The day heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali visited Fort Valley

Editor’s note: This story was originally published on the front page of the Macon Telegraph and News on Nov. 5, 1989.

FORT VALLEY — Eleven-year-old Richard Mathis ran up to his mother, his eyes wild with excitement.

Mathis, a sixth-grade student at Fort Valley Middle School, could hardly wait to tell Wynnette Mathis the news. He had just interviewed Muhammad Ali for “Kids Power,” a local cable television show. He had also gotten Ali’s autograph and watched him perform a magic trick with a red handkerchief.

“And he pinched me on the cheek like this,” Mathis said, his fingers tugging at the left corner of his mouth. “I’m never going to wash my face again!”

Muhammad Ali, three-time world heavyweight boxing champion and one of the most famous sports personalities of this century, had a similar effect on both young and old at Fort Valley State College’s homecoming festivities this weekend.

Maceo Campbell, a 60-year-old propane truck driver from Montezuma, caught the champ’s eye at the banquet Friday night.

“I saw you and talked to you in Lewiston, Maine, back in ‘65,” Campbell stammered. “I was on shore leave in the Navy, and you were training for the Sonny Liston fight.”

“I remember,” Ali said, winking. “You had more hair back then.”

Nine years removed from the boxing ring and in declining health, the 47-year-old Ali no longer floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. His movements are slow and deliberate. His famous voice has been reduced to almost a whisper.

“But he’s still the greatest,” Campbell said. “He always was. He always will be.”

Ali’s presence on the Fort Valley campus created quite a stir. He energized the school’s homecoming activities and spawned traffic jams all over town. He tirelessly shook hands, signed autographs, kissed babies and answered a million questions about whether the aging champ could beat Mike Tyson.

[Related: Stings like a bee: Death of beloved Muhammad Ali mourned worldwide]

In many ways, he wasn’t a sideshow, but the main attraction.

A crowd estimated at between 12,000 and 15,000 lined city streets to watch Ali pass by in a convertible Saturday morning as grand marshal of the homecoming parade.

Later, an overflow crowd jammed Wildcat Stadium as Ali presided over a thrilling Savannah State-Fort Valley football game, won by Savannah State 45-37.

“I’ve been here 17 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” acting Fort Valley State president Melvin Walker said. “Of course, we’ve never had a heavyweight boxing champ here, either. Ali has lifted the spirits of our students, faculty and entire community.”

Ali was invited to take part in Fort Valley’s homecoming by Brenda Bender, a Fort Valley State alumnus living in Louisville, Ky. Bender’s husband, Victor, has been one of Ali’s closest friends since childhood, when Ali was known as Cassius Clay.

“The first time I asked him he accepted,” Brenda Bender said. “Of course, he had no idea where Fort Valley, Ga., was. He didn’t know what he was getting into, but he’s really enjoyed it. He’s here because of his strong love for people.”

Ali arrived in Fort Valley Friday night from Houston, Texas, where he was promoting his “Muhammad Ali” men’s cologne. The cologne has been test-marketed in select cities for the past three months.

He was accompanied on the Fort Valley trip by his wife, Yolanda, his mother, Odessa Clay, and brother, Rahaman Ali. He did not charge the school an appearance fee, only money to cover travel expenses. He is scheduled to leave for Hilton Head, S.C., this morning.

“He’s been excited this whole weekend,” Victor Bender said. “He was up at 6 o’clock this morning, ready to go. he has been in so many cities and states, and this kind of college atmosphere is something he wanted to experience. He’s been surrounded by people everywhere he’s gone. Some people in his position might veer from it, but he enjoys it. He was the people’s champion when he was boxing. And he’s still the people’s champion.”

[Related: Macon residents remember Ali’s greatness inside, outside ring]

From 1960 to 1980, Ali compiled a 56-5 record as a heavyweight, including 37 knockouts. His 255 rounds are the most ever by a heavyweight boxer.

Several years ago, doctors diagnosed Ali as suffering from Parkinson’s syndrome, common to boxers and indistinguishable from Parkinson’s disease, a crippling brain disorder. He travels to Hilton Head to undergo a five-hour medical procedure known as plasmapheresis, a cleansing of the blood.

While making his public appearances in Fort Valley Friday and Saturday, Ali’s eyes often appeared sunken and vacant, his voice thin and raspy.

But the Ali humor and showmanship still came through. As the crowds swelled around him, he occasionally would throw imaginary punches at would-be challengers to the heavyweight crown.

“We want the champ! We want the champ!” 24-year-old James Jackson yelled to Ali in front of the parade reviewing stand Saturday morning. He and “Marvelous Marvin” Dassau, a sophomore at Fort Valley State, were trying to entice the champ into a sparring round.

Noticing the taunting, Ali stood up as if to come after the two. “Are you Frazier?” he asked. “Are you Frazier?”

[Related: A fight-by-fight look at Muhammad Ali’s career milestones]

Dassau, a burly 230-pounder who never has boxed, said he knew exactly what to do if Ali had indeed climbed over the make-believe ropes.

“I probably would have just shook his hand,” Dassau said.

This story was originally published June 9, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "The day heavyweight boxing champ Muhammad Ali visited Fort Valley."