Boxer Mohammad Ali is often called the greatest athlete. But one thing he proved when he appeared at the Club with boxer Ken Norton was that he could claim the title of world’s greatest talker. The two appeared a month before their championship heavyweight bout at Yankee Stadium. In the audience were comedian Dick Gregory and boxing promoter Don King. Norton spoke for about three minutes of the 10 he had been allotted. After that, it was almost all Ali. His rapid-fire patter was so intense that even repeatedly listening to the recording, it is hard to follow. He spoke about mankind suffering for ignoring the laws of God, and recited his own poetry knocking Norton. When for the third time, Ali said he was about to finish, the audience burst out laughing. That just made him talk more. “I’m bigger than boxing. I’m the lord of the ring. How are you going to beat the lord? I’m bigger than the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the Rose Bowl combined.” So, who won the fight the next month? That’s still controversial. In a split decision, the three judges gave the fight to Ali, but even he said, “I honestly thought he (Norton) beat me at Yankee Stadium.”
This Month in National Press Club history
Dip down anywhere in the National Press Club’s 117-year history and we find remarkable stories about events at our Club that contributed to American, world and social history. The Club’s History and Heritage team is highlighting just a few each month so our members can appreciate the role the Club has played for well over a century as the place where news happens. Here are a few from August.
Aug. 22, 1908 Orville Wright dines at the Club
Just five years after the history-making Kitty Hawk Wright Brothers flight, Club charter member Jerome S. Fanciulli arranged a dinner at the Club to launch the creation of the Aero Club of Washington. Among those attending was Orville Wright, who was in Washington to promote the Wright Brothers 1908 Flyer to the U.S. Army. Also attending was Army Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge. Less than a month later, during a flight demonstration at Fort Myer, with Orville at the controls and Selfridge as a passenger, the plane crashed, severely injuring Orville and making Selfridge the first person to die in a powered aircraft accident.
Aug. 8, 1974 Nixon’s resignation
Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace and left Washington the next day. He once said “the press is the enemy.” Yet in his early years in Washington as a senator and as vice president, Nixon had been a regular at the Club. He sometimes sat in on poker games with reporters. He showed up for summer frolics, father-daughter dinners and Club inaugurals. In 1958, he spoke at the Club as vice president with his friend Sen. John Kennedy at the head table. There are photos of him as vice president playing softball at a Club picnic and playing the piano with comedian Jack Benny on the violin. His last visit to the Club was in January, 1960 for President Ed Edstrom’s inaugural where he was photographed with Edstrom, actress Maureen O’Hara and Chief Justice Earl Warren. But he never came back after losing the 1960 presidential election. Nixon’s attacks on journalists during his presidency convinced the Club that it had to take a leadership role in defending journalism and its role in democracy.