PBS39 News Reports
FIGHTERS HEAVEN
Clip: Season 2018 | 6m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
A look at the plans to transform the Deer Lake camp into a museum and tribute to Ali.
FIGHTERS HEAVEN: It was once the training camp of Muhammad Ali. Now, the new owners of a 20-acre plot of woods in Schuylkill County have plans to transform the Deer Lake camp into a museum and tribute to Ali, who died in 2016. TRACY
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PBS39 News Reports is a local public television program presented by PBS39
PBS39 News Reports
FIGHTERS HEAVEN
Clip: Season 2018 | 6m 44sVideo has Closed Captions
FIGHTERS HEAVEN: It was once the training camp of Muhammad Ali. Now, the new owners of a 20-acre plot of woods in Schuylkill County have plans to transform the Deer Lake camp into a museum and tribute to Ali, who died in 2016. TRACY
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DEER LAKE IS QUIET NOW, PA BY THE OLD SCHOOL LOCKED D LOOK LIKE MUCH, BUT THIS C IN SCHOOL COLE COUNTY IS S HOME TO A PIECE OF HISTORY IT IS THE FORMER TRAINING OF ONE OF THE GRADES.
>> I AM THE KING OF THE WO >> THE GREATEST.
MOHAMMED ALI.
AND NOW THIS CAMP SITTING SCOPES HILL IS BEING RESTO BACK TO ITS FORMER GLORY A CALLED FIGHTERS HEAVEN.
>> IN FEBRUARY 2017 WE STA THE REMODELING PROJECT.
THEY PUT FIVE ROOFS ON BUILDINGS HERE, THE GYM, T HOUSE WHERE HE ORIGINALLY STATED.
WE ALSO PUT A NEW ROOF ON KITCHEN AREA AND THERE ARE BUNK HOUSES UP ABOVE THE H END OF THE PROPERTY.
THE BUNK HOUSES WERE THE FIGHTERS, HIS SPARRING PAR STAYED THERE.
>> Reporter: MIKE MADDEN S JOHN MADDEN PURCHASED THE PROPERTY IN 2016 WITH THE OF PRESERVING HISTORY AND TEACHING YOUNGER GENERATIO ABOUT THE LEGACY AND LIFE MOHAMMED ALI.
>> COME RIGHT IN.
IS LIKE THE DAYS OF JACK JOHNSON.
>> Reporter: A LIFE THAT W SPENT RIGHT HERE FOR A FEW IS NOT FOR OFF ROUTE 61 AB 12 MILESSOUTH OF POTTSVILL >> CAME ABOUT THE BECAUSE GUY, JEAN KILROY.
HE WAS A FRIEND OF MUHAMMA ALI.
HE MET HIM WHEN HE WAS CAC CLAY IN 1960 AT THE OLYMP IN ROME.
AND STAYED VERY CLOSE TO H THE TIME.
>> Reporter: JEAN KILROY H TO PERSUADE MUHAMMAD ALI T BUILD THIS AWAY FROM THE B CITY LIKE THE NOISE.
THAT WAS 1972.
>> THAT BELL RINGS EVERY MORNING AT 4:30 AM AND EVE FIGHTER MUST BE DOWN HERE DRESSED FOR IT A RUN.
IT RINGS AGAIN AT 8 O'CLOC 5 O'CLOCK.
10 O'CLOCK EVERYBODY IS A >> Reporter: THE SMALL BOR IN THE HILLS THE PENNSYLVA WAS MORE AFFORDABLE THAN M WHERE HE TRAINED AT THE TI >> TRACY, THIS IS THE GYMN WHERE MOHAMMED ALI TRAINED NOW NEARLY HALF A CENTURY LATER, YOU CAN WALK THROUG CAMP AND VISUALIZE HOW MOH ALI, A MAN WILL BECOME ONE THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL AND INFLUENTIAL FIGURES OF THE CENTURY, LIVED AND BREATHE BOXING IN SCHOOL COLE COUN HE PREPARED FOR SOME OF TH BIGGEST FIGHTS OF HIS REMARKABLE CAREER.
>> THERE IS THE CHAMP UP THERE.>> Reporter: JACKIE ROBINSON.
>> RIGHT.
THIS IS IN ATLANTA WHEN TH HOSTED THE OLYMPICS AND MUHAMMAD ALI WAS GIVEN THE HONOR OF LIGHTING THE TORC >> Reporter: HE WAS 74 WHE DIED IN 2016.
MANY YEARS AFTER HE OWNED LAUGH AT FOOT ON THESE GRO HIS SPIRIT, THAT IS A DIFF STORY.
SEND MOUNT OUT WAS A SPORT WRITER.
>> THE CHAMP WAS WRITING D HERE THE DAY AND HOW HEAVY >> Reporter: WITH HIM WELC PEOPLE, SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS HOLDING COURT IN THE RING.
>> I COME DOWN HERE IN THE PLACE WILL BE MOBBED.
AND MUHAMMAD ALI JUST READ ACCEPTED EVERYBODY.
HE WAS VERY, VERY WARM.
HE KNEW HOW TO ENTERTAIN, THAT IS WHAT MADE MUHAMMAD HE WAS DIFFERENT THAN ANY OUT THERE IN THE SUPERSTAR WORLD.
>> THIS IS WHERE MUHAMMAD HAD ALL OF HIS MEALS.
>> Reporter: AND STILL HIS FINGERPRINTS ARE ALL OVER PLACE.
>> CARETTA DID THE COOKING AND YOU SEE WHO WAS THERE?
>> Reporter: THAT IS LARRY >> LARRY HOLMES.
>> I REMEMBER ONE THING HE HE WAS VERY PARTICULAR WHE ATE.
ESPECIALLY WHEN IT CA DOWN, PUTTING PORK INTO TH FOOD.
HE WOULD GO CRAZY.
MAN, YOU CRAZY I AIN'T GOI EAT THAT PORK.
THAT AIN'T NO GOOD FOR YOU >> A GOOD RIGHT AND LEFT T >> Reporter: LARRY HOLMES YOUNG SKINNY HEAVYWEIGHT W HE SPENT TIME AT DEER LAKE EIGHT IN THAT VERY KITCHEN HE WENT ON TO GREATNESS HI AS HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF WORLD FROM 1978 TO 1985.
BUT BEFORE THAT, HE TRAINE SPARRED WITH MUHAMMAD ALI DEER LAKE IN THE EARLY 197 >> I WAS GETTING READY TO PRO BECAUSE I WAS GOING IN THE OLYMPICS IN 1972, AND LET ME COME TO THE CAMP, A DID WORK OUT WITH HIM A FE TIMES LIKE A BRAT I WORKED WITH MOHAMMED ALI.
>> THERE YOU GO.
THAT'S IT.
>> Reporter: THE 69-YEAR-O STILL LIVES IN EASTON, ABO ONE HOUR FROM DEER LAKE.
>> ONE OF THE THINGS I DID I FIRST WENT TO THE CAMP W HE FIRST STARTED PUTTING O BOXING GLOVES, I WANTED TO HOW FAST HE WAS BECAUSE HE THE REPUTATION OF BEING RE FAST.
BANG BANG BANG HE WOULD HI YOU.
WHEN I TRIED AND READY PENNSYLVANIA, THE FIRST DA BOXED WITH HIM, AND HE WAS FAST, AND HE HIT ME.
HE HI AND HE HIT ME, AND I HAD A BLACK EYE.
I WALKED AROUND A BLACK EYE.
JEAN KILROY SAYS LET ME PU SOME ICE ON THAT THING.
I SAID YOU GOT TO BE CRAZY HOW MANY PEOPLE GET TO SAY BOXED WITH MUHAMMAD ALI AN STILL BRINGS THAT UP EVERY I HEAR FROM HIM OR SEE HIM HE BRINGS THAT UP BECAUSE THE ONE THAT TALKED HIM IN GIVING ME AN OPPORTUNITY T WORK WITH HIM.
>> Reporter: TWO OF THE BE HEAVYWEIGHTS EVER SPARRING OUR OWN BACKYARD.
>> HE WAS THE GOOD GUY.
A LOT OF PEOPLE SAY HE WAS COCKY, WHICH HE WASN'T.
YOU KNOW, WHEN I JUST SIT AND THINK, I MEAN I HAD SO GREAT MOMENTS.
WITH THIS G AND I THANK GOD FOR GIVING THAT OPPORTUNITY TO BE ARO HIM.
>> Reporter: AND NOW THOSE MEMORIES WILL LIVE ON IN FIGHTERS HEAVEN, A VIRTUAL MUSEUM THAT WILL REMIND SO AND EDUCATE OTHERS ABOUT H EXTRAORDINARY AND INSPIRAT STORY.
FOR PBS 39 NEWS TONIGHT I TRACY YATSKO.
>>> FIGHTERS HEAVEN IS OPE TO THE PUBLIC IN EARLY MAY FOR INFORMATION ON TOURS, INFO@FIGHTER11.COM.
CALL 570-968-2861 OR VISIT FIGHTERS HEAVEN FACEBOOK P
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