Foreman, Cooper promote courage to students

9/10/09 7:00pm

George Foreman

Ly HoangWithin minutes of his introduction last Thursday, George Foreman, former heavyweight boxing champion and world-renowned entrepreneur, had a crowd of hundreds laughing at his life story, from tales of covering himself in sewage to avoid arrest to his affinity for grilling machines.

During the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship's annual kickoff event, held in the Shell Auditorium of the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, Foreman spoke to an assembly of nearly 600.

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CEOs of big-name companies, local businessmen, professors and Rice students turned out to hear him speak, Rice Alliance Managing Director Brad Burke said.

Foreman began his talk by relating anecdotes of growing up in a tough Houston neighborhood. His mother, a single parent, held down the fort at home and was adamant about keeping Foreman and his six siblings out of jail.

"She had me more afraid of her than the streets and the police," Foreman said. "She would say, 'If you get hit in the streets, I'll kill you!'"

After his mother was diagnosed with tuberculosis, Foreman began sneaking out at night to hang out with the wrong crowds, he said. However, he became incensed when his cousin told him to skip school, as no one in the family would amount to anything.

He said he began mugging people, which once led to a police chase. Foreman avoided arrest only by covering himself in sewage to avoid scent detection by the dogs. After this close call, Foreman said he decided to change his ways.

"[I told myself,] 'If I got out of this, [I'd] never steal anything again, even if it was a $1 million wallet,'" Foreman said.

Foreman applied to Job Corps, an educational training program, after watching a television commercial that urged eligible youth to apply.

Though he was committed to a new lifestyle, Foreman said he occasionally reverted to feelings of aggression. He once became defensive when a coworker at Job Corps was talking to him about his mother.

"I still wanted to fight," Foreman said.

Upon a friend's suggestion that Foreman vent his anger through boxing, he moved to California to train. Foreman quickly moved up the ranks of the boxing world and eventually made it to the 1968 Olympics, held in Mexico City. Foreman said his boxing style at the Games was unconventional.

Despite his "open up and swing as hard as you can" style, Foreman snagged the Olympic gold medal that year. Foreman's career then peaked after his defeat of 'Smoking' Joe Frazier in the Heavyweight World Championship in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1973.

Though money had poured in constantly throughout his career, Foreman found himself strapped for cash in 1974 after he lost the heavyweight championship title to Muhammad Ali.

Foreman said his life underwent a change when he had a religious experience in 1977 that led him to discover Jesus. This event prompted Foreman to spread his revelation to others. For the next decade, he preached his testimony to various congregations and churches around the country. During this time, he said he realized young people were not receptive to preaching.

"They don't just listen to you." Foreman said. "They just look at you. They don't need money. They need us."

After the realization, Foreman started the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston in 1984 as a safe haven for troubled youth.

However, to support his family and the youth center, Foreman needed a steady income, so he began to retrain for boxing. When word got out that he was reentering the boxing ring, Foreman said he was frequently teased for being out of shape.

"People would say, 'George Foreman's training camp is next to Baskin Robbins,'" Foreman said.

Despite the jokes about his physique, Foreman once again advanced through the boxing world and in 1994, at age 44, was re-crowned the heavyweight champion after defeating Michael Moorer. In 1995, however, Foreman relinquished his title after refusing a rematch with Axel Schultz.

Starting in the early 1990s, Foreman added entrepreneurship to his list of vocations when he became a salesman for the Lean, Mean, Fat- Reducing Grilling Machine. His name has since become synonymous with the product.

Even when he lost his last match, in 1997 to Shannon Briggs, Foreman said he continued selling his grills.

"When the news asked me what I thought after I lost, I told them 'I love the Lean, Mean, Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine!'" Foreman said. "'What does this have to do with the game?' they would ask. I would respond, 'It has everything to do with it. Look at me!'"

In addition to the grills, Foreman also promotes Meineke Car Care Centers and has launched eco-friendly cleaning products, a line of personal care products, George Foreman's Life Shakes, memoirs and various other businesses. Foreman is also active in charity, including the "Knock Out Pediatric Cancer" campaign.

In 1984, Foreman was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, a society which extends membership to those with remarkable achievements in face of adversity through self-reliance and hard work. Members must also have shown dedication to helping the less fortunate. Fellow inductees includes Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart Stores, Inc., poet and author Maya Angelou and talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

When asked about the biggest lesson he learned, Foreman responded that fear can motivate a person to do great things.

"Fear is a wonderful thing," he said. "Embrace it."

The reactions to the speech from Rice students were enthusiastic.

Sid Richardson College junior Jorgen Nelson said, "I was just surprised that George Foreman was so coherent after being hit in the head so many times, you know? I mean, have you listened to Mike Tyson?"

Helene Cooper

Jaclyn Youngblood

Being uprooted from home and having to adapt to new surroundings is an experience with which Helene Cooper, author of this year's Common Reading, The House at Sugar Beach, is familiar. Cooper spoke about her experiences to an audience of 250 last Thursday at the Tudor Fieldhouse.

This discussion was a continuation of the Common Reading tradition established last year when Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, spoke to students about the importance of community activism.

Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman introduced the journalist and author, calling Cooper's life a story of "bravery, perseverance and personal discovery."

Cooper, a longtime journalist who serves as the New York Times diplomatic correspondent, said she had never considered writing about her life until talking to friends over a Maryland meal of crabs and beer. As she and some friends were looking out over the Chesapeake Bay, Cooper commented that her ancestors were from the area.

Knowing that she was from Liberia, her friends reacted with surprise and confusion, which prompted her to share her life's journey, Cooper said.

She described her ancestors' role in founding Liberia, what it was like to grow up in a wealthy Liberian family, how life as she knew it disintegrated in 1980 when a military coup seized the executive mansion and executed President William Tolbert and what it was like to flee to the United States to escape Liberia's political turmoil.

Cooper said she still remembers her friends' reactions to her story.

"The sun - I still can see it - was setting at that point," she said. "One of my friends said, 'Why haven't you written this?'"

Cooper said she then began one of the hardest tasks of her life: writing a book detailing her family's story.

"Twenty-three years later, I'm sitting down trying to write about a book about this childhood that I had deleted, and I had to go back and undelete all these things I'd forced myself to forget," Cooper said.

Cooper said some of the saddest moments of her life occurred after the coup. Her mother sacrificed herself to gang rape by a group of soldiers to save Cooper and her adopted sister, Eunice; Cooper later watched some of her relatives face execution by firing squad.

She said writing the book was difficult, but cathartic.

"It's like you're picking at a scab that's healed over and you pick at it until it bleeds," she said.

Cooper read passages from her book, utilizing classic Liberian dialect to bring Eunice to life. She shared excerpts about her first boyfriend, her mother's rape and transitioning to life in the United States.

Martel College freshman Anna Meriano said she enjoyed the authenticity Cooper brought to her story when reading selections from her book.

"The Liberian English was awesome," Meriano said. "It was the best part."

Cooper talked about the difficulties she faced in making new friends, friends who had no knowledge of Liberia or what had just happened there. She stressed the importance of maintaining her identity throughout her transition.

"I was somebody," she said. "I came from somewhere."

Brown College sophomore Sarah James said hearing Cooper talk about her book made the story even better.

"[Cooper] seems so human and personal," James said. "She seems like someone who could be your friend."

Martel freshman Maggie Sulc echoed Meriano's sentiments and said she flipped through the book as Cooper read.

"It was cool to look at the book while [the author] is standing there and see the story in her light," Sulc said.

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