To fill the long gap between games, just thought I'd note that our last opponent, Prairie View, was where Laurence Tureaud attended college. Tureaud majored in mathematics.
After Prairie View, Tureaud joined the Army where his platoon sergeant punished him by giving him the detail of chopping down trees during training camp, but did not tell him how many trees, so Tureaud single-handedly chopped down over seventy trees from 6:30 am to 10:00 am, until a shocked major superseded the sergeant's orders.
Tureaud next worked as a bouncer. At this time he picked up the habit of wearing gold neck chains and other jewelry as the result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the night club after a fight. A customer, who may have been banned from the club or trying to avoid another confrontation, would not have to re-enter the club if Tureaud wore their jewelry as he stood out front.
Tureaud eventually parlayed his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard that lasted almost ten years. During these years he protected, among others, sixteen prostitutes, nine welfare recipients, five preachers, eight bankers, ten school teachers, and four store owners. As his reputation improved, however, he was contracted to guard, among others, seven clothes designers, five models, seven judges, three politicians, six athletes and forty-two millionaires.
He protected well-known personalities such as Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson, charging up to $10,000 per day.
Tureaud attracted strange offers and was frequently approached with odd commissions, which included: assassination, tracking runaway teenagers, locating missing persons, and large firms asking him to collect past-due payments by force. Tureaud was once anonymously offered $75,000 to assassinate a target and received in the mail a file of the hit and an advance of $5,000, but he refused it.
Said Tureaud of the incident: "He offered me $75,000 to kill his friend. The last envelope and letter contained a round-trip airline ticket. Plus there was $5,000 wrapped in a little package, fifty and hundred dollar bills." Tureaud tried to warn the victim, but it was too late and the man died in an "accident".
Tureaud won two tough-man competitions consecutively. The first aired as "Sunday Games" on NBC-TV under the contest of "America's Toughest Bouncer" which included throwing a 150-pound stuntman, and breaking through a 4-inch wooden door. For the end, two finalists squared off in a boxing ring to declare the champion. Making it to the ring as a finalist, Tureaud's opponent was a 280-pound Honolulu bouncer named Tufi. Tureaud won with ease.
The second competition was aired under the new name "Games People Play" on NBC-TV. When interviewed by Bryant Gumbel before the final boxing match, Tureaud said, "I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him. I don't hate him but...I pity the fool." This fight was scheduled to last three rounds, but Tureaud finished it in less than a minute. Sylvester Stallone was watching and decided to cast Tureaud in his next film.
While reading National Geographic, Tureaud noticed an unusual hairstyle and adopted it.
Tureaud made a motivational video called "Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool," in which he gives helpful advice to children, including how to make tripping up look like breakdancing. Tureaud also delivers raps written by Ice-T.
Who is Laurence Tureaud?
First name: Mister.
Middle name: Period.
Last name: T.
After Prairie View, Tureaud joined the Army where his platoon sergeant punished him by giving him the detail of chopping down trees during training camp, but did not tell him how many trees, so Tureaud single-handedly chopped down over seventy trees from 6:30 am to 10:00 am, until a shocked major superseded the sergeant's orders.
Tureaud next worked as a bouncer. At this time he picked up the habit of wearing gold neck chains and other jewelry as the result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the night club after a fight. A customer, who may have been banned from the club or trying to avoid another confrontation, would not have to re-enter the club if Tureaud wore their jewelry as he stood out front.
Tureaud eventually parlayed his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard that lasted almost ten years. During these years he protected, among others, sixteen prostitutes, nine welfare recipients, five preachers, eight bankers, ten school teachers, and four store owners. As his reputation improved, however, he was contracted to guard, among others, seven clothes designers, five models, seven judges, three politicians, six athletes and forty-two millionaires.
He protected well-known personalities such as Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson, charging up to $10,000 per day.
Tureaud attracted strange offers and was frequently approached with odd commissions, which included: assassination, tracking runaway teenagers, locating missing persons, and large firms asking him to collect past-due payments by force. Tureaud was once anonymously offered $75,000 to assassinate a target and received in the mail a file of the hit and an advance of $5,000, but he refused it.
Said Tureaud of the incident: "He offered me $75,000 to kill his friend. The last envelope and letter contained a round-trip airline ticket. Plus there was $5,000 wrapped in a little package, fifty and hundred dollar bills." Tureaud tried to warn the victim, but it was too late and the man died in an "accident".
Tureaud won two tough-man competitions consecutively. The first aired as "Sunday Games" on NBC-TV under the contest of "America's Toughest Bouncer" which included throwing a 150-pound stuntman, and breaking through a 4-inch wooden door. For the end, two finalists squared off in a boxing ring to declare the champion. Making it to the ring as a finalist, Tureaud's opponent was a 280-pound Honolulu bouncer named Tufi. Tureaud won with ease.
The second competition was aired under the new name "Games People Play" on NBC-TV. When interviewed by Bryant Gumbel before the final boxing match, Tureaud said, "I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him. I don't hate him but...I pity the fool." This fight was scheduled to last three rounds, but Tureaud finished it in less than a minute. Sylvester Stallone was watching and decided to cast Tureaud in his next film.
While reading National Geographic, Tureaud noticed an unusual hairstyle and adopted it.
Tureaud made a motivational video called "Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool," in which he gives helpful advice to children, including how to make tripping up look like breakdancing. Tureaud also delivers raps written by Ice-T.
Who is Laurence Tureaud?
First name: Mister.
Middle name: Period.
Last name: T.
