Monday Marks 50th Anniversary Of Jackie Robinson's Death

Tom Emery
October 24 2022 10:34 AM



Monday, Oct. 24 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Before his decade of excellence with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson was a college sports star and in one notable moment, his UCLA basketball squad played at Illinois State.

On Dec. 21, 1940, Robinson’s Bruins team lost to Illinois State 37-21 in Normal at McCormick Gym, the former home of the Redbirds. Eight decades later, hoops historians still look back on the night that the great Jackie Robinson came to the Illinois heartland.

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