Touching tributes to ‘Greatest’
Crowds line streets of Ali’s home town to farewell the man who ‘shook up the world’.
Louisville and the rest of the world said goodbye to ‘‘The Greatest’’ yesterday, showering affection on Muhammad Ali during a fistpumping funeral procession through the streets of his home town, followed by a star-studded memorial service where he was eulogised as a wildly charismatic breaker of racial barriers.
‘‘He was a tremendous bolt of lightning, created by Mother Nature out of thin air, a fantastic combination of power and beauty,’’ comedian Billy Crystal said in an address that had the crowd of about 15,000 laughing at nearly every turn.
The more than three-hour memorial service capped nearly a full day of mourning in Louisville, Kentucky for Ali, the boxing great who died last week at 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Earlier in the day, an estimated 100,000 people holding signs and chanting, ‘‘Ali! Ali!’’ lined the streets as a hearse carrying his cherry-red casket made its way past his childhood home to Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery, where a private burial service was held for the three-time heavyweight champion of the world.
‘‘He stood up for himself and for us, even when it wasn’t popular,’’ said Ashia Powell, waiting at a railing for the funeral procession to pass by on an interstate highway below.
The public memorial at the KFC Yum! Centre was packed with celebrities, athletes and politicians, including former United States president Bill Clinton, movie director Spike Lee, Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Beckham and Whoopi Goldberg.
Speaker after speaker paid tribute to Ali as a brash, selfconfident and fearless man of principle, someone who went from being one of the most polarising figures of the 20th century to one of the most beloved.
Crystal, whose 1979 impersonation of Ali was a careermaking moment, rhapsodised about the champion boxer’s charisma, outspokenness and talent in a way that brought the crowd to its feet.
‘‘Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves. This brash young man thrilled us, angered us, confused us, challenged us, ultimately became a silent messenger of peace and taught us that life is best when you build bridges between people and not walls.’’
Kevin Cosby, pastor of a Louisville church, likened Ali to such racial trailblazers as Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.
Rabbi Michael Lerner, a Jewish political activist, brought the crowd to its feet four times with a fiery speech in which he referred to Ali’s refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War – a stand that cost him his boxing title.
‘‘Ali stood up to immoral war, risked fame to speak truth to power. The way to honour him is to be like him today,’’ Lerner said.
Ali’s widow, Lonnie, in her first public remarks since his death, took the stage in an oversized hat that shielded her eyes.
‘‘Muhammad indicated that when the end came for him, he wanted to use his life and his death as a teaching moment. He wanted to remind people who are suffering that he had seen the face of injustice,’’ she said. ‘‘He never became bitter enough to quit or engage in violence.’’
Earlier in the day, Ali’s casket, Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves. This brash young man thrilled us, angered us, confused us, challenged us. draped with an Islamic tapestry, was loaded into a hearse outside a funeral home. The pallbearers included former boxers Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis and actor Will Smith, who played Ali on screen. Ali’s nine children, his widow, two of his ex-wives and other family members accompanied the body to the cemetery.
The 30-kilometre drive took Ali’s body past the little pink house where he grew up and the museum that bears his name.
As the cortege rolled by, fans chanted like spectators at one of his fights, pumped their fists,held up cellphones and signs, ran alongside the hearse and reached out to touch it. They tossed so many flowers on to the windshield that the driver had to push some of them aside to see the road.
‘‘I just wanted to show respect to the champ,’’ said Martin Dixon, who drove from Warren, Ohio, to watch the funeral procession from Ali’s boyhood home.
‘‘He inspired the world. He shook up the world.’’