Conaway: Mongo, the chimp, a new suit and all our Memphis stories
Dan Conaway
Dan Conaway was a freelance columnist with The Daily Memphian from 2018 to 2025.
Last Monday, Jody Callahan had a fine piece in The Daily Memphian headlined, “Who the heck is Prince Mongo? And he ran for Memphis mayor?!”
To many of us — those of a certain age (say, Mongo’s) and some much younger (say, my kids and my grandkids) — the headline should be, “Who the heck is Robert Hodges? And what does that have to do with Prince Mongo?!”
Mongo is the stuff of stories. Memphis is the stuff of stories.
Mongo and I once stood next to each other one cold winter day at the original Seessel’s grocery store meat counter debating the qualities of bacon. I was in jeans, a sweatshirt, a wool jacket, a baseball cap and Timberlands. He, too, was in jeans, but he was also wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt, fur vest and buffalo head hat complete with horns. He was, of course, barefooted.
That was a normal Midtown Memphis afternoon.
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