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Great article on Arum's history as a promoter.
Everything was going great until the day before Knievel's jump, when vendors abruptly raised the price of beer. The crowd of more than 15,000 that had gathered near the canyon's rim became unruly. Stands were looted, and people charged the television trucks. Alarmed, Arum assigned two Native Americans working on his staff to serve as scouts -- yes, scouts -- to bring back reports of what was going on in the crowd.
As the unrest increased, so did Arum's uneasiness. Finally, at 3 a.m., Arum had seen enough. He went into one of the trailers organizers had parked on the site and, he says, snorted a small packet of *******. When he emerged, he says, he ordered his security staff, already armed with handguns, to shoot into the crowd. "Thank God they didn't listen to me," says Arum. "My life might have turned out totally different."
Of course, different is just the word to describe Arum's life. This is a man, after all, who felt the need to be smuggled out of Germany and into Switzerland after the Ali-Richard Dunn fight in Munich in 1976 to avoid a lawsuit. This is a man who says he once partied with Ali in Mexico and watched as the boxer took six women up to his room while Arum took one. A few hours later, Arum says, Ali's adviser, John Ali, came to his door and said Muhammad wanted his girl, too. This, finally, is a man who married his second wife, Sybil, because he read Shogun and "decided I wanted to marry a Japanese broad."
As the unrest increased, so did Arum's uneasiness. Finally, at 3 a.m., Arum had seen enough. He went into one of the trailers organizers had parked on the site and, he says, snorted a small packet of *******. When he emerged, he says, he ordered his security staff, already armed with handguns, to shoot into the crowd. "Thank God they didn't listen to me," says Arum. "My life might have turned out totally different."
Of course, different is just the word to describe Arum's life. This is a man, after all, who felt the need to be smuggled out of Germany and into Switzerland after the Ali-Richard Dunn fight in Munich in 1976 to avoid a lawsuit. This is a man who says he once partied with Ali in Mexico and watched as the boxer took six women up to his room while Arum took one. A few hours later, Arum says, Ali's adviser, John Ali, came to his door and said Muhammad wanted his girl, too. This, finally, is a man who married his second wife, Sybil, because he read Shogun and "decided I wanted to marry a Japanese broad."
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