When a group of counselors could not pull Foreman off his victim, they called upon the supervisor, Doc Broadus, for help. ” Shortly after joining the Job Corps, Foreman was involved in a savage fistfight in the town of Pleasanton, California. All was not rosy right away though - Sports Illustrated contributor Richard Hoffer described the youth as “principally a thug in a new outfit. All alone, the teenager traveled from Texas to Oregon, where he joined a Job Corps camp. In the commercial, Brown urged young people to join the Job Corps in order to “be somebody. A commercial came on featuring athlete Jim Brown, one of the few men Foreman actually admired. One day Foreman was watching television at his Houston home. And then we ’d walk home as if we ’d just earned some money on a job, counting it. And then we ’d run until we couldn ’t hear the guy screaming anymore. I could hold the guy because I was strong, and the sneaky fella would grab the money. “I remember once, ” he said in Sports Illustrated, “two boys and myself, we robbed a guy. He was growing up in a single-parent family and spending most of his time in the streets. Without any proper role models Foreman just drifted, with no clear idea how to make a life for himself. ” He even went so far as to wear bandages on his own face so it would seem like he had a scar. Returned to boxing, 1986 defeated in twelve-round championship title bout, April, 1991, against Evander Holyfield.Ī man once. Minister and youth leader, 1977-86, working primarily out of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ (founded by Foreman) in Houston. and Nancy (Nelson) Foreman married five times fifth wife ’s name, Joan eight children, including three sons named George.Īmateur boxer, 1966-68 won gold medal in heavyweight division in 1968 Olympic Games went professional in 1969 became heavyweight champion of the world, January 22, 1973, by defeating Joe Frazier lost title to Muhammad Ali in 1974 retired from professional boxing, 1977. ”įoreman told Sports Illustrated that he thought a hero was someone with “a big, long scar down his face, a guy who ’d come back from prison, a guy maybe killed At a Glance …īorn January 10, 1949, in Marshall, TX son of J.D. He was a smart gangster in that he would tax you first and then kick your butt. ” Hayes added: “I will say this of George. So by the early age of 12, I had met George Foreman twice and I found both occasions extremely taxing. Foreman, Hayes said, “was a very, very big kid and had a reputation for savage butt kickings. Lester Hayes, a member of the Los Angeles Raiders football team, grew up in the same neighborhood and described the George Foreman he remembered in Sports Illustrated. There he made a name for himself as a brawler, drinker, petty thief, and gang leader, quitting school before he got to the ninth grade. He was bom and raised in the Fifth Ward, a poor neighborhood on the north side of Houston. If he seems assured at mid-life, Foreman was certainly adrift as a youth. “Age is only a problem if you make it one. “Forty is no death sentence, ” he told Time magazine. He refuses to concede that his advancing age could weigh against him in a field where stamina and agility factor heavily into most victories. The boxer, a fundamentalist Christian, declares that he has returned to his sport in order to raise money for the youth center he is developing in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Even in his years away from boxing he has been the subject of media attention -not all of it flattering -and his return to the ring has sparked heated debate about his talents and potential. ”įoreman ’s checkered career includes juvenile delinquency, an Olympic gold medal, dramatic victories and defeats in boxing ’s professional ranks, and years spent as a preacher and youth leader. And among the over-40 set he ’ll remain king. “On the seniors boxing tour, ” wrote William Gildea in the Washington Post, “Foreman is undisputed champion. Even though he is well over 40 -an unheard-of age for a boxing comeback -he has earned a respectable record and a chance to meet top-ranked Evander Holyf ìeld in a title match. A former heavyweight champion of the world, Foreman has returned to professional boxing after a ten-year retirement with the idea of regaining his lost crown. George Foreman is an unlikely hero in a savage sport.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |