DAILY NEWS (New York, New York) 27 August 06 'Wimp' gators still not scary (Adam Nichols)
The teeth hanging from a string around Malcolm Locke's neck belonged to the beast that tried to bite his head off.
Malcolm was swimming in a lake behind his grandmother's Florida house more than two years ago when an alligator chomped into his head and took a chunk out of his ear.
But Malcolm, then 12, escaped death - and won national fame - by landing a punch square on the gator's glass jaw.
"He was a wimp," the 15-year-old alligator grappler told the Daily News last week from his home in Summerfield, Fla.
"No way has he scared me," he said. "I still go swimming. I just look around for alligators first."
Malcolm said his buddies don't consider his reptile wrestling a big deal anymore. They are much more impressed by the whirlwind media blitz he went on after the attack.
"I was on CNN, the 'Today' show, 'Montel Williams,'" Malcolm said. "Some people ask to see my scars, but most think of me as the dude who was on TV.
"Being on TV is more impressive to them than fighting gators."
Scars from the attack still mark Malcolm's scalp, and his torn ear remains tender.
"That's still pretty sensitive when I touch it," he said.
"I can show off about it a bit," he added. "But I know I'm lucky to be alive."
The 7-foot-4 alligator suffered a much worse fate. It was hunted down and killed after attacking Malcolm. The boy was given the gator's skull and teeth as a trophy.
"I had the teeth strung on a necklace," he said. "The skull I'm going to put in a glass case. I want to keep that."
Though Malcolm continues to splash around in the waters near his home, his mother says she keeps a closer watch on him.
"I'm still nervous every time he's near water," Misty Warren said. "He's had enough gators for the rest of his life."
'Wimp' gators still not scary