ALAMEDA -- When Muhammad Ali passed away Friday, the memories came to Raiders defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. in a rush.
His first thoughts were of being a 6-year-old kid, sitting in a room at the La Jolla Village Inn with his grandmother. His father, Ken Norton Sr., was fighting Ali at the nearby San Diego Sports Arena on March 31, 1973."I remember it like it was yesterday," Norton said Tuesday in an interview with the Bay Area News Group. "My father didn't allow me to go to the fights, so we had to sit around and wait for the news to get back to the hotel.