Ken Norton on Muhammad Ali

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Even Ali’s opponents were positively influenced by him. Several years after his losses to Ali, Ken Norton suffered a serious automobile accident and had to be hospitalized, and doctors thought he might never walk again. One of the first persons to visit him was Ali. Norton remembered looking up,

…and there was this crazy man standing by my bed. It was Ali, and he was doing magic tricks for me. He made a handkerchief disappear; he levitated. And I said to myself, if he does one more awful trick, I’m going to get well just so I can kill him. But Ali was there, and his being there helped me. So I don’t want to be remembered as the man who broke Ali’s jaw. I just want to be remembered as a man who fought three close competitive fights with Ali, and became his friend when the fighting was over.


http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Ali.htm

[morningfog]

1. I butted heads with my father throughout my formative years, but

as much as I disagreed, and often just to disagree, the stories he told me of Ali have stuck with me. I was captivated by him as a person, an athlete and a figure.

Ali, through my father, shaped me.

[rusty quoin]

2. I remember those fights between the two as a kid.

I never knew about this story, but Ali fought his most difficult opponents after that time was stolen from him in jail.