The following, written by Dick Luedke, was published in the Friday, Feb. 1 Bloomington Pantagraph. Illinois State will honor Luedke prior to the tip-off on Saturday night in the Redbirds' 9 p.m. game against Loyola Chicago.
It was 55 years ago that I was pacing back and forth in my parents' suburban Minneapolis kitchen listening to what was coming out of a large, plastic-cased radio sitting on top of our refrigerator. I was hanging on every syllable of Les Keiter's description of the February 1964 heavyweight championship fight between the champion, Sonny Liston, and a brash young underdog contender named Cassius Clay.