Coney Island strongman Joe Rollino killed at 104

Brooklyn career badass Joe Rollino, known for lifting 3,200 lbs. in his heyday as the Coney Island strongman, was killed in Brooklyn Monday when he was struck by a minivan.

Rollino suffered a broken pelvis, head trauma and broken ribs when the van hit him as he crossed Bay Ridge Parkway in Brooklyn. He was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he died later that day. Police say the driver was not speeding and was sober, and that no criminality was suspected. She was issued a citation for a defective horn.

Rollino would have turned 105 on March 19th, and neighborhood walks were part of his daily routine. Rollino walked 5 miles daily, rain or shine, and abstained from meat, booze and cigarettes. He swam frequently as well, even into the icy New York winters:

“People told me he holds the record for swimming every day for eight years,” said Louis Scarcella, 59, a former homicide detective and a member of the city’s oldest winter swimming club, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club. “He was known as the Great Joe Rollino, and he was great. You knew he was great just by standing next to him. He just had that humble confidence and strength. It shined.”

Rollino had been living with a niece on 14th avenue in Brooklyn, about a block from the scene of the accident.

[NYT]