DEER LAKE, Pa. — One of Schuylkill County's claims to fame is being a home away from home for boxing legend Muhammad Ali. The champ's training camp – Fighter's Heaven in Deer Lake – has become an attraction over the years. On Monday, it hosted a special guest: Mike Love, lead singer of the Beach Boys.
Ali spent much of his heavyweight boxing career training in Schuylkill County.
"As I sit here, I remember Muhammad training in the gym, and the gym would be packed, and all the press would be here from all over the world. It's a great feeling; it's a good recall for me," said Ali's business manager Gene Kilroy.
Kilroy brought Ali to the facility near his hometown of Mahanoy City to build his dream boxing camp in the early 1970s.
Now, one of Muhammad Ali's friends, the lead singer of the beach boys, made a pit stop at Fighter's Heaven while touring in Pennsylvania.
"He was still Cassius Clay back in the early '60s, and we invited him to join us, as Muhammad Ali, of course, in 1988 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction of the Beach Boys in 1988."
Mike Love wanted to see Muhammad Ali's personally designed training camp Fighter's Heaven, which is now restored as a museum outside Orwigsburg.
Kilroy was happy to oblige.
"It's his own creation. He wanted a gym out of logs; we did this. He wanted cabins for everybody. It was his own creation. He was happy here than anywhere in the world," Kilroy said.
"It's very unusual to find a place like this part of history and is great when people in history are so noteworthy such as Muhammad Ali; it is great to honor that history," Love said.
This site is not only important to the history of Schuylkill County but to the history of boxing.
"If you haven't been here, try and schedule it because it's really a great camp, and a lot of history was made here," Love said. "It's really neat to see it in person."
After touring Fighter's Heaven, Mike Love plans to head to Wilkes-Barre for a show Tuesday night at the Kirby Center.
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