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A Chance To See Muhammad Ali, January 1971

gemini4
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On vacation in Florida, age 15, my father surprised me with a trip to the 5th Street Gym in Miami Beach to see Ali train for his upcoming first fight (March 8, 1971) vs Joe Frazier. They charged $3 a person to stand 5 feet from the ring. Watching him train and listening to him pontificate was a very memorable experience.
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Emeister
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Sad day.
Thanks for sharing such a great experience.
He was a huge figure from my childhood. Having seen so much footage in the years since I can't remember if I watched the Spinks fight live but I was too young for most of the earlier fights.

"No Radio... ...No Home TV" - wow!
Does that mean you guys had some version of Pay TV back then?
 
citizenrich
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That is an amazing life event for a boy to share with his dad. Your pops is a bad ass forever because of this. Smart man.
 
lillatroll
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A former American colleauge of mine lived next door to him in Chigago when she was a little girl. She said that he wasn t home much but when he was home he would hold parties for the neighbourhood kids. It wasn t until she grew up and he had moved house that she found out who he was, she just thought he was Mr Ali from next door who was away a lot. A great iconic sportsman who was so much more that just a boxer.
 
U
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Another great loss. He understood showmanship was an important part of sports.
 
Larry S
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He was a boomer icon in so many ways ... Larger than life.
 
jens0125
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Wow that would be so cool that is a good life memory
 
gemini4
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One other memory I forgot to mention is that it was Ali's long time entourage member, Drew Bundini Brown, who collected ( and no doubt pocketed) the $3 at the door.
 
Larry S
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Great story .... Kudos to your dad for giving it to you to share.
 
Archer
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Sad news indeed...a huge figure from my childhood.
 
BlackTalon
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I don't have much memory of the actual fights as much as the overall specatcles of those events (I was pretty young back then). No pay-per-view -- live for all to see for free on ABC Wide World of Sports. He was definitely larger then life, and an inspiration to many.
 
Bushido
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Ali was a big inspirational figure for me when I was young. I would often find myself watching clips of him and his fights during training and preparation for my own matches as motivation. Very sad loss of an icon.

Thank you for sharing those pictures and memories.
 
gemini4
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Emeister Emeister
Sad day.
Thanks for sharing such a great experience.
He was a huge figure from my childhood. Having seen so much footage in the years since I can't remember if I watched the Spinks fight live but I was too young for most of the earlier fights.

"No Radio... ...No Home TV" - wow!
Does that mean you guys had some version of Pay TV back then?

I followed the fight by listening to the radio which read, round by round, wire service reports. Months later, if I recall correctly, the fight was finally shown on ABCs Wide World of Sports.
 
ONEWATCH
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In 1969 or so, Ali was going to colleges to speak. On the day he was to appear I was walking through the tunnels from one class to another. Saw three gentlemen walking towards me and realized they were Ali and two of his entourage. He passed within 5 feet of me and I would have spoken to him but my jaw was on the floor. I have yet to see someone with as much presence as he commanded. Previously I had greeted and shaken the hand of Jim Brown while growing up in Cleveland. I will always refer to Jim Brown as the greatest running back in history but to be honest he did not compare to Ali.
 
gemini4
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I'm a life long NY Giants football fan. The first game I ever attended was October, 1967 at Yankee Stadium, the first version, the house that Ruth built in 1923. The Giants opponent that day was the Cleveland Browns. This was the first year after Jim Brown retired and Leroy Kelly had replaced Brown. It was very exciting and I had to wear nice clothes. Not like today, back then, no fans wore jerseys. That day, the Giants led by Fran Tarkington, Joe Morrison and Homer Jones beat a Browns team led by Milt Plum, Kelly, Gary Collins and Paul Warfield.
 
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