By Anthony Caruso III
Publisher
National Football League Hall of Famer John Madden‘s son is in the process of buying Muhammad Ali‘s former training camp in Pennsylvania. Mike Madden bought the Deer Lake, PA camp from George Dillman.
Dillman is the camp’s long-time owner and is a renowned MMA instructor. The purchase price was not disclosed.
“It’s sinking in,” Dillman said. “I’ll be heart-broken, but it’s time to move on.”
Madden, whose father has made a lot of money off of being a former NFL player, coach, commentator and video game developer, works in real estate. Currently, there are no plans for the property.
The younger Madden would like to preserve its history.
“He’s a huge Muhammad Ali fan, huge,” Madden’s long-time agent Sandy 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.”
In early June, Ali died at 74-years-old — and bought the property in 1972. The site includes 18 log buildings, including a gym, dining hall, mosque, visitors’ cabins and a horse barn.
This location was his training camp for his final fight in 1981 — and also used it to prepare for his George Foreman and Joe Frazier fights.
Dillman has kept much of the items that was in the buildings from when Ali was there. He bought the site from The Greatest in 1997, who then turned it into a Butterfly & Bee Bed and Breakfast.
