McHale Daniel was affectionately known to many as Kel, but his mother, Robin Clark, had her own nickname for him—Mannyunk.
“As a baby I would be playing or changing him and she yelled Mannyunk and McHale laughed and smiled uncontrollable,” Robin said. “That’s why I gave him the nickname because he had a positive response to it.”
Kel was just a silly jokester with a beautiful smile and deep dimples. He had a love for his elders, but you couldn’t help but notice his love for his own swag. Name brand clothing such as Prada, Burberry, Mount Cleire, Margiela set him apart from others. When McHale and his little brother Kahill were alone, he would tell him how much he loved his swag. It was Kahlil who told him some of the name brand cloths he would wear. One in particular would be Good Fellas T-Shirts, and he would go and throw away his Polos.
McHale was incredibly close with his siblings, Mark (Pooh), Shamira and Kahilil. So close that they gave themselves the nickname PSMK for their first initial of their names. Some of them have it tatted on them.
When he was 16, Kel got his first tattoo, and it almost got him in trouble.
“I recall on a hot summer day Mannyunk came in with this towel wrapped around his neck. I told him to take it off but he said it was keeping him cool. I asked him how and he stated he was wetting the towel and wrapping it around his neck. I looked at the towel and it was dry. I couldn’t take it any longer so I jumped up and took it off his neck.
“What was I looking at, it was a big tat of my name, ROBIN. I said what did you and why? Mannyunk said, ‘Because I was his favorite lady.’ That boy was always doing something to keep me on my toes.”
On Wednesday August 7, 2024 approximately 8:10am a man was killed in a shooting that occurred near the intersection of North 12th Street and Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia. A suspect is now in custody and the family is in the process of going to court proceedings.
Mannyunk grew up in the family home in the York Town Community that his grandparents brought before Robin was born. All of Robin’s children were raised up in the home. He went on to play football from the age of 7 to 14 for the Back Hawks.
Everyone from the neighborhood knew him especially for his kind heart, and talking care of the elderly.
Mannyunk was a Home Health Aid and would assist those in need. When he was around, the elderly didn’t have to lift a hand because he would run to their aid. He also cared for his elderly grandfather until his death.
After he aged out of the football league, Kel would assist his grandfather by unloading products that was needed each day after school at his tavern, the Here It Is Lounge. That’s where he would learn the value of money and a great work ethic. Kel would get paid and try to give the money to his mother but she would not except it. She told him he earned it so spend it on the things he needed.
Kel and his brothers would gather at the family home to play cards where they would talk smack and bet for small sums of money, said Pooh and Kahlil, who miss him at the card games. His sister Shamira recalls Kel and her would text each other every day before their day begin to say good morning and to see what each other was going to do for the day.
The family agrees Kel was a great, dedicated dad to his daughter, Brelle, who is 9 years old. Kel nicknamed her Ma-ma. Ma-ma loves and misses her dad dearly. For Christmas she and her mother went to Build –A- Bear and made a Teddy Bear with her father’s voice in it.
Each time Ma-ma presses the bear’s hand it says, “You like the shoes ma-ma, get over here with your little bad self.”
As Kel would say: Top of the Morning, make it count!!!
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