Frank Shamrock is one of those fundamentally surprising, unexpected characters.
We thought we knew a lot about him before meeting him. Our notes read:
- Badass on the ring; UFC fighter who retired as a four-time defending undefeated champion.
- Son of a Mexican mom and Native-American dad; tough childhood.
- Former convict trained to be a professional fighter by his half-brother, UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock.
It turns out that this was incredibly reductionist. Not because the information above was wrong – it wasn’t. It’s just that Frank is a lot more complex.
“I grew up on the streets and raising myself,” he told High Times. “At eleven years old, I went to juvenile hall for the first time and figured out that what was going on in my house was not good for me. So, I made a commitment to get out and the only tool I had learned at that time was breaking the law, so I became a full-time criminal and committed to that.”
Over the years that followed, Frank bounced from one foster home to the next, and from one group home to the next, till he arrived in what he calls a “boy ranch: a big family that changed my life. I totally thrived in it and learned a lot even though I eventually got kicked out.”
At the age of 17, Frank went to jail convicted of numerous felonies. “Psychologically, that’s where I figured out how to be tough and how to survive.”
Dealing with the scars of an abuse-ridden childhood, Frank decided to turn his life around, to serve his time in prison, take advantage to get as many college courses as he could while serving as a physical coach