Mighty Joe the Gorilla

Mighty Joe the Gorilla stood 25 feet above a South Jersey Go Kart track but back then his name was George. Others knew him from years before when he towered over the beachfront boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey. There he was known as Kongo-Pongo and Magilla. Now the gorilla is owned by Larry Valenzano. He purchased the gorilla he renamed Mighty Joe in remembrance of his son, a former bodybuilder who died of a brain tumor in 1999. Larry renamed his gas station "Mighty Joe's" in his son's honor after which he bought the big gorilla to serve as a memorial which stands on the south side of the gas station parking lot. A sign by the gorilla reads "My job is to look up to heaven from time to time and say, 'Hey, Joe, we will always love you.'"