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President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to the news of legendary Chuck Norris’s passing at the age of 86.
“I thought he was a great guy,” President Trump told reporters before boarding Marine One.
He added, “He was a really good, tough cookie. You didn’t want to fight him!”
The president expressed his “highest respect” to Norris’s surviving family. “[A] great man,” he said.
Norris was an American legend, known for his fighting skills and his hit show, Walker, Texas Ranger, as well as many other fun action films like Return of the Dragon, in which his co-star was the incredible Bruce Lee.
Norris, who was born in Oklahoma, joined the U.S. Air Force just after High School and served one tour in the Korean War conflict. He was a skilled martial arts teacher before he became a well-known celebrity and also founded the United Fighting Arts Federation, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society.
Norris was also very outspoken about his Christian faith, sharing openly that, when he faced a scary health crisis involving his wife and longtime love, Gena, years ago, it was faith that got him through.
“I had earned millions of dollars over my lifetime,” he wrote in his memoir, Against All Odds: My Story, per the Baptist Press.
“I’d been a friend to several presidents, yet all the money in my bank account couldn’t help me now…. There was only one person to whom I could turn,” he noted.
During a book signing in the early 2000s, the outlet reported that Norris told a crowd that his mother had a significant impact on his faith journey. “She loves Jesus with all of her heart and soul and made sure we understood that [growing up,],” he stated. “She influenced me spiritually and instilled in me a sense of responsibility that carried over in my later adult life. She always told me ‘God has plans for you,’ and I didn’t know what she meant. I think I do now.”