Strongman Joe Rollino Dies at 104

Joe Rollino was sometimes called “The Great Joe Rollino”, or “The Mighty Joe Rollino” or even “The World’s Strongest Man”.

The 104-year-old man from Brooklyn, who once was able to lift 635 pounds with just one of his fingers, lifted 475 pounds using only his teeth, and bent quarters with his fingers, died Monday morning after being struck by a van while he was taking his daily 5-mile walk.

Just before 7 a.m. EST, as Rollino was crossing Bay Ridge Parkway at 13th Avenue, a Ford Windstar van hit him. According to police reports, he he suffered fractures to his pelvis, chest, ribs and face, as well as head trauma.

He was taken unconscious to Lutheran Medical Center, where he later passed away.

He was just a teenager when he watched Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard back in 1919. He later become a boxer and used the name “Kid Dundee”, became a performer on Coney Island, worked as a longshoreman, fought in World War II and even had a small part in “On the Waterfront” that never made it into the movie.

Among his many feats, Rollino was would brag about one in particular.

“My finger strength,” he told ESPN The Magazine. “Six hundred thirty-five pounds. See the size of it. At 150 pounds, nobody ever beat me in this world.”