WILL SMITH is honored to have played a part in MUHAMMAD ALI’s grand funeral on Friday, insisting it was a “beautiful” celebration of the great sportsman’s life. Ali was known for not only his great strength but his wildly inspiring personality; a combination to make him one of the greatest sportsmen of our time.
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Cosby says Ali infused African-Americans with a “sense of somebodiness”.
Boxing: Thousands gather for Muhammad Ali during his memorial service. It was that officer’s advice that Muhammad should learn to fight and his subsequent mentorship of the young Muhammad that got Ali started on the path to his boxing career.
The Rev. Kevin Cosby, pastor at St. Stephen Church in Louisville and president of Simmons College of Kentucky, spoke about Ali’s importance in the growth of black pride in the years after Jackie Robinson, Joe Louis, Jesse Lewis and Rosa Parks.
President Bill Clinton, comedian Billy Crystal and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel are scheduled to give their fondest memories of Ali during eulogies. Additionally, even more distinguished celebrities, such as Will Smith, were in attendance to pay their respects to the great athlete.
A funeral motorcade Friday morning will pass by Ali’s boyhood home before the public funeral service at the Yum!
Louisville is accustomed to being in the limelight each May during the Kentucky Derby.
Ali died June 3 at age 74 of septic shock after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. Among the handful of eulogizers was Crystal, Ali’s friend of 42 years.
“Thirty-five years after he stopped fighting, still the champion of the world”.
Speaking of Ali’s humanitarian and civil rights work, Crystal said, “He was a tremendous bolt of lighting, created by Mother Nature out of thin air….”
President Bill Clinton reminisced on a moment of Ali’s life that occurred in Atlanta but resonated around the world. “I grew up having my identity shaped by what he accomplished”, he said.
Muslim men and women prayed in separate rows, most of the latter with their heads veiled.
Wife Lonnie Ali: “If Muhammad did not like the rules, he rewrote them”.
The service began with a reading from the Quran in recognition of Ali’s Muslim faith, followed by speeches from religious speakers of many different beliefs, inkeeping with Ali’s desire for an interfaith service. “It cannot rob you of the power to dream, and to reach your dreams”. Some tossed flowers atop the hearse carrying his casket as part of an 18-car procession over 23 miles (37 km) in a memorial unlike any other in recent USA history. Centre Friday to honour Ali, and more than 100,000 lined the streets of Louisville during a 19-mile procession through Ali’s hometown.
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Gunnell told The Associated Press that Tyson was not sure he would attend the memorial service because he was very emotional upon learning of Ali’s death and was not sure if he could contain his emotions.
