Phillip "Little Phil" King

July/27/2014 Filed in: Club Culture
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As the web master I get all kinds of emails and guest book entries. Some of the inquiries are interested in how to become a member while others are former members who reminisce about the old times and ask about members they knew decades ago. In March I received an email from a fellow named “Aceman”. It seems his wife’s uncle was an early member of the Gypsy Motorcycle Club. I began communicating with Aceman and learned some very interesting things about his wife’s uncle and the early history of the Gypsy MC. If you’ve got an interest, like I do, in Gypsy MC history, you may find this an intriguing story.


The member in question was Phillip “Little Phil” King. Aceman told me that Phil was killed in June 1976 while riding his bike in Ingleside, near the VFW. A drunk driver pulled out in front of him and Phil wasn’t able to avoid the collision. He sent me a photo of Phil’s colors that piqued my interest (insert pic of black rockers). The colors had an early Gypsy patch and, to my surprise, the Gypsy, MC and USA patches were all black. This signified that Little Phil was a member of our founder, Papa Jack’s Chapter that was established in 1972. I sent Aceman a return email giving him some basic information about the Club and the status of “black rocker”. Aceman returned my email with a photo of the front of Phil’s colors. By current standards Phil’s colors were sparse. There was a Harley Davidson #1 patch on the right side of his colors and, on the left was an AMA patch and two officer’s patches: a “National Sgt at Arms” and an “International Sgt at Arms” patch. The plot certainly started to thicken for me at this point. The early patch, the black rockers and now the national and international sgt at arms patches began to tell a very interesting story.

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I called my brother, Dugger, and asked him if he remembered Little Phil – and he did. He remembered that Phil had died on his bike and thought that he’d died prior to 1976. I re-contacted Aceman and told him that one of our VERY early members recollected Little Phil. I asked for a photo of him in his colors and in early July Aceman sent additional photos. One of the photos, from July 24, 1971 was of Phil posing with an iron head Sporty that had an extended front end, tall sissy bar and straight pipes. Phil was behind the bike and was holding his colors in front of the bike with back patch clearly visible. In 1971 Phil wore white rockers and was the Vice President of the Aransas Pass Chapter.

Using the “Holmesian Maxim”, i.e., “when you’ve eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”. I would hope that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character, Sherlock Holmes would be proud of how I’ve responded to his chant, “the game is afoot”. I’ve learned, over the years, that every little piece of Gypsy MC history is like a piece of a puzzle. Nothing is so insignificant that it won’t be critical to understanding the whole picture.

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So, the story of “Little Phil” goes like this: Phillip King was born in San Antonio on November 19, 1942. Sometime before July 1971 he became a member of the Gypsy MC and was the Vice President of our second chapter, Aransas Pass when the picture of him and his Sporty was taken. Sometime between 1971 and his death in June of 1976 Phil became a black rocker and held the offices of both national and international sgt at arms. I come to believe that Papa Jack created the black rockers as his management team in 1972 when the club became national. The following year, 1973, the club became international when we chartered our first chapter in Mexico – Nuevo Laredo. Since his colors still carried the patches, it’s logical to assume that Little Phil remained the Int’l Sgt at Arms until his death in 1976.

I’ll be sharing this story with a few more of my brothers and sisters who may have additional insight into Little Phil’s history in the club. Even if I don’t find any more info, I’ll be satisfied that what I’ve learned is another piece in the Gypsy MC history puzzle.

Raoul
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