My dad took us to 2 Ali fights. We went and got his autograph because the whl;e week before the fight you could go watch him train and talk etc. When my dad stood next to Ali he made my dad look small. At the time my dad was 6'2 and 210 and ali made him look small.My hero growing up... though at the time there was so much hatred towards black people that my dad told us to keep it to ourselves and not tell people that you liked him and always wanted him to win. So when we watched the fights with other adults we had to listen to them bad mouth ali and say the other guy was going to kill ali. We always got the last snicker in on the know it all drunk adults. Two lessons learned. Drunks are not brilliant, not smart, adults are mean and Ali was the greatest. This big man moved faster than a lightweight.
He heavily influenced my life.