”It was a normal night in 1978 South Philadelphia, save one thing: Rocky was coming.”
“Everyone converged in front of St. Thomas Aquinas church on the corner of 17th and Morris to see when and how Sylvester Stallone would arrive for the filming of a scene that would be shot for Rocky II. No one knew what the scene was going to be or exactly where the scene was going to be filmed, but everyone knew there was going to be filming.
“How they got off that scene where Father Carmine gave Rocky a blessing is beyond me, because I waited and waited for Rocky to arrive. I must have waited there for at least three hours. Then, yelling began in the crowd, and a limo flew by me. Everyone started shouting, “Rocky! Rocky! Rocky!”. Stallone was the second famous person to fly past me in a limo. The other one was Pope John Paul II, who flew by doing about 90 miles per hour, so that was a blur, but I stayed from the time the sun set until a full moon that looked like the one from the “Honeymooners” was in full view to see Rocky Balboa. Despite that, I never did get to see any of the filming, nor did I get to see Rocky. It didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. I knew I was there, and I knew Rocky was there. That’s all that mattered then, and that’s all that matters now.”
Mike Smith
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
