NEW YORK — The self-dubbed "Strongest Man in the World," who once lifted 3,200 pounds at Coney Island in the 1920s and was still bending quarters with his fingers at age 104, died Monday crossing a street.
Joe Rollino was struck by a minivan as he crossed Bay Ridge Parkway in Brooklyn.
Police said the driver, who was going the speed limit and had not been drinking, was issued a ticket for a defective horn.
During his life, Rollino hobnobbed with Harry Houdini, watched Jack Dempsey knock out Jess Willard and was friendly with Mario Lanza. He even had a bit part in On the Waterfront.
Rollino, who fought for years in armory bouts using the name Kid Dundee, was the model of health, said friends. A vegetarian, he didn't drink or smoke and exercised daily.
He was part of the Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen, an organization of men able to rip book binders at the seam.
"If you'd said he was 80, I'd have said he looked younger," a pal said.