Mack Robinson (athlete)

{{short description|U.S. silver medal in the 1936 Olympics for athletics}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Mack Robinson

| image = Mack Robinson Olympian.jpg

| fullname = Matthew MacKenzie Robinson

| nationality = American

| birth_date = July 18, 1914dv

| birth_place = Cairo, Georgia, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|03|12|1914|7|18}}

| death_place = Pasadena, California, U.S.

| height = {{convert|6|ft|1|in|cm|sigfig=3|abbr=on}}

| weight = {{convert|170|lb|abbr=on}}

| sport = Track and field

| event = Sprint, Long jump

| club =

| alma_mater = University of Oregon

| retired =

| coaching =

| pb =

| medaltemplates = {{MedalSport|Men's athletics}}

{{MedalCountry|the {{USA}}}}

}}

Matthew MacKenzie "Mack" Robinson (July 18, 1914 – March 12, 2000) was an American track and field athlete. He is best known for winning a silver medal in the 1936 Summer Olympics, where he broke the Olympic record in the 200 meters. He was the older brother of Baseball Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson.{{Cite web|title=Mack Robinson Biography and Olympic Results|url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/matthew-robinson-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091105182719/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ro/matthew-robinson-1.html|archive-date=November 5, 2009|website=Sports-reference.com}}

Early life

Mack was born in Cairo, Georgia, in 1914. He and his siblings were left fatherless at an early age, leaving their mother, Mallie Robinson, as the sole support of the children. She performed in a variety of manual labor tasks, and moved with her children to Pasadena, California, while the children were still young. At the start of middle school Mack was diagnosed with a heart murmur that got worse with age, and was advised to only play non-contact sports. He remained in town for school, and set national junior college records in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and long jump at Pasadena Junior College.{{Cite book |last=Schutz |first=J. Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4GgCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=Jackie Robinson: An Integrated Life |date=May 12, 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4597-6 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Draper |first=Deborah Riley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcRWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT26 |title=Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics |last2=Underwood |first2=Blair |last3=Thrasher |first3=Travis |date=February 4, 2020 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-5011-6217-6 |language=en}}

1936 Olympics

He placed second in the 200 meters at the United States Olympic Trials in 1936, earning himself a place on the Olympic team.{{cite web |url=https://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf |title=The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field |author=Hymans, Richard |publisher=USA Track & Field |year=2008 |access-date=October 20, 2015 |archive-date=November 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181123060342/http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{rp|80}} He went on to win the silver medal at the Summer Olympics in Berlin, finishing 0.4 seconds behind Jesse Owens. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Robinson, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.{{cite web | last=Henderson | first=Odie | title=Olympic Pride, American Prejudice movie review (2016) | website=RogerEbert.com | date=August 5, 2016 | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/olympic-pride-american-prejudice-2016 | access-date=April 11, 2021}}

Later career and life

Mack Robinson attended the University of Oregon, graduating in 1941. With Oregon he won numerous titles in NCAA, AAU and Pacific Coast Conference track meets. He has been honored as being one of the most distinguished graduates of the University of Oregon and is a member of the University of Oregon Hall of Fame and the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

For a time in the early 1970s, Mack was a park director of Lemon Grove Park, a park in the East Hollywood part of the City of Los Angeles.

Later in life, he was known for leading the fight against street crime in his home town of Pasadena. The Pasadena Robinson Memorial, dedicated to both Matthew and Jackie, was dedicated in 1997. The memorial statue of Jackie Robinson by sculptor Richard H. Ellis at UCLA Bruins baseball team's home Jackie Robinson Stadium,{{cite web|url=http://www.uclabruins.com/genrel/062200aah.html |title=Steele Field at Jackie Robinson Stadium |access-date=September 13, 2009 |publisher=UCLA Athletics |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725154753/http://www.uclabruins.com/genrel/062200aah.html |archive-date=July 25, 2011 }} was installed by the efforts of Jackie's brother, Mack.{{cite web |url=http://www.uclahistoryproject.ucla.edu/Fun/ThisMonth_AprRobinson.asp |title=UCLA history project: Robinson statue |publisher=UCLA.edu |access-date=May 6, 2009 |archive-date=June 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623064956/http://alumni.ucla.edu/share/ucla-history/default.aspx |url-status=dead }}

Several locations are named in honor of Matthew Robinson. In addition to the Pasadena Robinson Memorial, the stadium of Pasadena City College was dedicated to him in 2000. That same year, the United States Postal Service approved naming the new post office in Pasadena the Matthew 'Mack' Robinson Post Office Building.{{Cite web|title=Matthew "Mack" Robinson Post Office - Pasadena, CA|url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM5REQ|access-date=August 7, 2020|website=Waymarking.com}}

Robinson died of complications from diabetes, kidney failure, and pneumonia, on March 12, 2000, at a hospital in Pasadena, California; he was 85.{{Cite news|last=Litsky|first=Frank|date=March 14, 2000|title=Mack Robinson, 85, Second to Owens in Berlin|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/14/sports/mack-robinson-85-second-to-owens-in-berlin.html|access-date=August 7, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} He is interred at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum, Altadena, California.

Notes

References

[http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0873030.html Matthew Robinson entry at infoplease.com]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20061026005714/http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/Legislative+Issues/Floor+Statements+-+Text/2001/03-06-01+In+Memory+of+Matthew+Mack+Robinson.htm Congressman Adam Schiff speech in honor of Matthew Robinson]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311052929/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_n4_v52/ai_19092172/pg_2 article "Jackie Robinson Remembered" at finarticles.com]
Rampersad, Arnold. Jackie Robinson, a Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090206050141/http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=246730