Tom Archdeacon: Harrison Twp. man saved Muhammad Ali when Ali came to save him

The 74-year-old Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital where he was treated for respiratory problems linked to his long battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Although Nored was involved in amateur boxing in Cincinnati at about the time the Louisville-raised Ali – then known as Cassius Clay – was culminating his amateur career with a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, the two didn’t really meet until 1990.

The result was one of the most monumental – and until three years ago – least known accomplishments in Ali’s storied life.

On Aug. 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and eventually thousands of foreign nationals — including Nored, a former U.S. Marine who had worked 16 years at Wright Patterson AFB and then was on temporary assignment with the Army Corps of Engineers in Kuwait — were brought to Iraq under the guise that they would then be allowed to leave through Jordan.

Instead, they ended up confined to Baghdad as so-called “guests” of Saddam’s regime.

While many were simply detained in the city, hundreds of others were turned into human shields as they were confined and sometimes chained to factories, oil refineries and military installations that Saddam feared would end up the targets in air strikes.

Because he had defied both President George H.W. Bush and the United Nations, Saddam feared military reprisal and that prompted him to turn several American detainees without special governmental connections into bargaining chips.

In part because he had a diplomatic passport, Nored was told to stay in the U.S. embassy.

But just as he’d done for a couple of clandestine weeks in Kuwait – before he was roughed up by Iraq troops and sent on to Baghdad — Nored set out to covertly gather intelligence and send it to government officials back home.

As weeks turned into months, the situation grew more dire. Some hostages were in poor health and 15 remained as shields. That’s when a peace group headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark contacted Ali to see if he could help try to avert war and save the detainee

Although his effort initially was criticized by Bush’s White House and many in the media —and even though he already was struggling mightily with his Parkinson’s – Ali pushed on bravely and defiantly.

He got to Baghdad on Day 113 of the hostage situation. At first denied access to Saddam, Ali was embraced by Nored, who became something of his protector.

Still the most famous man on the planet, Ali spent his first days in Baghdad walking among the adoring crowds, visiting schools and praying at mosques

“He was very congenial and affable and really gave himself to the people,” Nored said. “Hoards of people followed him everywhere seeking autographs and wanting to talk.

“He’d step out of his hotel room and people would be in the hallway and the hotel lobby and up and down the street. They would forcibly stop his car to talk. And every time he would get out, shake their hands, tell stories and do magic tricks.

“He’d be eating and have to have his meal warmed three and four times over because another 50 people would come through the door to talk and he’d always oblige.”

Ali pushed himself so much and the delays dragged on so long that he got deathly ill when he ran out of his Parkinson’s medicine.

“He was rendered helpless,” Nored said. “He was confined to bed in his hotel room. He couldn’t stand and could barely speak.

“His aides ran around like a bunch of dingbats. They didn’t know their (rear ends) from a hole in the ground… I decided I had to do whatever I could to pull Ali’s fat out of the fire.”

No one knew where to get any medicine until Nored secretly found Irish doctors in a Baghdad hospital who could help. In return, all they wanted was a photo with their hero.

Ali’s tireless effort and the way he was beloved by the Iraq people eventually held sway with Saddam. The two met, and by the time their session ended, Ali had secured the release of the 15 hostages.

A couple of weeks later Nored and the remaining detainees were allowed to leave and soon after Operation Desert Storm’s bombing of Baghdad began.

The story was mostly forgotten until it was revived in a 2013 ESPN Film 30 for 30 Short called “Ali: The Mission.” It was narrated by John Legend, the 10-time Grammy winning musician from Springfield.

The film – which features Nored prominently – ends with footage of various hostages thanking Ali afterward.

But to an aide, the three-time heavyweight champ is heard whispering: “They don’t owe me nuthin’.”

That was followed with something he said earlier in his career: “I don’t need publicity for helping people. Then it’s no longer sincere.”

But hostage George Charcales knew who was responsible and after their Freedom Flight home landed at JFK Airport in New York, he spoke to Ali for everyone: “You literally saved my life.”

Nored – whom I interviewed and wrote some of this about in 2013, as well – said Ali showed himself to be an extraordinary man.

“He really showed me his colors through all this,” Nored said again Saturday. “His patience, his affability, the way he truly cared for people was the absolute opposite of the violence you find in his sport.

“He was really a great statesman. Really a great man.

“I wish I had taken my sons to meet him before he passed. He’s somebody I wanted them to know.”