Long before he settled in or retired to , Jamaican-born Olympic sprinter Malcolm Spence II won a bronze medal competing for the Caribbean nation in the 1960 games in Rome.

Spence, who competed in three Olympic Games, died Oct. 30. He was 81.

“He was an outstanding athlete in Jamaica,” Spence’s son and namesake, Malcolm Spence III, 49, of , said. “He was one of the first ones recruited to come over to this country to participate in athletics.”

It was the 1950s and the American Civil Rights Movement was in its infancy when Spence and his twin brother, Melville, were recruited to attend Arizona State University to train and compete under legendary head coach Baldy Castillo. A speedy sprinter, Spence specialized in the 440-yard dash — once around a track — and won multiple titles and honors while attending the school.

“Coming over here young in the ’50s was rough,” Spence III said. “It was a rough time … for African Americans who lived here, let alone for those who came from another country.”

Spence shared stories, his son said, of going out to eat with his teammates and, because of segregation, he had to eat in a separate section of the restaurants they patronized.

His first time as an Olympian, Spence, known as “Mal,” competed in the 1956 games in Melbourne, Australia. He won his bronze medal four years later running in the 4×400-meter relay in Rome. Spence also participated in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He attended the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta as a torchbearer.

Born and raised in Kingston, Spence majored in botany at Arizona State and worked as a health inspector for the state of Florida until his retirement in 2002. In 1982, he settled in Lauderdale Lakes, where he coached track and field for the city’s recreational league.

“He was a true father figure and mentor,” Spence III, assistant principal at Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach, said. “He just had that calming personality where you could talk to him, and he had so much wisdom.”

In retirement, Spence indulged his green thumb, tending plants in a nursery on a daughter’s property in and working as a landscaper at Aztec RV Resort in .

“He was a plant lover,” Spence III said. “He loved to see them grow. Orchids were his favorite. He would buy ’em and split ’em and grow ’em and sell them. He liked to keep busy.”

Dear George: