Muhammad Ali is dead

[Nippelspanner]

Muhammad Ali dies at age 74, family spokesman says (http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/15939933/muhammad-ali-dies-74)

Weird, just a couple of days ago I was thinking "hey, that guy is still alive...".
I should stop that.

[eddie]

He passed away after being hospitalized with respiratory problems. He has been fighting Parkinson's disease for years. May he rest in peace.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/muhammad-ali-dies-greatest-boxer-dead-74/story?id=18391211

[Torplexed]

RIP to a sports giant. I don't think we'll ever see his like again.

http://www.boxinginsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Muhammad-Ali-ap_1468665c.jpg

[HunterICX]

''Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee''

R.I.P Muhammad Ali :(

[Rhodes]

R.I.P!

[Oberon]

Damn, had a horrid feeling I'd wake up to that news when I saw on twitter last night that he'd been put on life support.
A giant of a character, and a damn fine fighter, RIP Ali.

[Jimbuna]

My all time sporting hero.

RIP Cassius, you were 'The Greatest'.

[HunterICX]

Damn, had a horrid feeling I'd wake up to that news when I saw on twitter last night that he'd been put on life support.


Aye, when you showed me that tweet I had the same feeling.

[Skybird]

"Oh let not Time deceive you,
you cannot conquer Time."


One of the very greatest of his sports.

And one of the loudest. :)

[Rockstar]

He was a giant and IMO the last of the universal heroes.

[em2nought]

Can't hear mention of Ali, without thinking of the voice of Howard Cosell at the same time. Together again, RIP to both.

[Armistead]

Remember as a kid how much impact he had on sports and life, it was always a big thing to watch an Ali fight on TV.

[Platapus]

My only fault is that I don't realize how great I really am.

Gotta like that confidence.

[Aktungbby]

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/muhammad-ali-cassius-clay-sonny-listen-neil-leifer.jpg?w=560&quality=75&strip=color&h=572

[u crank]

By far the most interesting sports figure of my lifetime. He was the greatest.

R.I.P.

[mapuc]

Ali was the greatest in his weight class. Even though I was just a little boy I remember waking up one night and I remember my father and some of his friend was very committed to a television program -Was told later it was Ali in "Rumble in the Jungle". But I was too young to know all these things.

The the greatest that have been and will be the greatest RIP Ali.

Markus

[vienna]

The Passing of Ali is one of those times, even knowing the time was coming, you really wish it wasn't true. Everyone knows of the public Ali, brash, confident, a celebrity of the highest level. I had the very great opportunity of seeing the side of Ali most of the public never had the chance to witness. In the late 70s, I was working for a firm in Beverly Hills, a place where celebrities are a common sight. Most celebrities, when encountering fans, usually just politely smiled, perhaps sign an autograph and move on; some would not even acknowledge the fans' attentions and just rapidly skulk away; I even saw a few who were outright rude to some of the fans...

One summer evening, I had been working a bit late at the office and the weather was a bit warm, so I decided to walk part of the way home, just to unwind a bit. I was walking down a street that was then called Little Santa Monica Blvd. It is a commercial street and there are a lot of shops and a few restaurants; the shops were closed by that time of the evening and the restaurants had been serving dinner for a couple of hours. As I walked down the street, there was a group of three elderly couples a few feet ahead of me, obviously tourists, perhaps from the Midwest or, maybe, Florida, just someone's grandparents enjoying their trip to sunny California. Ahead us there was a doorway to a restaurant, flush with the building's facade. Just as the couples were a few steps away from the doorway, it suddenly flew open and a small gaggle of people spilled out on the sidewalk. As we looked on, we suddenly stopped: exiting last, and standing in front of the door was Muhammad Ali. He was a bigger man than I had expected him to be and the ravages of Parkinson's were years away, so he was also very physically fit and healthy looking; he looked as if he could have stepped into a ring and probably put up a good fight, even in the three-piece suit he was wearing. Ali's group was apparently waiting for their cars to be brought around to the entrance. As he stood there, Ali was straightening his tie and and shirt cuffs. The group of seniors was transfixed in awe of Ali. One of the ladies had a small Kodak Instamatic camera and she tentatively raised it up too take a picture, stopped, lowered it, started to raise it again, stopped again and lowered the camera without taking a picture; she seemed almost afraid to take the picture. Ali caught the lady's movements out of the corner of his eye and turned towards the seniors. The little group seemed to huddle closer together as if fearful of what the big fellow was intending. Ali walked up to the lady with the camera, towering over her; he leaned down and asked, gently and quietly "Excuse me, ma'am, did you want to take a picture?" She looked up at him and nodded "yes" nervously. Ali asked her name and introduced himself to her and the others with her. He gently took her hand and walked her over to his group and introduced her to them. One of the members of Ali's group was apparently a professional photographer; he had a couple of very expensive and high tech cameras hanging around his neck along with a large camera bag. Ali asked the lady for her camera, she gave it to him and he, in turn passed it on to the photographer. Ali told him the lady wanted her picture taken, and to please do so and also take pictures of Ali with all the other seniors. He spent about a quarter of an hour taking pictures with the seniors, separately and as a group; he spoke to each one individually, asking their names and asked about who they were and if they were enjoying their vacation. He joked with them and made them feel comfortable and made them the center of attention. At one point the cars pulled up and Ali's assistant told him, "The cars are here"; Ali turned and answered him, "And, they'll still be there in couple of more minutes"; he then turned his attention back to the seniors. Before Ali left, he asked his assistant for a card. He gave the card to the lady and told her the address on the card was his personal office; when they got back home and developed the pictures, could they please send him two copies of the photos; he wanted one copy to keep and he would sign the others and send them back to them. He gave each of the ladies a kiss on the cheek and each of the men a warm handshake. He and his party got into their cars and were gone. There were no paparazzi around to document this or for him to play to; what he did for those seniors was just him being a very decent person...

I saw him a few more times in later years. There used to be a store named Hollywood Magic on Hollywood Blvd. The store was famous in the world of professional magic and catered to both pros and amateurs. The store had a door set back about seven or eight feet from facade of the building, forming a narrow passageway with display windows on either side. Ali loved magic tricks and would go the shop whenever he had the chance. The first time I saw him there was when a guy came running out of the shop desperately asking people on the sidewalk where he could find a camera. Someone told him there was a store a couple of doors down and asked him why he needed a camera so desperately; the guy excitedly said "The Champ is in the Magic store and I gotta get me a picture!" and he ran off to buy his camera. I took a peek into the doorway of the store and there was Ali, behind the counter, with a big smile on his face, entertaining the kids of some tourists, doing simple magic tricks. I watched from the side walk for a minute or two and walked on. Over the years, I would occasionally see him in the shop, either joking around with the shop staff or the customers, sometimes putting on impromptu little magic shows for kids. He always seemed happy and relaxed...

Sometime after the news of his Parkinson's became public, I was on a bus heading down Hollywood Blvd. The traffic was barely creeping along and would start and stop. At one point the bus came to a complete stop right in front of Hollywood Magic. The shop was closed, but, standing there alone, part way down the passageway to the door, looking into one of the display windows, hands in his pants pockets, was Ali. He was, I guessed, waiting for a car to pick him up. He was dressed casually, Polo shirt, slacks, cardigan sweater vest, and loafers. He looked tired, puffy in the face a bit and he seemed melancholy. As I watched him from the bus, a guy walked down the sidewalk, glanced over towards Ali, did a double-take when he realized it was the Champ, and ran over to him. He began to speak excitedly to Ali. I couldn't hear what was being said. Ali looked at the guy and seemed to be a bit confused, but a small weary smile came to his face and he slowly extended his hand to the shake the hand of the enthusiastic fan. It was painful to watch the same man, who was so vital and energetic in the previous years, who had made that little group of seniors and all those kids and their parents in the Magic shop so happy, now dealing with the onset of a debilitating condition. The traffic cleared a bit and the bus moved on; I never saw him again...

Back in 2003 or 2004, I was working at the Los Angeles County Headquarters building and Ali was coming to one of the County Board Of Supervisors meetings to give his support to one of the many causes he promoted and to receive a recognition of his efforts. County Board meetings are usually poorly attended, but, on this occasion, it seemed as if everyone in the building wanted to attend this particular meeting. I chose not to attend because I really couldn't bear to see Ali in his the current state; I really wanted to remember the Ali I had seen over those earlier years. All of the politicians and County department heads got their picture taken with Ali. The head of my particular department was over the moon about his picture with Ali and proudly placed it on the wall of his office. It always pained me to see the Ali in that picture...

It is said the true proof of a person is how they treat others with kindness when there is no one to see their efforts. In the Ali I remember, I saw a person who was a true gentleman and someone who was so whether or not the spotlight was glaring. Somewhere, there was a group of seniors who had a thrill of their life, somewhere there were kids and parents who had memories of a Magic shop made even more magical. There are probably others with their own experiences. If there is a championship for being a decent person, Ali would have deserved that belt, too..

Thank you, Mr. Ali, for being a champ in so many ways...


<O>

[Oberon]

That's beautiful Vienna, thank you for sharing that. :yep: One of the many reasons that he was 'The Greatest'.

[Jimbuna]

Ali visited my home town in 1977 having been asked...

Johnny Walker, a painter and decorator from Whitburn, had known Ali from his boxing days.

He asked him to help in raising money for his boxing club in South Shields.

Ali was happy to oblige, being a keen supporter of charitable causes.

Amongst the places he visited was a mosque just 1/3 mile from my home where he had his marriage blessed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/northeast/series5/muhammad_ali_boxing.shtml

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/colour-pictures-capture-magic-of-muhammad-ali-s-visit-to-south-shields-1-7947767

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/time-of-our-lives/remember-when-the-day-muhammad-ali-came-to-south-shields-1-5874547

I'm in one of the photos in a link above but have obviously aged a bit since then :)

[u crank]

I'm in one of the photos in a link above but have obviously aged a bit since then :)

Do we have to guess?:hmmm:

:D

[Jimbuna]

Do we have to guess?:hmmm:

:D

Only clue you'll get outta me is....I'm not wearing any head-dress :smug:

[u crank]

Well that narrows it down.:O:

[Aktungbby]

R u wearing a police hat?:D

[u crank]

R u wearing a police hat?:D

Only clue you'll get outta me is....I'm not wearing any head-dress :smug:

Try to keep up. :D

[Jimbuna]

Try to keep up. :D

LOL :)

[Aktungbby]

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/aktungbby/Capture_zps81f8whxz.pnghttp://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/image/fetch/w_620,f_auto,ar_3:2,c_fill/http://www.shieldsgazette.com/webimage/1.5874597.1374250994!/image/2893763872.jpgON his right shoulder? nose and pronounced left cheekline are equivalent with similar eye spacing at narrow'd top of nose...give or take 40 years Hey isn't hair considered a 'headdress"? :har: (1977)

[Jimbuna]

Most incorrigible :know:

[vienna]

I'd been thinking (that alone raises the national security threat level) about something I remembered had been broadcast on US TV back in the 70s on a show called "Candid Camera". I was able to find it on YouTube; here is Ali having some fun pranking some school kids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdd1XK1ZUr4

There was also another clip where the shows host and creator, Allen Funt, sat down with the Champ and was able to film Ali, who didn't know the cameras were actually rolling. There are some interesting comments by Ali:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNLqh6-dRyQ



<O>

[Wolferz]

Get drunk and drive a Cadillac down Dixie Highway.

Muhammed's dad did that at a Chevy dealer where I was working.
He wiped out a whole row of new chevys in front of the showroom.:haha:

[Vince82]

Talked with some friends about him passing away. He died as an old man, he lived a full life. The tribute vid on youtube got close to a half a million views. Been watching that and some interviews:

Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson:

https://youtu.be/R8sE36tLscQ

[Jeff-Groves]

http://i738.photobucket.com/albums/xx22/aktungbby/Capture_zps81f8whxz.pnghttp://res.cloudinary.com/jpress/image/fetch/w_620,f_auto,ar_3:2,c_fill/http://www.shieldsgazette.com/webimage/1.5874597.1374250994!/image/2893763872.jpgON his right shoulder? nose and pronounced left cheekline are equivalent with similar eye spacing at narrow'd top of nose...give or take 40 years Hey isn't hair considered a 'headdress"? :har: (1977)
That guy is a suspect in an unsolved Limo Hijacking in Houston, Texas back in 2008 I believe.
:hmmm:

[Admiral Halsey]

As a Kentuckian i'm ashamed to admit I though Ali had died a couple years ago.

[Jimbuna]

That guy is a suspect in an unsolved Limo Hijacking in Houston, Texas back in 2008 I believe.
:hmmm:

LOL :)

http://i.imgur.com/yEIvBI3.gif