WEBVTT - If You Build It They Will Come 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:04.640 In the previous episodes, Chicken Man and Lieutenant J. D. 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:09.719 Hudson both painted a picture of their worlds hustlers and cops. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.280 I slowly began to learn who they were as they 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.720 continued to share their stories and how they became the 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:20.840 central figures of an event that in many ways encapsulated 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.200 the struggles of the times. In nineteen seventy, the consciousness 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.120 of the nation was shifting. The United States was in 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.360 the middle of the Space Race and the Cold War. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.440 The country was polarized over Vietnam, and that intensified when 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:39.360 the United States invaded Cambodia in April of nineteen seventy. 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.320 Protests were sweeping the nation, and America's view of the 0:00:43.360 --> 0:00:47.520 war was shifting. In May of nineteen seventy, four Kent 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.440 State University students were killed and nine were injured when 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.840 members of the Ohio National Guard fired on a crowd 0:00:54.960 --> 0:00:58.240 gathered to protest the war. It would seem that the 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:02.400 nation was tearing itself apart, and these divisions would be 0:01:02.440 --> 0:01:07.120 amplified in the southern city of Atlanta when Muhammad Ali, 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:10.000 a black Muslim who had been barred from fighting after 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.880 he refused to be drafted, return to the world stage 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:19.240 of boxing. All of a sudden, Atlanta throws it's hat 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.720 into the ring to the surprise of everyone. We must 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:27.480 understand that Atlanta is a new, sexy, kind of fast 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.760 city with beautiful black people. My dad was really excited 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.600 about this. This was the cream of the crops, the 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.840 most excited I ever seen him. You know, we're gonna 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.480 live good for ever after this. It's bedlam in Atlanta. 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:45.119 It's Marty Gras, It's New Year's e It's everything put 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:51.160 together from my heart radio and doghouse pictures. This is 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.760 fight Night. I'm Jeff Keating. It was the dawn of 0:01:55.800 --> 0:02:02.760 a new decade in America. The nation's struggles would soon 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:07.320 be magnified. In one incredible event, the civil rights movement 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.920 had swept across the country. As Atlanta was becoming the 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:15.080 black New South. The anti war movement had found a hero, 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:20.040 Muhammad Ali, a young, confident black Muslim boxer known as 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.200 the Louisville Lipp who had resisted a war that many 0:02:23.200 --> 0:02:28.799 in America had come to see as unjust. Meanwhile, Jerry Quarry, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:34.240 the Bellflower bomber, symbolized the great White Hope. As the 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:37.239 word spread that Muhammad Ali was returning to the ring. 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:42.040 The national and international journalists sharpened their pencils and prepared 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:44.799 for this event unlike any of the city had ever 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:49.640 seen before. Politicians and businessmen worked behind the scenes to 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.919 formalize and strategize plans that would ensure a boxing license 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:57.480 was granted for Ali. Gangsters and hustlers from around the 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.200 country packed bags of cash, knowing the gambling on this 0:03:01.280 --> 0:03:04.960 huge bout would be off the charts. This was a 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:11.680 perfect storm forming over Atlanta, and everything was at stake. Ironically, 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.080 this classic fight between Ali and Quarry landed in the 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.200 Deep South, in the city of Atlanta. I wanted to 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:20.919 find out how that happened, so I spoke with Los 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:25.040 Angeles based author and journalist David Davis, who recently penned 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.600 a new book entitled Wheels of Courage. David had written 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.640 an oral history about the fight that nobody wanted for 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:36.640 Atlanta Magazine in two thousand and five. So all of 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:40.600 a sudden, Atlanta throws it's had into the ring to 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:45.520 the surprise of everyone. And how this came about is 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:49.200 Robert Cassell was a New York based attorney who had 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:53.080 had some experience uh in the fight game. He had 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.880 helped promote the Joe Fraser Jimmy Ellis Championship fight. He 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:02.000 tried to get Ali back in the unsuccessfully and then 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.640 had an idea, which was to call his father in law, 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:10.080 a gentleman named Harry Pett who owned a business in Atlanta, 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:14.680 and called his father in law to say, Hey, Dad, 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:17.960 is there anybody out there in Atlanta that you know 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:22.480 who could pull off a fight involving Muhammad Ali? And 0:04:22.960 --> 0:04:25.440 his father in law called back and said, if you're 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:29.200 going to get anything done in Atlanta, you go through 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:35.680 the state Senator Leroy Johnson. Leroy Johnson was the first 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:39.640 black man elected to the Georgia State legislature since reconstruction. 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:42.920 He was an insider in the political world in Atlanta 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.000 and also in state politics. Leroy Johnson was one of 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.560 the first politicians to recognize that while Georgia was under 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.880 the control of Lester Matics, an avowed segregationist, Atlanta was 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:59.560 becoming overwhelmingly black and that's where the power was. With 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.560 the pe bull. He sensed an opening. Maybe if he 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.640 worked on this, he could get the Alie fight to Atlanta. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:14.359 Here's David Davis, so Leroy Johnson after talking to Harry Pett, 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.000 searched the law books and found out that in Georgia 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:22.400 there was no state law governoring the sport of boxing. 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:25.120 In other words, there was a loophole. When he saw that, 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:29.080 he sensed an opening and realized that the power to 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.120 license a fight in the state of Georgia would be 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:35.880 through the mayor of Atlanta at the time, Sam Missell, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:41.080 and through the board of Aldermen and Leroy Johnson was 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:46.400 a very, very smooth politician who had made friends on 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.240 both sides of the aisle and with African American and 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:54.200 white Americans alike, and he was allied with Sam Missel. 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:57.359 He had helped bring out the African American vote to 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:02.159 help Missell get elected as mayor in nineteen sixty nine, 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:06.320 and working with a close friend of his, Jesse Hill, 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:12.480 who was president of Atlanta Life Insurance, they approached Miscelle 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:17.240 and said, look, we can get this fight here, We 0:06:17.279 --> 0:06:20.080 can get a license for this fight here, we can 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:24.279 bring Ali down here, and we can have a barn 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:29.520 burner of an event that speaks to the rising sense 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:35.200 of Atlanta as a major league city. Here's Henrietta Antonine. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.440 She worked with Jesse Hill for thirty years and she 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:42.200 helped him behind the scenes to support Larroy Johnson in 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.280 his effort to get Ali a boxing license in Atlanta. 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.279 Jesse Hill was a giant in Atlanta. He was the 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:54.880 president of Atlanta Lice Issuance Company. He was a community activists. 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.080 He was a highly professional businessman. He worked with the 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.720 civil rights movement. He was chamitable, was among of the 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.400 King Junior Center, and he was one of the first 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:07.039 African American to be on the Chamber Commerce. I was 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.840 inspired when I started working for Atlanta Life, and I 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:15.640 admired our president, who was very outspoken, who who was 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:19.440 involved in anything that involved justice and quality for black people. 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:23.960 Here's a man that was always looking for the injustices 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.040 that we're facing our people all the time. And he 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.400 talked about how ridiculous it was that they were going 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:34.040 to stop Muhammad Alive from fighting because of his his 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.560 religious belief and I hear I heard him discuss it 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.400 more time than I can count. So he was one 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.160 of them. He was one of the first to talk 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:48.040 about that was not fair and it was it was 0:07:48.080 --> 0:07:52.440 an unjust law and and he was against it. And 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:54.320 I remember him saying that they were going to do 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:59.840 something about it. So between Jesse Hill and Moory each 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:04.480 Unson lobbying Sam misseell that did it, and Missle was 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:08.280 convinced to give a license for the fight in Atlanta, 0:08:08.960 --> 0:08:12.520 and in exchange he got a donation for an anti 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:17.280 drug organization that they had set up. So Leroy Johnson 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:22.640 made an appointment to see less dramatics at the Governor's 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.520 office at the Capitol. And the way he described it 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:30.560 was that just before his meeting, the governor's son had 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.520 been involved in a little bit of an incident and 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.160 the judge had ruled every person deserves a second chance. 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.959 Here is State Senator Leroy Johnson. When the word got 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:43.319 out that he was going to fight here, the question 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:46.679 was whether or not the government was stopping. But a 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.839 mathematics was stopping. So I went to him and I said, go, 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:53.600 I got an opportunity to get a license for Ellie 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:58.600 to fight. And Elie doesn't know anything but fighting. That's 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:02.280 his profession. And if he doesn't like, he's gonna have 0:09:02.320 --> 0:09:06.720 it gone well there, Governor supposed well. At that time, 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.360 Governor matic Son had got into trouble into Cab County 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.440 and the Jersey. The Cab County said to his son 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:16.680 when he came to a citizen, I'm gonna give you 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.800 another chance. I went to Mandick and I said, all 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:25.199 I'm asking government is to give Ali another chance so 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:30.040 that he can find that's his profession. And so Maddox 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:33.640 said to me, and under that umbrella, give him another chance. 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:48.040 He said, Okay, on with the fighting. Even after Governor 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.679 Maddox agreed not to stand in the way of obtaining 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:54.800 Ali a boxing license publicly, his stance did not change, 0:09:55.000 --> 0:09:58.080 nor did his support. This was revealed that several news 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:02.520 organizations across the nation covered this story how he became 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.520 a political issue rather than a heavyweight fighter overnight. The 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.240 minute he refused to be drafted into the army. He 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:09.960 tried to get out of the draft by saying he 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.400 was a minister of the Black Muslim faith, but the 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.200 course weren't having any of that, and after that, the 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.040 people who are unprofessional boxing of the United States stripped 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:20.640 him of his heavyweight crown. Meanwhile, a group of a 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:22.880 lot of blacks and whites managed to get play a 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.760 fight with Jerry Quarry to get him a license and 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.480 bring the fight to Atlanta. Mayor Sam Marsell proclaimed the 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:34.439 fight are Sports Appreciation Week. Governor Lester Maddis, though, had 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.800 different ideas. He thought the whole thing was a disgrace 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.560 and declared a day of morning. I don't see how 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:43.679 this fight could take face very anywhere in the United 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:49.960 States of America. Will men fetish did their his country's 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:54.640 uniform and refused to be inducted into the service of 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:56.880 his country. So our call for a day of mourning 0:10:57.000 --> 0:11:00.120 because of this, at this tragic thing is halfway in 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.720 this United States of America, where men have fought so 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.040 long and their wives and children have sacrificed so much, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:12.160 that this would take grace in this great city, in 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.200 our great state, even more than, like I say, anywhere 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:20.880 in the country or now. That I had an understanding 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.679 of what was going on in the world around October 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:27.640 of nine, I also wanted to understand about the boxers 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:29.640 that were about to face each other in the ring. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.480 Here's David Davis talking about Jerry Corry and how he 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:39.360 became interested in his life. I had done a long 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:44.120 future story on Jerry Corey for The l A Weekly, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:49.160 and I was very curious about Jerry's career because it 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.720 was one of those that you see sometimes in sports, 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:57.480 and in boxing a career where the ability was there, 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:01.839 but it's just for whatever reason, whether it was timing 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:06.760 or bad luck, he never quite reached the pinnacle of 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.200 his sport, which in boxing would have been the heavyweight 0:12:10.280 --> 0:12:14.160 championship of the world. And it did happen that he 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.880 was fighting in an era where there were some amazing 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:23.120 heavyweight fighters Muhammad Ali of course, but also Joe Frazier, 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:31.560 George Foreman, Ernie Shavers, just a collection of quality heavyweights, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:38.160 and Jerry was slightly undersized even for that era and 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:43.800 unfortunately never quite reached the pinnacle. Here's Dr Hopson describing 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:47.240 Ali's character as a boxer and a man. Ali was 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.880 known as the Louisville Lipp Prize fighter. Ali was not 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:56.840 the typical arctype you know, black but art type athlete. 0:12:56.880 --> 0:12:59.120 I mean, he was extremely you know smart. It grown 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:00.719 up at a middle class on where his father was 0:13:00.760 --> 0:13:03.520 a mail carry, his mother's school teacher. But he was 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:06.200 you know big, he was charismatic, and he was you know, 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.360 fast with his hands. He was just a new style 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.200 of boxer, heavyweight boxer, and he had a conscious. He 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:17.120 had a conscious because he was afforded particular good things 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.319 in his life in terms of his family structure. And 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.240 so when he decides to not participate in the draft 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.120 and he's willing to go to jail, and then he 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.200 changes his name to Muhammad Ali from Cassius Clay. Of 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.920 course he's stripped of his title, and then he's really 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.360 blacklisted in terms of where he could go and what 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:40.080 he could do. When you take away a man's livelihood, 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:43.440 it's natural that he would go into survival mode. But 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.600 the choices for Muhammad Ali were extremely limited. Here's David 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:53.560 Davis describing what Ali was facing around the country. Ali 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.640 was in exile, so to speak, in the boxing community. 0:13:57.960 --> 0:14:01.760 He was stripped of his heavy A title and no 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:06.360 one would touch him the big fight commissions New York, 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:11.120 Madison Square, Garden, Vegas, Los Angeles. So what was he 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:13.480 to do? How was he to make a living? And 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.839 he struggled with that and did a play on Broadway. 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.400 He was on the college lecture circuit. But all through 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:28.240 this time period, his managers and business people affiliated with him. 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.560 They searched for maybe they would fight on a Native 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.880 American reservation, you know, because that would be outside of 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.680 a boxing commission. That didn't happen. They were gonna maybe 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:43.560 fight in Tijuana. That didn't happen. No one really wanted 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:47.080 to take the chance because they figured somebody's gonna jump 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.800 up and file lawsuits and it's going to get ugly. Meanwhile, 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.720 the heavyweight division was moving along with Joe Frasier, so 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.960 the powers that be in boxing were waiting to see 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.960 how all this was going to be resolved, either four 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:06.120 Ali or against Ali. No one wanted to take a 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.120 chance and advertise that they were promoting a Muhammad Ali 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.520 fight because it would have been very, very unpopular with 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.560 both the general public and the boxing powers that be. 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:20.480 Here's Dr Hobson explaining why Atlanta would be a perfect 0:15:20.560 --> 0:15:24.760 place to host this boxing event. There's a ground swell 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:26.720 of things going on here and this is called the 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.640 Black New South. And so you must understand that Atlanta 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:32.600 is growing. It has now become an entertainment city. And 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.880 as a result of it being a sports and entertainment city, 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.720 you mean you have the arrival of the Falcons, the Hawks, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.880 and the braves. We must understand that Atlanta is a new, 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:46.520 sexy kind of fast city with beautiful black people. Here's 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:50.000 David Davis describing the scene as the fight, and that 0:15:50.080 --> 0:15:54.600 big weekend approached. It's bedlam in Atlanta. It's Mardi Gras, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:59.040 it's New Year's Eve, it's everything put together. And over 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:03.360 the weekend you had this influx of journalists and the 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:08.240 fight crowd and all of the hustlers and ball v 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:12.120 vance who could shake down to Atlanta for this fight, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:17.800 and it seemed that everybody congregated at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:21.840 which had just recently opened and was known for its 0:16:21.920 --> 0:16:26.800 trademark atrium lobby and glass enclosed elevators so that you 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.240 could sit at the bar and watch the action of 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.560 people coming down into the lobby and see what they're 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.440 wearing or what they're not wearing, and have another drink 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:42.400 and celebrate what everybody assumed, or most people assumed, was 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.240 going to be a Mohammad Ali victory. As the city 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:50.800 prepared for this monumentous event, many citizens across the nations 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.640 were still divided on their support from Mohammed Ali. Here's 0:16:54.720 --> 0:17:00.680 Dr Hobson. You know, White America was upset with Mohammed 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.640 Ali because they felt that he had made boxing political. 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:06.639 But the truth of the matter is that the body 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:08.960 politics of what it means to be black big and 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.480 strong has always been a political kind of conversation. They 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.439 saw him as a draft dodger. They saw in his 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.639 own patriotic when the truth of the matter is that 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.000 Mohammed Ali was probably the most patriotic person in the 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.800 United States because he believed in the American Constitution and 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.919 felt like he had the right to protest or to 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:32.080 assert himself on his terms. I mean, in a city 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:36.080 that is sixty seven percent black at this time, of course, 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:39.280 he becomes the embodiment of the brains and the brawn 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.359 of what it means to be black, particularly in the 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:55.240 black New South. Right before all the festivities in Atlanta began, 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.480 Chicken Man was dealing with this anxiety as he prepared 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.879 to pull the party off, especially when he heard that 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.320 engraved invitations were printed and passed out to a large 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.320 group of hustlers and gangsters. So he got the idea 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:15.080 to move the party without telling anyone, and then letting 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.760 people know at the last minute where the real party 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.520 was going to be held. Here's Chicken Man telling j 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:25.000 D from a tape recorded over forty years ago about 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.040 his plan. Let me tell you another thing that really 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:31.720 made me aware. I had to go back to New 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:34.159 York for something. I called a cab back to the 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:37.480 train station downtime. Polo picked me up. Polo told me 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:39.960 and said, god, man, do you know these people gotta 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:44.400 have some invitations. I had no idea because I wouldn't agree, 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:47.159 no way to have an invitation to give him the 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.760 game to anybody, and to give me anybody. So I said, well, 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.400 so when I got into a minute, I staid, York 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:58.280 and I talked to him. So they already did it nine. 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.600 So when I come back to allow, I get the 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:08.479 idea to move it with that didn't even know. And 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:13.600 when they come where supposed to be, then we had 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.439 taken to where it really is. Chicken Man starts to 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.239 put his plan in motion by cutting a deal with 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:24.040 a local thug who was hard up for cash. So 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.919 a boy, a fellow I had out a little ding 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.720 any probably his name was Teddy Pollard. Used to be 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.000 a little thug drug using so he about to lose 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.760 his house. So this this is a good way to 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:38.919 baddest house. Hi. I was gonna give him the money 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:42.720 the badest house, hiding three or fold of notes or 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:44.960 whatever to use the house. Three n fol day. It 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.119 was a blessing both way. So we go and he 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:52.960 we go to setting up the basement. So now the 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:55.320 two or three days before the part for the for 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.160 the fire, week before the fight, the people New York 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.800 and some people here to build a out take. If 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:04.160 people come with all the materials they want, they know 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.000 what they wanted. So I had to go get somebody, 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.880 a copenter who could do what they want. And they 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:12.359 know the lumber, they know everything all they needed, with 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.960 some about competence who can father the instructions so they'd 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:18.840 be at the craft table. But still I'm playing. I'm 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:23.040 gonna move because I'm getting more engy and engy for 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:27.280 some reason. But when he decides to tell his buddy Fireball, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.840 who would ask him to host the party, Fireball was 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:35.159 against this plan. So then next morning I see called me. 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:40.000 I said, listen, man, we're gonna move. I've already arrayed, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:43.760 we're gonna move the game, the Craft game from my 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.480 house to play. I gotta take you by and show you. 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.280 But he got all upset. It's no, man, I don't 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.560 want to move there. You gonna move for we want 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.720 the crap game to be where the people are. People 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:57.920 want to leave a party to go to the crap game. 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.200 But the crap game at the part people get because 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.639 the game is all ready there. So I said, well, 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:09.120 but Matt, so I tried to reason with him why 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.680 I wanted to do that, but it was just again 0:21:11.800 --> 0:21:14.400 what he wanted to do. You know. I had second thoughts, 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.159 but I said, Okay, now Chicken Man is back to 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.719 where he started. He finally gets everything set up and 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.439 even though he still had a bad feeling, the party 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:28.439 was ready to go. Here's Gordon Williams Jr. Describing the scene. 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:31.960 I went to the house prior to the party, you know, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:33.640 but I was a young boy, and I was like, wow, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:35.560 they got it the whole place. I mean that was 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.760 nothing in there but roule a wheels and card tables 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.200 and crap tables, and I mean that's always in there, 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.720 you know. And I was like, wow, this is incredible. 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:46.760 He did it, and he pulled it off. Everything was 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:51.760 working according to schedule. The pre partying starts at Chicken 0:21:51.800 --> 0:21:55.679 Man's house and things are rolling. Hustlers are dressed to 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.440 the nines, Booze is flowing like a river. Money is 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:03.840 flying everywhere. The party of parties. Chicken Men had a 0:22:03.880 --> 0:22:07.480 bad feeling for weeks, and now that he sees all 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.040 the action at his house, he knows some ship is 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:13.920 about to go down. He doesn't know when, he just knows, 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:16.639 but he's in it and he's got to let it 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:21.399 play out. If so many people came in the house, 0:22:23.400 --> 0:22:27.760 I mean niggas had a meek heads. I mean I had, 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.280 you know, and I thought I had been to a 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:33.919 few places and saw a few things. But when I 0:22:33.960 --> 0:22:37.359 saw these things coming and the good, the good told me, 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:42.600 I got. I got. I actually got afraid then, because 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:45.760 you know, I know the danger and the police catching all. 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:49.480 Let's all us together whatever we call what we thought 0:22:49.480 --> 0:22:53.360 we would have. I mean people. Then there money, so 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.560 I realized not in love and involved in something here. 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:58.840 But I think I know WA makes some money though 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:02.440 you know I'm staying because advises and all these big 0:23:02.480 --> 0:23:05.919 crap fits the biggest time they're only the time I 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:10.680 saw the bush. You that that money that's said, that's 0:23:10.760 --> 0:23:13.560 that's quite. I ain't eve knob of that right right there. 0:23:13.600 --> 0:23:17.960 I want shot that ain't invested with people better. I 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:22.399 mean it came like never before. Everyone was in for 0:23:22.440 --> 0:23:26.119 a fight. Muhammad Ali was fighting the rust from his 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:29.639 absence in the ring, the pressure from his supporters to 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:33.520 regain his title, and for his safety as thousands of 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:38.760 death threats were targeting him and his entourage. Jerry Corey 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:42.040 was fighting to prove himself as a championship boxer and 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:44.800 to live up to the title forced upon him as 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:48.920 the Great White Hope. J. D. Hudson was fighting to 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:51.800 keep Ali alive since he was in charge of his 0:23:51.840 --> 0:23:56.600 security team in Atlanta, and soon Chicken Man would be 0:23:56.640 --> 0:24:00.959 fighting for his life. Nobody he knew that while this 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.800 huge event was happening, a mastermind lurked in the shadows, 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.600 preparing to take down the super Bowl of parties and 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:11.480 robbed some of the most dangerous gangsters in the country, 0:24:12.480 --> 0:24:15.440 and it was all about to happen on Fight Night. 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:24.600 Fight Night is a joint production from High Heart Radio, 0:24:24.720 --> 0:24:29.120 Will Packer Media and Doghouse Pictures in association with Psychopia Pictures. 0:24:29.400 --> 0:24:33.280 Produced and hosted by Jeff Keating. Executive producers are Will Packer, 0:24:33.600 --> 0:24:38.399 James Lopez, Kenny Burns, Dan Bush, Lars Jacobsen, and Noel Brown. 0:24:39.040 --> 0:24:43.280 Supervising producers Taylor Hickoyne. Story editors are Noel Brown and 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:47.520 Dan Bush. Written by Jeff Keating and Jim Roberts. Edited 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:51.720 by Matt Owen. Mixing and sound designed by Jeremiah Kolonnie Prescott. 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:55.480 Music written and performed by the Diamond Street Players. Additional 0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:00.280 music by Ben Lovett. Audio archives courtesy of WSB News 0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.680 Film and Videotape Collection, Brown Media Archives, University of Georgia Libraries. 0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:09.560 Special thanks to Dr Maurice Hobson and David Davis. Fight 0:25:09.680 --> 0:25:12.320 Night is a production of I heart Radio. For more 0:25:12.400 --> 0:25:15.200 podcasts from my heart Radio, check out the i heart 0:25:15.320 --> 0:25:19.920 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.