Wife Lonnie Ali: “If Muhammad did not like the rules, he rewrote them”.
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The more than three-hour memorial capped almost a full day of mourning in Louisville for Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion of the world who died last week at 74 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Considered one of the most important athletes in the U.S., Ali had been suffering from a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson’s disease.
Muhammad Ali made his final journey through his hometown Friday as thousands of mourners along the funeral-procession route pumped their fists and chanted, “Ali!“.
Actor Will Smith, who portrayed the boxer in the 2001 film about his life called “Ali“, was present with former boxer Mike Tyson at the venue. “Not many people make it to that last step”.
A public memorial service for 15,000 people, with eulogies from ex-President Clinton, comedian Billy Crystal and journalist Bryant Gumbel, was set for the afternoon – followed by Ali’s burial.
Ali’s remains were buried during a private ceremony at Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery on Friday, following a motorcade passing through several city landmarks, as well as his childhood home.
“Ali had just beaten [George] Foreman, Sport magazine made him their man of the year”, Crystal said, adding that at the time, he did a great impression of Ali and his friend Howard Cosell.
Comedian Billy Crystal said Ali “was amusing”.
Protestant minister Kevin Cosby told attendees that the heavyweight boxing star had “infused in Africans a sense of somebodiness”.
“He is so much more than boxing”, said Weber.
Earlier, Ali was also eulogised by Attallah Shabazz, daughter of civil rights leader Malcolm X who influenced the Champ’s decision to join the Nation of Islam in 1964 and later to convert to orthodox Islam.
“I think we waited about an hour and a half, but definitely worth the wait”, Muhammad Ali fan, Pat Sheehan said.
Said another daughter, Rasheda Ali-Walsh: “You shook up the world in life, now you’re shaking up the world in death”.
Barack Obama led the tributes to Muhammad Ali as 100,000 people lined the streets of Louisville to say farewell to “The Greatest”.
Former President Bill Clinton: “We should honour him by letting our gifts go among the world as he did”.
“He decided at a very young age to write his own life story”, Clinton said. “The friendship we developed, I think it was puzzling to many people – especially those who saw only our differences”. He was lovely. He was the most ideal athlete you ever saw, and those were his own words.
“So let me tell you a story about a man”, Natasha said, returning to the theme with which she began her eulogy after thanking the Center.
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As the limousines rolled past on the way to the cemetery, fans chanted like spectators at one of his fights, stood on cars, held up cellphones and signs, ran alongside the hearse and reached out to touch it. Ali took the idea of “somebody-ness to unheard-of heights”, he said.
