In fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
Sugar Ray Leonard was as close as anyone came after Ali to being Ali, but he wasn't Ali. 
I just can't believe all the things I did that decade.
If I got paid, it was no more than five dollars a column, and I still think I was overpaid.
I worked with Rocky Graziano and Rocky was certainly a character.
My top three were Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain and Bo Jackson. 
Cliches and adjectives permeated my prose. 
Golf is a bloodless sport-if you don't count ulcers. 
Sportswriters have changed more than sportswriting. 
My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down. 
I began learning the sportswriting business very early in life. 
I wanted to be a sportswriter because I loved sports and I could not hit the curve ball, the jump shot, or the opposing ball carrier. 