Flamboyant boxing promoter Don King used this phrase liberally to describe his rise and that of fighters in his sted who found fame and fortune.
But it can also be said about Javier Munoz. Son of a doorman. Raised in a “scary” housing project in Brooklyn. Openly gay. H.I.V. positive. Cancer survivor. And now playing founding father Alexander Hamilton on Broadway.
Today, Munoz replaces Lin-Manuel Miranda, founder of the uber-hit muscial “Hamilton” as the show’s title character.
Only in America.
Read more in today’s New York Times.