Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Miles Fishko was born the first of three children to William and Lois Fishko, a 'jack of all trades' type who owned a bar, and an elementary school teacher. Since he was small, he was ever the handful for his parents, constantly running around and breaking things (yes, he was that kid who took a plastic baseball bat at the age of three and smashed a window with it. probably by accident. the world may never know.) For the most part, his parents didn't really know what to do with such an active child, who seemed to redefine the word 'rambunctious'. The only thing they could really think of was to channel his energy into sports, which, thank god for the entire neighborhood, seemed to work.
Of all the sports his parents had him play as a child (baseball, basketball, etc), football came to be where his heart was. He played it from pop warner straight on through high school, as part of one of the record winning-streak that high school had ever seen. Miles played running back, and loved every single second of it. Football was great for his school, but never actually had any plans or dreams at going pro. That sort of life just didn't appeal to him for whatever reason. Maybe it was seeing the hard work his father put into the bar; maybe it was just wanting to actually maintain a love for the sport and not get burned out by it. The other half of his "extra curricular" sent into dance -- which was all his mother. If she was going to have a son who "ran the risk of cracking his skull on a field of grass", she was going to have a son who knew how to waltz. It wasn't his favorite -- actually, he hated it when he was a kid -- but as soon as he fell into other forms of dance, he found he actually enjoyed it. And then came high school, and realizing that while the football team was pretty damn great for his testosterone levels, participating on the dance team at school was even better for attracting women. Score. Upon graduating high school, he was accepted into Boston University. He majored in business while playing football for the school's team, figuring it was likely best to have a solid education.
Miles moved back to Philly after graduation, where he went right to work in his father's bar -- a job he'd had since it was legal (or maybe a little before that) for him to do so. Miles wasn't particularly gunning for the 'mantle' of taking over his father's bar, but when he was just thirty, his father approached him with the idea that he should take over in both name and action -- as he'd already been running the place for a couple of years by that point. After a little soul searching about the commitment, Miles decided that he would indeed take over the Rock Pile Pub, so his dad could retire and do some long-talked about traveling with his mom. He has made some changes to the old place over the years, modernizing it and giving it more of a sports bar vibe, even while keeping with the dive-bar look. He did most of the repairs and upgrades himself, rather than taking up a construction crew, but his customers didn't seem to mind the sawdust for a while.