Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is being remembered locally.
Ali died Friday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 74.
Former Blackburn Sports Director George Heath says Ali was a guest at the Sarnia Sertoma Sports Celebrity Dinner at the Best Western Guildwood Inn in 1974.
He says the "champ" was a last minute replacement when Larry Csonka of the NFL's Miami Dolphins couldn't make it.
Heath says the event was a month-and-a-half before the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire, Africa where Ali would face undefeated champion George Foreman in the ring.
"I interviewed him about his upcoming bout and he was serious but I told him 'you haven't convinced me yet.' Well, then he went into a tantrum about how he was going to take care of matters. I told him 'well, now you've convinced me,' and he looked at me and said 'well, you're not as dumb as you look,'" says Heath.
Heath says Canadian Heavyweight Champion George Chuvalo also attended the celebrity dinner. Chuvalo stayed on his feet in two matches against Ali at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1966 and Vancouver in 1972.
With files from Rick Burrows.
