DEER LAKE, Pa. (AP) – He called himself “The Greatest,” but Muhammad Ali was humble, friendly and eminently approachable whenever he came to this out-of-the-way spot in northeastern Pennsylvania to train throughout the 1970s.
Since Ali’s death last week at age 74, residents have been coming to the rustic hilltop camp where he sparred with a young Larry Holmes and prepared for his epic fights against George Foreman and Joe Frazier. In paying their respects, they recalled how one of the most famous people on the planet became a familiar presence at the edge of Pennsylvania’s coal region.
It’s hard to imagine now, with athletes and celebrities so cloistered from the public. But 40 years ago, locals regularly showed up at Ali’s training camp – and he welcomed them in. He got out into the community, too, eating at local diners and running on the country roads, waving back at residents who waved at him.
Every old-timer around here seems to have an Ali tale.
James Ferenchick, 71, Orwigsburg, recalls stopping at the camp early one morning before work and running into a worker hooking a horse to a carriage. Ferenchick told the worker he was there to see Ali. The worker fetched Ali from his cabin, and Ali gave him an autograph.