Jackie Robinson (89 page)

70.
I was the aggressor
: ibid.

71.
He was Zellee’s dream guy
: ibid.

72.
Rachel’s father didn’t like
: David Falkner,
Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson, from Baseball to Birmingham
(N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 63.

73.
Jack’s color would not
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

74.
Mallie was very gracious
: ibid.

75.
colossalness is almost
: CDB, Aug. 9, 1940.

76.
and went all the
: CDB, Sept. 30, 1940.

77.
a wild and woolly
: CDB, Nov. 18, 1940.

78.
A lot of it
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

79.
the greatest of all
: Mann, p. 59.

80.
viciously treated
: CDB, Feb. 17, 1941.

81.
long, weary basketball season
: CDB, Feb. 25, 1941.

82.
Robinson Fails to Make
: CDB, March 4, 1941.

83.
flagrant bit of prejudice
: CDB, March 5, 1941.

84.
I was aghast
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

85.
honorable dismissal
: CDB, March 4, 1941.

86.
very fine letter
: John B. Jackson to JR, May 7, 1941, UCLA Archives.

87.
I was indeed serious
: JR to John B. Jackson, n.d., UCLA Archives.

1.
I had offers
: Frank Waldman,
Famous American Athletes of Today
(Boston: L.C. Page, 1949), p. 244.

2.
I could see no
:
I Never,
p. 23.

3.
that their free time
: JR, Personnel Placement Questionnaire, U.S. War Department, Nov. 23, 1942, U.S. Army Records, JRP.

4.
fortunate, indeed
: Unidentified clipping, n.d., JRP.

5.
something that I have
: JR to John B. Jackson, n.d., UCLA Archives.

6.
the biggest kid of all
: WP, Aug. 25, 1949.

7.
loved and appreciated
: ibid.

8.
it took one scrimmage
: Carl T. Rowan with Jackie Robinson,
Wait Till Next Year
(N.Y.: Random House, 1960), p. 65.

9.
a soft-spoken, dark-skinned
: Rowan, p. 66.

10.
The only time
: PSN, Oct. 26, 1977.

11.
The construction job
: Ray Bartlett, interview.

12.
Century Express
: Misc. clipping, n.d., JRP.

13.
See the Sensational
: ibid.

14.
When he found out
: Ray Bartlett, interview.

15.
Robinson, almost entirely
: Frank Ardolino, “Jackie Robinson and the 1941 Honolulu Bears,”
The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History
16 (1996)
,
p. 70.

16.
discrimination in the employment
: John Morton Blum,
V Was for Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War II
(N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1976), p. 188.

17.
If Jack and his mother
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

18.
I wasn’t thinking
: ibid.

19.
Rae’s deep grief
:
I Never,
p. 23.

20.
My father’s death
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

21.
It’s a wonder
: ibid.

22.
Like all men
:
I Never,
p. 24.

23.
Personally, I would welcome
:
Daily Worker,
March 23, 1942.

24.
has been proven satisfactory
: Lee Nichols,
Breakthrough on the Color Front
(N.Y.: Three Continents Press, rev. ed. 1993), p. 103.

25.
There is a consensus
: Jack D. Foner,
Blacks and the Military in American History: A New Perspective
(N.Y.: Praeger, 1974), p. 146.

26.
on the score that
: Foner, p. 140.

27.
expert … excellent
: JR’s U.S. Army Records, JRP.

28.
The men in our
:
I Never,
p. 24.

29.
Leadership is not imbedded
: Blum, p. 185.

30.
I’ll break up
: Rowan,
Wait,
p. 74.

31.
Negro athletes such as
: Ruth Danenhower Wilson,
Jim Crow Joins Up: A Study of Negroes in the Armed Forces of the United States
(N.Y.: William J. Clark, 1944), p. 7.

32.
We gon do our part
: Chris Mead,
Champion: Joe Louis, Black Hero in White America
(N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985), p. 218.

33.
was the quickest fellow
: Arthur Mann,
The Jackie Robinson Story
(N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, 1951), p. 87.

34.
one of the sharpest
: JR, misc. speeches, n.d., JRP.

35.
I got this telephone
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

36.
I’m sure if it
: ibid.

37.
stupid nigger
: Mead,
Joe Louis,
p. 227.

38.
Joe gave the general
: Truman K. Gibson to author, interview, Feb. 25, 1996.

39.
at Fort Riley
: Wilson, p. 27.

40.
I was at headquarters
: Jack Gordon, interview.

41.
I had come to realize
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

42.
Jack began
: ibid.

43.
Tell her to either
: ibid.

44.
Do you have a sable
: ibid.

45.
One day we were
: Peter Golenbock,
Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers
(N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p. 152.

46.
because we know of
: William J. Neal to Commanding Officer, 372nd Infantry, Camp Breckenridge, KY, October 12, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

47.
had lost confidence
: Foner, p. 159.

48.
Lieutenant, let me
:
I Never,
p. 26.

49.
made it quite clear
:
I Never,
pp. 28–29.

50.
arthritis, chronic
: JR, Army Records, JRP.

51.
physically disqualified
: ibid.

52.
I shook with rage
:
I Never,
p. 25.

53.
I told him I was
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

54.
Stubbornly I vowed
:
I Never,
p. 25.

55.
“New” Gonorrhoea, Acute
: JR, Army Records, JRP.

56.
Seek, Strike
: Odie B. Faulk and Laura E. Faulk,
Fort Hood: The First Fifty Years
(Temple, Tex.: Frank W. Mayborn Foundation, 1990), p. 69.

57.
Segregation there
: Mary Penick Motley, ed.,
The Invisible Soldier: The Experience of the Black Soldier, World War II
(Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1975), p. 328.

58.
One day Jackie was
: Motley, p. 163.

59.
Our boots were shined
: David Falkner,
Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson
(N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1995), pp. 73–74.

60.
Men, I know nothing
: WP, Aug. 25, 1949.

61.
He was kind of
: Falkner, p. 75.

62.
who tended to pick
: ibid.

63.
in very high regard
: JR, Transcript of Court Martial, August 2, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

64.
I said I’d
be
: ibid.

65.
to determine the physical
: Army Records, May 25, 1944, JRP.

66.
type of duty
: Lt. Robert W. Gilmore to Commanding Officer, Camp Hood, June 21, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

67.
a bony mass
: ibid.

68.
fit for limited
: Proceedings of Meeting of Disposition Board, June 26, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

69.
I said that’s all
: The complete record of Robinson’s court-martial trial, August 2, 1944, including a transcript of the trial and a copy of all depositions, are in U.S. Army Records, JRP.

70.
This is a very
: “Summary of Telephone Conversation,” Colonel E. A. Kimball, Commander of the 5th Armored Group, to Colonel Walter D. Buie, Chief of Staff of the XXIII Corps, July 17, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

71.
seeking your help
: JR to NAACP, July 24, 1944, NAACPR, LC.

72.
We will be unable
: Edward R. Dudley to JR, Aug. 3, 1944, NAACPR, LC.

73.
this incident is only
: Anon. to NAACP, July 20, 1944, NAACPR, LC.

74.
that God would take
: Rachel Robinson, interview.

75.
The accused stated
: Army Records, JRP.

76.
told me the NAACP
: Hal Davis, “The Court-Martial of Lt. Jackie Robinson,”
National Law Journal,
Sept. 19, 1994: A12.

77.
a young Michigan officer
:
I Never,
p. 34.

78.
behaving with disrespect
: Trial transcript, JRP. All quotations here are from the transcript, unless otherwise noted.

79.
The provost marshal didn’t
: Davis, p. A12.

80.
He was handcuffed
: David J. Williams,
Hit Hard
(N.Y.: Bantam, 1983), pp. 126–127.

81.
Jackie said
: Mead, p. 227.

82.
No … permanent
: Army Records, JRP.

83.
I was told there
: JR to Adjutant General, U.S. Army, Aug. 25, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

84.
would only further aggravate
: JR to Adjutant General, Army, Army Records, JRP.

85.
inasmuch as Lieutenant Robinson
: Adjutant General to Commanding General, Eighth Service Command, Sept. 26, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

86.
revert to an inactive
: Special Order No. 249, Fifth Service Command, Oct. 17, 1944, Army Records, JRP.

87.
I had almost made
: WP, Aug. 24, 1949.

88.
honorably relieved from active
: Army Records, JRP.

1.
I believe that my
: Karleen Downs Berthel to author, interview, March 12, 1996.

2.
The college was
: Galveston
Voice,
Feb. 28, 1948.

3.
Bringing Jackie Robinson
: Dr. John Quill Taylor King to author, interview, July 7, 1995.

4.
top team from
: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ”
Look,
Feb. 15, 1955, p. 82.

5.
everybody,
everybody
: Janet Bruce,
The Kansas City Monarchs: Champions of Black Baseball
(Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1985), p. 24.

6.
a Monarch never had
: Buck Owens to Janet Bruce, cited in John B. Holway,
Blackball Stars: Negro League Pioneers
(Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1988), p. 341.

7.
I inquired about my
: JR, “What’s Wrong with Negro Baseball?” ms., n.d., pp. 116–137, JRP.

8.
the rooms were dingy
: ibid.

9.
lopsided game
: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ” p. 82.

10.
seeing the best type
: ibid.

11.
Jackie was able
: Sammie Haynes to Spike Lee, interview, Dec. 29, 1994, JRP.

12.
a very smart ball
: Bruce, p. 106.

13.
an average fielder
: Donn Rogosin,
Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues
(N.Y.: Atheneum, 1983), p. 203.

14.
He didn’t have that
: ibid.

15.
instead of the outside
: Rogosin, p. 204.

16.
perhaps the best curve
: David Falkner,
Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson
(N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, 1995), p. 121.

17.
All the time I
: JR as told to Wendell Smith,
Jackie Robinson: My Own Story
(N.Y.: Greenberg, 1948), p. 11.

18.
Quickly the old-time
: Rogosin, p. 85.

19.
give Robinson a base
: Rogosin, pp. 85–86.

20.
He did not fit
: Rogosin, p. 203.

21.
I could never figure
: JR, “ ‘Your temper can ruin us!,’ ” p. 82.