The chicken man grew up in my house

The Blogger lived in one house growing up in South Buffalo. In fact, the red brick house has been there for over 100 years. Recently, the paparazzi has begun gathering there at all hours, in an effort to document my humble beginnings. Until now, the only famous inhabitant was thought to be baseball Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, who lived there while he was a student at nearby South Park High School.


But that all changed the other day when my mother was outside doing some gardening. A van pulled up to look at the house. The man behind the wheel explained to her that he grew up in the house (upstairs) and wanted to see if it still looked the same as it had. He introduced himself as Don Hoffman. At first, the name didn't resonate with my mother. But then, she remembered the family lived upstairs during the early 1960's.

Hoffman, according to my mother, then made some crazy gesture with his hands and began making chicken noises. He told her she might know him better as the "chicken man" from his television commercials for Airport Plaza Jewelers. Everyone has seen the commercials: "Got gold? We'll buy it!"

The chicken man and my mother reminisced about the old times before he gave her these three rubber chickens (he told her he has distributed 20,000 of them around Western New York:


My mother was kind enough to give me one of the chickens, which will adorn my Wall of Fame, along with my "Gimmy Jimmy" Griffin T-shirt and Carl Paladino "Mad as Hell' duck whistle. Warren Spahn and the Chicken Man both growing up in the same house. Talk about a small world. Remember, "a new diamond doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg". I have to go. I think Billy Fucillo is at my front door...

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