Ralph Horner shares some of his narrow escapes from fights with rival neighborhood groups while growing up in the Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhood in the 1950s.

Ralph Horner recalls two instances when he and his friends ran into trouble as they attempted to rule the streets in the Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhood.

During events at the Cleveland Arena, Ralph Horner's "associates" would use business parking lots to make an extra buck and take some cars for a spin.

Ralph Horner and his friends hatched a plan to prank the police who sat in their patrol car on East 55th Street and Superior Avenue every night around 7 p.m. The result produced the kind of joy that only teenage boys can feel.

Riding the electric bus around the neighborhood as a teenager, Ralph Horner and his friends enjoyed pranking the driver. Then, one day, they came up with the "ultimate" prank.

There were three groups of students at Willson School in the 1950s. Ralph Horner witnesses the shortest fight he'd ever seen when one of the "Basement Boys" made an error during a lunchtime movie.

After losing his temper while horsing around at White City Beach one day, Ralph Horner learned a valuable lesson: that sometimes humor if the best way to get out of a fight.

As an eight-year-old on the streets of Goodrich-Kirtland Park in the 1940s, Ralph Horner knew the basics of street fighting other kids his age. He sees his style duplicated by the character Ralphie in the movie "A Christmas Story."

In his newest series, Rumbles on E. 49th, writer Ralph Horner writes about growing up in the Goodrich-Kirtland Park neighborhood, and playing the role of a tough kid to survive.