When news broke yesterday that the legendary Chuck Norris had died, I could not quite believe it, at first. Chuck was one of those figures that sort of inspired his own legend – preposterous though parts of that legend were. Those of us who actually followed his career and watched some of his movies, knew that his range as an actor was… limited, at best, and that his movies and TV shows often jumped right over “comically serious” and went straight to “shoved head up own arse” levels of ridiculousness.

After all, anyone who has ever watched any of the later episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, can attest to this:

That being said… Chuck Norris was unquestionably a highly talented and skilled martial artist. You DO NOT go toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee himself, unless you actually know how to fight – or, y’know, unless you are Wilt Chamberlain, but that’s another story:

Chuck’s actual history in martial arts is legendary. He held black belts in FIVE separate disciplines -and was not merely a kicking machine, as his initial background in tae kwon do and karate would suggest. He also held considerable skill in grappling, having black belts in both judo and BJJ. He was a genuine martial artist.

I have spent a lot of time around true martial artists, who really understand how to combine speed, power, and control, into lethal grace. These guys KNOW how to fight – some of them have put their skills to the test in amateur and professional MMA tournaments. So when I say that Chuck was a true martial artist, I mean that he could truly hold his own in unarmed combat against some of the best in the world.

Of course, he was also well known for the hilarious “Chuck Norris memes”, which took on a life of their own. What is less well known, is that they first started up as Vin Diesel memes, and then moved on to Chuck memes – and Chuck himself initially hated them. He tried to get them squelched and suppressed. That worked out about as well as you might expect.

Fortunately, he did see the light shortly thereafter, and simply embraced them:

And he did eventually learn how to make fun of himself:

Personally, I will always remember him from silly B-movies like Delta Force and The President’s Man. I have long since come to realise that the former was basically an Israeli propaganda film – what else could you possibly expect from the Golan/Globus production company – but it is good stupid propaganda nonetheless:

If you want a good silly nonsensical movie to pass the afternoon – and you can stomach the “woe is the poor Jew” crap in it, along with the OUTRAGEOUSLY over-the-top portrayals of Arabs by the likes of the late, great Robert Forster, who is as White American as apple pie, and the PHENOMENALLY stupid tactics and gear used by the supposed “commandos” of Delta Force in the film – then it is quite an amusing flick.

Later in his life, Mr. Norris moved into politics, in a way, and became your typical mainstream Conservatism Inc. poster-boy and columnist, with all the Correct Opinions About Everything that never strayed away from the Republicuck mainstream. This of course meant staunch support for Israel, a longstanding friendship with the Bush clan, and toeing the line of “Christian” Zionism. Well, look where that has gotten all of us…

Nonetheless, Mr. Norris was one of those larger-than-life characters who will truly be missed – and let’s not forget that epic beard of his.

Oh yeah, let’s not forget his hilarious cameo in one of my favourite movies – Dodgeball: A TRUE Underdog Story: