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Reggie Jackson
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==Early life== Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson was born on May 18, 1946, in the [[Wyncote, Pennsylvania|Wyncote]] neighborhood of [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania]], just north of [[Philadelphia]]. His father, Martinez Jackson, who was half [[Puerto Ricans|Puerto Rican]],<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/26/sports/baseball/26latino.html | title= Who's a Latino Baseball Legend?| first= Richard | last= Sandomir | work= The New York Times | date= August 26, 2005}}</ref> worked as a tailor and was a former [[second baseman]] with the [[Newark Eagles]] of [[Negro league baseball]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Martinez Jackson, Father of Reggie Jackson, 89|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/30/obituaries/martinez-jackson-father-of-reggie-jackson-89.html|access-date=January 13, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times| date= April 30, 1994}}</ref> He was the youngest of his mother Clara's four children. He also had two half-siblings from his father's first marriage.<ref name=Perry_9>{{Harvnb|Perry|2010|pp=9}}</ref> His parents divorced when he was six; his mother took three of his siblings with her, while his father took two of Jackson's siblings from his first marriage, though one sibling later returned to Wyncote.<ref name= Perry_9 /> Martinez Jackson was a single father, and theirs was one of the few [[Afro-Puerto Rican|black]] families in Wyncote. Jackson graduated from [[Cheltenham High School]] in 1964, where he excelled in [[High school football|football]], [[High school basketball|basketball]], baseball, and track and field.<ref name="Perry 12">{{Harvnb|Perry|2010|pp=12}}</ref> A [[halfback (American football)|tailback]] in football, he injured his knee in an early season game in his junior year in the fall of 1962. He was told by the doctors he was never to play football again, but Jackson returned for the final game of the season.<ref name="Perry 13">{{Harvnb|Perry|2010|pp=13}}</ref> In that game, Jackson [[Cervical fracture|fractured five cervical vertebrae]], which caused him to spend six weeks in the hospital and another month in a neck cast. Doctors told Jackson that he might never walk again, let alone play football, but Jackson defied the odds again.<ref name="Perry 13"/> On the baseball team, he [[batting average (baseball)|batted]] .550 and threw several [[no-hitter]]s.<ref name="Perry 14">{{Harvnb|Perry|2010|pp=14}}</ref> In the middle of Jackson's senior year, his father was arrested for [[Rum-running|bootlegging]] and was sentenced to six months in jail.<ref name="Perry 14" />
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