LIKE many, I was stunned when Muhammad Ali died.
I shouldn’t have been, though, as, when he went into hospital with respiratory problems, I feared the worst… and so it came to pass.
There’s nothing I can say about ‘The Greatest’ — and he was — that you haven’t read or heard many times over.
Regular contributor Rob Boag was moved to write.
“On Saturday, June 4, at 7am Ontario time, I sat down in front of my laptop, placed a cup of tea and slab of toasted bread slathered in marmalade on the desk and switched on my computer,” said Rob.
“It’s a daily morning routine, reading online newspapers and news outlets, hoping to be greeted with comforting headlines.
“I opened a news link and the headline informed me: Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest of All Time”, Dead at 74.
“I opened and read every news link — including DC Thomson — and read about the Great One’s life and now his death.
“They mined deep into their sports vaults and raised magnificent pictures of Cassius Marcellus Clay and Muhammad Ali.
“There were tributes from US Presidents — current and past — football stars and showbiz stars and, of course, politicians.
“But the most touching tributes were from ordinary men and women who offered in their emotions of what Muhammad Ali meant to them.”
Rob, a fierce champion of his native Dundee and, especially, Lochee, went on: “There was one quote I didn’t initially see, and it came from Dundee’s very own Dick McTaggart.
“When Dick met Cassius Clay at the Rome Olympic village in 1960 — even then, Cassius was nicknamed the Louisville Lip.
“Cassius announced to everyone at the Rome Olympics in no uncertain terms that he was the greatest, and predicted he would be the greatest and prettiest boxer of all times.
“Dick thought Cassius Clay was ‘a bit of a bampot’.
“It’s fair to say that Cassius Clay at that time was ‘a legend in his own mind’. Cassius, though, went on to win gold in Rome but wasn’t awarded the Val Barker Trophy, and Dick picked up his second Olympic medal — bronze.
“Forty years after Rome, as we turned the page to begin a new century, Muhammad Ali was acknowledged as the greatest sportsman of the 20th century — a living legend.
“Through decades of controversy and turbulence, his talent, charisma and magnetism overcame critics and Cassius Clay — now Muhammad Ali — witnessed his own prophecy come true.”
Former Dundee FC director Derek Souter recalled actually meeting the great man.
He said: “It was 1993 and Jimmy McDonnell, my brother Duncan, Benny Scanlan and I headed to Glasgow to the book signing by Muhammad Ali in the former Waterstone’s in the middle of Buchanan Street.
“When we got there, it was packed.
“I saw Ali but did not go in due to being too sad to see his then deteriorating state.
“All of us were huge boxing fans and Duncan and Benny had fought with great pride for the late Dennis Gilfeather’s Camperdown Boxing Club in Lochee (noted alumni Steve Cooney, Jim Douglas, Ian Scott, Kevin McCabe, George and the late Alex Kerr to name only a few).
“However, Duncan and Jimmy did go in and, standing in the queue for the book signing, Duncan was getting more and more excited and started shadow boxing.
“This was evidently noticed as, when Duncan approached Ali, the great man got up and out of his seat and did a wee mock ‘set-to’ with Duncan.
“We were all beside ourselves and, shortly after, retired to the nearby Horseshoe Bar to try to (a) calm down, and (b) stop the tears.”
Derek concluded: “That was a day which has been chatted through hundreds of times and will continue to.”
Some readers may recognise Jimmy McDonnell as he is currently doing sterling work for the city’s history as current chairman of the Dundee Transport Museum.
The photos above are a bit grainy but are wonderful mementos of two Dundee men meeting ‘The Greatest’, Muhammad Ali.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Telegraph website. For more information, read about our new combined website.