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George Foreman - Heavyweight Boxer, Entrepreneur and Houston Royalty · Dirt Nap City - History's Most Interesting Dead People

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Alex, how you doing?
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, sweetheart.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: How are you?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love it when you call me that.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing okay.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think I told you I'm in the process of moving, so that's consumed a great deal of my life.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then every client I have in the world decided this would be a good week to have me do, or the last two weeks would be a good two weeks.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the good news is um today I don't have any work work.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: All I have is some housework, but you know how that goes.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's good to just take some time though to uh check in on the uh residents of Bergnap City.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you're you you work in higher education, right?
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do, yeah.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you you deal with students a lot.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So can you tell when a student kind of crammed at the last minute or wrote a paper at the last second?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: All right, or these days uh when Chat GPT did the work for him.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm gonna see if you can tell if I spent a lot of time on this one or not.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um but today's the first giveaway is when you say it uh uh at the outset.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh all right, I'm gonna tell you, this is not my best work, but uh no, I I'll tell you, this is one that I've been thinking about for a while.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Not too long, but long enough that it's been in my head.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one that is pretty light and fun.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And probably my first clue is it's probably someone you would have picked more than me.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's an Alex person more than me.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm hoping you know a lot about this person and can help carry this episode.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: You have you have 12 minutes and uh you hope and I have the rest, yeah.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Another 40 minutes.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I I hope this is like the Atari episode where you didn't have to say much and I did all the talking, except the opposite.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: So this guy, he is a guy, uh very manly man, by the way.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: He was born in uh Marshall, Texas, 1949.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna think you're just gonna guess it from that.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, I um you know where Marshall is?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is that up by Dallas?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's East Texas.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's East Texas, it's East Texas, yeah, close to Louisiana, but kind of as far north as Dallas.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's East Texas.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um no, I I can't think right now of Marshall's residence.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he um much like many of our other residents of Dirt Knap City, um, and by the way, he's a recent addition to Dirt Knap City, not not been there um 2025, as a matter of fact, addition to Dirt Knap City.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, no, he's doing great.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's liking it there.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um he had a troubled childhood and dropped out of school at the age 15.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Common theme.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, saved by sports.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: One sport in particular.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And by saved, I mean you know, kind of it was his opportunity what made him what made him famous and interesting initially.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I really hope you're not gonna say wrestling.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um As we learned in episode one, not my wheelhouse.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh, it wasn't wrestling, but it was um what's a sport tangential to wrestling?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Boxing.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: He was a boxer.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: I know who you got.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: George Foreman.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: George Foreman, yes.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he was from Houston.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know he was from East Texas.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he he was born in Marshall, but actually raised in Houston.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so Houston through and through for sure, but but uh but born in Marshall, Texas, had a bit of a troubled childhood, uh, dropped out of school, like I said.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But at 16, um, he was introduced to boxing and you know, was going to like a YMCA or a boys and girls club kind of thing.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um discovered it, had a passion for it, was good at it.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then in 1968, he went to the Summer Olympics and actually won a gold medal.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty amazing.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: He uh he continued training, continued working hard, um, had found his calling, found his passion.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh in 1973, he won the world heavyweight champion by knocking out Joe Frasier.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's a name a lot of people have heard of, Joe Frazier.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but then in 74, he he tried to defend his um title against uh guess who?
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Ali.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Ali, right.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the name of that fight?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: What they called it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Was that the thriller and manila?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: That was the rumble in the jungle.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: Rumble in the jungle.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, and that fight, I believe, was in the in the middle of the night.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it could be on in in prime time in the US.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: Was it like three in the morning or something?
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was it was um it was something that obviously had high ratings in the US.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people had a lot of interest, but Ali, as he claimed to be, was the greatest, floated like a butterfly, stung like a bee, and he stung George Foreman, beat him.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I mean, I remember people people were chanting, Ali Boombaye, Ali Boombaye.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um that was in Kin Kinshasa Zaire, which is now the Republic of Congo.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Congo.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: So he he lost in 74, and then he actually had some ups and downs after that, but lost to Jimmy Young in 77, and um retired, decided to retire in 77.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that would have made him what um 30, 28 years old.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then he lived tap level ever after and never fought again, right?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: He he uh he returned to the ring in 87, 10 years later, and then at age 45, when in 1994, he became the world's oldest heavyweight champion.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever do any boxing?
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I did some uh kenpo with there was a guy that I used to work with and a friend of mine.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: He was a black belt in Kenpo.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And uh after work, sometimes a group of us would get together and he would um kind of drill us, and it was kind of like boxing.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: You would do it there were punches and kicks and stuff like that.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's as close as I ever came.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, you've hit another man.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, yeah.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you've and you've been hit, you've been hit in the face with gloves on, with gloves on, yes.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, but that's I mean, that's you've been hit in the face with it by another man.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Repeatedly.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been knocked down?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: This was this was um uh this was very much more exercise, and you sparred, but you didn't spar to try and knock the other person down.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: You were just all you were doing was kind of like very lightly tapping the other person with these punches.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh so funny story on this, we had an intern uh during this time, and like I said, this was something we did after work.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as my buddy Jason, um, who was teaching the Kenpo, there were five, ten of us sometimes that would stay after and and do these little exercises.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was a lot of working out, and then we would put on a helmet, like a it was kind of a padded thing you put around your head, um, gloves, uh shin guards, you know, all that stuff.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh one of our interns was on the UT football team, and he was a big kid, and he kind of he popped me pretty good a couple of times when we were.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right on the button?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Did he get you right on the button?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, yeah.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think I think the button, the button is very sensitive.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if you get hit on the button, but um, but that wasn't, you know, that wasn't the intent.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: The intent was more just to kind of learn the technique, and and you were supposed to do it at sort of half speed, but anyway, it was a lot of fun.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Did you explain that to the intern as you were spitting out your teeth?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh nice one.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: You got it there.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're fired.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, became heavyweight champion at 45.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's amazing.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: That that's the reason I asked, is is that uh can you imagine doing that um competitively at that age at 45?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, I can't imagine doing that at 25.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, even if there were no punches thrown, just the kind of dancing around the ring for three minutes at a time is it's so exhausting.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um my wife and I also we had a a punching bag, like a full body bag in our garage, in our first apartment we lived in, had a garage, and we hung that up in there, and we would work out on that thing, and 10 minutes on that was like an hour of something else.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you'd be so exhausted.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um, well, Foreman did retire eventually, and uh what's cool about him is he he did have his his sports um life, but he also did a lot of significant things after that.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You you know, you know, the probably the big one, right?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: That he did the Foreman Grill, of course.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: The George Foreman Grill, yeah.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: But but prior to the Foreman Grill and throughout his time in Houston, um, you know, he actually had a ranch in Huffman, Texas.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did he?
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's your old stomping grocery.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I used to live in Huffman, Texas, yeah.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: I I read that and I was like, wow, I had no idea about that.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: But he had a ranch out in Huffman, Texas, was friends with a lot of the folks in Houston, a lot of the the high rollers.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um Mattress Mack, the two of them were friends.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if anybody's from Houston, you'd know who Mattress Mack is.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Hakeem Elijah.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: George Foreman was Houston royalty.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Really was.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: Really was.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: He was good to the city.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they took care of him, he took care of them.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: He um he he talked about Houston whenever he could.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I I I think he was he was one of the big the big shots in Houston.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: His his funeral was uh broadcast on TV here.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was uh done at a huge um, I think it was at the at the Lakewood Church, which used to be the summit.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, which you know sees yeah, 15,000 people or 20,000 people.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right, where the where the Rockets used to play.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And concerts used to be held.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he was married five times.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and throughout that he had 12 children, and and uh five were sons, and you know the famous thing about his sons, I'm so I'm supposing as well.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: That they were all named George?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: They were not only all named George, they were all named George Edward Foreman.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Were they all but they were all by different women?
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: Is that how he could get away with doing this?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they were all by different women, but I think um they were like two of them.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: It I don't know of the five wives, I don't know if he had a son with each wife.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think he did, but but they were throughout those five wives, his children.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's why he has 12 children kind of spread out.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: I because I can't imagine a woman agreeing to name two of her kids the same name.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I could imagine five different women.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm agreeing to that's why he'd have a he'd want another son so he'd get divorced, so he could uh have a second kid named George or a third.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the big thing was do you know why he did that?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it was out of vanity, right?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yes and no.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I thought that before as well, but what I've discovered, and several sources said this is that first of all, it was so that they would have something in common.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like they'd all be besides besides DNA, you mean right, right?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and then the second part was to remind them who their father was.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I thought you were gonna give me some good reasons.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: You just give me two really dumb reasons.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, uh that's what you know, that's what it was.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was, you know, when the struggle comes, you know who your you know your father is, and you know who your brother is, because his name is the same as yours.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, oh my god.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: They all had pretty cool nicknames.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So there was uh George Jr., his his first son.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there was George III, his nickname was Monk, M-O-N-K.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, wait, wait.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why was why was he the third?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because George Foreman Sr.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: was first.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: And who was so the second was his brother?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's not how it works, man.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So he's just rewriting the rules, huh?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So imagine all five of them having five sons and naming them the same thing.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that I think yeah, I know.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you're gonna do that, you can't use the Roman numerals.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: You have to use the Arabic numerals.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to say three R D.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or or you have to do it in binary or something.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna tell me that the next one was the fourth?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: So George the Fourth, his nickname was Big Wheel.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: He wasn't the fourth, first of all.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then George the Fifth was Red.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: His nickname is Red.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Red.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then George the Sixth was Little Joey.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now that could get that could get confusing in Australia because a little Joey is a kangaroo.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think well okay.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: Do I think we'll have no?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I was just wondering, do you think that that's what he thought that that people with the that was second and third and the fourth?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's what he thought, like Henry the Eighth?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think he thought Henry the Eighth had seven brothers named Henry?
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was actually part of their name.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was George Jr., George the Third, George the Fourth, George the Fifth, George the Sixth.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually, it wouldn't be George the Third, it'd be the third George, the fourth George.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, okay.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Semantics.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Semantics.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there they you know, they're all still around.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe we could get one of them on the podcast one day.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Let's one would you want?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Big wheel.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: A big wheel.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want big wheel.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take red.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: All right, all right.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so of course, you mentioned it a minute ago, the George Foreman grill.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do you remember about the George Foreman grill?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: That it was a grill that you could use indoors, yep.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Electric.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the famous uh office episode when uh Michael uh burned his foot on the George Foreman grill, right?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: Cultural tent stone.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: But but but mainly the thing about that it was a grill that you could use indoors and that it would heat pretty.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: I remember people making fun of it, but then I remember also people saying it actually is a pretty good appliance, like it's pretty revolutionary.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it wasn't actually invented by George Foreman.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: That shocks me.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Contrary to popular belief, uh guy named Michael Bohm and another guy named Robert Johnson invented the George Foreman grill.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, what it was, it was um designed to it was sloped.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it had a 10 degree slope on the sides of the heating elements.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: So there were heating elements behind metal plates that would heat up, and that slope would let the grease drain off.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why it was considered the lean, mean fat-reducing grilling machine.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hmm.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's a great idea, and if it wasn't for his pitchman skills, who knows if it would have been successful?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: And it probably is something that needed to be invented.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: It still exists, I'm sure.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, sales are well over.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: You want to guess the the number of units it sold?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how many?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: Hundred million.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, did you ever have one?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: I never did.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I I want to say that um Jody's sister might have had one at one point.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've heard her talk about it, but um, yeah.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of wish I would have had one like in college.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think it would have been a good idea.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, that and a pet rock.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking maybe I should get one for my son for college.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it seems like a good college thing to have.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Probably easy cleanup.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's very easy cleanup.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can just wipe it all off.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And it's yeah, it's been in all kinds of movies and pop culture references and television shows.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it it's kitschy.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's kitschy because it has George Foreman's name on it, but that's also why it sold so many.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a great idea, and they're cheap too, I think, right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think, I mean, I think back when they came out they were 40 bucks, maybe.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe now, you know, that and and it was introduced in 94.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's probably about a hundred bucks now, right?
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's been around for a while, but um George Foreman ended up making more money from the George Foreman grill than he did from boxing, which is interesting.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was the heavyweight champion of the world, but the the grill really propelled him into wealth.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's why I didn't have one in college, because it came out after I got out of college.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 94.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that's true.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: And and also um if if you think about the idea of this being a um healthy grill, because he was a boxer, that kind of leaned into his training and stuff like that, right?
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Protein and and building bulk and building muscle.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, although I don't think he came across as a particularly lean guy.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, he was a big guy.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he was not the lightweight or the featherweight, he was a heavyweight, right?
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, well, that that grill earned him a ton of money.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and also I find what's interesting about something like that is for people who weren't sports fans, they would probably know him as the grill guy, right?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think there's people in this world that when they hear George Foreman, they think George Foreman grilled versus George Foreman the heavyweight champion?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I don't think there's anybody that doesn't know that he was a fighter.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, probably.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'll bet there are people that don't know he was a fighter.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking to Gen Z.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: When he was in the Olympics, he that's when he first got on.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you can picture him in the Olympics, but he won that it was in Mexico City in '68.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then he immediately grabbed one of those tiny American flags and was uh dancing around the ring, waving that flag.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that became part of his brand later, that um that kind of patriotic uh, you know, Texan.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um but actually it was controversial that um that he was um that he was running around with that with that flag.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: For some reason that was uh a controversy.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: That was a controversial in the Olympics, it was a controversy.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: But he was he was known as as far as fighters go, and as far as just sportsmen go, he was pretty universally loved, right?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: There weren't any real scandals with him or anything like that.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: He he he had a bit of an ego, but rightly served, right?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: Rightly, rightly deserved, um, and and seemed to have been of lived a pretty clean and clear life, and then ended up giving back a lot, right?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Toward the end of his life, he gave back.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: When he f I think when he first hit the pro scene, he was seen as a little arrogant.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: And people didn't didn't like that.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um he he was just beating the heck out of people.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think when he fought Ali, people turned his way because Ali, as we've established on the show, was even more arrogant now, was very polarizing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think I think he he people took to him after the Ali fight.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he was pretty well, especially in his older years, and we've also established on this show is that when people get older, they kind of get more lovable.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um I think people generally like love the guy, right?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think he was a pretty in a polarizing uh time like this, I think he was pretty universally loved.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and respected.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: And respected as a patriot, as a sportsman.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think he was pretty religious.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think he, like you said, he was known for clean living.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, um yeah, he was pretty pretty respected guy, I guess.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: And a businessman, I guess, right?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, even though I'm not sure how much of a like you say, he didn't come up with the business plan for the Foreman Grill, but man, he was a great pitchman, that's for sure.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, he had a ranch in in Huffman.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um he he also had other business ventures, but I think, yeah, when you have money and you have that name recognition, you parlay that into business success.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And your job is not to come up with the invention or to invent something, your job is to to to help promote it, right?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And he was good at that.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: He liked doing that, he was very good on camera.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I also just you know want to back up a moment to what you were just saying about his patriotism and and universal respect.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Think about growing up in East Texas in the late 40s, early 50s and 60s.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is probably one of the most racist places in the country at that time.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sure.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it the home of the KKK was you know not too far from there in Louisiana.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and so to have come out of that situation and become somebody that is respected by all races and you know, respected for his work, respected for his um charity, for his philanthropy, all that stuff, is is a pretty amazing story.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Not only that, but when you beat people up for a living, it's much easier to be cast as the villain, right?
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: The you think about uh Mike Tyson and Ali, it's it's easier to step into that role where people hate you.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Even like Jake Paul, right?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Who tries really hard to be lovable and seems to uh undermine that uh Uh I don't think there's a lot of people that that like that guy.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um I mean, s pretty much everybody was rooting for Mike Tyson, uh 60-year-old Mike Tyson when he was fighting uh Jake Paul.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um and he tries to be likable and he can't do it.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to pull off when you're beating people up for a living.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to pull off the kind of good guy.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think Holyfield did it.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Holyfield did it with the help of getting his ear bitten off too.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And he was the victim became the victim, sure.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: But I think Holyfield kind of followed in those path in that path of George Foreman.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I just imagine trying to pitch a show for um, you know, Bob James, the lovable sniper.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right, right, right, right.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Although, although there are comedies around that.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, uh George Foreman, huge Houston guy, huge, hugely respected in the sports world, hugely respected for his um sort of infomercial George Foreman grill.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that also was kind of the rise of infomercials, right?
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: The timing around 94 was was pretty good for when people were buying stuff on TV.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Before Amazon, people would order stuff.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: You'd call call today and get your free uh stirring spoon or whatever.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it was the ru it was like the apex of cable television, yeah.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: Where you could have hundreds of channels that needed programming, and they would have whole channels with like 30-minute infomercials.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, well, QVC, right?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a whole that's all that is is infomercials.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one thing that he did that that was a little scandalous and and maybe could have ruined his reputation.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever hear that he knocked out um clutch, the Houston Rockets mascot?
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, did he for real?
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, they were they were down on the um down on the court, you know, court side.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was 2017.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: They were honoring uh Foreman as a Rockets fan.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Now let me just paint this picture.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Clutch is uh uh a larger than life teddy bear, yeah.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_01: Literally a teddy bear.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um cuddly, lovable.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody loves Klutch, the mascot.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, nothing controversial about him.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then he squares up against George Foreman, and George Foreman knocked him the F out.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: For real.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Did he really knock him out?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't really throw a punch.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Clutch, Clutch played it, right?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Clutch is a mascot, that's what they do.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: He he he kind of like took this uh fake little feign of a punch and like threw himself into circles on the ground.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can see this on YouTube actually.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: So was that really controversial?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I'm just kidding.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was it was it was uh it was all good fun and clutch was playing it up for the audience, but it it it was kind of a funny moment that a lot of Rockets fans remember.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I thought you were gonna say you knocked him out like in a bar or something.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hey man, I don't like the way you mascot.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't like the way you grill.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go take it outside.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's been on um The Simpsons, he's been on the Bernie Mac show, um, he was on King of the Hill, he was at uh on the movie Night of the Museum, Battle at the of the Smithsonian.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he was also on a reality show of his family.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now that was kind of a trend for a while, you know.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, Gene Simmons had one, I think it was Gene Simmons Family Jewels, and Ozzy had one the Osborne's, uh well, the Kardashians.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this was called Family Foreman, and that was a little glimpse you could get into him and his life on the ranch in Huffman.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: Except those were af that was after all his kids were grown, wasn't it?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think they were older.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: This was this was a more recent thing, but um and it didn't last very long.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, he he definitely he had the charisma and the personality to pull off TV.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: All right, so you mentioned that he can't he was the heavyweight champ when he was 45.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that was in what in like 1987 or something?
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: That was in no, no, no, no.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: That was in um 94.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, 94, okay.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: But then that wasn't his last hurrah.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: Same year that the grill came out.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: He fought a number of fights after 1994, didn't he?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, he did.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: But he he didn't retain the championship.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know, but uh when how do you know when his last fight was?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: George Foreman's last professional boxing match was against Shannon Briggs in '97, which he lost.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that took place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: 1997.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he would have been 48.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: 48 years old.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: So his career ended with uh 76 wins and five losses.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty good.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty good.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_01: And his losses were to Ali once or twice.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: He lost to Ali um once.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: He lost to Jimmy Young once.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: He lost to Evander Holyfield once, Tommy Morrison.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's a guy nobody's heard of.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then Michael Moore, um, which remember Tommy Morrison, though, right?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Tommy Morrison was Tommy Gunn in the Rocky movie.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay, okay.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then he got AIDS later on, it was a whole thing, and then he claimed he got cured from it.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was a whole Tommy Morrison, maybe future Dirt Knapp City uh subject, fascinating uh got kind of a wannabe in that boxing world.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, if you ever watch the Rocky franchises, he was such a Tommy Gunn.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, so after '97, he retired and he became an ordained minister in the 1980s.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know that he was an ordained minister?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: He he used to um yeah, he he talked about that quite a bit.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: He preached at the Church of the Lord of Jesus Christ in Houston, Texas, and he was big in community outreach.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: He was big in uh helping young people, much like he had been helped and saved through sports.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: And I say saved, I mean it, you know, it it gave him both the career and the path that he ended up going on and helped turn his life around.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um he hung out with, like I said, Akeem Elijawan, uh Mattress Mack.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know Mattress Mack's real last name?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Mackinvale.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: Mackinvale, yeah, that's right.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the most famous and wealthy guys, and also pretty good guy in Houston, right?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's still around, isn't he?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you remember his tagline?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Gallery furniture really will.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: Save you money.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: Save you money.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, by the way, I've been watching uh Baskets of the Clown at your recommendation.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: Jody Knight.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is good.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and um, and I'll say that Dale Baskets reminds me a lot of Mattress Mack.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a similar voice.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Mattress Mack has uh aged a little, though.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's uh definitely he doesn't have that same uh vim and vigor.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: But he he is a big uh supporter of Houston, much like George Foreman was.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: So George Foreman had a couple of really great quotes that I liked.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one was it's not about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: You believe that?
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: I do, 100%.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: That that is that is great.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then um it's a little bit about how hard you hit, though, isn't it?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um I guess if you can take hits and keep going, because you think about it, these are metaphors, right?
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: These aren't these aren't necessarily real hits, these are these are metaphors.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_01: If you can have to work, it has to work literally and metaphorically.
• 29:47
  unknown: Okay.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's say there was a guy that could take all the hits and never would go down.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um the other guy's just gonna even no matter how hard he hits, the other guy is gonna eventually get tired and fall over.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'd buy that in an uh if there was unlimited rounds, sure.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I think in order to be a success, you need to have some hits too.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you you need to take a hit and oh, oh, well, you know, the the quote is it's not all about how hard you hit.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not not not it's not about how it's not all about how hard you hit.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: So so maybe to say that um you know you gotta have both, yeah.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And but most I guess the idea there is that most people focus on the hit and don't focus on taking the hits.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and to the to just the fact that he's the oldest, also that's about endurance, right?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's about just lasting, outlasting people, not being a uh flash in the pan, not just coming out swinging, right?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: But have a plan and and and have a plan for to to last and have endurance, much like this show.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, yeah.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: Four four seasons already, over a hundred episodes.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not if you're not already, um by the way, um, you know, we're towards the end of this episode, and so if you're still listening, you must be a good fan.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to go from good to great, join our Patreon.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: Or you could be you've started the episode and fallen asleep.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: She thinks it's funny that you mention that so much.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned it.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: She'll she'll never get to this part of it.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, but if uh Jody, if you are listening, just uh roll over and uh Pat Pat Kelly's back.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you must be in listening to Dirt Nap City right now.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, um you know that that was George Foreman.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: He passed away March 21st, 2025.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: So gosh, a scant three months ago.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: And his exact cause of death wasn't specified, but you know, there's definitely a physical toll to boxing, and that may have had something to do with it.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_01: R.I.P.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, R.I.P.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: George Foreman.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe not the greatest, but certainly one of the greatest and a big, big presence in Dirt Knap City these days.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: So uh go buy yourself a George Foreman grill, and thanks for listening.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: In the ring of firefist collide, Houston's pride standing wide eyed, the grills champ, it's sizzles and steers, knocking out hunger, cheers and cheers, George Bob Fire Beast from the box and being the grilling beef, Houston beans fades away, the champ of the ring in the kitchen they say Golden Love's a heavy swing, champions hard makes a bell ring in the grill.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: One but at a time, joyful and fire feet from the box and be to drill and beast and be never fades away.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_02: Every bunch and every bird used to slide you kidding, he's the legend.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: George Brother Boxing Key.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: Houston be never fades away.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: Share up of the ring in the kitchen, they say,