WND EXCLUSIVE

75 YEARS AGO: UNIVERSE SHUDDERS AS CHUCK NORRIS BORN

At 3/4 century mark, America's favorite tough guy just gets more lethal

Published: 12 hours ago

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Mouth of volcano where Chuck Norris is rumored to have arrived on earth on March 10, 1940.

Legend has it that 75 years ago Tuesday, Chuck Norris wasn’t actually born like the rest of us.

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Norris in “Expendables 2″

He was ejected from a volcano.

Since that fateful day on March 10, 1940, roundhouse kick-related deaths have increased 13,000 percent.

Even after reaching the three-quarter century mark, America’s favorite tough guy doesn’t age. He just gets more and more lethal.

In exclusive comments to WND, Norris shared some of the wisdom he’s acquired through the years. He said he abides by several key principles in life, and the action star shared two of them.

“I will forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements,” Norris said. “I will continually work at developing love, happiness and loyalty in my family and acknowledge that no other success can compensate for failure at home.”

Asked what is one of the most significant life lessons he’s learned in his 75 years, Norris told WND, “Never give up on anything you feel passionate about. If you can visualize what you want to achieve, then the odds are you can succeed at your goal.”

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Norris roundhouse kick

Norris has said he planned to shoot a new movie called “The Finisher” in March 2015. He tells WND he is now considering a role in the upcoming film, “The Novice.”

The star of “Walker: Texas Ranger” and some of the biggest action pictures ever, Norris has also reached a new generation as part of the Internet craze for one-liners usually labeled not as jokes but as “facts.” In “The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,” Norris gives readers not only his favorite “facts,” roundhouse-kicked by the man himself, but also the stories behind the facts and the code by which he lives his life.

Norris has been writing a weekly column exclusively for WND since Oct. 23, 2006.

Many of his most loyal fans have urged Norris to run for the White House in 2016. But Chuck Norris doesn’t run for president.

Presidents run from Chuck Norris.

In any case, Norris himself admitted to WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah that the effort would be disastrous.

“Let’s say I do run for president and I start campaigning and I start debating my opponent and my opponent starts attacking my character, and I spring over and I choke him unconscious,” Norris said.

“Is that going to help my campaign?”

The closing event at the 2015 National Religious Broadcasters Convention featured Norris and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Farah interviewed Norris about his career, faith, charity work and politics.

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Chuck and Gena Norris with WND CEO and Editor Joseph Farah at the 2015 National Religious Broadcasters Convention

When life gives Chuck Norris lemons, he makes life apologize.

But that wasn’t always the case.

Norris shared with Farah his secret to long-lasting happiness.

He recalled how he was named after a pastor his mother knew while living in Oklahoma, how he was baptized when he was 12 years old and how he went to Korea after enlisting in the U.S. military. Norris came back with a black belt and began to teach the art. Then he landed roles in Hollywood action pictures and pursued other ventures.

“Unfortunately, in the entertainment field, sometimes you starting believing your celebrity,” he said. “You have a strong tendency to drift from the Lord, which I did. I did drift for a number of years.”

He divorced, then met his wife, Gena, and got married, but there remained a “huge hole in my heart.”

“I didn’t know why,” he said.

He recalled thinking just one more movie, one more project, would make him happy.

As he worked, he noticed Gena reading her Bible every morning, and eventually she started reading aloud to him. Then he started reading it himself.

During that time, he said God spoke to him.

“‘Chuck, it’s time to come home,’” he recalled God telling him. “‘You’ve been gone long enough.’”

He did, and now Norris says, “My heart, it’s filled up again.”

See the interview:

A week after the NRB Convention, in his March 1 column, Norris announced his top pick for president in 2016.

“Mike [Huckabee] truly is a first-class patriot and a renowned man of integrity,” Norris said. “Our country can truly use his caliber of character back in the White House not only to help restore the Oval Office but also our nation. Gena and I pray he will run for president and be our next president.”

As WND reported, Norris endorsed Huckabee in the 2008 presidential race in a WND column, and it sparked a spike of 66 percent in Internet posts on Huckabee.

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Chuck Norris and Mike Huckabee durinG Huckabee’s 2008 quest for the presidency

In his bestselling book, “Black Belt Patriotism: How to Reawaken America,” Norris provides real solutions for solving the nation’s problems, moving the country forward and changing its course for the better.

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Chuck and Gena Norris

Norris’ career began not in movies, television or in the world of Internet trivia. The man who has employed martial arts in so many of his pictures first came to the world’s attention as a real-life martial arts star. He was a six-time undefeated World Professional MiddleWeight Karate Champion. He was also a renowned teacher in the martial arts, with celebrity students including Steve McQueen, Bob Barker, Priscilla Presley and Donnie and Marie Osmond.

He has gone on to found the United Fighting Arts Federation with more than 2,300 black belts all over the world. In 1997, Norris achieved another milestone in his life by being the first man ever in the Western Hemisphere to be awarded an eighth-degree Black Belt Grand Master recognition in the Tae Kwon Do system. This was a first in 4,500 years of tradition.

“Something that I’ve come to appreciate about Chuck Norris since getting to know him over the years: He’s quite possibly the biggest international celebrity with staying power. Think about that,” Farah said. “There are new stars who come and go. But Chuck Norris has been there as a global icon – as an action star, as a TV star, as a director, and, of course, as the greatest martial arts champion of all time.”

Norris is also a New York Times bestselling author of “Black Belt Patriotism.”

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Farah said Norris may be turning 75, but he never gets old – not with his fans, not with the public, not with entertainment consumers.

“He truly is a living legend,” he said. “And what’s especially great about that is he doesn’t take it all too seriously. Despite being bigger than life, he retains a gracious humility about him that is almost unknown among the celebrity class.”

The Norrises have shared that next to their family, their greatest mission in life is their Kickstart Kids Foundation. In 1992 with the help of President George H.W. Bush, the program was launched in four public middle schools in Houston. For more than 20 years, Kickstart Kids has developed and delivered an in-school physical education program based on martial arts that teaches responsibility and character development, while building self-esteem and engaging kids in a school-based activity. The program is dedicated to giving middle-school students the tools and support necessary to resolve conflicts, avoid participating in gangs, choose a drug-free lifestyle, resist negative peer pressure, remain in school until they graduate, achieve a higher level of academic success and ultimately become productive members of communities. Today, Kickstart Kids serves more than 7,000 children daily and has graduated approximately 80,000 students, with many going on to college.

Filled with side-splitting humor, “The Official Chuck Norris Fact Book,” Norris gives readers not only his favorite “facts,” roundhouse-kicked by the man himself, but also the stories behind the facts and the code by which he lives his life.