It was more than 50 years ago that Cassius Clay first won the heavyweight boxing championship. He later changed his name to Muhammad Ali and was admired by the world for his boxing prowess, showmanship, and views on racial and religious tolerance and justice. Retired since 1981 and slowed for decades by Parkinson’s disease, Ali remains “The Greatest” to millions of admirers including his close friend Harvey Mackay—the Minneapolis entrepreneur, best-selling business author, motivational speaker and former University of Minnesota golfer.
Ali and his wife Lonnie are the cover story for the June issue of the AARP Bulletin. A photo shows the “Champ” receiving a tender kiss on the forehead from his wife with this headline: “Caring for The Greatest, Lonnie and Muhammad Ali’s Brave Ordeal.”
The story is a lesson about love, compassion and devotion. Writer Jon Saraceno describes how Lonnie and her support team work to ensure the comfort and best possible outcomes for Ali who struggles with his speech and spends much of his time in a motorized chair. Part of Lonnie’s message, too, is how important it is for the caretaker to develop and maintain his or her own coping mechanisms.
“From my perspective, it’s the finest article I have ever read on the ‘Champ’ and his relationship with Lonnie,” Mackay told Sports Headliners. “It’s the best (article) of going into her heart and showing who she is. I think he (Saraceno) captured her magnificently.”
Mackay and his wife Carol Ann treasure their friendship with the Alis. Both couples own residences in the Phoenix area. Through the years they have shared many restaurant dinners and visits to each other’s homes.
“We go to each other’s birthday parties,” Mackay said. “Every other week we’re often with them. Lonnie is one of Carol Ann’s best friends.”
Mackay is on the board of directors of Celebrity Fight Night, a world-class annual event in Phoenix that has raised nearly $100 million for charities in 19 years, according to its website. The event draws a who’s who of names including Hollywood and sports stars, and annually honors Ali as the featured guest. Celebrity Fight Night has made the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute a significant recipient of the fundraising.
It’s been decades now since Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. The disease and his age (72) are more difficult opponents than he ever faced in the ring including Sonny Liston who Clay dethroned for the world heavyweight championship in February of 1964. “Yet, rarely does a whisper of complaint come from the man known as ‘The Greatest,’ “ Saraceno wrote.
“You just have to appreciate his guts,” Mackay said. “I marvel at his ongoing attitude and graciousness toward others.”
Mackay saw a trembling Ali light the 1996 Olympic Torch in Atlanta and knew this was an American hero he needed to meet. Mackay was researching and writing Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, The Only Networking Book You’ll Ever Need.
Mackay long ago recognized the incalculable value of developing and maintaining relationships. He has an extraordinary database of names, phone numbers, addresses and profiles of people who are both close and casual acquaintances. In his Dig Your Well tutorial he tells how to get to know people, maintain relationships, ask for what you need, and “how to unlock any door…anywhere…at any time.”
His Rolodex is phenomenal but Mackay isn’t “The Greatest.”
“Nobody knows more people than he (Ali) does. I decided I had to meet him and do a chapter on Muhammad in the book,” Mackay said.
Mackay searched both his Rolodex and memory, recalling that Ali grew up in Louisville. Mackay knew former Kentucky governor John Y. Brown who was one of 17 financial backers of Ali early in the fighter’s career. Brown told Mackay he could help with an introduction because he knew Ali’s photographer and confidant, Howard Bingham.
Bingham set up an appointment for Mackay at the “Champ’s” 88 acre estate in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Mackay would spend eight hours interviewing Ali but before he went to Michigan he did his homework. His learned Ali loved magic and that the “Champ” performed some tricks himself.
Mackay was fond of magic, too, and knew a few tricks. “I went to a magician and brushed up on my magic before the trip,” Mackay remembered. “When I met Ali I not only did a magic trick for him, but showed him how it was done. It was something that turned him on.”
Ali also performed magic for Mackay who detailed the experience in his networking book:
“As an audience of one, I was privileged to be entertained at a magic show, complete with sleight of hand, disappearing coins and hankies, and optical illusions. …
“ ‘Watch my feet,’ he said. He took three steps, turned his back on me and made himself appear to float three inches off the ground.”
That magical day years ago in Michigan was the beginning of Mackay’s relationship with “The Greatest.”
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