women. It might cause unpleasantness if these women became at- tached' to a Negro home hitter. ..." Unlike white players, then. Negro players not only had to and field, throw and run with éclat they had to walk a sü'aight-and-narrow Mai Whittieid (e ) developed into wurW.s best middlc-di-stance runner during past path. They had to live as strait4aced as religious sen ants dressed in decade. Former Ohio State .tar and Olympic champ is still competing, hopes to win the cloth. , „, , , third Olympic title in 1956. Otlier runners are Reggie Pearman (1.), Joe Oaltney. It is largely because of Jackie-the way he played, the guit he took. the spirit he showed-that Negio players today ciui enter baseball and otiier sports like men, not beggai-s for a chance. When he came to organized baseball. Jackie Robinson already was an all-time great athlete. It is not rash to aiîiue that he was the great- est ali-aiound athlete of all time. He was a criilege man (UCL.\). He possessed deptli o£ character and personal backçroiiTid. But this job tihead of him was no picnic, for siure. The story shows how tunes have changed. Immediately after Rickey announced the signing of Robmson, objec- tions were voiced and criticisms were leveled at Rickey's head. \n all-time major league great said that the idea oi^ Negroes in or- ganized ball was impractical because of the social angles involved. Negroes, he said, never would fit in. .\n active major leaguer said the signing of Jackie was "aU right- as long as I don't have to play on the same team with him." In Durham, N. C. shortly after Jackie was signed, the late W. G. Bramham, president ot the National Association of Frofessionai Base- ball Players, said: "Father Divine will have to look to liis laurels for we can expect Rickey Temple to be in the coinrse of construction in Harlem, soon." But there was another white Southerner who spoke out. He was ii prophet He was W. N. Cox, a sports writer for the Norfolk Virginian- Btil RUSSeil, basketball center at University of San Francisco, led his team to Pilot. Said Cox: "1 guarantee that it" Jackie Robinson liits huniers and national championship. An aU-American, RusseU symbolizes gains made by Negroes plays a whale of a game for Montreal the fans will soon lose sight of in other sports since Jackie came along. Here frantic fans hoist Irim on shoiüders. his color." Oiiie Matson (33) set all time collegiate records at San Francisco, went oo to be- Cox was, perhaps, more right than he knew. He had made a proph- come professional football star in Jackie Robinson era. Negro's proimnence m both ecy which was to apply not only to baseball but to American life gen- collegiate, professional football reached unprecedented peak m post war years. erally iu the decade ahead. The essence of aU progress in sports since

aitiiea Gibson : • • ;.) broke down race barriers in tennis. Much of the open- ing up ot uüier ..portí ta \<;gro stars can be traced to Robinson's success in base- biOl. Greatest Negro girl prospect in tennis today is Chicago's Lorraine WilHus '45 is wrapped up in Cox's sentence. And as this progress lias been made in sports, so it also has been made in other facets of living. How Jackie succeeded in baseball is a matter of record. He became the best all-around major leaguer of his time. Joining the Dodgers after a great year at Montreal, Jackie soon established himself as the most accomplished combination man in the game. A modern Ty Cobb (Dancer Bill Robinson called him "Ty Cobb in technicolor"), a fiery competitor, an outstanding hitter, a peerless base runner, a star fielder . . , Jackie literally picked up the Dodgers time after time and carried them to victory. He became the symbol of victory and last-ditch fighting on the ball field. He became a symbol of Negro achievement. He was proof that the Negro could do the job, if given the chance. The impact was tremendous. In baseball, in other sports, in non-sports fields, in the minds of men, things changed and got better because of what Jackie Robinson had proven on the ball diamond. After Rickey opened the Dodger door, other ball clubs opened theirs -and the Lairy Dobys, Roy Campanellas, Willie Mayses followed Jackie, In minor leagues from coast to coast, Negro players began to appear in lineups, Soon they were voted on all-star squads. They won batting and pitching titles. In 1949, the Boston Braves paid Brooklyn $100,000 plus players for a swift and slender outfielder named Sam Jethroe, In 1949, Jackie had Harrison Diifard (e,), Oiyiiiiilt.' Onrnm his greatest season, winning the 's uiost valuable tiackmcn tu victory fii Helsinki Jii Íí)r»2. TIM* mm>HitUníí UunWn (il ÍJII lime», player award. He had long since become a full-fledged Dodger-taking Dillard is still coiisínteiitly ijcalídg ul) rívaht, Uny}*;» U) ctimptíttí fu (tt!*t his place in card games as well as . Before the Jackie Robinson Era, there had been the Joe Louis Era, In that era, thousands of kids wanted to become boxing champions. Wíiiie Mays got a Í»iy hug Inmj Nf-w Vurlt Cijinls iiiiiiisi^'îr l-w iynntéu't wUtm May« But now the kids who had dreamed of winning boxing titles began camc "iionie" from the army as MÍJÍÍÍÍÍ Irvíii luokt-'d «m. During IWWÍWÍIÍ'« mr\y switching to baseball records. On regular diamonds, on sandlots, on days, a scene like this would \mve IJIÍÍÍH imptmibk. WiUU: i» Ciutit t:triii pr^/'Uwt. city streets-they now began to swing at pitches instead of at each other. As the Negro player made his mark in organized ball. Negro basc- hall-in existence since 1885-began to find rough going and to fold. But there was compensation: all over the country, scouts were tailing Negro kids on Iiigh school, American Legion, and semi-pro diamonds. With Jackie Robinson and Co, as the attraction, Negroes who never had visited major league parks came out in surprisingly impressive numbers for 154 games a year. On July 14, 1948, the Brooklyn Dodgers played the Cleveland Indians in an exhibition at Clcveland-and one of every six Negroes in the city was there to see Jackie, Campy, Doby, and Satchel Paige. Total attendance was 64,877. There were 26,000 Negroes present. Not only did Negro players attract Negro fans, they attracted fans, period. They filled the coffers of every team that cniploycd thcni. And as they proved themselves stars and gate attractions as well, their salaries increased. Players like Jackie and Campy, possessing both athletic talent and good business heads, became wealthy. Just how well Rickey's "experiment" had succeeded was graphically

Jersey Joe Walcofi (1.) and Ezzard Charles iiotii wore lieavywtiight crowit tliiriiig Robinson era. 'J heir reigns marked end of aiiüther great era in sportb-tlie jflt Ll Era. Before Jackie, boxing was favorite sport for Negro boys, today it is lACKIE ROBINSON ERA ilhistratcd in 1951. That year, Sam Bankliead, brother of pitcher Dan, became the manager of the Fariiham, Quebec, club in the Provincial Leagne, and the Southwest International Leagne signed Emmett Ash- ford as an umpire. These were most significant firsts. WITH THESE GREAT NEW HARLEM A manager directs a clnb. An nmpire controls the game. For a STYLE SENSATIONS! ACT NOW f In only one World Series (1950) since Jackie's major league advent ORDER BY MAIL TODAY! have Negroes been totally absent. happy change In 1952, a Negro pitcher named Dave Hoskins was called the "savior of the Texas League." In more than one way, in the Jackie drink ... Robinson Era, Negro players have been the saviors of baseball. As

llu be I" " U-nnV O other talent pools have dried up, they have helped preserve the game D SUEDE. as the National Pastime. They have made it a better sport. They ••••••• Blue. ••••• have made other sports better. •••••••••• "«-r^-- In major college baseball and basketball, reluctant to aeecpt the . • • V. •••••• Negro a decade ago, the Negro now plays with few restrictions. The • • • • ' « • • • t same is true in pro football. In the sports of democratic vintage—track • • • « • and boxing—Negroes have continued to thrive. Negro athletes have 11 been recognized as men as well as performers. They have become 11 team captains. CORONET Just this year Uni\'ersity of Oklahoma eoach Bud Wilkinson an- iiouneed that he will welcome Negro football candidates. It is more brandy • •••>. than coincidental that desegregation in education has eome more • • • •

quickly in the areas where Jaekie Robinson & Co. have performed in •••••••••••••••••••••*• the past ten years. ••••••••••••••••••••••• As Time marches, things keep on getting better. Admittedly, the picture is not completely clear, despite the Jackie Robinson Era and its conclusive provings. Little League teams in DLxic are seceding from the national organization and preparing for a makes little-kid civil war. The Southem Association of baseball teams re- mains lily-white. Tbere are very few Negro quarterbacks in football the lighter —college or pro. But in 1945, when Rickey signed Robinson, Joe Louis was the only highball Negio athlete who ranked as a national idol. Today there are several. The whole country, indeed much of the whole world, went positively whacky last fall when made that mii-aeulous World Series eatch. Now Only plut p While golf leaders liave insisted that Negroes aren't good enough for that sport, the United States Government has sponsored tiack stars Harrison Dillard and Mai Whitfield in trijjs abroad, where they have sold goodwill ut the same time they flashed their speed on the einder paths. They flashed theii" speed, many times, in the faces of people whose propaganda says Negroes in America are no more than pitiful serfs, and tlie United States is a land without hope for any man of darker hue. But as long as tliere is sport, there wül be hope. As long as there are men like Rickey and Robinson, there will be progress for Ebony to report. Progress in one field sets oif a ehain reaction of progress in another. Jackie Robinson has proven it—both in baseball and in the American Lcasue ot" Human Relations.

Still scoring runs for Dodgers. Jackie is winding up a great career in baseball. Earning salaries as high as $50,000 a year on tlie diamond, Jackie is an astute busi- BRANDY DIST. CORP., 350 5TH AVE.. NY. ), N.Y. ness man who is reportedly well set financially when retirement time comes aronnd. CALIFORNIA GRAPE BRANDY 84 PROOF

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