Friday, April 11, 2025
I am so sorry to hear of his passing. I was blessed to have known Rock. We met each other at the age of 3. I considered him the closest of friends though my childhood years – especially though elementary school. I have so many great memories of playing stick ball in the street, learning to swim, model trains, collecting and discussing comic books, playing flashlight tag at night, and the time the neighborhood bullies stopped us while we were walking home from school to make fun of his braces by asking him when the 12 o’clock train was coming. Rock immediately responded sarcastically, “ The 12 o’clock train? It will be coming by about noon.” I remember later on when a video tape of Rock playing drums in a “battle of the bands” ended up being played on the local cable public access station making a few younger members of his extended family think he was a famous MTV star. Skipping forward as adults I remember going to a comedy show where out of all those people in attendance Rock was the one singled out to sing Smokey Robinson’s “My Girl” with the comedians on stage – because those things always seemed to happened to Rock. He was an important person that left a lasting impression on my life. I cannot say it enough – I was blessed to have known Rocco (“Rock”) Mancini.
