IN The Bookcase

by Claire Friedrichs Taylor

THE FIRST TIME I EVER HEARD of Tyrus, I was watching The Five on Fox News, and they were talking about great food and restaurants. I hear this big behemoth of a man say he had a fabulous meal at Gallagher’s 527 in Mandeville, Louisiana. WOW! This guy in New York had been to our little hamlet on the northshore of Lake Pontchartrain. Little did I know that he lived a few miles from me. I became a fan that day, as did my elderly mother. (He is a hit with the older ladies.)

Tyrus is 6’8” tall, weighs north of 300 pounds and has tats cover to cover. I watched him interact with tiny Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld and felt like I was a part of their deepening friendship. The chemistry was there, and it was both contagious and mesmerizing. As millions have, I became a fan and followed him to The Greg Gutfeld Show and other Fox airings as a guest.

When I was asked to do a review of his upcoming memoir, I was interested to read about his life. What a revelation it is. Tyrus, aka Brodus Clay, aka G-Rilla, aka The Funkasaurus, is actually George Murdoch. He was born into a dysfunctional, mixed-race household at a time in the 1970s when mixed-race relationships were actually illegal. His white mother was small, and he describes her as a hippie, waif of a woman. His father, who was black, spent many nights drinking and coming home to reek domestic abuse upon his wife. George had a younger brother and felt he had to protect his mother and brother when things got rough at home. At age 3 or 4, he learned to use his sense of humor to make his mother laugh and take her attention away from her plight.

Tyrus at home with his wife Ingrid and Georgie, the youngest of their five children.

From the East Coast to the West Coast and the corn fields of Nebraska, Tyrus lived in several homes with both family and non-family members. His childhood was difficult, and he learned at an early age to combat violence with violence. It was his survival mechanism. His soft spot was always for animals of every species, his mom and children.

Smart as a whip, he was able to use his intellect to get ahead in school, when he wanted to. Sports was a savior for Tyrus. He excelled in football, until a ruptured appendix sidelined him. Tyrus went from football to teaching special-needs kids, from wrestling to being a bouncer in a club, where he met Snoop Dogg. Tyrus gives up a tender introspective into Snoop, who had the same soft spot for at-risk kids that Tyrus had. They worked together for years between stints in the WWE, where he reinvented himself over and over.

Tyrus has been fired from more jobs than I have had in life. To many, this could have had a devastating impact—but not him. He always found opportunity. He has been in movies, on Fox News shows and in commercials, as well as his award-winning wrestling career. His time with Snoop took him all over the world.

The most important message in the book, in my opinion, is how a young boy with a troubled, violent childhood could get knocked down so many times and reinvent himself. His humor and joke-telling got him into many doors, and he is genuinely a likable guy. Race, of course, played a role in his life—but he did not let it rule his destiny. So many kids today in broken homes have not seen the successes Tyrus has, and it is understandable. He is a worthy role model for so many “throw-away” kids.

A two-time voter for President Obama, he tells how he was apprehensive as to how he would be received at a conservative news outlet like Fox. Pleasantly surprised, he tells how inclusive and welcoming they all were to a guy who did not wear a suit and a tie. He is covered with tattoos and hangs his wrestling belt over his shoulder on Gutfeld. Greg throws tough subject matter at him, like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and controversial Trump issues. He admits that he has plenty of issues with President Trump, but, “I did like how, right out of the gate, Trump called everybody out, even Republicans, who quickly fell in line, for the most part out of fear of him.” He tells his readers that there was never a better president for the media than Trump. “Trump’s battle with the media became the game within the game; it was entertaining, it was reality TV, it was pro wrestling.”

I was mesmerized by the story of the life of George Murdoch to Tyrus. There is the good, the bad and the ugly, but his tenderness comes through to readers. He loves animals and children. As an adult, he preaches to his kids (all five of them) that “no matter how people may come after you and attack you, it’s your reaction that defines you. Use your voice and fight for what you believe in.”

I highly recommend reading Just Tyrus. Once you get past the incredible hulk of Tyrus, he is a teddy bear. He remains friends with those who helped him at tough times in his life and speaks fondly of so many along the way. The book left me wanting to know more. I hope this is not his last endeavor into writing. Like others will be, I look forward to more Tyrus.