Joseph Rollino (March 19, 1905 – January 11, 2010) was a decorated World War II veteran, weightlifter, and

strongman In the 19th century, the term strongman referred to an exhibitor of strength or similar circus performers who performed feats of strength. More recently, strength athletics, also known as strongman competitions, have grown in popularity. Thes ...

. The son of Italian immigrants, Rollino dubbed himself the

world's strongest man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decem ...

in the 1920s, moving with his back during the prime of his career.

Early life and career

Rollino was born and raised in Coney Island,

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, one of 14 children. Only tall and weighing , Rollino allegedly began lifting weights in the 1920s and trained for a time with Warren Lincoln Travis. He also took up boxing and toured the US as a boxer, fighting under the name Kid Dundee. Rollino also became known as a strongman, moving more than a ton, bending nails with his mouth and coins with his bare hands. He often appeared on the Coney Island Festival in the 1920s and 30s, being dubbed the world's strongest man. Rollino boasted of lifting with one finger. He once lifted with his teeth. After retiring from active performing, he worked as a longshoreman and once worked as a bodyguard for

Greta Garbo Greta Garbo (born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson; 18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990) was a Swedish-American actress. Regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses, she was known for her melancholic, somber persona, her film portrayals of tragic ch ...

. Rollino was a lifelong and "devout"

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

.Puskar-Pasewicz, Margaret. (2010). ''Cultural Encyclopedia of Vegetarianism''. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 254. During his later years, he was known for his winter swimming activities. Rollino was part of the Iceberg Athletic Club, a now-defunct swimming club, for more than 20 years.

Military service

He fought in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

during World War II, and was awarded a Silver Star, a Bronze Star Medal, and three

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

s. "He saw that his men were really hurting, getting injured during a battle", Pete Spanakos said, "so he ran onto the field, grabbed two men under one arm, two under another, and brought them back behind the lines. And he did this several times."

Retirement

Rollino lived a life of relative obscurity, rarely giving interviews or appearing in public. In a 2008 interview, he claimed to have been "born strong". He was married briefly early in his life and then divorced. He later lived with a niece. According to friends and family, he was in very good shape and was still able to bend quarters with his teeth as of his claimed 103rd birthday.

Death

On January 11, 2010, Rollino left his home and was hit by the driver of a vehicle in Dyker Heights,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. He died at a hospital several hours later, aged 104.

References

External links

"Joe Rolino: At 103, Still Fit, Fiery" by Robert Mladinich, March 23, 2008
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollino, Joe 1905 births 2010 deaths American male boxers American male weightlifters Boxers from New York City American centenarians American military personnel of World War II American people of Italian descent Pedestrian road incident deaths Sportspeople from Brooklyn Recipients of the Silver Star Road incident deaths in New York City American strength athletes People associated with physical culture People from Coney Island People from Dyker Heights, Brooklyn Vegetarianism activists Men centenarians Military personnel from New York City