Me and the Champ - Part 2

     It's still great not being on chemo but this will all end on Thursday.  My days have been good and the swelling in my feet and calves is almost gone but in any case haven't bothered me at all but do give Linda something else to worry about.  I did a little bit of biking the other day but it was a little hard,  I wish it were less windy for biking.  My brother visited on Sunday and, in addition to his bringing me some favortie foods, I took him on the Elkan Walking Tour of Center City with the following highlights - 1800 block of Delancey with fabulous townhouses, Kimmel Center (symphony hall with spectacular ceiling), lobby of the Ritz Carlton including top down view of basement ballroom chandelier, Wanamaker's courtyard (one of the grandest department store structures in America), City Hall, Reading Market, new convention center addition, Lenfest Plaza with Calder's giant paint brush and a crashing plane, the Comcast lobby widescreen, and the magic windows that compress the image of cars driving by.
     Now I'll continue with my Ali adventures.
4.  In October 1970, Linda and I foolishly went to the closed circuit comeback fight of Ali against the white fighter Jerry Quarry.  The Arena was in West Philly and we were the small minority of whites attending.  Fortunately, Ali won in 3 rounds or we may have been harassed.  The one problem was that while we got there at 9:30 for the 10:30 fight, the Arena opened only one door and everyone was pushing from every direction to get in and I had to do everything I could to keep us from getting crushed.  We only got in at 10:20 so I'm sure many people missed part of the fight. 
5.  Another closed circuit fight I went to was with Charles, a very cool African American friend, who told guys harassing me on the subway that I was cool which stopped the harassment.  An interesting story about Charles is that his girlfirend Julie, who was a close friend and co-editor with Linda of the anti-Vietnam War Liberated Librarian newsletter, took him to visit her parents, a prominent Vermont family (former Lt. Gov.).  They had a summer cottage on their own small private island; and when Julie and Charles arrived, they were greeted by the parents in the nude.  How's that for getting to know more about your girlfriend's parents than you ever imaged or wanted to know.
6.  In 1972 or 1973, while working at the IRS, I was told Ali was across the street outside a TV station waiting for an interview.  I immediately went outside to Ali, shook his hand, and stood nearby while he talked with someone.  All of a sudden, Ali threw a jab at me that came within a few inches of my nose but was over too quickly for me to have worried.  I had the good taste not to throw my jab at him and knock down the champ.
7.  In 1978, I was working with a tax law firm and had the assignment of preparing Ali's 1977 tax return.  I  only met Ali once, unexpectedly, at a meeting in Chicago with many advisors, where neither Ali, his wife nor I said very much.
8.  Also, in 1977 or 1978, the guy who brought Ali to the tax firm had an office and his own secretary at the firm but didn't do anything unrelated to Ali.  One day he told me that on a certain weekend he would take me to Ali's training camp in northeast Penna. and I would get to go behind the scenes.  The Thursday before the training camp visit, the guy and his secretary disappeared, presumably to avoid the guy's wife who suspected he was having an affair with his scereatry.  I tried extensively to track him down but no one at my firm knew where he was.  To this day, this is still one of my great regrets in life and I can't understand why I didn't try to find the training camp on my own.  I actually did find the camp a year or so later without much difficulty but Ali wasn't training that day.
     So that's my Ali adventures.