Muhammad and LeRoy: A Friendship in Art

Felt pen drawing by Muhammad Ali. Depicted is an aerial view of Muhammad's Fighter's Heaven Training Camp in Deer Lake, Pennsylvania. Along the bottom of the paper, in LeRoy's handwritting, it states that it is an Ali sketch of his camp, and dated the paper August 4, 1972. 

Built and used by Muhammad in the 1970s, Deer Lake presents a niche part of Muhammad’s story. Though it was a retreat for him and his core group, a place off the beaten path where he trained for all or nearly all of his fights between 1972 and 1980, it was also a space that anyone could enter, to take photographs, and to meet the Champ.

 Donated to the Muhammad Ali Center in 2017 by the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation.