Ali's Magic Trick

By Stephen M. Silverman

04/29/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Muhammad Ali, magician? Honored on Wednesday night with a humanitarian award from United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of New York City, one of dozens of charities to which the former boxing champion donates time, Ali entered the formal affair and began doing a magic trick, much to the delight of the crowd, reports PEOPLE. The athlete of the century kept making a red handkerchief disappear and reappear. Turns out, Ali, 59, has been practicing magic for 30 years. "I'm a sucker for your magic," one of the evening's 800 guests, Meredith Vieira of "The View," told Ali. Even the usually outspoken billionaire Donald Trump deferred to Ali, who, by the end of a photo session with Trump, held up a fake rubber thumb to show how he pulled off the hankie trick. When asked, in view of the nature of the night's event, what he did to stay healthy, Trump told PEOPLE: "Not enough, but I try and exercise whenever possible. I try and eat the right foods . . . Sometimes it's difficult." There's no magic to that.