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Running with the Champ: My Forty-Year Friendship with Muhammad Ali
A personal tribute to the remarkable friendship between Tim Shanahan and Muhammad Ali, including dozens of never-before-told stories about Ali, his family, his entourage, and various celebrities along the way—as well as never-before-published personal photos.
In 1976 Tim Shanahan was a medical-instruments salesman living in Chicago and was associated with a charity that arranged for athletes to speak to underprivileged kids. Muhammad Ali was also living in Chicago, having just reclaimed his title as heavyweight champion of the world after defeating George Foreman and Joe Frazier (“The Thrilla in Manila”). He was at the peak of his fame and athletic skill. Shanahan contacted Ali to ask whether he would participate in the program. Not only did Ali agree, he invited Shanahan to his house and then spent several hours talking to Shanahan. It was the beginning of a forty-year friendship.
In Running with the Champ , Shanahan shares the stories of various celebrities whom Ali met over the years, such as Michael Jackson (who showed Ali and Shanahan his doll collection), Elvis Presley, John Travolta, Andy Warhol, and many others. Ali invited Shanahan to sparring sessions (and once sparred with him) and the two men would often go running together in the early morning. Shanahan accompanied Ali to his Pennsylvania training camp as the Champ prepared to fight Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, and Leon Spinks and he witnessed numerous unpublicized incidents of Ali’s generosity to people in need. When Ali moved to Los Angeles, Shanahan also relocated there. Running with the Champ is a touching, candid narrative of an extraordinary friendship that persevered through the best and worst of times.
In 1976 Tim Shanahan was a medical-instruments salesman living in Chicago and was associated with a charity that arranged for athletes to speak to underprivileged kids. Muhammad Ali was also living in Chicago, having just reclaimed his title as heavyweight champion of the world after defeating George Foreman and Joe Frazier (“The Thrilla in Manila”). He was at the peak of his fame and athletic skill. Shanahan contacted Ali to ask whether he would participate in the program. Not only did Ali agree, he invited Shanahan to his house and then spent several hours talking to Shanahan. It was the beginning of a forty-year friendship.
In Running with the Champ , Shanahan shares the stories of various celebrities whom Ali met over the years, such as Michael Jackson (who showed Ali and Shanahan his doll collection), Elvis Presley, John Travolta, Andy Warhol, and many others. Ali invited Shanahan to sparring sessions (and once sparred with him) and the two men would often go running together in the early morning. Shanahan accompanied Ali to his Pennsylvania training camp as the Champ prepared to fight Ken Norton, Earnie Shavers, and Leon Spinks and he witnessed numerous unpublicized incidents of Ali’s generosity to people in need. When Ali moved to Los Angeles, Shanahan also relocated there. Running with the Champ is a touching, candid narrative of an extraordinary friendship that persevered through the best and worst of times.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published May 10, 2016
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July 9, 2024
3rd book I got for Christmas
this was a interesting book
this was a interesting book
May 31, 2016
Amy M. Hawes, Senior Writer BCB
Here's my interview with the author, Tim Shanahan:
It takes a special kind of dignity to stand in front of the world and allow them to see the humanity behind your mythic invincibility. This was the thought resounding in my mind as I watched Muhammad Ali hold the Olympic torch with trembling hands during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. I’m sure it was a sentiment shared by many, his frailty and strength piercingly vivid. Revealing a beloved, yet imperfect man.
In Running With the Champ Tim Shanahan, lifelong friend of Muhammad Ali, amplifies this vision of him in a metaphoric sense. Adding in many personal stories and private photographs, which serve to make the portrait of Ali more compelling and honest. This is a story that speaks from and to the heart.
When they meet for the first time in 1976, Shanahan, a medical device salesman who would like Ali to come speak at an event for children, is clearly overawed and their interactions start off on noticeably uneven footing. Mr. Shanahan, at first, seems to be willing to do anything to be in Mr. Ali’s life. Yet, as the relationship deepens it becomes obvious what a special friendship they share.
Running With the Champ made me laugh, cry, and wonder. It also sparked great late night conversations with my husband, accompanied by watching lots of Ali footage on YouTube! It’s with tremendous enthusiasm that I share BCB’s interview with Tim Shanahan.
Amy M. Hawes: Tim, thank you for visiting with Book Club Babble to talk about your recently released book, Running With the Champ, which covers your decades-long friendship with Muhammad Ali. I can only imagine publishers would have been interested in your unique perspective on Ali long before you actually wrote the book. What was the pivotal factor in your decision to put pen to paper, or more accurately, fingertips to keyboard?
Tim Shanahan: I helped Hana Ali, Ali’s daughter with his third wife Veronica, with her book. She said that I should write my own book since I have such great stories about her dad. I asked two friends, George Foreman and Dick Enberg, and they both said that the world needed to hear about the depth of the Greatest’s character through the eyes of a good friend. That’s what made me decide to write the book.
AH: In the opening chapters of Running With the Champ, you seem nervous to say or do anything that might cause Ali to decide not to spend time with you. The relationship, at first, seems lopsided. Can you remember when it started to feel different? When you felt like you were truly friends?
TS: When he asked Helga and I to come to his house to watch the final episode of Roots. He had asked Helga if she would cook another dinner for everyone. Then he made a fire and brought the kitchen TV into the living room and placed it in front of the fireplace. And, we watched Roots just like millions of other families around the country were doing. WOW! That is the day that I knew we were close friends, not just Ali and I, but, Helga, Veronica, Ali and me. I also often said that without the four of us, I doubt if there would have been the two of us–Ali and myself.
AH: There are many times you had to walk the line between being a supportive friend and not wanting Muhammad to get taken advantage of by those who were less kind-hearted than you are. And, it seems, on those occasions where you did voice some concern over his decisions he had a tendency to lash out at you. How difficult was it to maintain the balance between loving concern and respecting his decisions?
TS: I felt that our friendship wasn’t on firm ground when once I told Ali, “I know you and you would never want to do that.” He responded, “You think that you know me, but you don’t know me. Nobody knows me. You don’t know what I will do or say. I don’t even always know that. Do you think that you are God and know what I will say? You ain’t God.” Then the next day, despite my concern, it was as if nothing ever happened between us.
AH: I loved how you didn’t hide Ali’s desire to show-off–whether flaunting his relationships with famous people like Diana Ross, or making sure you noticed the elevator in his house. Then when you describe his acts of incredible generosity–sending money to any relative who asked for it, or paying full price for cars and real estate because, “they’ve got to make a living, too,” his actions seem more real because you’ve shown us that he is complex. That he is human. Because Ali was (and is) such a close friend, how were you able to mitigate your love for him with your desire to tell an honest story?
TS: When I tell my story about Muhammad Ali it is all about love and honesty. He loves all people and he is searching for the wisdom to use his fame in the best way possible to help all people in the world who need his help. Ali has no problem with the truth because he is the most truthful person. He loves people and he wants to help all the people in the world.
AH: The close relationships between you, your wife Helga, Ali and his wife at the time, Veronica, reveal an entirely different side of Muhammad Ali, where he is a friend, a husband, and a father. Yet, the strength of his personality always seems to make him the perpetually dominant force in interpersonal relationships. Did the rest of you just accept that’s who he is?
TS: Yes. Muhammad Ali is larger than life. He has the utmost sincerity and integrity. He is the most spiritual person, on another level than the average man. When we are in his presence, it is like being in the presence of the POPE. That is the best way I can describe it. Yes, Veronica, Helga and I knew that when we were with Ali we were in the presence of GREATNESS.
AH: There are many examples of Ali’s generosity and kindness in Running With the Champ. Is there one story that is your personal favorite?
TS: There was a Jewish old people’s home in the Bronx that was bankrupt and was about to close down and would put about 50 elderly Jewish people on the street. Ali saw the news report on CNN, contacted the home, and wrote out a check for $100,000 to keep the home open. He said, “We are all children of God–black, white, brown, Muslims, Jews and Christians. We all love the same God.”
AH: You discuss the night Helga met Muhammad for the first time and you asked her what she thought about him. She replied, “He’s so full of love.” It’s almost ironic that a man who made his living in the boxing arena and who was famous for the biting taunts he directed at his opponents, would be so “full of love.” It had me wondering if maybe that was the origin for the taunting. Meaning, he had to purposely rile up his opponent so he could rile up himself enough to go into a different, competitive, non-compassionate mode. Do you think there’s any truth to that?
TS: Yes. This is exactly why he promoted his fights the way he did. After Liston, he thought that he would have to keep up his promotion as the braggart, who was predicting rounds in which his opponents would fall. He did it to 1. Cause 50% of the people come to the fight to see him lose and 50% come to see him win. 2. He needed a challenge–something to motivate him to train hard, because he hated training. He would insult his opponent to motivate himself.
AH: When you accompany Ali to Deer Lake, where his training facilities are, there are other friends there who don’t seem to be true friends at all–they often take advantage of Ali’s generosity and some may have been scamming him. I don’t think I came across an explanation in the book of why you think Muhammad allowed these kinds of characters to stay around him. Have you thought about this?
TS: All of these people served a purpose in Ali’s grand scheme of things. These are people who needed a job, needed some recognition, people who bathed in Ali’s limelight. They had one thing in common–they all loved Ali, whether they were good, bad or ugly. They all loved Ali! Muhammad knew this and took them into his fold to be part of all of his preparations for his fights. Ali knew that only he could make these people feel special by bringing them into in his camp. He said, “I never look down on people who look up to me.” And, besides that, training could be boring. By having all these different people around, he could train and have fun.
AH: You use fairly simple language to describe the fight against Larry Holmes, when Ali loses his title, but it still brought me to tears. Was it absolutely heart-wrenching to be there? Can you tell us more about how it felt to be so powerless to avert this disaster?
TS: Yes, it was heart-wrenching and the night before Ali left L.A. to fly to Deer Lake, PA, to open his training camp for the Holmes fight, I cried myself to sleep, sobbing for more than an hour. But, when Muhammad makes up his mind to do something, he spends 24 hours a day justifying his decision and he is very good at it. He did it for the money, $8 million, period. He told me, “Wouldn’t you do it for the money if you knew that you could take care of your family and friends for years to come?”
AH: At one point in the book, you visit a Hollywood psychic who says, “You and Muhammad Ali are friends because you both communicate on a higher spiritual level, Muhammad has befriended you because he sees in you what he sees in himself: a pure heart.” After reading the story of your friendship with Ali, even as a stranger who doesn’t know either one of you, this statement resonates with truth. How special is it to be friends not just with a person but also with that person’s beautiful soul?
TS: I don’t want to come across as arrogant, but, to me it feels natural, the way it should be. It was the way I felt about five minutes after meeting Muhammad. I was singing Smokey Robinson in high falsetto. After I finished, Ali tells me, “White boy, you had to be a nigga’ in your previous life.” He would then, in future introductions, introduce me as his cousin, saying, “He looks white doesn’t he? He’s been passin’ for years. This is my cousin, Tim Shanahan.” I really did feel like his cousin, or at least some close connection to the spiritual soul of the Greatest.
AH: Thanks again, Tim, for spending some time with Book Club Babble. We wish you every success with Running With the Champ!
Here's my interview with the author, Tim Shanahan:
It takes a special kind of dignity to stand in front of the world and allow them to see the humanity behind your mythic invincibility. This was the thought resounding in my mind as I watched Muhammad Ali hold the Olympic torch with trembling hands during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. I’m sure it was a sentiment shared by many, his frailty and strength piercingly vivid. Revealing a beloved, yet imperfect man.
In Running With the Champ Tim Shanahan, lifelong friend of Muhammad Ali, amplifies this vision of him in a metaphoric sense. Adding in many personal stories and private photographs, which serve to make the portrait of Ali more compelling and honest. This is a story that speaks from and to the heart.
When they meet for the first time in 1976, Shanahan, a medical device salesman who would like Ali to come speak at an event for children, is clearly overawed and their interactions start off on noticeably uneven footing. Mr. Shanahan, at first, seems to be willing to do anything to be in Mr. Ali’s life. Yet, as the relationship deepens it becomes obvious what a special friendship they share.
Running With the Champ made me laugh, cry, and wonder. It also sparked great late night conversations with my husband, accompanied by watching lots of Ali footage on YouTube! It’s with tremendous enthusiasm that I share BCB’s interview with Tim Shanahan.
Amy M. Hawes: Tim, thank you for visiting with Book Club Babble to talk about your recently released book, Running With the Champ, which covers your decades-long friendship with Muhammad Ali. I can only imagine publishers would have been interested in your unique perspective on Ali long before you actually wrote the book. What was the pivotal factor in your decision to put pen to paper, or more accurately, fingertips to keyboard?
Tim Shanahan: I helped Hana Ali, Ali’s daughter with his third wife Veronica, with her book. She said that I should write my own book since I have such great stories about her dad. I asked two friends, George Foreman and Dick Enberg, and they both said that the world needed to hear about the depth of the Greatest’s character through the eyes of a good friend. That’s what made me decide to write the book.
AH: In the opening chapters of Running With the Champ, you seem nervous to say or do anything that might cause Ali to decide not to spend time with you. The relationship, at first, seems lopsided. Can you remember when it started to feel different? When you felt like you were truly friends?
TS: When he asked Helga and I to come to his house to watch the final episode of Roots. He had asked Helga if she would cook another dinner for everyone. Then he made a fire and brought the kitchen TV into the living room and placed it in front of the fireplace. And, we watched Roots just like millions of other families around the country were doing. WOW! That is the day that I knew we were close friends, not just Ali and I, but, Helga, Veronica, Ali and me. I also often said that without the four of us, I doubt if there would have been the two of us–Ali and myself.
AH: There are many times you had to walk the line between being a supportive friend and not wanting Muhammad to get taken advantage of by those who were less kind-hearted than you are. And, it seems, on those occasions where you did voice some concern over his decisions he had a tendency to lash out at you. How difficult was it to maintain the balance between loving concern and respecting his decisions?
TS: I felt that our friendship wasn’t on firm ground when once I told Ali, “I know you and you would never want to do that.” He responded, “You think that you know me, but you don’t know me. Nobody knows me. You don’t know what I will do or say. I don’t even always know that. Do you think that you are God and know what I will say? You ain’t God.” Then the next day, despite my concern, it was as if nothing ever happened between us.
AH: I loved how you didn’t hide Ali’s desire to show-off–whether flaunting his relationships with famous people like Diana Ross, or making sure you noticed the elevator in his house. Then when you describe his acts of incredible generosity–sending money to any relative who asked for it, or paying full price for cars and real estate because, “they’ve got to make a living, too,” his actions seem more real because you’ve shown us that he is complex. That he is human. Because Ali was (and is) such a close friend, how were you able to mitigate your love for him with your desire to tell an honest story?
TS: When I tell my story about Muhammad Ali it is all about love and honesty. He loves all people and he is searching for the wisdom to use his fame in the best way possible to help all people in the world who need his help. Ali has no problem with the truth because he is the most truthful person. He loves people and he wants to help all the people in the world.
AH: The close relationships between you, your wife Helga, Ali and his wife at the time, Veronica, reveal an entirely different side of Muhammad Ali, where he is a friend, a husband, and a father. Yet, the strength of his personality always seems to make him the perpetually dominant force in interpersonal relationships. Did the rest of you just accept that’s who he is?
TS: Yes. Muhammad Ali is larger than life. He has the utmost sincerity and integrity. He is the most spiritual person, on another level than the average man. When we are in his presence, it is like being in the presence of the POPE. That is the best way I can describe it. Yes, Veronica, Helga and I knew that when we were with Ali we were in the presence of GREATNESS.
AH: There are many examples of Ali’s generosity and kindness in Running With the Champ. Is there one story that is your personal favorite?
TS: There was a Jewish old people’s home in the Bronx that was bankrupt and was about to close down and would put about 50 elderly Jewish people on the street. Ali saw the news report on CNN, contacted the home, and wrote out a check for $100,000 to keep the home open. He said, “We are all children of God–black, white, brown, Muslims, Jews and Christians. We all love the same God.”
AH: You discuss the night Helga met Muhammad for the first time and you asked her what she thought about him. She replied, “He’s so full of love.” It’s almost ironic that a man who made his living in the boxing arena and who was famous for the biting taunts he directed at his opponents, would be so “full of love.” It had me wondering if maybe that was the origin for the taunting. Meaning, he had to purposely rile up his opponent so he could rile up himself enough to go into a different, competitive, non-compassionate mode. Do you think there’s any truth to that?
TS: Yes. This is exactly why he promoted his fights the way he did. After Liston, he thought that he would have to keep up his promotion as the braggart, who was predicting rounds in which his opponents would fall. He did it to 1. Cause 50% of the people come to the fight to see him lose and 50% come to see him win. 2. He needed a challenge–something to motivate him to train hard, because he hated training. He would insult his opponent to motivate himself.
AH: When you accompany Ali to Deer Lake, where his training facilities are, there are other friends there who don’t seem to be true friends at all–they often take advantage of Ali’s generosity and some may have been scamming him. I don’t think I came across an explanation in the book of why you think Muhammad allowed these kinds of characters to stay around him. Have you thought about this?
TS: All of these people served a purpose in Ali’s grand scheme of things. These are people who needed a job, needed some recognition, people who bathed in Ali’s limelight. They had one thing in common–they all loved Ali, whether they were good, bad or ugly. They all loved Ali! Muhammad knew this and took them into his fold to be part of all of his preparations for his fights. Ali knew that only he could make these people feel special by bringing them into in his camp. He said, “I never look down on people who look up to me.” And, besides that, training could be boring. By having all these different people around, he could train and have fun.
AH: You use fairly simple language to describe the fight against Larry Holmes, when Ali loses his title, but it still brought me to tears. Was it absolutely heart-wrenching to be there? Can you tell us more about how it felt to be so powerless to avert this disaster?
TS: Yes, it was heart-wrenching and the night before Ali left L.A. to fly to Deer Lake, PA, to open his training camp for the Holmes fight, I cried myself to sleep, sobbing for more than an hour. But, when Muhammad makes up his mind to do something, he spends 24 hours a day justifying his decision and he is very good at it. He did it for the money, $8 million, period. He told me, “Wouldn’t you do it for the money if you knew that you could take care of your family and friends for years to come?”
AH: At one point in the book, you visit a Hollywood psychic who says, “You and Muhammad Ali are friends because you both communicate on a higher spiritual level, Muhammad has befriended you because he sees in you what he sees in himself: a pure heart.” After reading the story of your friendship with Ali, even as a stranger who doesn’t know either one of you, this statement resonates with truth. How special is it to be friends not just with a person but also with that person’s beautiful soul?
TS: I don’t want to come across as arrogant, but, to me it feels natural, the way it should be. It was the way I felt about five minutes after meeting Muhammad. I was singing Smokey Robinson in high falsetto. After I finished, Ali tells me, “White boy, you had to be a nigga’ in your previous life.” He would then, in future introductions, introduce me as his cousin, saying, “He looks white doesn’t he? He’s been passin’ for years. This is my cousin, Tim Shanahan.” I really did feel like his cousin, or at least some close connection to the spiritual soul of the Greatest.
AH: Thanks again, Tim, for spending some time with Book Club Babble. We wish you every success with Running With the Champ!
July 8, 2017
I received a copy of this book for free through a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.
"Running with the Champ" both a memoir or Tim Shanahan and a biography of sorts of Muhammad Ali. I enjoyed the lesser known stories throughout...that were lesser known because only Tim was there with Ali. It's a good companion piece to anyone that wants to know more about Ali while out of the spotlight. Plenty of good stories and private moments between a close friend and Ali.
There is no controversy in the book and Shanahan doesn't cover those parts of Ali's life. He came into Ali's life after the Army draft time and makes little or no mention about any other negatives in Ali's life. That's not surprising given that they were close friends. The book was published in May 2016 originally, and Ali died on June 3rd 2016, so there is no mention of his death in the book. I would have liked to see a new passage from Shanahan in this paperback version printed in May 2017.
All that said, I'd certainly recommend to any Ali fan...while not a tell all about Ali's life, it still includes a multitude of previously unrevealed and untold events and stories. And very well done.
"Running with the Champ" both a memoir or Tim Shanahan and a biography of sorts of Muhammad Ali. I enjoyed the lesser known stories throughout...that were lesser known because only Tim was there with Ali. It's a good companion piece to anyone that wants to know more about Ali while out of the spotlight. Plenty of good stories and private moments between a close friend and Ali.
There is no controversy in the book and Shanahan doesn't cover those parts of Ali's life. He came into Ali's life after the Army draft time and makes little or no mention about any other negatives in Ali's life. That's not surprising given that they were close friends. The book was published in May 2016 originally, and Ali died on June 3rd 2016, so there is no mention of his death in the book. I would have liked to see a new passage from Shanahan in this paperback version printed in May 2017.
All that said, I'd certainly recommend to any Ali fan...while not a tell all about Ali's life, it still includes a multitude of previously unrevealed and untold events and stories. And very well done.
June 9, 2017
I enjoyed getting a glimpse into Muhammad Ali's life through the eyes of his longtime friend, the author, Tim Shanahan. This really helped to view Ali as a person and not just a famous athlete. There are many wonderful photographs scattered throughout the book. It was a touching tribute to "the Greatest."
I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. Yay!
I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. Yay!
June 11, 2017
A Goodreads Giveaway. A good biography of Ali and his friendship with the author. The story has many parts revealing the nonpublic Ali. An easy read but some time disjointed as it jumps around time wise.
July 4, 2017
Another book about Ali and mostly all the things we have read before but still a good book. A great career of a man who lived a full life and enjoyed life to it's fullest.
December 24, 2022
Having recently paying a visit to the restored Deer Lake training camp this book brought a lot of insight into the days Ali spent training for some of his biggest fights, as well as about his life
September 18, 2016
Whether you liked Ali or not, I think most would agree he was unique. I enjoyed reading about his life from this author's perspective and his long-standing relationship with Ali. Tim Shanahan has had many opportunities to meet many celebrities in his life, not only through Ali and there are plenty of interesting antidotes. I also liked all of the personal pictures included in the book.
The book does bounce around back and forth throughout the years and I think the flow would have been improved if it was told in chronological order. Also, there were too many times I thought the author was spelling out to the reader what a close friend he was to Ali which really was not necessary, as his forty year relationship spoke for itself.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
The book does bounce around back and forth throughout the years and I think the flow would have been improved if it was told in chronological order. Also, there were too many times I thought the author was spelling out to the reader what a close friend he was to Ali which really was not necessary, as his forty year relationship spoke for itself.
I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
June 10, 2016
Thank you NetGalley for giving me an opportunity to review this book. It was a coincidence that I received this book to review just a day before the death of Muhammad Ali.
This book is 40 years of record of friendship between Tim Shanahan and Muhammad Ali. Tim was a sales rep and he met Muhammad Ali with regard to one charity event. Tim has given account of their friendship. Tim met various athletes, Hollywood and other famous personalities.
This is the first book I read about Muhammad Ali. There are few rare photographs from the life of Muhammad Ali. Also few incidences gave an insiders perspective to Muhammad's Life.
However, it appears that Tim has made an effort to avoid talking about controversies in the life of Muhammad Ali. Also at few places, I felt the connection is lost between two events. If it would have been in chronological order it would have been great to review. However, this small thing do not affect the book.
The book is interesting.
This book is 40 years of record of friendship between Tim Shanahan and Muhammad Ali. Tim was a sales rep and he met Muhammad Ali with regard to one charity event. Tim has given account of their friendship. Tim met various athletes, Hollywood and other famous personalities.
This is the first book I read about Muhammad Ali. There are few rare photographs from the life of Muhammad Ali. Also few incidences gave an insiders perspective to Muhammad's Life.
However, it appears that Tim has made an effort to avoid talking about controversies in the life of Muhammad Ali. Also at few places, I felt the connection is lost between two events. If it would have been in chronological order it would have been great to review. However, this small thing do not affect the book.
The book is interesting.
December 18, 2016
Tim Shanahan's account of his long running friendship with The Greatest is engaging and insightful. It enables you to feel what it was like, not just to be close to Muhammad Ali, but to be Muhammad Ali.
Shanahan mostly refrains from being overly worshipful, and he gives you a strong sense of Ali as an exceptional human being - one who developed a bond with Shanahan simply because he liked him and Shanahan asked little to nothing in return. Throughout the book, you get the sense that Ali judged people he met not by their color or fame but by the content of their character - which worked out well for Shanahan because he definitely not black nor was he rich or well connected.
The author - through writing partner Chuck Crisafulli - writes warmly and in an unadorned, straightforward fashion. I can easily recommend their book.
Shanahan mostly refrains from being overly worshipful, and he gives you a strong sense of Ali as an exceptional human being - one who developed a bond with Shanahan simply because he liked him and Shanahan asked little to nothing in return. Throughout the book, you get the sense that Ali judged people he met not by their color or fame but by the content of their character - which worked out well for Shanahan because he definitely not black nor was he rich or well connected.
The author - through writing partner Chuck Crisafulli - writes warmly and in an unadorned, straightforward fashion. I can easily recommend their book.
February 5, 2017
I found this to be a very fascinating read because it focused on Ali as a person vs. the celebrity persona. It showed a different side of Ali than the one I grew up hearing about and after reading it, I feel as though I have a much better understanding of Muhammed Ali as a person. I also have a great deal of respect for him, as well. I would recommend this book. It's a light, easy read and a fun read, to boot.
January 12, 2017
Running with the Champ by Tim Shanahan is a incredibly detailed insight into the life of the Champion Muhammad Ali, through the eyes of one of his greatest friends.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mkw...
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mkw...
August 21, 2016
I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about what Muhammad Ali was like in his private life.
August 12, 2016
I've been an Ali fan for a very long time, so I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about his long and interesting life. Thanks to Goodreads for this good read!
July 30, 2016
I won this book, yet never received a copy. What gives.
August 9, 2016
I have always liked Ali. I like him even more now because Shanahan showed the human, non-celebrity side of Ali. Because Parkinson's runs in my family, I found this very therapeutic, as well.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews