Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 6-7-16 Online Edition

Louisville, Forever Changed By Muhammad Ali, Prepares To Bury Him
The Poetry Of Muhammad Ali
Louisville took the blow like a champ: still on its feet. Fists up. Still jawing. On Sunday morning at 22nd Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard, the Reverend Larry Williams stood before the congregation at Zion Baptist Church and prayed: “We ask for strength for the family of the great Muhammad Ali.”
There’s a story about Ali set in the early 1960s, after his tri- umph in the Rome Olympics. According to Ali biographer Thomas Hauser it’s not true, and the Muhammad Ali Center presents it as a legend. But it matters that old-timers in Louisville repeat it with the conviction of faith: after his win, Ali was refused a seat at a whites-only diner, and in his disillusionment he climbed a bridge and cast his gold medal into the Ohio river.
People here believe that story, polish and cherish that story, because it captures two things that are exactly true.
Louisville, and the south at large, was an oppressive home for black people, who had not yet even secured the right to vote. And all of that – the es- tablished order, the granters of gold medals and diner seats – would be revealed as a fragile, glass-jawed opponent by Louisville’s brash young man.
He threw away more than medals, during the Vietnam war, when he refused to regis- ter for the draft. Boxing au- thorities suspended his license for more than three years – three of the most critical, prof- itable years in a young boxer’s career. Years that, as far as Ali knew, would not end. He could not have predicted history’s eventual view of America’s in- volvement in Vietnam.
“To be honest we all thought Muhammad was losing it,” his old friend Montgomery said. “It seemed crazy. What is he doing? Since then we have come around to understand it was his passion. Peace.”
"Float like a butterfly. Sting like a bee" -- one of many ex- pressions that turned a kid from Louisville, Kentucky, into a global sensation. Anna Werner looks at Muham- mad Ali, wordsmith:
"This poem tells how it feels to be as great as me.
This is it, the greatest short poem of all time: me ... Whee!" Muhammad Ali -- still known as Cassius Clay at the time -- wowed the audience at "The Steve Allen Show" with that bit of rhyme back in 1963, ahead of his first bout with Sonny Liston.
"He had an amazing flair for words -- anybody could see that," said author Jonathan Eig, who is writing a biogra- phy of Muhammad Ali. He says the man known for his verbal dexterity actually was dyslexic.
"Ali was not a great stu- dent," he said. "In fact, a lot of the teachers at Central High
School thought he should not have been given a diploma be- cause he missed so many classes and he took a lot of time off to compete in boxing tournaments. But they de- cided to give him the diploma anyway.
"The principal made the ar- gument that they didn't want to be remembered as the peo- ple who flunked the heavy- weight champion."
"If you like to lose your money, be a fool and bet on Sonny."
In a CBS interview 10 years ago, Ali's wife, Lonnie, re- vealed how the champ over- came his reading difficulties: "Muhammad, as a way of compensating, would memo- rize everything, and that's why he knows poetry so well."
"Ali fights great, he has speed and endurance.
If you decide to fight him, increase your insurance."
"It's funny because a lot of
my favorite Ali poems, it turns out he didn't write," Eig said. "You know, 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,' that came from Bundini Brown, [who] was one of Ali's corner- men. And Bundini actually trademarked that phrase."
But there was no question that Ali knew how to use his talents:
"I am the man all over the land,
And if you don't believe it, Just interfere with my plan."
"He was like an actor or a comedian," Eig said. "He knew which lines would get the laughs, which lines would sting. And when he found one, he stuck to it and he used it very effectively almost like he used that big jab."
And as his wife Lonnie said in that interview years ago that Ali kept it all in perspec- tive: "As Muhammad said, 'I never said I was the smartest. I said I was the greatest!'"
Muhammad Ali: Inside His Final Hours
Muhammad Ali, the iconic three-time world heavy- weight boxing champion who died Friday, had recently shunned the public spotlight he once seemed to revere.
His last known appearance was at a Parkinson's fundraiser April 9 in Phoenix, according to the Arizona Re- public.
At the annual fundraising event for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, one of the most recognizable faces on the planet was shielded in part by dark sunglasses, according to a photo posted by the news- paper.
Ali had missed the gala the previous two years, the news- paper reported. On that April night, however, one of the most beloved athletes of all time would receive a final standing ovation.
Ali's last battle
On Monday, the charismatic former boxer became ill with what family spokesman Bob Gunnell described as a respi- ratory issue.
He was admitted to the Honor Health Scottsdale Os- born Medical Center in Scotts- dale in fair condition that night.
"We expected that to be the case," Gunnell told reporters Saturday. "You know, Muhammad has battled back many times. We expected it to happen this time."
Ali also was hospitalized in January 2015 with a urinary tract infection. He was hospi- talized in December 2014 with pneumonia.
"When he came into the hos- pital, we thought, 'OK, it will be a brief stay,'" said longtime friend John Ramsey, who works for WAVE in Louisville, Kentucky -- Ali's hometown -- and who has a radio show on ESPN.
Muhammad Ali with Malcolm X
Muhammad Ali with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad
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