Remembering William Greaves
By Michael Kaufman
William Greaves
The penthouse suite at the Waldorf Astoria was crammed with sportswriters partaking of the open bar and sumptuous buffet provided by Jack Kent Cooke, multimillionaire owner of the Washington professional football team with a racial slur as its name. Cooke, who died in 1997, was about to announce plans for the biggest closed-circuit telecast yet to take place in the United States: the heavyweight championship fight between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden.
But before making the announcement and fielding questions he made sure the writers were well-oiled and well-fed.
Then he held court from a throne-like chair positioned above the assembled scribes. He listed the venues where the fight would be shown and said there would have been more sites if the equipment were available. The remaining details were of little interest and by the time he got around to matter-of-factly mentioning the price of tickets—well beyond what most people could comfortably afford—few were paying attention.
When he asked if anyone had any questions, one after another addressed him cordially as “J-a-a-a-ck” and lobbed a softball. I wanted to say something about the exorbitant cost of tickets but I couldn’t think of a way to put it in the form of a question. I also didn’t want to get his attention by cheerfully calling out his first name as if we were old chums. I’d never met the man and so far I didn’t like him any more than I liked George Weiss, the old-school baseball general manager who said of sportswriters, “You can buy them with a steak.” Nor did I think “Mr. Cooke” would be the appropriate form of address.
So I blurted, “Sir!”
Cooke nodded quizzically and I asked if it bothered him that the tickets were priced so high that most people wouldn’t be able to see the fight. I added something about the public demand being responsible for bringing it about in the first place.
“My name is Cooke, not Jesus Christ,” he replied, and I thought I’d made a fool of myself as he and some of the other writers enjoyed a laugh at my expense.
Later, as I was about to leave, a man walked up to me and shook my hand. He said he was making a documentary movie about Muhammad Ali and he’d like to have my permission to include my exchange with Cooke. I told him I thought I’d made a fool of myself but he said no, I’d livened things up a bit. So I signed a release for which William Greaves paid me the token sum of a dollar.
William Greaves died Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 87. According to the Associated Press obituary, he leaves behind “a vast film archive of black art and culture” that includes hundreds of movies. “One of Greaves’ most widely seen productions was ‘Ali, the Fighter,’ a documentary about the 1971 championship fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.” I am honored to be in it, albeit briefly, making a fool of myself or not as the case may be.
Michael can be reached at michael@zestoforange.com.
Tags: Jack Kent Cooke, Joe Frazier, Michael Kaufman, Muhammad Ali, William Greaves
August 29th, 2014 at 3:11 pm
Mike, this has reminded me of Shirley Povich’s wonderful description of Jim Brown’s 1960 performance against the all-white Redskins (under their former, notoriously racist owner, George Preston Marshal), to wit: “Jim Brown integrated the Redskins’ goal line with more than deliberate speed, perhaps exceeding the Supreme Court decree. Brown fled the 25 yards like a man in an uncommon hurry, and the Redskins’ goal line, at least, became interracial.”
Happy Labor Day (which we at Bard don’t get off),
Mik
August 30th, 2014 at 10:00 am
Thanks, Mik. Povich was a great sportswriter who deserves far more recognition. Meanwhile, an eagle-eyed Zest reader has pointed out via email that at the time of the above-mentioned press conference, Cooke was only a part owner of the Washington professional football team, with a 25% share. He did, however, by then own both the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team and Los Angeles Kings hockey club, not to mention the Los Angeles Forum, which he built so they would have a nice place to play. He did not become sole owner of the Washington football team until 1985.
August 30th, 2014 at 10:38 am
A few seconds of fame is much, much better than a full fifteen minutes. You get to say your piece, albeit briefly, but there’s not enough time left to get into a big bucket of trouble. And, of course, you can never make a genuine fool of yourself just by asking a question. As for Mik’s comment… well, Mik, you’ve got to EARN your day off at Bard. And this holiday does have the word “labor” in its name, right?