Street named for Muhammad Ali
Late champ helped connect people with his love, kindness
A sign for Muhammad Ali Way is posted Monday at Barrow Neurological Institute.
It’s been three years since Muhammad Ali died in suburban Phoenix.
His adopted hometown marked the occasion by recognizing June 3 as Muhammad Ali Day.
From here forward, we should spend the day celebrating toughness. Take it from the hardest puncher in the history of the sport.
“Ali took a good shot,” Earnie Shavers said.
“He took a better shot than anybody I ever fought with before.”
But we should also rejoice in decency. “Ali was one of the nicest guys you’ll ever want to meet,” Shavers said. “He helped so many people out. I was one of them. He was so friendly and so nice . ... He had a great heart.”
We need to find togetherness. “He was the real connector,” philanthropist Jimmy Walker said of his longtime friend.
“He was a man that loved people and had such tremendous relationships with many. He just loved people. … Often, security would be trying to turn people away from him. Muhammad would turn around and start waving people in and start hugging and embracing with them.”
It could be a time to try to live a life that others would want to emulate. “He was an example,” Walker said. “That’s the most important thing. People can talk about who they are, but unless they see the fruit in their life, which is usually love and peace and patience and kindness ... kindness could have been his middle name.”
We should remember him as a fighter and think of others who are fighting.
“Not only fighting in boxing, but fighting a disease,” said Linda Hunt,
president and CEO of Dignity Health in Arizona. “Fighting hard to stay the person he wanted to be and not let the disease overtake him.”
Ali had a great sense of humor. Perhaps this could be a day to laugh?
“He used to call me ‘the Acorn,’ because of my bald head,” Shavers said. He went 15 rounds with Ali in 1977. “After the fight, he said, ‘He’s one tough nut to crack.’ ”
Of course, Ali was also practical. We could recall that, too.
Part of the reason for creating a Muhammad Ali Day and renaming a section of West Merrell Street in honor of “The Greatest” on the third anniversary of his death is to raise awareness for Parkinson’s research.
The disease is progressive, and there’s no cure. It will take more than awareness to make people’s lives better, especially if they’re uninsured.
“Ali used to say, ‘Don’t clap, throw money,’ ” Shavers said.
It will also be good to think of him as present and with us, even today, watching the way others are using his name and legacy. He should be remembered as someone who worked constantly to improve the lives of others.
“I know he’s here,” Lonnie Ali, his widow, said. “And I know he’s proud.”