ALI: Behind the lens with an American legend

ALI G E O R G E

KALINSKY

ALI

Behind the lens with an American legend GEORGE KALINSKY

Published on the occasion of the exhibition “I Am King of the World”: Photographs of Muhammad Ali

by George Kalinsky at the New-York Historical Society

© 2016 George Kalinsky All Rights Reserved

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uhammad Ali’s legendary career spanned twenty years, from 1960 until 1980. In December 1965 George Kalinsky followed sportscaster Howard Cosell into the fighter’s workout session at the 5th Street Gym in Miami. Angelo Dundee, Ali’s trainer, stopped Kalinsky, telling the young man with a camera that he had to pay to enter. “But I’m the photographer for Madison Square Garden,” he said. It was a position he didn’t have…yet.

Nevertheless, he gained entry to the gym and a week later, using the one roll of film he shot of Ali in Miami, he convinced Madison Square Garden to give him a shot as their official photographer, a position he still holds today.

The encounter in Miami launched a relationship between boxer and photographer that quickly bonded into a close friendship, one that lasted through the rest of Ali’s life.

Kalinsky spent days with Ali­at the Garden for his fights, at Ali’s Deer Lake training camp, and at other facilities where the boxer prepared for bouts. Sometimes they would just walk the streets of New York City together. Kalinsky once remarked that Ali always thought of himself as an entertainer, a salesman, and a fighter and the photographer recorded it all— in the ring and out of it. Kalinsky saw Ali win and he saw him lose. But he also saw the side of Muhammed Ali that the boxer wrote about in his memoir, The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life’s Journey (2013).

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” Ali said many times in reference to his fighting. His stinging punch was, like a bee, fast and direct. But he likened his soul to a butterfly—a wonder of nature with delicate beauty and grace.

Tributes poured in after Muhammad Ali died. Billy Crystal eulogized that Ali’s “intense light shined on America and we were able to see clearly: injustice, inequality, poverty, pride, self-realization, courage, laughter, love, joy, and religious freedom for all.”

President Obama remarked that Ali had become a “powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world...Muhammad Ali shook up the world.

And the world is better for it.”

This collection of images brings to life the many sides of Muhammad Ali as seen through the lens of a long-standing friend.

All Quotes by Muhammed Ali

I am the greatest! I’m pretty!

If you talk jive, you’ll drop in five!

I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!

You can’t hit what you can’t see!

Previous Spread: Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier at Frazier’s gym in Philadelphia. February 1971 Above: Muhammed Ali in Miami, Florida. C. 1974 Opposite: Muhammad Ali before fighting Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium. September 1976

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.

Muhammad Ali relaxing at his training camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. C. 1976

I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.

Ali defeats Oscar Bonavena by TKO at Madison Square Garden. December 1970

I don’t count the sit-ups. I start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. They’re what makes you a champion.

Previous Spread: Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali while sparring in Joe’s Philadelphia gym. February 1971 Opposite: Muhammad Ali training at Deer Lake. C. 1976 Above: Muhammad Ali with Dizzie Gillespie at Deer Lake. C. 1972

At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.

Above: Muhammad Ali in a New York City hotel while training for the Folley fight. March 1967 Opposite: Ali at Deer Lake. C. 1972

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

Previous Spread: Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali. This is one of Kalinsky’s first photos of Ali. December 1965 Opposite: Muhammad Ali playing around with “The Kid”. C. 1967 Above: Muhammad Ali in a reflective pose. C. 1976

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Opposite: One of the first photos of Ali taken at 5th Street Gym. December 1965 Above: Muhammad Ali is named “Sportsman of the Century� by Sports Illustrated. December 1999

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