{"id":208,"date":"2011-06-20T10:00:28","date_gmt":"2011-06-20T17:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/?p=208"},"modified":"2011-06-20T10:25:34","modified_gmt":"2011-06-20T17:25:34","slug":"muhammad-ali-visits-modesto-california-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"Muhammad Ali visits Modesto, California 1971"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

When I heard that Muhammad Ali was going to speak in Modesto, I immediately started asking Darell Phillips, the Modesto Bee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sports Editor, to give me the assignment.\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until the next day that I checked the photo schedule and saw I was on nights that week, so the assignment would be mine anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 Lesson learned; check schedule before asking about any assignment. \u00c2\u00a0 Photoshelter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I identified with Ali as a peer, not only because he is only eight months older than I am, but also because his controversial, witty, and wild statements were compatible with my own outspokenness.\u00c2\u00a0 I loved his bodaciousness.<\/p>\n

My father loved boxing.\u00c2\u00a0 I learned to love it too, not quite at his knee, but when I was pretty young.\u00c2\u00a0 Dad and I both liked Ali from his early years when he was still known as Cassius Clay.\u00c2\u00a0 My dad had some doubts about him when he renamed himself Muhammad Ali, but his enthusiasm for Ali\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s boxing style never waned.<\/p>\n

As for my own attitude, I admired Ali\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s courage and determination in sticking to his convictions.\u00c2\u00a0 When he joined Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam, I was a little concerned, so it was reassuring to me when he joined a Sunni Muslim mosque in 1975.\u00c2\u00a0 I respected his stance on the Vietnam War and the use of the draft during those years, even though I had served four years (and eight days) in the U.S. Air Force and would have served in Vietnam if called.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To say Ali was entertaining during the press conference would be an understatement.\u00c2\u00a0 He disarmed the more conservative and critical reporters with quick, clever answers.\u00c2\u00a0 When asked about fighting George Foreman, the reigning heavyweight champ, Ali responded, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t in my class.\u00c2\u00a0 Foreman fighting me would be like putting him in Vietnam with a B-B gun.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Darell and I got to spend some down time with Ali in a motor home when he was a little more laid back.\u00c2\u00a0 In that more private setting, he was straightforward and honest without any hype.\u00c2\u00a0 He talked a lot about being a role model for others and working to get his career back on track.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we arrived at the SOS, Tom Mellis gave Ali a whirlwind tour of the Sportsmen of Stanislaus Club.\u00c2\u00a0 While they were looking at the Olympic-sized swimming pool, Ali said to Tom, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153this place is so nice, I think I will build me one.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 I chuckled under my breath, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Tom got the joke.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ali listened carefully to the reporters\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 questions, but didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always answer them in a serious way.\u00c2\u00a0 He put on his bigger-than-life persona just like putting up his guard in a fight.\u00c2\u00a0 In this image, he appears to drop his guard just as he would do in the ring to see if someone would take a wild swing or, in this setting, ask an easy question, so he could counterpunch with a quoteworthy response.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During the tour, he checked out the piano and the pool table.\u00c2\u00a0 He seemed really familiar with the pool table.\u00c2\u00a0 During a receiving line with bigwigs like Julio Gallo, he just changed the subject every time something serious was asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On the subject of his March 1971 boxing opponent, Joe Frazier, to whom he had lost one fight by decision Ali said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Man he hits hard, so hard.\u00c2\u00a0 He hit me so hard in the fifteenth, my kinfolk back in Africa felt it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00c2\u00a0 A few years later, Ali would turn the tables, beating Frazier in two fights in two years.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mel Williams, a community leader, contacted Ali and got him to visit the Modesto African-American community.\u00c2\u00a0 Mel got the word out with only a couple hours notice.\u00c2\u00a0 As Ali walked into the King-Kennedy Community Center, several hundred people swarmed around him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Center\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s multipurpose room he signed autographs and hugged babies.\u00c2\u00a0 Young and old alike, everybody wanted to touch the champ.\u00c2\u00a0 He didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to say much, just his presence made the crowd happy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Rev. Monroe Taylor, Director of the King-Kennedy Community Center, watches as Ali signs an autograph.\u00c2\u00a0 Mel Williams is standing in the back.\u00c2\u00a0 The Center, built with funds from the city and a federal antipoverty program, was barely two years old at the time. \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Photoshelter<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  When I heard that Muhammad Ali was going to speak in Modesto, I immediately started asking Darell Phillips, the Modesto Bee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Sports Editor, to give me the assignment.\u00c2\u00a0 It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t until the next day that I checked the photo … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,4,53,189,99],"tags":[238,230,27,233,6,235,234,237,232,241,240,229,192,221,231,239,236,242,243],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-historical","category-news","category-personal","category-political","category-sports","tag-1960-summer-olympics","tag-230","tag-al-golub","tag-boxer","tag-california","tag-cassius-clay","tag-draft-evasion","tag-gold-medal","tag-heavyweight-champion-of-the-world","tag-kentucky","tag-louisville","tag-may-18","tag-modesto","tag-modesto-bee","tag-muhammad-ali","tag-parkinsons-syndrome","tag-sunni-islam","tag-the-greatest","tag-u-s-supreme-court"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golubphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}