In 1996, I worked for The Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin and was asked to help cover the Summer Olympics for USA Today, the flagship paper of our parent company.

I was in Atlanta for about a month covering different sports, but mainly basketball and track and field. It was a great experience personally and professionally.

So one day I passed through security at Centennial Olympic Stadium with two other reporters and got on an elevator to go to the press box.

Suddenly somebody yelled out, “Hold the elevator!’’ and a golf cart pulled up.

Muhammad Ali gets out of the cart and walks onto the elevator with somebody who appeared to be a security guard.

As a sportswriter, you get a little jaded meeting famous athletes because that’s just part of the job. But this was Muhammad Ali, arguably the most famous person in the world. If you recall, Ali lit the Olympic torch at the Stadium to start those Games.

I’d love to tell you I asked Ali some profound question. Instead, I just stared at him, as did the other two reporters. None of us could come up with something to say.

Ali looked back at us and smiled.

“Don’t y’all talk at the same time,’’ he said.

We all burst out laughing, as did the security man. Ali then reached into his pocket and handed us some pamphlets with information about the Olympics being a vehicle to promote world peace. He had signed them ahead of time, apparently a concession to his Parkinson’s disease.

Ali shook our hands, wished us well, and when the elevator stopped, another golf cart was there to whisk him away. He was smiling the entire time.

The Greatest really was the greatest.

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com.