I stood there and watched the people in the line-up.
It was the 1997 National in Cleveland. The line-up had formed to get an autograph of Muhammad Ali.
The previous year in Anaheim, I was one of them. I stood in line, my heart pumping, the adrenaline making me feel light as a feather but with my feet filled with lead and nailed to the ground.
I had met numerous celebrities by this point in my life, and even had a cup of coffee as a pro football player.
But meeting Muhammad Ali was different. It was like an out of body experience.
When Ali arrived at the show in Cleveland, he got a huge ovation from everyone at the show – not just the people in line, but everyone. Before he took his seat to sign, he did a magic trick. He made a pink handkerchief disappear. He wasn’t exactly Shin Lim, but he was good, and it was a fun thing for him to do for his fans in line.
As I watched the people in line in Cleveland, I remembered getting the champ’s autograph the year before. He signed an 8×10 for me. He smiled at me. Parkinson’s had swallowed his voice, but his eyes said everything. His hands weren’t exactly steady, but his signature was clean and impeccable.
The experience might have lasted 30, or maybe 60, or maybe 90 seconds. The memory makes it feel like it lasted for an afternoon.
After getting the signature, I exchanged a hello with Harlan Werner. I had met him when he was running a football card company called AW Sports. AW stood for All-World, and they had CFL and NFL licenses in the early 1990s. He was Ali’s personal handler and looked after all of his memorabilia and appearances.
Werner had found his niche. He had been involved in the business end of the hobby since the age of 13. Representing retired athletes in the industry had become his niche.
In 1997, in Cleveland, I spotted Werner as I watched the line.
Meanwhile, one by one, collectors were leaving with their autographed photos and this look on their faces. If a five-year-old meeting Santa Claus at the mall, going to the Vatican and being blessed by the Pope, or meeting Elvis or the Beatles would have been a 10, this was an 11. That look and that feeling that every single collector walked away with was the same. It was like a religious-experience-and-a-half, if there is such a thing.
Ali continued doing shows, and his relationship with Werner grew. They were in Cleveland again for the 2001 National.
Parkinson’s was attacking Ali, but like he did when he fought, he was in rope-a-dope mode and absorbing its punches. He had gone downhill a bit in the four years between Cleveland shows, but the smile and the twinkle in his eyes were still there.
For Werner, his memories with Ali are his fondest in a lifetime of being a collector, a shop owner, a show promoter, an industry executive, and an agent.
“He loved to do shows, especially the National,” Werner said. “He loved the National because there were so many star athletes there. He thrived off the crowd. The bigger the crowd, the more he enjoyed it. And the National gave him the biggest crowd.”
In Cleveland, Werner said that Ali went to the airport two hours early, just so he could meet people and sign autographs.
While the show seems like the entire experience for the collector, the National was only a piece of a weekend with Ali at the event.
“We were staying at the Ritz Carlton in downtown Cleveland, and we were in his room,” Werner recalled. “Then there’s a knock on the door and Whoopi Goldberg comes in to say hi and visit for a while. Then there’s another person at the door and it’s Billy Idol.
“Whoopi was in town for a performance, while Billy was giving a concert. Muhammad went to the theatre to see her perform, and half of the staff ended up at the Billy Idol concert.”
After the performance, Ali and Goldberg were on her tour bus with a group, heading to Jacobs Field for the Indians game.
“We got on the bus, and there was a huge traffic jam and we weren’t moving,” Werner recalled. “So Whoopi Goldberg gets on the bus microphone and is announcing to everyone that she has Muhammad Ali on the bus and that we need to get through.”
What happened afterwards was like a seen from the movie Bruce Almighty, where Jim Carrey waved his hand to have the cars move out of the way in traffic.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Werner said. “The cars just parted like the Red Sea. Everyone got out of the way and they were chanting his name, and yelling things like ‘You’re the champ!’ It was one of those things you never forget.”
Werner did not book Ali for every National, but he did a few.
“We did the National when it made sense,” he said. “We did two Nationals in Cleveland and he had a great experience at both of them. The fans are always very passionate and so honored to meet him and get an autograph. It’s like a religious experience for them.”
Ali’s Signature
Werner said that like any athlete or celebrity, Ali’s signature evolved over time. He always took the time to write a clear signature as opposed to many of today’s athletes whose signatures are not legible.
“His signature from the 1960s is stunning, almost poetic” he said. “In the 1970s, his signature is beautiful. It’s almost feminine, very flowery and flowing.”
When Parkinsons was starting to affect Ali as the years went on, his signature went through minor changes.
“His signature varies depending on the different medications he was taking at the time when he signed,” Werner said.
Because of the medication, there were days when Ali was punding, which is a term used for someone able to do repetitive motor skill behaviors.
“When he was punding, his signature was clean, and I saw him sign about 300 in an hour,” Werner said. “Even though people would see him shaking, when he was punding, he could cut pictures out of magazines and paint and sign autographs.”
One of the frustrations that Werner experienced in his decades managing Ali and being his friend was the authentication business. He recalled one instance where someone showed him an autographed item personalized to his father, and he had a photo of Ali with his father. The autograph was sent in for authentication and it was rejected.
Werner has also had some of his own signed Ali items rejected by authenticators.
“It’s an opinion of someone sitting in a room, and that’s what it is – an opinion,” he said. “I have seen Ali sign, I don’t know, 80,000 or 100,000 autographs. Of course there are going to be differences in some of the signatures, and Muhammad’s signature would actually vary depending on the particular medication he was on at the time. Someone sitting at a desk and never going out to watch athletes sign would never consider that or think of that.”
Ali’s Favorites
While collectors who got Ali’s autograph at shows through the years hold meeting the Champ as a highlight of their collecting lives, Ali had his own icons as well.
“He loved Johnny Cash, and he loved Elvis,” Werner said. “He was into westerns and he loved Clint Eastwood. He was a huge fan. He got to meet Clint Eastwood and they became very close friends.”
Werner said Ali was also a huge wrestling fan.
“He loved wrestling,” Werner said. “He was a big fan of Gorgeous George, and then after that, he loved Hulk Hogan. He and Hulk became very good friends, and the Hogan family was always very good to him.”
Werner stayed with Ali right until the end. He handled the Champ until about six months before his 2016 passing.
“After he died, I got a call from his team and was told I had to come to Louisville,” Werner said. “I told them I couldn’t come. I was too emotional and too upset. They told me I had to be there.”
Werner went to Louisville with his friend, Tommy Chen.
“We were in the hotel room in Louisville and Tommy said, ‘Hey, you’re name’s on TV.’ I came to see what was going on and there was my name on the news with all of these other famous people, and I was listed as an honorary pallbearer. It was an incredible honor for me.”
Werner has many special memories of a lifetime in the hobby at many different levels.
But managing Muhammad Ali and booking him and taking to shows in places like Cleveland are some of the fondest in a lifetime of memories with the Champ.
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