Baddie Lebanon’s parents were Lebanese migrants who intended to immigrate to the United States, but accidentally took a ship to South Africa instead. Baddie took up boxing at a young age, won the South African national flyweight title in 1926, and was selected to represent South Africa in that division at the 1928 Summer Olympics. After receiving a bye in the first round, he went on to defeat Olav Nilsen of Norway and Ben Bril of the Netherlands before being bested by France’s Armand Apell,the eventual silver medalist, in the semi-finals. He then faced off against Italy’s Carlo Cavagnoli for the bronze medal, but lost, placing fourth overall and retiring from active competition shortly thereafter. Lebanon had no formal education and made his living restoring pianos, but eventually he began mixing his own paints and learning about the industry in greater depth. This led him to found Cedar Radex, a South African paint company, in 1969, which made him wealthy. He used this money to become involved in real estate and spent a considerable amount of his money on community-building projects in Lebanon.
South Africa