In the late 60’s we lived in Louisville, Ky. Dad was working at appliance park for GE and I had returned from NM where I had attended college at NMMI for a couple of years. I was dating Cathy Thomas at the time and we were going to see a movie downtown.  As we turned into the parking lot I stopped to let this young black man walk down the sidewalk, we parked and ran into the young man, oddly familiar , again on the way to the theater. Tall handsome and very solid looking.  We had passed Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali.

This was to be the first of a couple of additional meetings with Muhammad Ali.

The most time I had around Muhammad Ali was the week before he fought Chuck Wepner on March 24, 1975.  I was with a young sports reporter with the News Journal where we both worked.  It was an interesting week watching Ali workout, chat with people and to see him away from the crowds.  We saw Larry Holmes knock him down during a sparing round and had a feeling Holmes would be champ one day.  Interestingly during one of our days up there everyone had left and Holmes was left behind.  Not sure how we got him into my Ford Pinto, but we did and back to his hotel.

In later years I saw him and Veronica Porsche at the Kentucky Derby.

So now I will go back thru the years of negs and slides to find all the images to scan and post.

I will say beyond the lights and hype I met a very kind, gentle and intelligent person.