REFLECTION of WARD COURIER
They say that when the late great heavyweight Muhammad Ali was the teenager named Cassius Clay, the other kids in his Louisville neighborhood didn't know what to make out of him. He stayed out of trouble and was fanatically devoted to his training. They'd heard all about him in the Golden Gloves, but nobody knew if he was really tough. Street tough. One day somebody decided to find out. Ali was out doing his running and sped by a group of kids, the biggest of whom reached out and decked him by surprise. The young Ali got up, let loose a combination - about ten shots in a second - and dropped the guy. Then, they say, he looked down with shock at his lolling antagonist and ran off like the Devil was after him.
That anecdote told me a lot. Ali's reaction was insti
