MARCH 2017 14 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM “When I recognize and realize what has been accomplished at the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center, we’re extremely thankful to have had this opportunity and to give back in this way,” Nancy said. The process of getting to the big night — to showtime — starts with Jimmy. Many people are timid when a celebrity comes around. Not Jimmy. “We all know everyone puts on their pants the same way,” he said. “But they are some of the most wonderful people but at the same time, as you would expect, they have some big voids and insecurities in their lives — we all have some of them. None of us have it all together...there’s always something.” Jimmy’s ties to the celebrity world can be traced back to his days at Arizona State University, where he played basketball. Jimmy’s best friend was Reggie Jackson. Jackson, of course, would go on to become one of the most recognized figures in sports when he played for the New York Yankees. He meets them “at different events,” — “Clive Davis’s party,” “the pre-Grammy party at the Beverly Hilton,” “Elton John’s dinner party for the Oscars,” he said. “I get with them and I like to get acquainted with them.” Very rarely do the celebrities receive a fee for attending the event. Instead, Jimmy makes donations to causes of their choice. Last year, “I’ll never forget Halle Berry. When we honored Halle - I met her at Clive Davis’s party, just sitting down at a table and visiting with her. She wanted to come to our event and she did. I remember when we honored her and she got up there and said, ‘You know, I married all these other men, I should’ve married Muhammad Ali.’ And Muhammad’s right next to her and Lonnie Ali said, ‘Well there he is, he’s all yours, take him.’” COVER STORY CONTINUED Photo credit: Jimmy Walker Jimmy’s Ringside Tale: Halle Berry Carrie Underwood’s appearance resulted in a donation to an animals’ rights’ foundation. Jennifer Lopez wanted to help women who get abused. This year’s Celebrity Fight Night will honor Dr. Robert Spetzler, a world-renowned neurosurgeon who is retiring in July. Dr. Spetzler will receive an award onstage from Ali’s wife Lonnie as a thank you for all the help he has given to Barrow Neurological and the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center. Speaking this year will be former baseball player and Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2015. More than 10 million people worldwide are living with Parkinson’s disease — a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement. “My experience with Parkinson’s patients when they get diagnosed — I have a lot of people coming to me because they know my involvement with Muhammad Ali and the Parkinson Center — is that most of them like to keep it under the table for awhile,” Jimmy said. “As much a six months to a year until the tremors just start going and they realize that it’s better to get it out on the table. Quite a few people come to me and I want to help them.”

MARCH 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 15 COVER STORY CONTINUED “I’ll never forget meeting Andrea Bocelli. I was with [former Suns and Diamondbacks owner] Jerry Colangelo and his wife Joan. We were in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in New York and Jerry says to me that Andrea Bocelli’s at the elevator. I said, ‘excuse me’ and I hustled to the elevator and I put my hand in the elevator to stop it from going up and I said to Andrea: ‘You and I have a mutual friend in [famed record producer and Fight Night musical director] David Foster.’ I knew David did his music.” “He didn’t say too much so I had to come up with something better. So I said, “Well I do this event in Phoenix with Muhammad Ali … and right then he stopped and said, ‘Do you know Muhammad Ali? He’s my hero, he’s my favorite. I’ve always wanted to meet him all my life.’ So I said, ‘Andrea, I know you’re coming to Phoenix next week and if you’d like, if he’s in town, we could go out to his house.’ He said, ‘I can go to Muhammad Ali’s house?!’ “Long story short, Nancy and I go to the Ritz Carlton, pick up Andrea, the conductor and four or five Italians, and we go to Muhammad’s house in Gainey Ranch. We’re walking up to the front door, I hardly even know Andrea, and I said, ‘By the way, Andrea, it’s Muhammad’s wife’s birthday today.’ And Lonnie opens the door and he sings happy birthday to her. So then she opens the door and I’m making an introduction of a blind man to a man that can’t speak. I’m trying to get them together. Andrea gets near Muhammad and kisses him a couple times, gets down on his knees and said, ‘Muhammad, I’m humbled and honored to be near you, this is the biggest thrill of my life.’ He gets up and kisses him again and then Muhammad whispers, ‘You sing to me.’ And he sang an Italian opera song right there in the living room.” “And the next night we’re in the arena, we’re in the front row, Nancy and I and Muhammad and Lonnie. Bocelli comes out with boxing gloves on and in front of 16,000 people he said, ‘My dream came true - I met Muhammad Ali.’ It gives you goosebumps.” “Later Andrea said [when talking about the elevator encounter]: ‘I thought this guy Jimmy was a robber. But now he’s my friend.’ He considered me a robber.” Jimmy’s Ringside Tale: Andrea Bocelli