My Ali collection

It might surprise you, but I’ve never worked on a typewriter. I graduated high school in 1996. As I type this, I’m 39 years and two months young. It’s not rare for people to ask me about some athlete, or band, that predates me by 10 or 20 years.

I have a few interesting pieces of Ali memorabilia. Each of these has a special place in my collection (90% of my collection consists of comic books… about 4,500 comics in all.)
This Ali Mego toy is from 1976, still unopened in the box. This was my Mom’s, she collected toys before I was born, and passed them on to me. I always thought this was the single coolest toy Mom gave me.

This is the burden of premature gray hair.

But man, I do wish I could have seen Ali in his day. I was 4-years-old when he fought his last fight. (Another legend I wish I could have seen more of? Elvis Aaron Presley. He died when I was 4 months old.)

I had one experience with Muhammad Ali, and it was 1996, when I was a freshman at Kansas University. I wrote about it for the local newspaper, the Lawrence Journal-World, here. I was 24 when I wrote this. I’m glad I captured this story back then, because even though I never met Ali in person, I’m glad I at least have this. And yes, I still have the boxing card.

But sadly, no, I never mailed Ali the comic book.

Here’s the boxing card Ali autographed for me. I wrote about this experience in that column for the Lawrence Journal-World. It’s a simple card, but it’s special to me to know he actually held it, signed it, then mailed it to nobody Seth Jones in Mulvane, Kan.

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Muhammad Ali had nothing to do with golf, but if you are a sports fan at all, you realize that Ali was the Greatest of All Time. The GOAT. Larger than life.

Here’s the comic book, Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali, from 1978. Check out that cover! It has celebrities all over it, including the Jackson 5, Kurt Vonnegut, Liberace, Jimmy Carter and Pele. I had the artist, Neal Adams, sign it for me a few years ago. I always hoped to get Ali to sign it as well, but it wasn’t meant to be.

I can only imagine what it was like being a boxing fan in Ali’s day. I know too well what it’s like being a fan in the Floyd “Money” Mayweather era. Ugh.

Maybe that’s why I gravitated to Ali. He dominated a sport with his athleticism as well as his attitude. He was anything but boring.

So cheers to Muhammad Ali. Grass grows, birds fly, he beat people up. And he did it with style.

Photos: Seth Jones