LOS ANGELES -- Howard Bingham, longtime personal photographer, confidant and perhaps the closest friend of boxing great Muhammad Ali, has died at age 77.Harlan Werner, Binghams agent and longtime friend, told The Associated Press that the photographer died Thursday.No cause of death was given, but another friend, sportswriter Mohammed Mubarak, said Bingham had been in failing health in recent months after undergoing two surgeries.During a friendship that spanned more than half a century, Bingham took literally hundreds of thousands of photos of Ali that ranged from the three-time world heavyweight champions many ring triumphs to quiet day-to-day moments with his family.He captured the young, handsome champion preparing for his first heavyweight championship fight against Sonny Liston in 1964 and, years later, the aging Ali, hands shaking from Parkinsons disease, preparing to light the flame and open the 1996 Summer Olympics.He photographed Ali greeting everyone from former President Bill Clinton to South African President Nelson Mandela to black Muslim leader Malcolm X. And he was there with his camera when throngs of awestruck fans surrounded the champ on the street.Although known largely as Alis photographer, Bingham also had a distinguished career as a freelancer.He photographed the 1967 race riots in Detroit and was at Chicagos Democratic National Convention in 1968, when violence exploded between protesters and police.In the 1960s, he developed enough trust with the fledgling Black Panther Party that its members gave him free reign to photograph them -- and their weapons stash -- for a feature Life magazine had planned.After the story was not published -- They got scared, he later told the Los Angeles Times -- he included the photos in his 2009 book, Howard L. Binghams Black Panthers 1968.He was one of the greatest storytellers of our time, said Werner. You look at the history in his photos. And the photos themselves, theyre just amazing.The public has never seen some of the best photos of Ali, Werner added, because the unfailingly modest Bingham never wanted people to think he was cashing in on their friendship. But he did publish a book including some of them in the acclaimed 1993 photo memoir, Muhammad Ali: A Thirty-Year Journey.Bingham started off his career in 1962 as a fledgling photographer for the Los Angeles Sentinel, a small African-American newspaper, and was assigned to cover a fight by an up-and-coming young boxer then known as Cassius Clay.He would tell Ali years later that he had no idea whom he had been sent to photograph, but when he saw Ali and his brother wandering around downtown after the fight, he offered to show them around. Later, he invited them to his mothers house for dinner.It was the beginning of a friendship that would endure until Alis death in June.The eldest of seven siblings, Bingham was born in Mississippi on May 29, 1939, and moved to Los Angeles as a child.He eventually enrolled in Compton Community College, where he failed a photography class. He blamed it on spending too much time having fun and not enough studying.But he applied to be a photographer at the Sentinel a few years later and, after repeated inquiries, he was finally hired.I went off on jobs, came back with underexposed film, blurred film, no film -- and I always had an excuse for what went wrong, he told the Los Angeles Times.Eventually, he learned enough about photography on the job to land the Ali assignment.Bingham is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and son, Dustin. Another son, Damon, preceded him in death. Bobby Okereke Womens Jersey . 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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs felt on top of the world a week ago, when they were coming off a narrow win at Carolina -- mostly because they were suddenly on top of the AFC West.They sure didnt feel like that Sunday.Their offense continued to fizzle in the red zone, where Alex Smith threw a crucial interception in the fourth quarter. Their defense couldnt get Tampa Bay off the field on third downs, when Jameis Winston was able to repeatedly find Mike Evans and the rest of his wide receivers for first downs.The result was a 19-17 setback that changes the complexion of the Chiefs entire season.No longer are they fighting for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Now, theyre fighting to make the playoffs.Its just one game. We have to figure out what went wrong and move forward, Chiefs offensive tackle Mitchell Schwartz said, trying to put things in perspective. It is an aberration, hopefully. Its not the type of thing a really top-tier team would let happen to them.Yet it happened. And it happened on both sides of the ball.So far this season, the Chiefs (7-3) have been able to bail out their defense by converting crucial plays on offense, while their defense has stood tall when the offense has been scuffling.When both sides went haywire Sunday, the result was obvious: a loss.We have to execute the plays. Thats the cause. We stopped ourselves, said running back Spencer Ware, held to 69 yards rushing in another dismal effort. We know what we need to fix and were going to continue to work on it as a team.That may be the biggest thing going for Kansas City as it tries to bounce back from its first loss since Oct. 2. There was no finger-pointing in an eerily quiet locker room, only resolve to fix the issues that have become the Chiefs biggest concern in the waning weeks of the regular season.On offense, its the failure to score inside the opponents 20-yard line.Kansas City came up empty on three trips two weeks ago at Carolina, and was converting touchdowns at a 40 percent clip heading into Suundays game against Tampa Bay.dddddddddddd The Chiefs settled for a chip-shot field goal by Cairo Santos on their first trip, then Alex Smith threw an interception that spoiled their comeback.It also set up Tampa Bays touchdown march that essentially sealed the victory.Its hard when you get that far down there. The back line becomes another defender for them, Schwartz said. We need to be able to stick to it and be able to execute the plays.The interception was on a play designed to be a quick pass to a slanting wide receiver, but Tampa Bay safety Chris Conte never bit on it. He was there when Smith released the pass, and coach Andy Reid said later the fault for the call rested on his shoulders.We were rolling there at that point, Smith said. Had a good run on first down and were sitting there at second-and-goal, and you just cant have it. You cant throw it. Youve got to protect the play.On the other side of the ball, the Chiefs need to figure out ways to force fourth downs. The Buccaneers were 11 of 16 on third down, none bigger than Winstons pass to Evans on third-and-3 just before the two-minute warning. It not only gave them a fresh set of downs, but allowed them to run off all but the final 8 seconds of the clock.We didnt do a good job rushing the quarterback, said Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston, who made his season debut after ACL surgery in February. He had plenty of time in the pocket. We didnt get in the pocket at all, no penetration. We have to do better.It didnt help that their secondary was missing top cornerback Marcus Peters, who has been dealing with a hip pointer. Peters hoped to play against Tampa Bay but the pain was too much.Now, the Chiefs hope hell be back for a Sunday night showdown against AFC West rival Denver.They need to have their other issues fixed, too.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL. ' ' '