Your experiences with HOF'ers

[71buc]

This has been one of my favorite posts since joining this board. My initial post on this thread dealt with my experience with baseball players. After reading the positive comments on interactions with boxers I thought I would share my own.

I took my son to an Oakland A’s spring training game about ten years ago. He was twelve at the time. I’m a third generation Indian and Pirate fan. He broke with the family tradition and adopted the Oakland A’s. He now has his own personal hell and he can at least relate to his father’s pain. During the game Mohammed Ali made a surprise appearance. When he entered the ball park you could hear a pin drop. It was surreal. The game stopped and the players applauded him. The crowd chanted Ali, Ali! He sat a few rows away from us and an autograph line quickly formed. He signed between innings. Those in line knelt to avoid obstructing the view of others during the game. My son asked why people were kneeling. My wife smiled and told him you do that before royalty. I told my son that this was an autograph opportunity he should not miss. At that time he was painfully timid but with a bit of coaxing he stood in line by himself for two innings. When it was his turn to receive an autograph play resumed forcing him to kneel and wait. Ali looked over at him and motioned to him. My son approached Ali rather nervously. He told my son to sit next to him in a vacant seat. He then opened a bag and pulled out a large oatmeal cookie broke it in half and handed half to my son. He sat with Ali eating that cookie for a half inning. At the end of the inning Ali smiled at him and threw a quick jab his way. He then signed the autograph and thanked my son for sitting with him.

When we returned home my shy son shocked us with the announcement that he wanted to be a boxer. My wife and I cringed but he was persistent so we relented. He boxed for a few years and although he was an average boxer the sport changed him in a positive manner. He became assertive, disciplined, and extremely confident. He has grown into a young man I am very proud of. I have to attribute some of that to boxing and his fifteen minutes with Ali.