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Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2010 > July > 28
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Mike Tyson on CSU visit: “I said some stupid, dumb, ignorant (%#&$) ! “
Mike Tyson’s eyes filled with tears as he remembered that now infamous visit to Central State University 21 years ago.
“I said some stupid, dumb, ignorant s—-. That was a real bad one , a bad one. No excuse.”
Those are the former heavyweight champ’s thoughts today as related by Pablo. S. Torre for his “Where Are They Now” story in the current issue of Sports Illustrated.
Once the baddest man on the planet, Tyson now comes off as a subdued, 44-year-old vegan, recovering addict and still-learning family man big into reflection.
I covered many of Tyson’s fights over the years and I was there that day at CSU when the school brought him in and awarded him an honorary doctorate in human letters.
As promoter Don King, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp and much of the CSU student body and faculty looked on, Tyson took the stage and offered his memorable line:
“I wasn’t sure what kind of doctor I was, but looking at all the lovely sisters here, I think I’ll be a doctor of gynecology.”
The crack brought hoots of delight from many of the students, but elicited disgust from some faculty members, a few who walked out.
While that moment made national headlines, Tyson’s antics the night before in Dayton were even more troubling. I was there for some of that, too.
He and King had most of one whole floor in the Stouffer’s Hotel in downtown Dayton sealed off for them. A local guy involved in the fight scene here brought over a few girls so Tyson would have someone to “party with.”
I remember sitting in the hotel lobby with the last girl who was going to join him and I felt sorry for her. She was wearing what looked to be a bridesmaid dress. She didn’t have a clue what she was getting into, and the the next day a limo driver whispered to me she had been treated rough.
And during a press conference at CSU — as he at alongside King, Kemp and then CSU president Art Thomas — Tyson derailed a serious moment when the HUD Secretary tried to address hunger in America and how the heavyweight champ was going to set up a program to address the national issue
Instead of paying attention, Tyson sat next to him, suggestively rolling his tongue around his lips and mouthing the words to a nearby girl: “I love you.”
As his limo was leaving CSU for the Dayton airport afterward, it stopped at the edge of campus, right next to a woman student. The window rolled down, there was a brief conversation and she got in the vehicle with her school books in tow. Instantly, the car was roaring back down Route 42 toward Xenia.
I don’t know what happened there, but in Torre’s article, Tyson — his eyes brimming over as he sat with his wife and young daughter — looked back on that entire visit to CSU with embarrassment and disgust:
“Two years ago I talked to some people about my mother. And I learned that she went to school right down the street from (CSU). And I was down there and said some stupid, dumb, ignorant s—- like that.
“My family waited to get a (%#&#$) like me and I embarrassed 500 years of our family. They waited for me to get there. To say something for them. And I embarrassed them…
“My mother and her family thought that education made them somebody. I could have said something awesome. I could have explained how my mother went to school. But the first thing I thought about was my d….”
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