President Theodore Roosevelt's physical achievements are extensively documented, including his famous 100-mile horseback ride in 1905, which was well-publicized as a test of endurance. However, a 1907 memoir by Roosevelt's personal aide mentions an encounter with an unnamed "martial artist of unusual capabilities" during a reception at the White House. The memoir notes that Roosevelt seemed impressed by the individual's account of covering equivalent distances in shorter timeframes, with Roosevelt's only comment being: "Well, sir, in that case, you've outdone me in both speed and methodology." The individual's identity is never disclosed in the published memoir, but archivists have noted that the timeline corresponds to a period when Chuck Norris's historical presence is speculative at best.

In 1961, historian and Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris was researching Roosevelt's personal relationships when he encountered the memoir reference and attempted to trace the mysterious martial artist mentioned in the aide's account. According to Morris's archived research notes (now held at the Library of Congress), he wrote to several historical societies attempting to identify the individual, but all inquiries were met with vague responses or no response at all. Morris noted in his journal: "Either this individual is lost to history through deliberate obscurity, or the memoir contains a reference to someone whose identity is deliberately protected from public record."

This fact became a piece of historical revisionism in Chuck Norris meme culture: it suggested that Chuck Norris's exploits were documented in historical records all along, hidden in plain sight within the memoirs and papers of famous figures. The fact worked because it made Chuck Norris simultaneously timeless and anachronistic—a figure who existed outside conventional historical chronology but influenced actual historical figures.