(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
It's Friday, which is when we hear from StoryCorps. Joe Maslanka was a local legend in the small town of Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He arrived in 1971, bought a bar, kicked out the biker gang that hung out at the bar and moved in upstairs with a young family.
JOE MASLANKA JR: I remember the jukebox was under my bedroom, and the music was always going.
INSKEEP: That's Maslanka's son, Joe Jr. He came to StoryCorps with his mom, Suzanne, to remember the toughest guy they ever knew.
J MASLANKA: How did you actually meet him?
SUZANNE MASLANKA: He came up, and he pulled my hair. And I said, what's wrong with you? You don't even know me. He said, but I'm going to get to know you.
(LAUGHTER)
S MASLANKA: And he was exciting. That's the best word I could use for your father. Your dad loved making people happy.
J MASLANKA: If he saw you with your head in your hand at the bar...
S MASLANKA: Oh, he'd - yeah.
J MASLANKA: Get your head out of your hand. What are you worried about? You know, I saw him help a lot of people. He didn't hesitate to lend money. But you'd better not tell a Polish joke.
S MASLANKA: Oh, my goodness, yes.
J MASLANKA: (Laughter) Remember that?
S MASLANKA: He would haul off and put somebody through the front window (laughter).
J MASLANKA: Yeah. Yeah.
S MASLANKA: A true brawler.
J MASLANKA: But, you know, when you understood where he came from, what he had to go through...
S MASLANKA: He had a lot of hurt in his life. When he was a kid, he caught TB, and it landed in his left hip. He laid in a body cast for three years. Granddad never once went to the hospital to visit him.
J MASLANKA: Yeah.
S MASLANKA: He had to wear leg braces for a very long time. Kids would - hey, gimp, what happened to you?
J MASLANKA: Kids would trip him on his crutches.
S MASLANKA: But he couldn't do anything about it until he got older.
J MASLANKA: He went to the Police Athletic League, learned how to box, started lifting weights.
S MASLANKA: He got even with all of them.
J MASLANKA: Got even with them (laughter).
S MASLANKA: What was it like being his son (laughter)?
J MASLANKA: Tough. I mean, I went to Marine Corps boot camp for a break from my dad.
(LAUGHTER)
J MASLANKA: You know, you had to, like, live up to the legend. But there was one thing that he couldn't do. He couldn't go in the military. And when he came down to see me, he said something to me that I waited 40-some years to hear. He said, you have far exceeded anything I ever thought I would do in my life. He said, I'm so proud of you. Yeah. When Dad passed away, it would be Dad I would dream about. It was him. He was there. He would touch me with his hand, and I could feel him. You're not going to tell me any different.
S MASLANKA: It's been 20 years since he's been gone, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. I loved your father so much. And if he's in this room with us now, he's got to be getting a big charge out of this.
(LAUGHTER)
INSKEEP: Suzanne Maslanka ran the bar on her own before retiring. Joe Jr. is now a Methodist pastor. Their interview is archived in the Library of Congress.
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