NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are those certain days that get you thinking about where you started. This is one of those days.
It was 2005. I was at MTSU. I had my Circuit City camera, and I was looking to do my very first story for class.
I wanted an interview with Prince Mongo.
"I'm from the Planet Zambodia, nine light-years from earth, and people make fun of that, which is alright with me because I understand ignorance!" Mongo told me in that 2005 interview.
He wore goggles and a long blonde wig. A rubber chicken dangled at his side.
Who is Prince Mongo? If you ever lived in Shelby County, Tennessee, I'd say you know him. Here's the story.
Prince Mongo also went by the name Robert Hodges.
Starting in the late 70s, Mongo was pretty much a constant in the Memphis mayoral races. When I met him, he'd just run for state senate. His claim was he'd long protected Memphis from an earthquake.
"I have great powers from my planet!" he said.
Mongo never took office, but he was a businessman and owned real estate. Over the years, he ran some clubs and a pizza place.
He was also a constant in the news. When I visited in 2005, Mongo had long been in debates with neighbors over what he called art from his home planet decorating the house and trees. The neighbors called the art...hubcaps.
Long before this, in 1980, Mongo got a visit from health department inspector Barry Moore.
"I tried to convince him to clean it up!" Moore said. "I don't think he ever did! This wasn't one visit. This was numerous visits that I went to his house."
As Moore was leaving that first visit, he asked Mongo if he could take a picture.
Moore's 1980 picture seems to perfectly sum up Prince Mongo. In it, Mongo proudly poses in the middle of a yard surrounded in all sorts of odd discoveries.
"He just enjoyed being who he was," Moore said. "He was very nice, very cordial. It was a memory I'll never forget, and all I can do is smile about it."
Friends of Mongo said he actually was an artist, and there are several major impacts to the Memphis story.
The 1991 Memphis mayoral election was famously close. Willie Herenton won by 146 votes becoming the first Black mayor of Memphis. Herenton has said Mongo getting nearly 3,000 votes in that election may have helped him win.
Prince Mongo died Monday after a fall.
I've made it a career of trying to find people who are interesting, unique, funny. Prince Mongo's where I started.
The businesses, the politcal bids, the clashes with neighbors, it made him a Memphis legend. One afternoon, he made some time so a college kid could get an A on his first class assignment.
"He was a genuine character in the city of Memphis," Moore nodded.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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