I Met "The Champ" in 1978

Submitted by MoonShadow (United States), Jan 1, 2007 at 15:48

I was waitressing in a Chicago pub, and he and his entourage (with appropriate advance warning) stopped in.

One of his body guards placed the first order from me. . ."tall rum-and-coke, no lime." I'm sure other waitresses placed the same order. They grabbed the arm of whomever was serving drinks, and I'm sure the bartender was alerted to pour heavily.

I did catch a long moment while Ali was "in his cups." He was telling all the awed onlookers, "Man, never get married." And, there was much more, but I can't remember the rest of the drunken rambling. This was while his exquisite wife was sitting across a very small table. His wife was visibly tense, but said nothing. .

And that's when I blew off the idea of Ali as a warrior for islam.

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