1. My Muhammad Ali story.
I was in college and was working thru the craft unions in TV and film studios part time and while I had
worked at nearly every TV and film studio in LA. I had also worked a number of shows at the Inglewood
Forum, such as the circus, the ice show, concerts, etc. I was working for several IATSE locals, including
L33, L40 and for NABET L53.
I got a call to work for ABC to do the lighting for a camera crew at the Inglewood Forum and it was for the
1973 fight between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton.
There were many scenes from that event that have stayed with me but the most impact-full was the
interview in Ali's dressing room prior to the fight.
Muhammad Ali was completely stark naked and sitting alone on a sofa in the dressing room. Altogether
there were eight people including myself in the dressing room, everyone else was standing.
The interview was part of the pre-fight content, and I recall that they (police / security) had a tremendous
struggle getting all of the people away from Ali, people by the hundreds in the corridors of the Forum and
that after the Ali - Norton fight the corridors were even more packed, and became impossible to control.
The interviewer was remote from the dressing room, I believe it was Howard Cosell and I was a bit
shocked when I had seen him in person. He was much older then I had expected, so old that his body
shaked when he moved but he seemed able to control the shaking when the red light came on. But
Cosell was mentally sharp and no one was really in his league as a sports newscaster and commentator.
The video from Ali's dressing room was a single static shot of Ali from mid chest up, and Cosell was being
played back live thru a monitor and speaker in the dressing room.
When the remote interview was completed, Ali screamed at me to turn off the light. It was an unexpected
shock and I should have acted more quickly to switch the light off when the interview had concluded. It
was a bright video lamp on a stand that I was responsible for. He spoke crudely, or yelled crudely,
something like "Turn off dat light!".
Anyway, what really made an impression on me, was Ali's Black Muslim - Nation of Islam handlers. There
were three of them and they were in complete control of Ali, they were like an inner ring of body guards.
The atmosphere of violent, hateful presence they oozed dominated the room and intimidated everyone in
it. But Ali had given himself over to them completely and they guided him along step by step like he was
an infant.
When the interview had concluded, the three Black Muslim handlers took Ali to a back room for the final
preparation for the fight, and Ali's trainer went with them. It seemed clear that the main focus of the final
preparation was mental, and attitudinal in nature and was mixed together with that atmosphere of deep,
violent intimidating hatred that the Nation of Islam handlers exuded.
All of this was taking place as some preliminary bouts were underway, and I recall seeing one of the other
boxers after his match returning to the dressing room area, through the corridor. He was Irish, had an
Irish surname. He was huge, particularly broad in his upper body and his back was covered with thick
layers of acne, which I concluded was from the use or abuse of steroids.
After the Ali - Norton fight the corridors were mayhem, literally hundreds of people of every possible
description packed in them wall to wall, end to end, surging back and forth like waves in the ocean and
among them many celebrities, groupies of all description, and one among them was Peter Faulk, who's
appearance with that one glass eye pointed in the wrong direction, seemingly in rapture with a crazed
look and mumbling, speaking aloud about all of the beautiful women around him made a lasting
impression on me.

2. I also recall that getting Ali from his dressing room to his transportation, an ambulance, took a very long
time after the fight. Ali's wife's limo and a few other cars in that entourage sat with engines running in the
underground ramp of the Forum for an extended time before Ali could be taken to them for their
departure.