Mark Henry Recalls Getting Kicked Out Of School, Getting Introduced To Sports
In a recent interview with VladTV, Mark Henry revealed he got expelled from school a couple of times due to fighting. He even ended up going to juvenile detention before organized sports helped put him on the right path.
"I got in to maybe like two fights and I kinda bludgeoned a kid," Henry explained. "And I ended up getting kicked out of school because I beat up a kid. And I spent a little time in the box, what they called it, but juvenile detention. A lot of that was anger issues. You know, during that time kids were calling me 'Fat Albert,' 'Magilla Gorilla.'"
Henry, who revealed in the interview he was 5'5 and weighed 225 pounds in the fourth grade, explained he struggled in school because of dyslexia. The fighting and not being a good student, jeopardized his future.
"The last straw? It spilled out after school," said Henry. "A kid was waiting on me when I got off the bus to hit me with a stick. You know, I kinda rubbed his face in the ground. It didn't come across like I was in danger. He's the one that had a stick, he just swung and miss. That's usually how most fights end. You swing, you miss, you get caught. Now I'm the bad guy."
The World's Strongest man explained that fight resulted in him being dismissed from school. However, it was organized sports that helped him turn things around.
"At that point, it was like you're no longer welcome in school, you've gotta do alternative school. I was already a bad student because I was an undiagnosed dyslexic."
"It was actually a blessing in disguise because that was the same time organized sports got introduced to me," said Henry. "They said, look, if you can't pass and you can't stop fighting, then you can't play."
Henry of course went on to become an accomplished weight lifter, a member of the International Sports Hall of Fame and a successful professional wrestler. In 2018, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. You can watch Part 1 of VladTV's interview with him embedded in the player above.
damien demento contributed to this article.