Career anything but rocky for Stallone look-alike

WHEN Democratic National Committee members arrived in Philly this summer to scout the city's potential for the 2016 nominating convention, they were greeted by a Who's Who of local muckety-mucks including Mayor Nutter and former mayor and governor Ed Rendell.

Among the business suits and power ties (and, OK, the Phillie Phanatic) was a middle-aged guy in a gray sweatshirt, well-worn fedora, leather jacket and fingerless gloves. His left eye - red and rimmed with small butterfly bandages - seemed to have suffered a recent trauma.

For Mike Kunda, this was just another day at the office.

Kunda, 46, bills himself as the city's leading Rocky Balboa impersonator. In a place where only Ben Franklin rivals the make-believe ham-and-egger-turned-world-champeen in the hearts and minds of local residents, that is a pretty lofty gig. It's one that the Scranton native undertakes with a guileless combination of reverence and a pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming enthusiasm.

"The main reason I wanted to do this [wasn't] the muscles or money," he said before a recent tour of landmarks related to the six-movie franchise. "For me, 'Rocky' was always about . . . an innate goodness. When I watched it, I just felt good. I thought, my God, if you can just bottle that and get that out to people, wouldn't that be something? And that's what I do."

In addition to making personal appearances as the fictional fighter, Kunda conducts the "Yo, Philly Rocky Tour," a three- to four-hour ride that hits numerous famous and obscure local shooting locations.

Kunda's road to Rockydom was long and often exasperating. He estimated he has held some two dozen jobs, from police officer to horse-manure sweeper to doughnut-maker. "I'd been fired from most of them," he declared. "They all sucked."

One constant in his life was the "Rocky" movie series, which he discovered as a youngster. "When those white letters [in the original, 1976 film's opening-credit sequence] scrolled across the screen, I could feel the music in my body," he said. "It just transformed the DNA. I know it sounds corny, but I have no other way to put it. Now when I hear that music, I'm like Pavlov's dog. I have to achieve."

As he passed through his 20s, his resemblance to actor Sylvester Stallone, who created and starred in the films, became more pronounced. "I'd be in a grocery store, and someone would say, 'You remind me of a young Stallone,' " he said.

Then his real life and Stallone's reel life intersected.

"The first time I realized I could put this all together probably was back in 2006 when Stallone had finished filming 'Rocky Balboa' and [local attorney and boxing fixture] Jimmy Binns put together the 'Philadelphia Loves Rocky Week' celebration," he recalled. One of the events was a Rocky look-alike contest.

Friends from South Philly's landmark Victor Cafe, where several "Rocky Balboa" scenes were shot, submitted Kunda's photo. He ultimately bested some one thousand contestants to win the competition.

That led to an invitation to appear - in "Rocky" drag - at a 2007 March of Dimes fundraiser, where he received another invitation to portray Rocky. Things took off from there.

Today, Kunda, who lives in Camp Hill near Harrisburg, says he is "right on the cusp of doing it full-time, year round." He figures between 500 and 750 Rocky fans take the tour each year.

During the winter, when weather limits tour opportunities, he relies on special-event gigs and works at a friends' paint store when funds get tight.

Just as Rocky had the loving, supportive Adrian (played by Talia Shire in the films) by his side, Kunda has his wife, Sue.

"Mike has always been a very passionate, driven, charismatic person, which drew me to love him in the first place," she said of her husband in an email. "Whether you are a 'Rocky' fan or not, when you are around Mike and he tells a story, takes you on a tour, performs as the character, it is amazing to watch."

While Sylvester Stallone has never officially endorsed Kunda, he is quite aware of him; the two have met several times, and Stallone owns at least one copy of Kunda's autobiography, Cue the Rocky Music.

But thanks to a 2012 Twitter post by Stallone's brother, Frank, there is no question as to where the Stallone camp stands.

"Mike Kunda hands down is the greatest Rocky impersonator ever I saw. Has the smallest mannerisms down to a tee," read the tweet.

Kunda, currently collaborating on a book with Chuck Wepner, the 1970s fighter who inspired Stallone to create "Rocky," claimed his business is not making him rich. But the gig's greatest rewards are rich - if more intangible.

Kunda believes one of life's purposes is to contribute to the happiness and well-being of others - not necessarily, as he put it, in a "life-changing, cure-for-cancer" way.

Instead, he explained, "What you can do is, you can help bring people's dreams to light. When I take people on these 'Rocky' [tours], that's what happens. It's a dream-come-true for them.

"I get to do it. It's a blessing. I love it."