Ali beloved as much for feats outside of ring
Friday night was a long one, waiting for the passing of the greatest sportsman who ever lived. Even though it became clear Muhammad Ali had finally lost his last fight, the one with Parkinson’s disease, if you grew up in a certain time and place, a part of you still thought he’d find a way to have his hand raised one more time.
Of all the legacies of Muhammad Ali, that was the greatest of them. Hope.
Ali gave hope to a generation of the hopeless. He gave a generation tired of an endless war, social injustice and racial inequality reason to think maybe these were fights that could be won because, well, didn’t Ali always win?
He didn’t, of course. No one does in the boxing ring or in life. Not if they live long and reach high. Loss comes with longevity and with striving. Every road to real success is at some point, uphill, Ali’s more than most.
He beat the greatest heavyweight fighters of his generation – even after his gift of speed and agility had been lost. He beat the United States government. He even beat hate and fear, both of which roiled the turbulent 1960s and continue to rear their ugly heads again today, 35 years since Ali last boxed.
But as great a fighter and societal figure as he was, Muhammad Ali’s real secret was he loved people and understood their fears. That was true whether you were his enemy or his friend.
It is why he could out-think Sonny Liston and George Foreman as well as out-box them. It was how he turned widespread hatred into universal love, transforming himself from a fractious symbol of division into an advocate for peace and understanding.
Often times he did these things on the biggest stages but it was the smallest ones on which the truth of who he was shone through to those honored to know him.
Once we crossed paths in O’Hare International Airport in Chicago. This was before bodyguards and PR people surrounded athletes in a cocoon of separation. After a brief chat about where we were headed, we walked off together.
Two elderly white women trailed a short distance behind. It was clear they wanted to meet Ali but were too timid.
All of a sudden I saw Ali’s shoulder moving and looked behind. There was Ali’s hand behind his back, waving to them to come on up, but without embarrassing them. They did and he treated them as if they were the queens of England. That was Ali the private public man.
Once I helped get him to Boston for a charity event at a local school. He was long finished as a fighter by then but the students all knew who he was. He charmed them with magic tricks and encouraged them with his presence. As was usually the case, he then went off to a major press conference and a packed reception at Northeastern University.
I brought my five-year-old daughter with me, feeling it important she see up close a great man at least once in her life. As can happen in such a busy affair, people began to jostle and she disappeared almost as soon as we entered. Anyone with a young child knows the feeling in the pit of a parent’s stomach at that moment.
Then, there she was, a little girl in a red-and-white dress, handin-hand with Muhammad Ali.
Ali had seen this child lost in a crowd and reached out. He bent down and spoke with her, then they walked in together.
“You forget somebody?” he joked to me. Then he walked off to be with the dignitaries, but not before he looked back at a little girl and winked.
The most famous and powerful swooned in his company, yet Muhammad Ali would take a lost child’s hand and walk her into a crowded room or wave his own at two elderly white women in an airport who just wanted to share a moment with a king.
Greatest of all time? For big reasons and small, I think so. #PTUPO )FSBME 5/4 REACTIONS TO ALI’S DEATH US President Barack Obama: “A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the Left and the Right, make him reviled and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.”
George Foreman: “Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest human beings I have ever met. No doubt he was one of the best people to have lived in this day and age. To put him as a boxer is an injustice.”
Rev. Al Sharpton: “Ali, he was and always will be the greatest. A true champion in and out of the ring.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr.: “There will never be another Muhammad Ali. The black community all around the world, black people all around the world, needed
Pelé: “The sporting universe has just suffered a big loss. Muhammad Ali was my friend, my idol, my hero. We spent many moments together and always kept a good connection throughout the years. The sadness is overwhelming.” Mike Tyson: “God came for his champion. So long, great one.”
Donald Trump: “Muhammad Ali is dead at 74! A truly great champion and a wonderful guy. He will be missed by all!”
Hillary and Bill Clinton, in a
joint statement: “From the day he claimed the Olympic gold medal in 1960, boxing fans across the world knew they were seeing a blend of beauty and grace, speed and strength that may never be matched again.”
NBA Commissioner Adam
Silver: “Muhammad Ali transcended sports with his outsized personality and dedication to civil rights and social justice.” Boxing promoter Don King: “It’s a sad day for life, man. I loved Muhammad Ali, he was my friend. Ali will never die. Like Martin Luther King, his spirit will live on, he stood for the world.”
Steph Curry: “Ali was the example of how you use your platform and speak what you believe, no matter what people will say.”
LeBron James: “For an athlete like myself today, without Muhammad Ali, I wouldn’t be sitting up here talking in front of you guys. When an icon like Muhammad Ali passes away, it’s just very emotional. It’s also gratifying to know that that guy, one man, would sacrifice so much of his individual life knowing that it would better the next generation of men and women after him.”
(TNS)