It turns out I wasn't the only one bullied, nor was I the only one that stood up to them. Cpl Vic told a great story about how he acquired his nickname. Victory is not always the domain of the Winner. Not saying "Uncle" can sometimes be more respect than the "winner" can garner from a fight.

With that in mind,I thought back to the toughest kid I ever saw. Only met him once. Here's how that unfolded. I was at a local swimming pool. This one was on the boundary of two Gangs: The Spiders and the Meyer Street Boys. Both those gangs were filled with street toughs, and had many gang fights over turf territories. But the pool was off limits and neutral, for a very practical reason:
If one of the Gangs did anything, the City simply closed the pool and drained it for a week. And that was enough to make folks behave. Cities are hot places, and people didn't like it when you took away their swimming pool.

But one day, two of the higher ups in each Gang got into it at the Pool. The Lifeguard, whom I had never met before. He was replacing one of the usual Lifeguards. Not a big boy at all. Five ten, maybe 150 or so. Lean and athletic like most teens in my day. He told them both to leave. They did. Until...

One of them came back. And he came back with a host of other punks from his Gang. (This was before guns. And very few carried knives. It was usually just fists and the occasional sock filled with quarters). The guy wanted to take over the Pool and beat up the Lifeguard that kicked him out.

The Head Lifeguard (there were three) blew her whistle and hustled all of us kids out of the water, and over under the shaded pavilion with the two picnic tables. She sent one of the kids out the side gate to go call the Police.

The Replacement LifeGuard stood his ground at the main gate.

"You can't come in. You are banned for 24 hours. Please leave."

"Make me."

The guy just stayed in place and repeated:

"Please leave. You have been banned for 24 hours. Come back tomorrow and I will let you in."

The gang tough just sucker punched him. Caught him on the side of the jaw. The kid was quick enough to partially block the blow, but got thrown down on one knee. He took a second on one knee and stood back up.

"That is strike one. You are banned for a week. Now leave. "

The gang tough and his bully boys were all hyped up now. They laughed and made comments. Then, just like last time, the gang tough threw another sucker punch after turning like he was gong to walk away.

This time, it caught the LifeGuard square in the face. Blood flooded from his nose and he backed up three steps. He didn't go down though. He took his T-shirt off and blotted some of the blood from his nose. Then he walked right up to the gang tough.

"You are banned for the Summer. Get out."

Well everyone was quiet now, and watching in awe. The Lifeguard had everyone Respect. But we all thought he was dead meat now. The gang tough said:
"Fight me. If you win, we will (waving his hands to include his bully boys) leave. If I kick your ass, we are going swimming."

Lots of yelling and hooting from his buddies, but it stopped when the LifeGuard spoke.

"I won't fight you. You will leave. It would be better for you that way."

Now the gang toughs were all confused. The Lifeguard wasn't scared, and he wasn't backing down. But he wasn't threatening anyone either.

"Why won't you fight me?"

And this is where everything changed.

"Because, I don't know how to fight to hurt. I only know how to kill."

The way he said that, well, it was flat and emotionless. Like stating a fact. His voice had a hint of sadness in it. Like he didn't want to do it, but he would.

And that was it. A few more minutes of silent staring and then the gang tough turned and walked away. The Lifeguard went in the little utility shed and got some ice, climbed back up into the Lifeguard stand and blew the whistle.

We all went back in the water. Never saw him again. But he was a legend in our neighborhood.