1958 was Cassius Clay’s (Muhammad Ali) first meeting with Angelo Dundee. It was suppose to be a brief introduction about 5 minutes; they talked for about 3 1/2 hours and became lifelong friends. Angelo Dundee was in Cassius Clay’s hometown (Kentucky) in 1958 with light heavyweight Willie Pastrano. They were sharing a room at the […]
Muhammad Ali: The Columbia Gym Today Today, Spalding University’s athletic departments stands where Columbia Gym once reigned. In honor of Muhammad Ali and his illustrious career, the University recently renamed the location back to its original: Columbia Gym. Shortly after Muhammad Ali’s death in 2016, Spalding University placed a replica of that Schwinn bicycle Ali […]
Muhammad Ali listening attentively to Joe Martin. Six weeks after that fateful day, having lost his precious, beloved bicycle, 12-year-old Clay got into the ring with another boy his age. He was a white boy and Cassius Clay enjoyed his first victory. As the next several years of his training unfolded, Joe Martin took a […]
Cassius Clay was born on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. One day, he would become more commonly known as Mohammed Ali, and during his childhood, while out riding his bike, events unfolded that changed the true course of it. His brand-new $60 red and white Schwinn bicycle that he cherished was parked outside the […]
Nestled within the Catskill Mountains in New York was Grossinger’s Training Camp. It was an incredible location located next door to Grossinger’s resort camp and the Grossinger Hotel. The resort enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s. It offered a quiet retreat ideal for fighters seeking an escape from the concrete jungles of big cities. Sprawling […]
Gramercy Gym®* Turning off 14th Street off Irving Place in the heart of New York City, slipping past a collection of garbage cans standing guard by the curb, and then climbing two creaking flights of stairs, an ambitious young boxer would hear the snarl of a large dog on the other size of a large, […]
Stillman’s Gym®* You don’t become a legendary athlete when you spend all your time attending press conferences and interviews. It takes years of hard work, constant training, and exhausting workouts at no-nonsense gyms like Stillman’s Gym. Stillman’s was the place to get down to business without any distractions. Founded in 1919 to keep New York […]