The Heart of Muhammad Ali
"The little boy disagreed with Ali, and said: 'No, Muhammad. I’m going to meet God, and I’m gonna tell Him that I know you.'"
The little boy did not know that Muhammad Ali’s training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania was called “Fighter’s Heaven.” The child just knew that he had leukemia and wanted to go to heaven. And that he loved Ali more than anything else in the world.
It was 1974, the year that Ali was training for what would become one of the greatest fights that the Greatest (or any other boxer) would ever put on for the world.
One day while in town, Ali’s manager, Gene Kilroy, met the frail young boy and his father. After learning Jimmy’s story, he took him and hid dad to meet Ali. Kilroy described the conversation:
Ali: “Why do you have this hot wool hat on? It's so hot out there today.”
Jimmy: “I got leukemia and I lost
all my hair. I'm getting this chemo.”
Ali: “I'll tell you what. I'm gonna beat George Foreman
and you're gonna beat leukemia."
Jimmy: “Oh, I hope you're
right, Ali, I hope you're right.”
Kilroy grabbed his camera, took a picture of the three of them, and sent it to the father with an autograph from the champ that read:
“I am gonna beat George Foreman and you’re gonna beat cancer. God Bless you, Muhammad Ali.”
A couple of weeks later, Kilroy received a call from Jimmy’s father, who said that his son’s illness had accelerated:
“He’s in University of Pennsylvania Hospital. He’s not going to make it, but the thrill of his life was meeting Muhammad Ali.”
As Ali started his training the next day at 4:30 a.m., Kilroy gave him the news. Ali immediately told Kilroy that after his workout, they were going to take the two-hour drive to the hospital.
When Ali entered the room, he reached out and held Jimmy, and reminded him a third time of their deal: He would beat Foreman, Jimmy would beat cancer, “and that’s the way it’s gonna be.” Kilroy says Jimmy disagreed, replying:
“No, Muhammad. I’m going to meet God and I’m gonna tell Him that I know you.”
Kilroy and Ali didn’t say one word to each other during the ride back to Deer Lake.
Jimmy died a week later, and the autographed photo of Ali lay aside him in his casket. Kilroy was there. Ali did not attend. He could take the hardest punch to the face from any man, but the pain of the loss was just too much for him.
On October 30, 1974, in front of 60,000 people in Kinshasa, Zaire, a 32-year-old Muhammad Ali scored a stunning eighth round knockout upset over 25-year-old George Foreman. Even boxing experts had been worried that Ali might die in the ring at the hands of the massive Foreman.
Foreman took the loss incredibly hard. He was humiliated. Yet he and Ali would later become good friends. Years later, Foreman gave an interview that was featured in the 2014 documentary I Am Ali. In the following answer, he gave an insight that Jimmy would certainly have understood:
“Sometimes people come to me and ask: ‘What do you think? Was Muhammad Ali the greatest boxer ever?’ And I feel almost insulted because boxing was just something he did. I mean, that’s no way to define Muhammad Ali. He was one of the greatest men to ever appear on the scene of the earth.”
I love this particular story about Muhammad Ali and Jimmy, because even though the champ used his massive fame to do big things to advance civil rights, you can also see the soul of the man through this mostly unseen private act. And it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:
“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
February is Black History Month. It celebrates the countless people who have stood up and fought for civil and human rights. They risked so much so that America could move closer and closer to equality. Ali’s life is one of the most high profile examples of that fight. But it goes on. Always. And there’s not a single one of us who cannot play our own role.
Ali would be the first to say it starts each day with how we treat one another.
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MICHAEL GOLDEN is the cofounder of One Million Degrees, a national award-winning journalist and coauthor of the International Bestseller ETHICAL TRIBING.
Great story, well told.
What a wonderful story. I had to fight back tears. The man had heart, in more ways than one.