Rademacher, who would go on to become a professional boxer in 23 bouts, passed away on Thursday (June 4) at the Ohio Veterans Home.

His Olympic gold medal in the heavyweight came after he beat the Soviet Union's Lev Mukhim in the final.

Rademacher famously came close to becoming the world heavyweight champion in his first professional fight when he fought Floyd Patterson.

After putting Patterson down in the second round, his opponent came back to knock Rademacher down seven times as the Olympic champion was knocked out in the sixth round of his professional debut.

Rademacher went on to have 22 more professional bouts, ending with 14 wins, seven losses and one draw.

Eight of his wins came by knockout. 

His final professional fight came against Bobo Olson in Hawaii in 1962 and Rademacher finished his career with a win.

A family member of Rademacher's told the Medina Gazette that he had been suffering from dementia in recent years and planned to donate his brain to the Brain Injury Research Institute.

In 2007, Rademacher was inducted into the Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame.

Rademacher also played college football for Washington State.