Truly The Greatest - Ail

I was Emotionally shaken when I heard that Muhammad Ail had passed away. I had the great honor to have meet Ail a number of times. I will never forget the night of December 2, 1999 when I attended the CBS Live Telecast of Sports Illustrated 20th Century Sports Awards an event held at Madison Square Garden, NYC. I attended the event that night with my dear friend Brooks Parson Sr.  While we were back stage prior to the show mingling with over a hundred of the century’s greatest athletes, names like Gretzky, Petty, Pele, Jordan, Evert, Comaneci, Woods, Earnhardt, Brown, Mays, Nicklaus, Aaron, King and dozens and dozens of other superstars all in one room. Without a doubt it was the most incredible collection of athletes ever assembled under one roof. It was about 30 minutes prior to the start of the show, I was talking with Nadia Comaneci and Mark Spitz in this packed room that was so noisy that I could hardly hear Nadia’s voice as I leaded over to hear her more clearly the room suddenly went dead silent, as I turned around to see what had happened all I could hear was the scuffle of one person’s feet walking towards me. I watched in amazement as this sea of athletes seem to part, like Moses was parting the red sea and walking thru this sea of superstars was one man with someone holding him up. As the body of this man emerged I realized who it was, as he walked past each person in the room they all seemed to bow their heads as if he were a King or the Pope, a few reached out their hand and received a hand shake as he walked past me I found myself also bowing my head, I reached out my head and he reached back and shook my hand and gave me a smile that I will never forget. Within a moment or two he existed across the room. The entire time it took him to walk across that large room in Madison Square Garden I never heard a single sound, not one person spoke a word. In those few minutes he mesmerized everyone by just his presents, something that I have never seen nor do I think I will ever experience again. A memory that is one of my ‘Greatest’ by the greatest Muhammad Ail.