
DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997               TAG: 9704150495

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   76 lines

A HERO'S FOUNDATION LEADS TO PRINCETON EDUCATION

The legacy of Jackie Robinson lifts Norfolk's Candace Jackson every day at Princeton University, as it does 140 other college students around the country.

Though they are separated, the minority students are joined by a singular honor that Jackson, 17, a Princeton freshman, does not take lightly. She is a Jackie Robinson Scholar, selected by the Jackie Robinson Foundation for an annual $5,000 grant for her academic ability and leadership potential in the dynamic example of Robinson himself.

``The application is so rigorous and they accept so few students, I definitely feel honored,'' said Jackson, a Maury High School graduate. ``I've met students who have said, `Oh, a Jackie Robinson scholarship, I wanted to do that.' ''

The Jackie Robinson Foundation began in New York City in 1973, the year after Robinson's death, to help minority students attend college. It awards 40 to 45 scholarships per year, according to scholarship director Emma Roberson. More than 425 Robinson Scholars have graduated in that time, a retention rate of 92 percent, Roberson said.

Qualifications are steep, encompassing school achievement, community service and career goals, and evaluated year to year. Athletic ability, ironically, is not considered. Roberson said the Foundation, overseen by Jackie Robinson's widow, Rachel and a national board of directors, received about 3,500 applications last year.

``The application was as hard as my Princeton application, actually,'' said Jackson, whose father is a federal judge and whose mother is a state court judge. ``They want to know your goals, what you're doing in school, what you're doing in the community. If they give you $20,000 (over four years), they want to know how you're going to use it. They want to see in you the ideals of Jackie Robinson.''

Robinson's legend began with baseball, but he involved himself in much more; business as a Chock Full 'O Nuts executive, politics as an outspoken Republican and social and civil rights battles that included public sparring with Malcolm X.

Jackson, who did not play sports at Maury and said she is not a sports fan, said she was aware of Robinson because her family stresses African American history. But only since becoming a Robinson Scholar has she learned of Robinson's larger influence.

It's not enough to say that Robinson just broke baseball's color line, Jackson said. ``You have to understand what baseball meant to America,'' she said. ``I didn't understand the complexity of his character, they don't really teach you that in school. This has been a very good chance to get down and see what he did. He didn't stop at baseball. As he went on he tried to uplift African Americans and America as a whole.

``I think a hero takes things you value and they show them in the best way. I think in that way Jackie Robinson is one of my heroes.''

A particular highlight for Jackson was the foundation's annual ``networking weekend'' last month in New York. Robinson Scholars and alumni gathered for discussion, conferences, mentoring, entertainment and a dinner with Bill Cosby as master of ceremonies.

``I've loved every minute of Princeton,'' said Jackson, who hopes to become an attorney specializing in children's defense law. ``The percentage of African Americans here is very small, about 7 percent.

``It was so exciting to go a step up and meet everybody from the different schools at the weekend, to meet more and more people who are just like me. I know we're going to make a difference.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo [ran on C1]

ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE STUDENT: Candace Jackson of Norfolk is attending Princeton as a

Jackie Robinson Scholar, chosen for academic ability and leadership

potential. Robinson ``tried to uplift African Americans and America

as a whole,'' she says. Story, C4.

Photo

Candace Jackson on Robinson: ``I think a hero takes things you value

and they show them in the best way. I think in that way Jackie

Robinson is one of my heroes.''