Howie Albert – Boxing trainer, worked with Muhammad AliFuneral services were held Tuesday for Howie Albert, 86, of Secaucus. He died Jan. 3. An amateur boxer as a youth and a middleweight boxer in the U.S. Air Corps in World War II, he was best known as the manager for six time world welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith, who Albert met after the war when Griffith worked for a hat company Albert owned. In association with Gil Clancy, he managed over 60 prize fighters over a career spanning nearly 60 years, and worked with many boxing legends, including George Foreman, local Hudson County fighters Jerry and Mike Quarry, and an early stint as a corner man for boxer Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali. In 2007, Albert was inducted into the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame. Survivors include his wife, Diana; a son, Edward, and two daughters, Barbara Sullivan and Linda Saunders-Harris; and four grandchildren.