Editing Mr. T (section)

==Early life==
Tureaud was born in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], the youngest son in a family with twelve children. He and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in a three-room apartment in the [[Robert Taylor Homes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/the-robert-taylor-homes-opens/|title=The Robert Taylor Homes opens|website=African American Registry|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191028040622/https://aaregistry.org/story/the-robert-taylor-homes-opens/|archive-date=October 28, 2019|access-date=October 28, 2019|quote=The Robert Taylor Homes were where Mr. T, Kirby Puckett, and Deval Patrick were raised. Robert Taylor Homes faced many of the same problems that doomed other high-rise housing projects in Chicago such as Cabrini-Green.}}</ref> His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, was a [[Minister (Christianity)|minister]].<ref name="PeopleDotCom">{{cite magazine|last=Kleban|first=Barbara|date=October 1, 1984|title=Mr. T's Sibs Are Teed Off Over Their Bro's New Book|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088784,00.html|url-status=live|magazine=People.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191028045055/https://people.com/archive/mr-ts-sibs-are-teed-off-over-their-bros-new-book-vol-22-no-14/|archive-date=October 28, 2019|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> After his father left when he was five, he shortened his name to Lawrence Tero. In 1970, he legally changed his last name to T.<ref name=People/> His new name, Mr. T, was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family:

{{blockquote|I think about my father being called "[[Boy#Race|boy]]", my uncle being called "boy", my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called "boy". So I questioned myself: "What does a black man have to do before he's given respect as a man?" So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody's mouth is "Mr."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://festivalreviews.org/2016/05/21/happy-birthday-mr-t/ |title=Happy Birthday: Mr. T |publisher=Festivalreviews.org |date=May 21, 2016 |access-date=April 16, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2023-02-05|title=You'll Pity The Fools Who Don't Know These 5 Things About Mr. T|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-mr-t_n_5643d215e4b045bf3dedbec5|date=13 November 2015|website=HuffPost}}</ref>}}

[[File:Mr. T HS Yearbook.jpg|thumb|left|Tureaud as a senior in high school (1970)]]
Tureaud attended [[Dunbar Vocational High School (Chicago, Illinois)|Dunbar Vocational High School]],<ref name=glance>"Dunbar at a glance". ''Chicago Sun-Times''. December 29, 1993. 76.</ref> where he played [[American football|football]], wrestled, and studied [[martial arts]]. While at Dunbar he became the citywide wrestling champion two years in a row. He won a football scholarship to [[Prairie View A&M University]], where he majored in mathematics, but was expelled after his first year.<ref name=bio>{{cite web |url=http://www.biography.com/people/mr-t-413140 |title=Mr. T Biography |website=Biography.com |access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>

After Tureaud left Prairie View A&M, he worked as a gym instructor for a government program in Chicago. He later said it was here that he discovered a gift for helping children.<ref name="People" />

He then enlisted in the [[United States Army]] in 1975 and served in the [[Military Police Corps (United States)|Military Police Corps]]. After his discharge in the late 1970s, he tried out for the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the [[National Football League]], but failed to make the team due to a knee injury.<ref name="bio" />

Tureaud next worked as a [[Bouncer (doorman)|bouncer]] at the [[Rush Street (Chicago)|Rush Street]] club Dingbats Discotheque.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/09/29/Mr-T-sued-for-second-time-this-year/5615465278400/|title=Mr. T sued for second time this year|date=September 20, 1984|website=UPI|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191028040209/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/09/29/Mr-T-sued-for-second-time-this-year/5615465278400/|archive-date=October 28, 2019|access-date=October 28, 2019|quote=Goldberg says the men helped Mr. T become a bouncer at the Dingbats Discotheque in Chicago and arranged for him to enter the 'World's Toughest Bouncer Contest', the television show that launched his show business career.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20060722/ISSUE01/100026178/to-have-a-comeback-you-have-to-have-a-setback|title=To have a comeback, you have to have a setback|date=July 22, 2006|website=Crain's Chicago Business|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20191028040324/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20060722/ISSUE01/100026178/to-have-a-comeback-you-have-to-have-a-setback|archive-date=October 28, 2019|access-date=October 28, 2019|quote=1977–79: Works as a bouncer at Chicago's Dingbat's club.}}</ref> It was at this time that he created the persona of Mr. T.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Walters|first=Barbara|title=Mr. T: Tough and Tender in Barbara Walters Interview|magazine=Jet|volume=65|issue=26|page=56|issn=0021-5996|quote='''Mr. T''': I changed my name for respect because I watched my father being called 'boy'}}</ref> His wearing of gold neck chains and other jewelry was the result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the night club after a fight. A banned customer, or one reluctant to risk a confrontation by going back inside, could return to claim his property from Mr. T wearing it conspicuously right out front. Along with controlling the violence as a doorman, Tureaud was mainly hired to keep out drug dealers and users.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=220}} Tureaud says that as a bouncer, he was in over 200 fights and was sued a number of times, but won each case.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=218}}

He eventually parlayed his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard that lasted almost ten years.  As his reputation grew, he was contracted to guard, among others, clothes designers, models, judges, politicians, athletes and millionaires.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=136}} His clients included celebrities [[Steve McQueen]], [[Michael Jackson]], [[LeVar Burton]], and [[Diana Ross]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/mister_t_1_/bio.jhtml |title=Mr. T view the Music Artists Biography Online |publisher=Vh1.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629031038/http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/mister_t_1_/bio.jhtml |archive-date=June 29, 2010 |access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> and boxers [[Muhammad Ali]], [[Joe Frazier]], and [[Leon Spinks]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Norris|first=Luke|date=July 7, 2021|title=Conor McGregor Channels His Inner Mr. T as He Brings Dustin Poirier's Wife Into Their Feud Ahead of UFC 264|url=https://www.sportscasting.com/conor-mcgregor-channels-inner-mr-t-brings-dustin-poirier-wife-into-their-feud-ahead-ufc-264/|access-date=August 2, 2021|website=sportscasting.com|language=en-US}}</ref> With his reputation as "Mr. T", Tureaud attracted strange offers and was frequently approached with odd commissions, including tracking runaway teenagers, locating missing persons, [[debt collection]], and assassination requests.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=137}}

While he was in his late twenties, Tureaud won two tough-man competitions consecutively.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=223}} The first aired as "Sunday Games" on NBC-TV under the contest of "America's Toughest Bouncer" which included throwing a {{convert|150|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Stunt performer|stuntman]], and breaking through a {{convert|4|in|cm|adj=on}} wooden door.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=224}} For the first event, Tureaud came in third place. For the end, two finalists squared off in a boxing ring for a two-minute round to declare the champion. Making it to the ring as a finalist, he had as his opponent a {{convert|280|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Honolulu]] bouncer named Tutefano Tufi.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=226}} Within twenty seconds "Mr. T" gave the six foot five competitor a bloody nose, and later a bloody mouth. He won the match and thus the competition.{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=227}} 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, Mr T. said, "I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him."{{sfn|Mr. T|1985|p=234}} This fight was scheduled to last three rounds, but Mr. T finished it in less than 54 seconds. The line, "I don't hate him but... I pity the fool" in the movie ''[[Rocky III]]'' was written by [[Sylvester Stallone]], who is reputed to have been inspired by the interview.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-cronin/did-ba-baracus-never-actually-say_b_7836116.html |title=Did B.A. Baracus Never Actually Say 'I Pity the Fool' on 'The A-Team'? |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=July 24, 2015 |website=Huffington Post |access-date=August 16, 2016 |quote=Before the final match, Mr. T explained to the commentator for the event, Bryant Gumbel, that 'I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him.' Sylvester Stallone caught this second competition and was intrigued by Mr. T and that line in particular.}}</ref>