Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Wednesday 12 June 2019

It’s the greatest: Ali’s training camp opens to public

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM after Ali’s death and said
Associated Press he became irritated by
DEER LAKE, Pa. (AP) — The the misinformation he was
rustic Pennsylvania training hearing about his boyhood
camp where Muhammad idol, whom he had met as
Ali prepared for some of a teen. It was the same
his most famous fights has when Madden turned to
undergone an elaborate the internet — some of the
restoration, opening to the stories about Ali’s life got
public Saturday as a shrine the details wrong, he said.
to the heavyweight icon’s He stifled an impulse to
life and career. comment.
The famed Deer Lake Then Madden read a piece
camp was in disrepair when that mentioned Deer Lake,
California real estate inves- Googled it and found out
tor Mike Madden bought it the camp was for sale.
shortly after Ali died in June “I literally had an ‘Animal
2016 at age 74. Madden, House’ moment. I had an
son of retired broadcast- angel and a devil on my
er and NFL Hall of Fame shoulders. Are you going
coach John Madden, said to be the bitter guy who
his aim was to save an im- blogs anonymously when
portant part of Ali’s legacy. it comes to Ali? Every room
“It will always be a monu- In this Jan. 10, 1974 file photo, Muhammad Ali punches a bag in his Deer Lake, Pa., training camp you’re in, ‘They don’t have
ment to the guy who cre- where he was preparing for his rematch with Joe Frazier. the story right.’ Are you go-
ated it,” said Madden. “It’s Associated Press ing to be that guy?’” Mad-
about preserving a piece New Jersey. He trained at hours away. “I pretty much needed extensive repair. den recalled thinking.
of sports history, American the camp until his last fight grew up here.” Inside, the gym has a new “Here’s an opportunity to
history and probably world in 1981. He said Madden had done ring and sleek display of have a hand in maybe not
history.” “Ali loved it up there,” said an “amazing” job restoring blown-up photos that show writing history, but preserv-
Ali bought the wooded, his longtime business man- it. Visiting from the Phila- Ali living and working at the ing some,” he added. “I
out-of-the-way property ager, Gene Kilroy, an area delphia area, Karen Hauck camp, slugging it out with looked at it as a calling. This
about 90 miles (145 kilo- native who brought Ali to was also impressed. opponents inside the ring found me.”
meters) from Philadelphia Deer Lake. “He built it the “I love this,” she said while and clowning around with Madden paid $520,000 for
in 1972 and installed 18 way he wanted to build it, her kids and their friend, other famous faces, such the property and spent at
primarily log buildings, in- and he credited that camp 11-year-old Benny Quiles- as The Beatles. least $650,000 on renova-
cluding a gym, dining hall, with helping him win his big- Rosa, took turns at the A video retrospective of tions.
small mosque, visitors’ cab- gest fights.” heavy bag. Benny, an as- Ali’s career, narrated by Other buildings open to the
ins and a horse barn. It was Ty Benner, whose father piring boxer, gave it quite a Howard Cosell, plays on a public include the mosque,
at Deer Lake where Ali pre- brought him to see Ali train beating. flat screen, and some of dining hall and Ali’s sleep-
pared for his epic bouts every time he was at Deer “I can’t wait till I’m allowed Ali’s famous quotes (“Float ing quarters, complete with
against George Foreman Lake, returned Saturday to spar,” he said. Seeing like a butterfly, sting like a coal stove, hand-operated
and Joe Frazier, attracting for the first time in nearly 40 where Al trained, he said, bee”) adorn the walls. water pump and a video
crowds who watched him years, donating a T-shirt he “is a really big deal for me.” In an adjoining room, you of Ali giving TV host Dick
work. Ali once proclaimed got at the camp as a kid. By the time Madden can see where Ali kept Cavett a tour of the same
he was “more at home with “My dad was a big Ali fan,” bought the camp, the ex- track of his weight while cabin 40 years ago.
my log cabins than I am in said Benner, 48, of Beaver teriors of the log buildings training for a 1978 champi- The hilltop camp, dubbed
my house in Cherry Hill,” Springs, which is about two were deteriorating and onship rematch with Leon “Fighter’s Heaven,” is open
Spinks. The actual notations to the public on weekends.
are still there on the wall in Admission is free, though
pencil. visitors may donate to
Madden, a lifelong fight charities designated by the
fan like his father, was lis- camp. It’s also available for
tening to sports talk radio corporate retreats.q

Ty Benner looks at a display in the gym at Fighter’s Heaven,
Karen Hauck, right, and Benny Quiles-Rosa watch a video about Muhammad Ali’s career in the Muhammad Ali’s training camp in Deer Lake, Pa., Saturday
gym at Fighter’s Heaven, Ali’s training camp in Deer Lake, Pa., Saturday, June 8, 2019. June 8, 2019.
Associated Press Associated Press