People in my life

I grew up in the Kensington section of Philadelphia PA. The movie Rocky was filmed in parts of Kensington so that neighborhood got a reputation of being a place of toughness. Even the women were fierce. I'm pretty sure there's even a song called Kensington Girls. When I lived there it was a neighborhood not only of toughness but gangs as well. Nothing really serious. Just a bunch of teenagers calling themselves something.

Billy Malloy hung out with KGB, the Kensington Ghetto Boyz. They were the younger kids in our neighborhood. Our friends, or gang, was WTO, We're The Ones. The older kids were A+Y, or Amber and York, a street corner in Kensington. Why we felt the need to call ourselves anything was just a reason to chant it, loudly, as we ran around, being kids. Depending on where you lived or who you hung out with, that was a territory, in our minds. We fought, roughhoused and liked getting into trouble. A few blocks east towards the Delaware river in Philadelphia, PA, was Fishtown. We considered Fishtowners as rivals and they saw us as rivals.

They had some tough guys that had a reputation or two, but for some reason, we always seemed to be starting fights with them. Not like the Hatfields and McCoys, but close in some instances. Billy Malloy was young but he was starting to get a reputation for being a tough guy, and I'm here to tell you that he was one of toughest men that I have had the honor to know. I have a story to prove it. Now, I wrote this story once before and caught some criticism for accuracy and on how I portray certain situations. I was accused of making it seem too grandiose, I suppose, especially with the parts I appear in it, but I write purely from memory and the heart. I may not remember every single name but what I do remember is exactly how it plays in my head, like a movie reel.

The scene starts with me, on a my bike, hanging out around Amber and York. There weren't too many people around so we were discussing where everyone could be. We had just decided to go over to Pop's playground and see who else can find as we go.

From out of nowhere, two KGB kids run up to the corner to tell us that Billy Malloy and one or two people were about to rumble a group in Fishtown from Cabot Street. Cabot street was teeming with worthy opponents. Some of us older guys were actually friends with some guys from down there because even though it's in Fishtown, it was like someone just took a couple of row homes in Kensington and placed all the way to the other side of Fishtown. Jackie Wolfe, a most excellent dude who deserves his own story, lived or hung out there, and Jamie Hogan, an awesome dude that I knew from first grade on to what will be another story. I was friends with Jamie and his little brother, another subject of rare and awesome souls, Marbles. Marbles was Billy's age and they were both average height and build, and they were so much alike that they sort of resented one another in an immature way due to the fact that they were both 15 or 16 at the most.

Anyway, back to Amber and York. I take one guy with me on my bike and tell the others to go to Pop's playground and find our people and send them to Tulip and Dauphin. I ride over on my bike and turn a corner and see Billy what looks like about 50 kids from Fishtown that are our rivals. Billy has one or two people with him and when he saw me on my bike, I can only guess that he thought I was bringing people all at the same time and he starts yelling, "What's up now, KGB and WTO are in the house now, WHAT'S UP NOW!?". But it was only me. Maybe some other guys were running up behind me but I don't think they were on our side. We were fairly deep into Fishtown.

So I finally reach Billy and tell him that its just us right now but I sent word to send our friends our way. Now that I'm up close I can see that they want a rumble. Meanwhile, Marbles and Billy are talking shit to each other. So, I go talk to Marbles and I ask him if he wants to give Billy a fair one, what we referred to a two person fist fight, the loser admits defeat and all is well. I don't think I got the words out of my mouth before they are squaring off in the street. It's a pretty good fight because Marbles had a rep of his own but Billy emerges victorious. And he is telling them all about how he'd beat each one of their asses. Meanwhile, I'm trying to calm Billy down because we are extremely out numbered and we might wind up fighting them all,for real, when we could just stroll away with a win.

I am interrupted by a slightly bigger kid and he wants to shut Billy up and beat his ass

I tell the kid he could fight me if he rather, seeing as Billy just rumbled. Billy stops me and says, "I got this, Carr. Just don't let anyone jump in." So here we go again. This guy is kind of muscular and looks like a good test for Billy. Long story short, Billy beats his ass! I'm cheering like crazy about hom my young buck just beat two of you best fighters!!! And they are pissed. A few of our friends start to find us so the odds aren't as bad.

Now, here comes a third dude, more my size than Billy, and he wants a chance to beat Billy's ass. Immediately, I am telling the dude that if he wants to fight then he will be fighting me because we were just around the same size and Billy Malloy's about three quarters the size of me. I think I remember the Fishtown dude showing no objections to rumbling me in my friends place. But Billy stops me again and tells me again that he got this. I told him that he started getting beat that I was jumping in and we will be fighting great odds.

Guess what happened next? Each fought averaged 5-6 minutes, full throttled street fighting, shirtless. I was preparing to rumble them. But, of course, Billy Malloy dispatched the third challenger in under a minute. The kid fought like a surgical tasmanian devil. I'm cheering like crazy and by this time enough people showed up that a riot could have broken out, so everyone disperses. Billy Malloy alone comes out victorious. It seemed incredible.

From that moment on, I regarded Billy as one of the best street fighters that I ever knew. Tough as nails.

Billy was also a lover and a fighter. He also loved his children and family fiercely. He battled substance abuse disorder and unfortunately lost that one, one a the few losses he took. They broke the mold when he was born. I'm honored to have known him and his family. Such joy and such tragedy. But they endure. So may we all.