Happy Birthday, Greatest Of All Time

[DemocratSinceBirth]

The legend of the Louisville Slugger, who floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, continues to live on.

Today [Sunday, January 17 2016] boxing’s greatest of all time celebrates his 74th birthday. Born Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali transcends the way the world views boxing forever. Many point to Ali as the pioneer of fighters styling and profiling in and outside the ring. Ali was always controversial, yet could back up his trash talk with his hands. His accomplishments are the reason he’s the self-proclaimed “greatest” and most have no choice but to agree.

As an amateur, Ali’s record was 100-5. He was a six-time Kentucky Golden Gloves winner and boxing gold medalist in the 1960 Olympics. Ali’s success in the amateur field carried over professionally, where he became one of boxing’s immortals. At 22, Ali upset Sonny Liston to win his first heavyweight title. He went on to have a record of 56-5 while becoming boxing’s only three-time lineal heavyweight champion. His classic bouts against legends such as “Smokin” Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Liston are arguably the most important fights in boxing history.


http://thesource.com/2016/01/17/celebrating-muhammad-ali-on-his-74th-birthday/

As a junior high school student growing up where suburban Central Florida meets rural Central Florida my heroes were the martyred Kennedy brothers, Dr. King, and Muhammad Ali. They still are.

God bless you, Muhammad Ali, you filled my childhood and young adulthood with the fondest of memories. If I could have been anyone else in history I would have been you.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. It's okay

He's still alive.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. My mom, god bless her memory, met him in 1986.

She was working for HUD at the federal building in downtown Orlando. Muhammad Ali was there to testify for a friend. During a break he sat in the cafeteria and signed autographs. My mom went up to him and said "my son loves you." He asked her "what's my name" and signed his autograph to me on the back of an envelope.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. I met him at his camp

When I was about 6/7?

He was picking on me about another little boy (my dad and this kids dad took their kids including me to see him) - I.E. Is that your boyfriend.

I bopped him right on the top of his head -

He just laughed!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

4. My mom remarked how handsome he is.

I remember watching an interview with him and my friend saying he was too handsome to be a fighter.

[JustAnotherGen]

5. He was a very nice man

And you could tell - he liked little people.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. My favorite Ali story...

Muhammad Ali himself recalls an encounter with Jimmy, a young boy suffering from leukemia, who wanted to meet him before his epic fight with George Foreman in 1974. Before the boy left, Ali had a photograph taken of himself and Jimmy which he enlarged later and sent to the kid, with the inscription: “You’re going to beat cancer. I’m going to beat George. Love, Your friend, Muhammad Ali.”[10] Two weeks later Ali learned that Jimmy was in a hospital and not expected to live. Within three hours Ali was at the boy’s bedside.

When I walked in he was lying in his bed and I saw that his skin was as white as his sheets were.

Jimmy looked up with bright eyes and called out, “Muhammad, I knew you would come!”

I walked over to his bedside and said, “Jimmy, remember what I told you? I’m going to beat George Foreman and you’re going to beat cancer.”

Jimmy looked up at me and whispered, “No, Muhammad. I’m going to meet God, and I’m going to tell him that you are my friend.”

The room was silent and we were in tears. I hugged Jimmy good-bye and later that night when we returned to my training camp, none of us spoke much.[11]


http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Ali.htm

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. And

It is important to note that although Muhammad Ali was a Muslim, he did not exclude any group from his humanitarian efforts. Given the longstanding conflict between Muslims and Jews in the United States and abroad, many would assume that Muhammad Ali would not consider contributing to any Jewish causes. However, many sources have documented his contribution to the Self Help Community Services Hillside Aged Program of Washington Heights, New York City. According to these reports, Ali discovered that the center, which provided recreational facilities for 54 aged and handicapped members, needed $100,000 or it would soon be forced to shut its doors.[50] Ferdie Pacheco remembers the occasion:

My mind flashes back to a hotel room in New York City before the first Frazier fight. Ali was watching the news. A story came on about ancient inhabitants of a Jewish nursing home who were being evicted because they couldn’t come up with $100,000. It was cold in New York, and the thought of those old people on the street got to Ali. Without any discussion, he reached for the phone and called the TV station. He would donate the $100,000 provided his name not be used. Ali did not want trouble from the Muslims or from certain members of the Ali Circus who were chronically “in need.” Money was given, it arrived in time, old people were saved, the curtain comes down, go to black and a happy ending.

Not quite.

Someone leaked it to the New York newspapers, and Ali was on the front page.[51]

Later, when Ali was asked about this gesture, he said: “These poor crippled people came to this place to eat and talk with each other and draw a little and color, and that kept them alive. And no one else came up with the money. Didn’t matter they were white or Jewish. Somebody’s got to make a stand. Ain’t nobody helping nobody in this country. It’s dog eat dog. The dollar, the dollar, that’s all they worry about.”[52] In this simple yet profound statement, Ali reveals that his desire to aid others, particularly those who have fallen by the wayside, serves as an impetus in his life. Ali has continued his efforts to preserve the dignity and freedom of all peoples, regardless of race or creed to this very day, a fact recognized by the Givat Haviva Educational Foundation, which held a ceremony in 1998 honoring Ali for his humanitarian work.[53]

Mike Marqusee, author of Redemption Song, notes the way in which Ali’s unwavering principles have influenced significant segments of the international community. He observed that as he grew up Ali was, for him, a constant presence. He remembers that after moving to England in the 1970s, he realized that Ali belonged to the entire world, and people from all sections of the globe admired or were influenced by him, even those, according to Marqusee, who loathed boxing and its associated values.[54]

http://www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Ali.htm

[JustAnotherGen]

11. Beautiful!

Psst - he also told my brother and that other kid - to stop making fun of my lisp!



I don't believe this man has one mean bone in his body.

[brer cat]

10. That is a big tell in my book. nt

[Coolest Ranger]

8. I was so blessed to go to the Ali Center

when I lived in Louisville, fun times.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Two places I want to make an ersatz pilgrimage

The Ali Center and Graceland.





Ali wore a sequined robe that Elvis gave him into his first fight with Ken Norton which he lost. He never wore it again.

[ismnotwasm]

12. K&R

[randys1]

13. Happy belated to the greatest of all time.

[Number23]

14. I remember when he showed up at the Atlanta Olympics. You could hear that roar

from the crowd clear to Texas.