Jackie Robinson earned four varsity letters at UCLA. He lettered in baseball, basketball, football, and track and field, making him the university's first athlete to earn letters in four sports.
Robinson attended UCLA from 1939 to 1941 after two years at Pasadena Junior College. Football and track were among his strongest sports: he played in the Bruins' backfield and won the 1940 NCAA long-jump championship. He also led the NCAA in punt-return average in both 1939 and 1940.
The number four refers to four sports, not four seasons or four individual awards within one sport. Robinson's athletic range was exceptional in an era when Black athletes faced widespread exclusion and discrimination. He left UCLA just short of graduating, later playing professional football, serving in the U.S. Army, and joining the Brooklyn Dodgers organization before breaking MLB's color barrier in 1947.