Boxing great Muhammad Ali claimed that he could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.
But when he came to Chattanooga years ago, he charmed like a prince, albeit a clown prince.
On June 3, 1976 – which was exactly 40 years to the day before he died – he came to the Scenic City as part of a business trip. But this business was not really connected to his main profession of boxing, but a side business related to his Muslim faith.
In what was called a surprise visit, he appeared at the Lakeshore Restaurant and Lounge in Hixson near the Chickamauga Dam with some business officials from Salem Carpet Mills.
Thinking about altruistically helping other Muslims and no doubt helping himself make some money, too, he was talking to the Salem officials about manufacturing some small Muslim prayer rugs that he could sell for an inexpensive price.
“There are 800 million Muslims in the world and they all use these rugs,” the boxing great told Chattanooga Times sports writer Buck Johnson.
“And we will be selling them cheap to all these people because they are my fans.”
How Mr. Johnson, Christie Taylor of the News-Free Press or any of the television station reporters knew he was in town was not revealed, but the word must have gotten out fast.
He reportedly kept quite busy signing autographs and having his picture taken in those pre-selfie days. He even signed a $50 bill.
By all accounts, he met all his Chattanooga fans – including local building contractor Don Williams -- with congeniality and his trademark charismatic charm.
“He took time with each one, asking his name and giving a kind word,” wrote Ms. Taylor, who also described Mr. Ali as “perhaps the greatest prize fighter to ever climb through the ropes and without doubt the cockiest.”
Mr. Ali evidently arrived hungry, jokingly telling Lakeshore manager Jimmy DeMayo that he had come to eat. He later enjoyed lamb chops, carrots, cabbage and grapefruit juice.
While everyone was eating at a long table, he quipped, “Hey, this table reminds me of the Last Supper. Does anyone remember the last words spoken at the Last Supper? (It was) separate checks, please?”
Among the Salem officials on hand was Algerian native and American citizen Ben Achour of Dalton, with whom Mr. Ali joked during the dinner.
Mr. Ali even delivered some trademark poetry during his Chattanooga visit that Thursday night. When one TV cameraman ran out of film before an interview had hardly started, the fighter said, “I love your show. I admire your style. But, your camera’s too cheap to last for awhile.”
He delivered all this charm when a late spring downpour was coming down outside the Lakeshore facility, a heavy rain that caused him to get wet going to his limousine afterward.
He had flown to Chattanooga from New York, where he had held a press conference with Ken Norton earlier in the day to announce a rematch after Mr. Ali had lost two years earlier to him and had broken his jaw. He was also scheduled to fight Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in a street fight.
He would win that fight at Yankee Stadium that September against Mr. Norton and would go on to lose to Leon Spinks before gaining his title once again. This man who always had a knack for beating opponents after losing to them officially retired after losing to Trevor Berbick in December 1981.
Already starting to show problems by then with stuttering and trembling hands, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome in 1984. As a result, his magic mouth became mostly silent in the public realm for the last 32 years of his life. He was also generally out of public view except for such brief shining moments as the memorable lighting of the flame to open the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta in a surprise.
But as he is being remembered and eulogized this week, his magical life is once again coming through loud and clear, a life that even charmed a few Chattanooga area residents back in 1976.
Jcshearer2@comcast.net