I don't know whether he was ever trying to get a match with Lenny but Laurence Tero (Mr T) grew up in a ghetto where crime was a daily occurrence. He was one of the youngest kids raised by a single mother. His older brothers literally drilled him in staying tough to survive. he mentioned that he was hardly bullied because of the reputation maintained by his older brothers. I recall him mentioning an instance where his mother was mugged and the whole family tore the neighbourhood apart looking for the muggers. Once they tracked them down they took them to a deserted alley and....he never mentioned whether they killed them but he he said there was no mercy that day. Because of what he saw on the streets and because of his Christian values he stayed away from drugs and immersed himself in sports - wrestling and football. To help out other kids he even took up teaching and spent a lot of time trying to keep them off the streets.
Joined the Army and eventually went into becoming a bodyguard. One of his more famous clients was Leon Spinks who beat Ali. His stories of being a bodyguard for Spinks are amazing. He brought up the fact that Leon may have been taking something that night that gave him the edge over Ali. He also was a bouncer and won a couple of toughest bouncer in America events which got stallones attention.
Last I heard he did become unhinged for awhile with all the media attention but seems to back on his feet doing charity events every now and then. There are some good stories about how much George peppard hated him because T became a bigger star than him.
One Of the true bad asses with a heart of gold.
Addendum
While typing in this thread curiosity prompted me to google to see what he's been up to lately and as it turns out according to wiki
He gave up virtually all his gold, one of his identifying marks, after helping with the cleanup after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He said, "As a Christian, when I saw other people lose their lives and lose their land and property...I felt that it would be a sin before God for me to continue wearing my gold. I felt it would be insensitive and disrespectful to the people who lost everything, so I stopped wearing my gold."[53]
I'm not religious but guys like him are a plus point for Christianity.