World says goodbye to Muhammad Ali
Champ laid to rest in his Ky. hometown
LOUISVILLE, Ky.— The Greatest was laid to rest in his hometown Friday after an all-day send-off that was a lot like Muhammad Ali himself — serious at times, but also exuberant, bracingly political and funny.
Ali made one final journey through the city he adored via a fist-pumping funeral procession through the streets of Louisville. The burial was followed by a star-studded memorial service where the boxing great was eulogized as a brash and 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 threehour memorial capped nearly a full day of mourning in Louisville for Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion of the world who died last Friday at 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
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.
“He stood up for himself and for us, even when it
wasn’t popular,” said Ashia Powell, waiting to catch a glimpse of the funeral procession for the man the city once knew as Cassius Clay, before he converted to Islam and shed what he called his slave name.
The public memorial at the KFC Yum! Center was packed with celebrities, athletes and politicians, including former President Bill Clinton, director Spike Lee, former NFL great Jim Brown, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Speaker after speaker paid tribute to Ali as a fearless man of principle, someone who went from being one of the most polarizing figures of the 20th century to one of the most beloved, a source of black pride and a symbol of professional excellence.
“I can just hear Muhammad say now, ‘Well, I thought I should be eulogized by at least one president,’ ” Clinton said.
Crystal cracked everyone up with his careermaking impersonation of a boastful, fast-talking Ali — and Ali’s foil, sportscaster Howard Cosell — and rhapsodized about the fighter’s charisma, outspokenness and talent in a way that brought the crowd to its feet.
“Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves,” Crystal said. “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.”
Louisville pastor Kevin Cosby told the crowd that Ali “dared to affirm the power and capacity of African-Americans” and infused them with a “sense of somebodiness.” He likened Ali to such racial trailblazers as Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks and Jackie Robinson.
“Before James Brown said, ‘I’m black and I’m proud,’ Muhammad Ali said, ‘I’m black and I’m pretty,’ ” Cosby said.
Earlier in the day, Ali’s casket, 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 portrayed Ali in the 2001 biopic, “Ali.”
Ali’s nine children, his widow, Lonnie, two of his former wives and other family members accompanied the body to the cemetery on the drive past the little pink house where he grew up and the museum that bears his name.
As the long line of black limousines rolled past, 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.
Ali chose the cemetery as his final resting place a decade ago. Family spokesman Bob Gunnell said he will have a simple headstone, inscribed only “Ali,” in keeping with Islamic tradition.