Sportcoat

Cuffy Jasper Lambkin, or Sportcoat as he is mostly referred to in the book, is the protagonist and titular character of Deacon King Kong. Sportcoat was born and raised in South Carolina. As an infant and child, he was extremely sickly, accident-prone, and suffered bad luck. His mother died when he was ten, his father was verbally abusive, and his stepmother despised him. He eventually married his childhood sweetheart Hettie. Hettie moved to New York when she and Sportcoat were in their fifties, and he joined her there three years later. In New York, Hettie began to care for and raise a little boy named Pudgy Fingers, and she and Sportcoat raised him as their son after he was abandoned by his mother.

Sportcoat has suffered from alcoholism since he was a teenager. His addiction affected almost every other aspect of his life. For instance, while Hettie had...