Muhammad Ali, ‘the greatest of all time,’ dies at age 74

[Matt Dillon]

The Louisville Lip has fallen silent.
Muhammad Ali — Olympic gold medalist; three-time professional boxing heavyweight champion of the world; symbol of the socially turbulent 1960s; and, in his heyday, perhaps the most famous citizen in the world — died Friday night in Phoenix.
The Louisville native was 74.
In his prime, Ali was a fighter of breathtaking speed and agility.
Yet he was equally well-known for his ebullient personality, which included bold boasts (“I’m the greatest of all time”) and clever rhymes (“I know this will shock and amaze you, but I’m gonna retire Joe Frazier”) in what was skillful self promotion.
Ali first became heavyweight champion of the world via a dramatic upset on Feb. 25, 1964, in Miami, when the defending champ, Sonny Liston, did not answer the bell for the seventh round. Ali had entered that fight a 7-1 underdog.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/article...#storylink=cpy

Being a lifelong Kentuckian, and only two years younger than Ali, this really brings back lots of memories.

[Lighthouse]

Like Matt, I'm just a year younger than Ali and have so many memories of his career. I've often wondered if he really did throw his Gold Medal off the 2nd Street Bridge.

[Matt Dillon]

Like Matt, I'm just a year younger than Ali and have so many memories of his career. I've often wondered if he really did throw his Gold Medal off the 2nd Street Bridge.

I bet, living in Louisville, you do have a lot of memories that many of us don't have, Lighthouse.

[Uncle Dave]

Maybe 35-40 years ago, I was standing in line at a gate at Staniford Field. Can't remember where I was going, but I looked up and Muhammad, his wife Lonnie, and the actor Demond Williams from Sanford and Son came through the door. I couldn't believe it. I stepped out of line and rushed over to them and shook their hands and gave all three a hug. LOL. I didn't know what else to do!! They laughed and were very gracious to me. RIP to The Greatest.

[Spiritof96]

RIP. He was a remarkable athlete.

[CATHYnKY]

Growing up, I remember neighborhood parties when he was fighting. The adults would be at a house and the kids at another. It was truly a big deal. I saw him several years ago at my work place. His brother was living in the public housing highrise where my office was. He came to visit. I had a good view of him from my window.

[Lighthouse]

I bet, living in Louisville, you do have a lot of memories that many of us don't have, Lighthouse.

I have a few. Being in the insurance business and working in the West End of Louisville, I had some contact with his Dad and Mom. He grew up on Grand Ave., that home is now a museum and open to the public. I remember meeting his Dad, who at that time, was living in a housing project on W. Walnut Street which is now named, Muhammad Ali Blvd. Ali's name back then was Cassius Clay.

[Blue Heaven]

Fantastic boxer and the creator of trash talk. Still, for the life of me, I never understood the infatuation with him.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Fantastic boxer and the creator of trash talk. Still, for the life of me, I never understood the infatuation with him.

Me either...

[Matt Dillon]

Fantastic boxer and the creator of trash talk. Still, for the life of me, I never understood the infatuation with him.

For me, it was a state pride thing. The same thing that makes me pull for UK's athletic teams.

[Spiritof96]

Fantastic boxer and the creator of trash talk. Still, for the life of me, I never understood the infatuation with him.

Well... if you don't like boxing I can understand that I guess, his appeal as a sports figure would at least be equivalent to Secretariat in terms of an utterly incomparable performer. Culturally speaking he touched a lot of different aspects of evolving American life.

So if one cares about

1960s and 70s history
Changing / challenging public persona of pro athletes
Practically inventing pay preview sporting events
The civil rights movement in America
Challenging how blacks were "allowed" to comport themselves
Conscientious objection to Vietnam
Changing roll of Islam in American culture
Style and fasion
The existence of Rocky movies
Having a daughter challenge traditional gender divides in sport
A real life Shakespearean tragic figure
The crushing specter of Parkinson's disease
And so on.

Even if one doesn't care about the sports side of his life, he ticked so many cultural and political boxes that people from a broad spectrum of interests would reasonably find him an important historical figure.

To me, young Ali in the ring is mesmerizing to watch. He could practically keep his hands at his waist and not get hit simply by moving his head and feet, all the while drilling his opponent in the head at will.

[surveyor]

Listening to ESPN 680 this morning. Drew Deener and Billy Reed talked to Wade and Alice Houston. Alice Houston grew up on Grand Avenue at 3306. The Clays lived at 3302. She was 5 years younger then Ali and her dad coached football and basketball at Central HS until his death in 1958.
She talked about Ali returning home after fights and showing up at Allan's 2nd birthday party after the 1st Ken Norton fight.
After the 1960 Olympics, Ali came home and had invited some of the US athletes to his parents home for a party.
Alice Houston recalls that Ali challenged Wilma Rudolph to a race on Grand Avenue from 32nd St to 34th St.

Of course, Rudolph beat him.

In subsequent years when Ali would retell the story in Alice's presence, he'd tell it as if he'd won, but he'd also purposely give it away that he was lying and then start smiling.

For me, the only thing I disliked about Ali is how he treated Joe Frazier. Ali grew up in a middle class family, while Frazier grew up poor, yet Ali successfully painted Frazier as an Uncle Tom, and many blacks disliked Frazier due to Ali's false caricature of him. Although they eventually made amends, Frazier remained hurt by Ali's remarks.

[Blue Heaven]

The man dodged the draft. He used the race card and his muslim faith to chicken.out on serving his country. Granted, thousands of white guys chickened out as well. All my Uncles on my Dad's side went to vietnam. One never came back as he lost his life being blown up by a mine. An Uncle I never got to meet. A Brother and Son lost. Ali's non service was a spit in the face to All who served over there or who have ever served. What makes his life anymore special than my Uncle's ? I'm sorry but he'll always be a piece of crap in my book.

[surveyor]

The man dodged the draft. He used the race card and his muslim faith to chicken.out on serving his country. Granted, thousands of white guys chickened out as well. All my Uncles on my Dad's side went to vietnam. One never came back as he lost his life being blown up by a mine. An Uncle I never got to meet. A Brother and Son lost. Ali's non service was a spit in the face to All who served over there or who have ever served. What makes his life anymore special than my Uncle's ? I'm sorry but he'll always be a piece of crap in my book.

I strongly disagree. The men who were pieces of crap were the cowards who fled the country to avoid service. Ali stayed here and pled his case, spent time in prison for it, lost millions in income and eventually his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Neither you nor I will ever know what it was like growing up black during Ali's time. "Separate but equal". Don't eat in our diner, drink from our water fountains.

It wasn't unreasonable for some blacks to turn towards another religion, especially if they believe that christianity was merely foisted on them by white dudes. I can't judge what I've never experienced first hand on a daily basis.

Would I begrudge someone's resistance to fighting for a country in which much of the population didn't have their best interests at heart? A group of people who would demand, "Go to Vietnam, nigger, but know your damned place, too."

I'm sorry for the loss of your uncle. I don't believe Ali's or anyone's life itself is any more special than another. How one spent that lifetime is what makes people special. In that regard, many, including your uncle, are special.

[KevinHall]

I never cared a bit for Ali. He made trash talking "popular". I never like that aspect of sports and never will. I know if he hadn't have done it someone else would have and it would have been popular anyway. I always rooted against him. It didn't matter to me who he was fighting I would root for the other guy. When Spinks beat him I can remember being wildly excited.Of course he beat Spinks later on but in many way I felt like the whole thing was a set up.That started me not following boxing much after that mainly because I felt like most boxing was being fixed. Now I have no idea who the champions are nor do I care. No doubt he was one of the best if not the best but his incessant talking always rubbed me the wrong way. Just because he was from Kentucky didn't give me a reason to root for him. I never liked his poltics either. We can debate that until the cows come home and would make no difference what anyone thinks now. I basically feel the same as BlueHeaven. Anyone who dodged the draft IMO was wrong whether they stayed in this country or not.