Muhammed Ali came to Greenbelt in April 1976 without fanfare and without most city residents knowing about it. But Greenbelt police officers did. They helped serve as bodyguards. On April 30, Ali fought Jimmy Young at the Capital Centre. He was approaching the end of his career but was still world champion. He defeated Young in 15 rounds. Before that fight, he trained in this area and part of that training was road work at Greenbelt Park. It was then as now a quiet out-of-the-way place, a spot that would not result in over attention to the famous fighter. I did not know about it until Chief William Lane told me. Lane was one of a number of city officers who got to meet Ali and he proudly showed me a photo of himself with Ali in the park. Current Chief James Craze, then private first class in the police department, was another of the officers to meet Ali. Craze has a copy of an April 28, 1976, issue of the Washington Post showing Ali jogging in the park with three squad cars trailing him. Craze says that he was driving the first vehicle. The next day, Ali autographed a copy of the newspaper for him. See remainder of the story in the paper by clicking HERE.
