Foreman’s a hit with Rice Alliance

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

Although he wasn’t wearing boxing gloves, two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman knocked out the crowd at the 10th annual Rice Alliance Kickoff Celebration Thursday night with his entertaining anecdotes about going from a life of poverty to having his name on one of the most successfully marketed appliances of all time.

	JEFF FITLOW
	Two-time world heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman knocked out the crowd at the 10th annual Rice Alliance Kickoff Celebration Thursday night.

The fifth of seven children, Foreman said the house in Marshall, Texas, where he grew up had no running water or indoor bathroom. “I was so poor that we couldn’t even afford the ‘or’ in poor. I was just ‘po,'” he said.

Foreman kept the audience of nearly 500 laughing as he told tales from the boxing ring and reflected on his professional and personal achievements.

“I’m like the eighth wonder of the world,” he said. “I was hit for the first time in the ’40s. I started hitting back in the ’50s. In the ’60s I achieved an Olympic gold medal. In the ’70s I became the heavyweight champion of the world. In the ’80s I made the sports writers scratch their heads when I came back [from retirement]. In the ’90s I became the oldest man ever to be a heavyweight champion. In the new millennium I am the ‘king of the grill.'”

Foreman pointed to his wedding ring when asked what his most proud achievement is. And he rattled off the names of some of the famous boxers he’s met in the ring to explain why his five sons are all named George. “Joe Frazier, Muhammad Ali, Michael Moorer … You let those guys hit you on the head and see how many names you know.” Foreman proudly pointed out that “George 3” is a Rice graduate (2006).

The author of “Knockout Entrepreneur,” Foreman recalled how the Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine came to bear his name.

His affiliation with the grill stemmed from a friend’s suggestion that he get his own business since he had become the “darling of Madison Avenue” by endorsing Doritos, McDonald’s, Oscar Mayer and other products and was “making all these other companies wealthy.”

When he started a joint venture, he didn’t expect the grills to sell. But his wife was impressed with the grill. “My wife told me it works,” he said. She encouraged him to go through with the venture.

“One year we sold 500,000 grills, and I got something called a royalty check,” he said. “The next year we sold another million. We’ve now sold over 110 million of those grills.”

Foreman encouraged would-be entrepreneurs not to be intimidated by the business world. “It looks big, like you can’t get in. But all you got to do is stick one foot in and it belongs to you. Take one step in and don’t be afraid. Just the desire to achieve is the best thing you can have. And a mom and dad to occasionally pat you on the back and encourage you, that’s about all you need,” he said.

Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, gave Foreman an apron with the Rice logo in appreciation for his appearance. After Foreman’s presentation in McNair Hall’s Shell Auditorium, he signed copies of his new book.

The Rice Alliance is Rice’s flagship initiative devoted to the support of technology entrepreneurship. For info on the alliance’s upcoming events, visit www.alliance.rice.edu.