Growing up, it seemed as if Mr T was involved in so many things I loved. He starred in one of my favorite TV shows, I ate his cereal, I loved his cartoon, and he was frequently involved in wrestling, which I watched without fail every week. Since he was a big part of my childhood, I wrote the following article for my own site over at HowISpentMyChildhood.com a while back. I'm sharing it here for any others who have fond memories attached to the man with the distinctive look. Included here for RetroDaze exclusively are a few extra facts that do not appear in the original article on my site. I hope you enjoy.
You pick any other pop culture icon, and I seriously doubt they have a resume of awesomeness to top Mr. T’s. This list could be a lot longer, but for now, let’s look at the 15 Most AWESOME Things Mr. T has done!
Mr T Was An Amateur Wrestling Champion In His Youth
During his high school days in Chicago, Mr. T was city wide champion for two years in a row!
Mr T Served In The United States Army
Mr. T enlisted in the U.S. Army in the mid-70’s where he served in the Military Police Corps. In November of 1975, he was awarded a letter of recommendation by his drill sergeant, and out of a cycle of 6000 troops, he was elected “Top Trainee of the Cycle”!
Mr T Served As A Bodyguard To Many Stars and Millionaires
After leaving the Army, Mr. T worked as a bouncer at bars, and took jobs as a bodyguard for many famous people including Leon Spinks, Steve McQueen, Diana Ross, and Muhammad Ali. He was so effective in his role, he was able to charge $3000 – $10,000 per night!
Mr T Has His Own Catchphrase
In 1983, Mr. T starred in Rocky 3 as the walking disaster known as Clubber Lang. During the movie, before he fights Rocky, he is interviewed. In the interview, Clubber is asked if he hates Rocky Balboa, and Clubber responded, “I don’t hate Balboa, I pity the fool.” It didn’t take very long for Mr. T to make that line famous and turn it into one of the most quoted catch phrases of all time!
Mr T Starred In One Of The Most Popular TV Shows of the 80's
The A-Team ran for 97 episodes from 1983-1987, and Mr. T as B.A. Barracus was unquestionably the biggest star of the show!
Mr T Had His Own Cartoon
Mister T debuted in 1983 on NBC’s Saturday morning lineup, and featured Mr. T as a gymnastics coach where he and his students would solve mysteries around the world! Between the animated features, live action segments featuring Mr T giving advice to kids were featured.
Mr T Had His Own Cereal
Mr. T cereal debuted in 1984 and featured crispy sweet corn and oat cereal bits that were shaped like the letter “T”
MR. T DRESSED UP LIKE SANTA CLAUS, WENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE, GAVE OUT PRESENTS, HAD THE FIRST LADY NANCY REAGAN SIT ON HIS LAP AND GIVE HIM A KISS
In 1983, Nancy Reagan was campaigning to get kids to say no to drugs. Mr. T was going around to schools talking to kids on his own crusade to discourage them from using drugs as well. The first lady invited Mr. T to be the White House Santa that year!
To read more about his visit and see more photos, check out this fun article from Mental Floss here.
Mr T Hosted Saturday Night Live
On Saturday night March 30, 1985, Mr. T and Hulk Hogan teamed up to host Saturday Night Live as promotion for the first Wrestlemania taking place the next day in New York City. The show also featured Billy Crystal, as well as musical guests, The Commodores!
Mr T Wrestled in the Main Event at the First WrestleMania
At the very first Wrestlemania on March 31, 1985, Mr. T teamed up with Hulk Hogan to defeat the mega bad guy duo of “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in the main event!
Mr T Fought "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in a Boxing Match at WrestleMania 2
In one of three main events of Wrestlemania 2, Mr. T defeated Roddy Piper by disqualification in a boxing match!
Mr T Starred In His Own Comic Book
In 1993, Now Comics released a series starring Mr. T. The comic book series ran for 14 issues into 1994
Mr T Was Inducted Into a Hall of Fame
In 2014, Mr. T was inducted into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame.
Mr T Scored a Hockey Goal From Center Ice
In 2013, Mr. T showed up at a Chicago Blackhawks game and replaced the regular fan in the mid-period tradition of taking a few shots from center ice. Once again showing how awesome he is, of course Mr. T made the shot!
Mr T Beat Cancer
The man BEAT cancer. Mr. T beat f’n cancer! He beat a cancer so tough, it had HIS name! In 1995, Mr. T was diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma. After five treatments of radiation, the cancer dissolved. It returned 11 months later, but Mr. T never gave up the fight and is now cancer free.
Mr. T has done many more awesome things in his life, but as the list above shows, he was…and continues to be the most awesome pop culture icon of our time!!
And some bonus Awesome Thing Mr T Has Done facts for here at RetroDaze.....
Mr T Gave Up His Trademark Gold Jewelry
Mr T gave up wearing his trademark gold jewelry in 2005 while visiting victims of Hurricane Katrina. He said he was looking around at all the destruction, and meeting people who had lost everything, and felt it was disrespectful to wear all the gold in front of them. Shortly after, he decided to give it up for good as too many people suffer in this world for him to flaunt the gold for his own image.
Mr T Honors His Heritage With His Hair Style
His hair style is tribute to the Mandinka Tribe Warriors, as their warriors sported the same look. Mr T can trace his heritage back to the tribe.
I hope you've enjoyed this abbreviated look at an 80's legend, and true pop culture icon as much as I've enjoyed bringing it to you. Be sure to stop by HowISpentMyChildhood.com for more retro memories!
