John Brinck sat in the second seat for the Cal eight that won the 1928 gold medal. Brinck was later murdered under unusual circumstances. He was driving from Falfurrias to Harlingen, Texas, when he picked up a hitch-hiker, 16-year-old William Osborne. Osborne then robbed and killed Brinck, shooting him in the right temple, and netting $70.
Brinck was a general manager for California Fruit Exchange and was on a tour of southeastern Texas when he was killed. He graduated from U Cal Berkeley in 1930 and then worked for a few years in Sacramento, California with Zellerbach Paper Company, before taking the job in Texas.
United States