by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today
March 25, 2025

George Foreman, surely one of the world’s most intriguing and transformative sports figures of the 20th century, died over the weekend at the age of 76. Please indulge me a few memories.

This was back when professional boxing was in its heyday. Muhammad Ali was heavyweight champion of the world for a second time. The lower weight divisions featured such skilled champions and future champs as Alex Arugello, Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran, Tommy “Hit Man” Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard.

Boxing was front page news all over the globe. Indeed, Ali was said to be the most famous person in the world and had stunned the boxing world by stopping the previously undefeated Foreman in an eighth round knockout in Kinshasa, Zaire, in October of 1974. Foreman, once an Olympic gold medalist at age 19, had won his previous 40 professional fights and few had lasted past the second round. Big George, as he was known, packed a fearsome punch.

My dealings with Foreman began in January of 1977, roughly 27 months after his Ali debacle with Foreman in the middle of a boxing comeback. At the time, I was the sports editor of my hometown newspaper in Hattiesburg when the news came that Foreman was going to fight a Puerto Rican professional named Pedro Agosto in Pensacola, just three hours away.

Right away, I applied for press credentials and was rewarded with a ringside seats at the Pensacola Civic Center. I thought I was going to cover a boxing match. It turned out more like an execution.

The mismatch was evident from the pre-fight introductions. Foreman towered over the 5-foot, 11-inch Agosto. Foreman had muscles on top of muscles, Agosto not so much. When they announced Agosto weighed 205 pounds, the New York sports writer next to me wise-cracked, “Yeah, well what is he going to weigh without his head?”

It looked entirely possible we might learn.

Foreman toyed with the smaller man for three rounds, almost like a full-grown German shepherd dealing with a tiny, yapping Shih Tzu. By the fourth round, Big George had tired of the yapping. With punches that landed like claps of thunder, Foreman knocked Agosto down three times. Twice, Agosto struggled to his feet after the referee counted to nine. Nearly half a century later I have no idea why Agosto got up. Nobody present– or the national TV audience – would have blamed him for playing possum. But, no, he got up the second time and stumbled over into the corner of the ring right in front of me. And that’s where he was when Foreman hit him with an evil right uppercut to the jaw that lifted the smaller man a foot off the canvas and sprayed me and everyone in the vicinity with Agosto’s blood, sweat and snot – thankfully, no brains. That’s when the ref ended it.

It remains the only time in my sports writing career I had to buy a T-shirt at the event to wear home. 

So, now, let’s move ahead 18 years to July of 1995. Foreman had long since completed his comeback by winning back the heavyweight championship. He had become a preacher. He also had become a pitch man for a an indoor grill that bore his name and would sell more than 100 million units. He was a millionaire many times over. He made far more for hawking that grill than he ever made as a fighter. He had become a beloved figure, known for his warm smile and his soothing voice. And now he was coming to Jackson to sign his biography. His publishing company called my office to ask if I’d like an interview. I said I surely would.

One day at the office, I answered my phone and the familiar voice on the other end said, “This is George Foreman and I heard you wanted to talk to me.”

I told him I wanted to talk to him about his book but first I wanted to tell him he owed me a shirt.

“A shirt?” he said. “How’s that?”

I asked him if remembered a guy named Pedro Agosto. He said he did. “Man, I really hit that poor guy,” he said.

I thought you had killed him, I said, and I then told him about all the blood and snot that ruined my shirt.

“Man, I’m sorry about that,” he said. “I’d never hit a guy like that now. I was an angry, angry man back then.”

We had a nice conversation. He told me about finding his Lord. He told me about his 12 children, including five boys, all of whom he named George.

I asked him why he would give five boys the same name.

“I never met my father until late in his life,” Big George told me. “My father never gave me nothing. So I decided I was going to give all my boys something to remember me by. I gave them all my name.”

Yes, and he named one of his girls Georgette.

We did get around to talking about his book, and you will not be surprised by its title: “By George.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

://mississippitoday.org”>Mississippi Today.

March 25, 1965

Viola Gregg Liuzzo stood among the crowd of 25,000 gathered outside Alabama’s state Capitol in Montgomery, some of whom had been beaten and tear-gassed by state troopers after crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. 

The Detroit mother of five wept as she watched that “Bloody Sunday” broadcast on the evening news. Afterward, she heard and responded to Martin Luther King Jr.’s call to join the march for voting rights for all Americans. 

“[We’re] going to change the world,” she vowed. “One day they’ll write about us. You’ll see.” 

Now she listened as King spoke to the crowd. 

“The burning of our churches will not deter us,” he said. “The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. We are on the move now.” To those who asked, “How long?” King replied, “Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” 

After King finished, she was helping drive marchers back to Selma when Klansmen sped after her. She floored her car, singing, “We Shall Overcome,” as Klansmen shot into her car 14 times, killing her. 

Two Klansmen were convicted of federal conspiracy charges and given maximum sentences of 10 years. King and Liuzzo are among 40 martyrs listed on the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery. A Selma Memorial plaque now honors her and two others killed in the protest, and a statue of her now stands in Detroit, honoring her courage.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

by Simeon Gates, Mississippi Today
March 24, 2025

Five days after an Atmos Energy crew accidentally released high-pressure gas in northeast Mississippi, the company is nearly done restoring gas to the over 17,000 affected customers.

All 17,000 customers have their gas restored, and technicians are working to help a handful of customers get their appliances relighted, according to Atmos.

The accident on March 12 injured three contractors and caused outages to commercial and residential customers in Belden, Guntown, Plantersville, Pontotoc, Saltillo, Shannon, Tupelo, and Verona. The three injured workers were contractors with Atmos, but the company said it doesn’t know their conditions.

“Atmos Energy’s highly-trained technicians have visited every customer multiple times, going door to door, to restore service in the impacted areas,” reads the official updates page. 

“If you were not home or at your business?when our crews were restoring service,?a door tag with instructions to schedule an appointment was left on your front door. If you are without gas service, please call 866.322.8667 and press 1 to schedule an appointment to restore your gas service.”

An adult who lives in the home or is a representative of the business must be present for the restoration to take place.

Over 700 technicians from across eight states are on the job to restore gas, going door-to-door for customers. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.