PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — As part of Philadelphia’s first-ever RockyFest, the Philadelphia Visitor Center and Mural Arts Philadelphia have come together to unveil murals honoring “real-life Rockys,” remarkable Philadelphians with the fictional boxer’s fighting spirit.
Chantay Love, co-founder of the Germantown-based nonprofit Every Murder is Real, has been fighting gun violence in her community for decades. “We’re just serving our community and trying to make it better,” she said.
Love is one of four Philly residents — along with Joshua Santiago, Michelle Konkoly and the late Jimmy Young — whose faces adorn new murals outside of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in recognition of their extraordinary work in their communities. Each 8-foot by 8-foot mural is accompanied by a QR code that visitors can scan to read their stories.
“For the next 30 days, visitors to these iconic steps and statue will have an opportunity to see two casts of the famous Rocky statue and magnificent tributes to these four real-life Philadelphians,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president of the Philadelphia Visitors Center Corporation.
Santiago, from Kensington, is recognized for providing free haircuts for the housing-insecure. “Part of the Rocky movie is in Kensington,” he said, “so it means a lot to me.”
Young’s son Jason shared stories of his father, a heavyweight boxer from North Philly. “He was a fighter that boxed in the ‘70s and ‘80s and went on to fight men like George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. He was my real-life Rocky,” he said.
And Konkoly, a Paralympic gold medalist in swimming, says without her family and friends, she would not be where she is now. “At the end of the day, go hug your Adrian,” she said. “This is what this is all about.”