SCOTT SIMON, host: James T. Molloy, the longtime doorkeeper of the U.S. House of Representatives and a second-generation firefighter from South Buffalo, died on Tuesday. Several years ago, Mr. Malloy recorded an interview for StoryCorps, the project that travels through the country recording your stories and archives them at to the Library of Congress. He was interviewed by his friend and a fellow Buffalonian, the late Tim Russert.
TIM RUSSERT: What was it like the first time you walked down that aisle and said Mr. Speaker, the president of the United States?
JAMES T. MOLLOY, DOORKEEPER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: The first one was President Jerry Ford. And I was perspiring and everything. I mean I was only in the job a short period of time - about three, four weeks.
RUSSERT: What did your mom and dad say when they saw their son?
MOLLOY: My father never made a big deal of anything. But my mother was just, oh, she just loved it. She could get any conversation turned to that, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RUSSERT: What we had at NBC, Tom Brokaw would be anchoring, and I would send Tom a little note. I'd say okay, Jimmy's about to introduce the president of the United States. Let's lay it on tonight.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RUSSERT: And Tom would say you're about to hear the voice of James T. Molloy...
MOLLOY: He was great.
RUSSERT: ...the proud son of Catherine Molloy of - was it 106 Bloomfield?
MOLLOY: Oh, you got. You - yeah.
RUSSERT: 106 Bloomfield, and finally the last time, your last hurrah, he said we're about to hear the voice of James T. Molloy, an extraordinary man, a gifted firefighter, a man who studied the law, I would say in every sense of the word a true Renaissance man.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RUSSERT: Now you left the doorkeeper position when?
MOLLOY: Ninety-four. In '94.
RUSSERT: When Newt Gingrich, the Republican...
MOLLOY: When Newt Gingrich, they abolished the doorkeeper. My last official act was to introduce Newt Gingrich as the speaker. And then I raced down, filed my papers.
RUSSERT: So you retired.
MOLLOY: I retired. Yeah.
RUSSERT: Before we go, the best way I ever described you, James T. Molloy, was a good man who knew everybody and was always proud of taking care of his own.
MOLLOY: Well, I'll accept that. I like that. And you always look back to where you started from. Where you started from, where I started from, you know, and Washington is a great place.
RUSSERT: But it's no South Buffalo.
MOLLOY: No, it's no South Buffalo.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
RUSSERT: Amen.
MOLLOY: Thank you.
RUSSERT: James T. Molloy, thank you very much.
MOLLOY: Thank you, Tim.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: James T. Molloy, the longtime doorkeeper of the House of Representatives, speaking with the late Tim Russert. Mr. Malloy died this week at the age of 75. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.