| | PASADENA, Calif. -- Mack Robinson, a world class runner who
won a silver medal in the 1936 Olympic Games and the older brother
of Jackie Robinson, has died. He was 85.
Robinson died Sunday at St. Luke Medical Center in Pasadena of
complications from a stroke, diabetes and kidney failure, according
to his wife, Delano.
He is perhaps best known for winning the silver medal in the 200
meters in the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, finishing only behind
Jesse Owens.
Robinson had suffered numerous illnesses in recent years. He had
a heart attack in December 1990, then had a massive stroke while
undergoing quintuple-bypass surgery in June 1991. He had been
bedridden since.
"He's really resting in peace now, he's out of the misery he
suffered so long," Mrs. Robinson said. "The last 10 years were
very difficult for Mack, but he was a strong person, he endured so
many odds. He was a very sick man."
Robinson's accomplishments came long before his brother broke
baseball's color line in 1947, and the elder Robinson's performance
in Berlin was considered a surprise.
After the Olympics, Robinson starred on the Oregon track team,
winning the NCAA 220-yard title and the AAU 200-meter championship
in 1938.
The second of five children, he was inducted into the Oregon
Sports Hall of Fame in 1983. Despite being in the shadow of his
younger brother, Mack instead took pride in Jackie's
accomplishments.
"He always liked to say they had something in common: Fighting
the prejudice in the late 1930s and early 1940s," George Beres, a
friend who was Oregon sports information director from 1976-82,
told the Oregonian of Portland. "They had more than just
bloodlines and last name in common."
In addition to his wife of 45 years, Robinson is survived by
eight living children and 25 grandchildren. He had two other
children who died.
A funeral will be held on Saturday at Scott United Methodist
Church in Pasadena. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to
the Pasadena Robinson Memorial in memory of Jackie and Mack
Robinson.
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