Shelly Saltman

Sheldon "Shelly" Arthur Saltman (born August 17, 1931 in Boston) is a promoter of major sports and entertainment events including the worldwide promotion of the Muhammad Ali / Joe Frazier heavyweight championship boxing matches, creating the Andy Williams San Diego Golf Classic, helping to arrange the independent NFL Players Association games during the 1982 NFL season Strike, and bringing cellular phone technology to the former Soviet Union. In the eyes of the general public he is perhaps best known as the man that Evel Knievel tried to beat to death with a baseball bat.

Saltman has created, written, and produced shows for television such as Pro-Fan, Challenge of the NFL Cheerleaders (an early "reality" show), and the movie Ring of Passion about the fights between American boxer Joe Louis and German champion Max Schmeling in the years leading up to World War II. He is also the author of various books including EVEL KNIEVEL ON TOUR, with Maury Green, and FEAR NO EVEL: An Insider's Look At Hollywood with Thomas Lyons.

Shelly Saltman grew up during the Great Depression years as the child of Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Jewish parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father, Nate Saltman, was very involved in Boston area politics and Shelly's godfather, his father's best friend, was Tip O'Neill, who went on to become Speaker of the House in the United States House of Representatives. The visitors to the homes of Saltman's parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles included Massachusetts Governor James Michael Curley, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Madame Chiang Kai-shek of China, and Éamon de Valera, the first Prime Minister of Ireland.

...
Wikipedia