In the Fall of my Sophomore year at IU, I road-tripped with some fraternity brothers to New Orleans and saw two great events in two phenomenal venues.  The first was held on Friday September 15, 1978 at the Super Dome. WOW what a place.  She truly was the Eigth Wonder Of The World, especially to a small town boy from Indiana.  And how cool to be in the crowd, sitting in the isle of the ‘Fat Cat’ Section, when Muhammad Ali won his third Heavy Weight Title by defeating Leon Spinks. Then, the next day, we watched a night game at Tiger Stadium where LSU hosted IU.  We lost 24-17, shock, but it was so different to be be in a football stadium like nothing I had ever seen before, with football fans rivaling IU Basketball fans for passion and spirit.

Now to the point.  I recently watched a documentary on Ali with two of my kids, the girls.  I tried to explain a bit more about him and his personality, the civil right movement, how in my lifetime so much good has happened, and that this mouthy kid from Louisville played a huge role in education the world.  Struggling to explain his personality I downloaded and shared some of his quotes.  Here are a few that make me smile and think about ‘the Man’.

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I am so mean I make medicine sick.

I’m so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark.

It’s hard to be humble when you are as great as I am.

If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.

It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand.  I beat people up.

It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get that gorilla in Manila.

I’ll beat him so bad he’ll need a shoehorn to put his hat on.

Joe Frazier is so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head.

That all you got, George? (rope-a-dope trash talk)

My toughest fight was with my first wife.

Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wild Life.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me.  It would be a better world.

If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.

I am American.  I am the part you won’t recognize.  But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.

Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.

We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God, is all that will last.

I have this picture in the workout room in my home, signed by Ali and Frazier. What an era of boxing and in our history.