Muhammad Ali in the Wiess Commons

At least once a week I see something amazing at Rice. This week got off to a fast start when I went to visit a colleague in his office after lunch today. The first thing I noticed was a Class of 1969 beanie hanging on the wall, which got me up out of my chair. As I poked around I saw several other interesting things but my eye was really caught just as I sat back down by what appeared to be a picture of a young Muhammad Ali on a shelf across the room.

It’s Muhammad Ali all right, and it’s autographed too.

Muhammad Ali Wiess Commons 1967

He really was pretty.

It was taken in January 1967 in the Wiess Commons–that’s a Wiess tie that the champ is wearing–when Ali was in town training for his February 6th fight with Ernie Terrell. That April he would refuse induction into the U.S. Army (also in Houston) and wouldn’t fight again for over three years. Here’s the Thresher story about his visit:

Muhammad Ali Thresher

Bonus: Now what?photo

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Muhammad Ali in the Wiess Commons

  1. Grungy says:

    Tent up.
    Tent down.

  2. I so wanted the “Living Fountain” lady to have some dolphin attendants so I could say “for all in tents and porpoises.” No such luck. What am I talking about? This. http://media.culturemap.com/cache/11/ba/11ba11e8953f277cba24b14f90a0fbe7.jpg

  3. Kathy says:

    That’s a very interesting (and well-written) article. Says a lot, between the lines, about the state of race relations at the time. And I can remember when Ali was a VERY controversial figure, which I think younger folks don’t always understand.

    Love the IBM ad, too!

Leave a Reply