Wondering about Mr. T.

The last picture on my blog that I posted yesterday was of Mr. T and I thought maybe I would talk about him in more detail today.  Those of you who remembered him from the TV show, The-A Team, know who he was and I bet you even remember his favorite saying, "I pity the fool"?  Now, I wonder how many of you know his real name?  Are you scratching your heads?  I didn't know so I had to look it up.  He was born in Chicago and named Laurence Tero Tureaud.  He was the youngest boy of 12 children and his father, who was a minister, left the family when T was five years old.

In high school, he was a football star and three-time wrestling champion.  So you see, he wasn't all talk and gold jewelry.  After he got out of the Army, he tried out for the Green Bay Packers but an injury to his knee kept him from making the team.  So, he got a job as doorman and bouncer at clubs in Chicago and got the reputation of one of Chicago's toughest and most infamous bouncers.  This put him in contact with celebrities and his outrageous reputation and famous connections got him the job of celebrity bodyguard earning more than three grand a night.  Some of the stars that he protected were Steve McQueen, Diana Ross, and Muhammad Ali.  He worked at this job almost ten years until Sylvester Stallone changed everything by putting him in the movie Rocky III in which he played Clubber Lang.

Then in the 1990's, he started experiencing poor health and was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma.  At age 49, he officially went into remission.  He now lives in Chicago and Albuquerque.  Let me guess, I don't think he stays in Chicago in the winter time.  Would you if you had somewhere else to go.  Of course Albuquerque is at high altitude and I was there at an RV park one year and my water hose froze.  Now don't pity this fool, although I am still trying to beat this case of sniffles and coughing I have had for awhile, instead I want you all have a great day, you hear?