He cooks up his own way to honor grandfather

Nearly 10 years ago to the day - April 15, 1997 - Jesse Robinson Simms, then 18, was on the field at Shea Stadium, shoulder-to-shoulder with a cadre of luminaries that included President Clinton, taking part in a 50th anniversary celebration of the day his grandfather, Jackie Robinson, broke through major-league baseball's color barrier.

At the time, Simms seemed on a path to be the first in the family to carry on his grandfather's athletic legacy. A 6-foot-3, 270-pound prep school football star from North Stamford, Conn., Simms had signed a letter of intent with UCLA, where Jackie had excelled in baseball, football and track and had met his wife, Rachel, Jesse's grandmother. The emotional attachment to UCLA was strong.

Jesse never knew his grandfather, who died seven years before he was born, but he became well aware of his deeds through his mother, Sharon, Jackie's daughter, and his now-84-year-old grandmother, who helped raise him and still visits almost every weekend.

"Although I obviously never had a one-on-one relationship with him, it almost feels like my grandfather is still here," Simms said in a recent telephone interview. "It's a tremendous amount of pride."

Yet, Simms recalled, an internal struggle was raging at the time. Though he felt the pull of carrying on Jackie's legacy, did it have to be as an athlete at UCLA?

Simms reneged on his commitment to UCLA and enrolled at Penn State to play for Joe Paterno, who grew up as an admirer of Jackie as a Dodger fan from Brooklyn.

"Coach Paterno was wonderful with me, and I thank him for showing me love and respect in a difficult time in my life," Simms said. "I went there with the intention of playing football."

Simms said he was ineligible to play as a freshman because he hadn't met the NCAA's academic standards. It was during that first year at State College that he realized he didn't have the passion necessary to excel at football. There must be another way, he thought, to carry on Jackie's legacy.

"So I went back home and thought about the things I love to do and found I had a passion for the culinary arts and entertainment business," he said.

Today, Simms runs a culinary- arts and business program at High Road Upper School in Somerset, N.J., which specializes in serving special-needs students.

At the school, Simms has set up an Italian bistro and an American diner with a gourmet kitchen, where he teaches life skills to about 65 students, some with Down syndrome or autism.