One of the most celebrated events in the history of sports was the gold medal track victory of Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Less remembered, but just as heroic, was the silver medal second place finish to Owens of Cairo’s Mack Robinson in the 200 meters. History is not kind to second place, even when the margin of victory was only 0.4 of a second.

Matthew Mackenzie “Mack” Robinson was born July 18, 1914, in Cairo, Georgia. He grew up in Pasadena, California, with his famous younger brother, Hall of Fame member Jackie Robinson. Both brothers played major roles in racial equality. For his part, Mack demonstrated that race had nothing to do with talent and ability. Hitler had told Germany that the superior Aryan race would be victorious over “inferior races.” Brother Jackie Robinson famously broke the Major League Baseball barriers.

In his New York Times obituary of March 14, 2000, Robinson is quoted, “It’s not too bad to be second best in the world at what you’re doing, no matter what it is. It means that only one other person in the world was better than you. That makes you better than an awful lot of people.”

South Georgia can be proud of Mack Robinson as we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the 1936 Olympics.

Don Sims,

Thomasville