Casems remember Muhammad Ali's visits to Alcorn State
Posted on: June 10,2016
Muhammad Ali, with Betty Casem, peaks over to see himself in the mirror.
Rick Cleveland
This was 1974. Betty Casem, wife of Hall of Fame football coach Marino Casem, was posing for a photo with Muhammad Ali in her living room at Alcorn State in Lorman.
“We had a mirror over our fireplace,” Mrs. Casem says. “Muhammad saw his reflection in the mirror and leaned over for a better view. He said, ‘Oh, I’m still pretty. Aren’t I pretty, Betty? I’m still so pretty.’”
Mrs. Casem, speaking by phone from her Baton Rouge home, laughs at the memory.
“He was just so funny,” she says. “He was so charming and kind.”
Ali’s visit to tiny Lorman was Marino Casem’s idea. Casem, the legendary Alcorn football coach and athletic director, wanted a special speaker for his athletic banquet in spring of 1974. So he reached out to Drew Bundini Brown, Ali’s friend and corner man.
“Ali wanted to come,” Marino Casem says. “He had heard about Alcorn and he wanted to see our campus.”
This was between Ali’s victory in the second fight with Joe Frazier in early 1974 and his victory over George Foreman that fall. Ali was at his pinnacle. He flew into Natchez on a private jet. Marino Casem picked him up and gave him the grand tour of Alcorn and southwest Mississippi.
Ali, says Casem, fell in love with the place.
“He loved the land here, he loved everything about it,” Casem said. “There was 100 acres across the road from Alcorn that he wanted to buy. The man wouldn’t sell it to him because he didn’t like Ali and didn’t like that he had changed his name.”
Casem told the guy to sell the land to him instead of Ali. The man refused.
Casem took Ali to see Port Gibson, the town U.S. Grant said was to beautiful to burn.
Ali, speaking at Alcorn State. (Photo courtesy, Alcorn State.)
“We’re driving along and pulled up to a red light,” Casem says. “There’s a crowd of people outside a joint on the side of the road. Before I knew it, Ali was out of the door and in the middle of them. They loved him. And he had a ball himself. I’m telling you, Ali loved people.”
Ali also entertained at the athletic banquet, Casem says.
“He didn’t want to leave; he wanted to stay longer,” Casem continues. “His people said he needed to get back on schedule.”
Later in 1974, Casem received a call, waking him up in the middle of the night. This was after Ali had shocked the boxing world, defeating Foreman in the Phillipines.
“Ali was overseas somewhere,” Casem said. “He said he was recuperating from the fight. He said he was out on a yacht, and he just wanted to talk and see how things were going. To tell you the truth, I got the idea he was lonely.”
A year later, in the spring 1975, Ali returned to Alcorn.
“That was a surprise,” Casem says. “We weren’t expecting him back. Like I say, he really loved it at Alcorn.”
During the second visit, Ali spoke to youth groups.
“He was so sharp,” Casem says. “He could speak on any number of subjects. I was amazed at how he could be talking about anything and then go into rhyming. He would just make it up as he went along.”
Ali again visited the Casem home. His address book apparently dropped out of his pocket on the Casems’ couch his last night in Lorman, and Betty Casem didn’t find it until after he left.
She still has it.
“It’s funny, some of the stuff in it,” Betty Casem says. “There’s one name and number and out beside it Ali scribbled ‘smart white lawyer.’ And there’s another name and number and out beside that, Ali put, ‘in jail.’”
While they were seated at the head table at the Alcorn athletic banquet, Ali took the souvenir program, drew a picture of his house. He put the address of the house, signed it and gave the program to Betty.
She still has that, too.
Ali, flanked by Betty and Marino Casem in their Lorman living room in 1974.
Great story —Ali truly a one of kind man had the wonderful pleasure of meeting him for breakfast in 78 and 83 —Truly a man of conviction and compassion unlike any star -his star will shine forever
Thanks, Ty, the piece with your encounters with Ali will be on MississippiToday.org later today…
I was privileged to attend both athletic banquets where Muhammad Ali spoke. Although I truly wanted him to become heavyweight champion once again, I saw much more than a boxing champion. I believe that he had a champion’s heart that transcended beyond boxing or sports. Obviously, it did and many came to recognize this fact.
For Muhammad Ali to come to Alcorn during his greatest boxing events (Possibly the greatest boxing events ever) is a testament of his love for Alcorn and its people. Ali is the “People’s Champ!!”
While visiting Alcorn, he came by Addison Junior High. I remember shaking his hand. I remember Jackie Ray Buck was making a lot of noise, Ali asked him to come on stage. Ali let Jackie Ray get close enough to jump at him. Jackie Ray ran off.
Great article on Muhammad Ali and Coach Casem alone with Betty a Lovely Lady. I remember Ali’s second visit to Alcorn as I was serving as Freshman Class President. It was an Honor to be associated with the Greatest as a Champion of Life. Thanks to Coach Casem and Alcorn State University for being Recognized as the “Home of Champions” RIP-Ali??
Rick, this is one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Best thing on Ali I’ve read since he died. Kudos. And why am I not surprised?
You know, Billy, I have talked to several Mississippi people who encountered Ali in person, including my brother, Bobby. All say he personable and clearly interested in what they thought and had to say. To a person, they say he could not have been nicer or more engaging.