DEER LAKE, Pa.—The son of NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden is buying Muhammad Ali’s former training camp in Pennsylvania.
The camp’s longtime owner, renowned martial arts instructor George Dillman, sold the rustic hilltop camp in Deer Lake to Mike Madden.
The purchase price was not disclosed.
“It’s sinking in. I'll be heartbroken, but it’s time to move on,” Dillman told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Mike Madden, a real estate developer, has no immediate plans for the property beyond making sure its history is preserved, said Sandy Montag, John Madden’s longtime agent.
“He’s a huge Muhammad Ali fan. Huge,” Montag said. “He will preserve the history that is there and supplement that. Muhammad Ali was the greatest of all time and a place like this should be preserved.”
Ali who died last month, bought the wooded 5-acre tract in 1972 and installed 18 primarily log buildings, including a gym, a dining hall, a mosque, visitors cabins and a horse barn. He trained at Deer Lake until his last fight in 1981, using it to prepare for his major bouts against George Foreman and Joe Frazier.
