To the ring. When he traveled to Central Africa to reclaim his title from George Foreman none of them thought he could win and some feared for their life and the miracle at four a. M. , he became a champion once more. [ applause ] years passed and slowed by parkinsons muhammad was compelled by his faith to use his name and notoriety to support the victims of poverty and strife. He served as a messenger of peace and traveled to war torn afghanistan. He campaigned as an advocate produding the yoke of 3rd world death. He release of hostages in iraq. As his voice grew softer, his message took on greater meaning. He became full circle with his country when he lit a torch that seemed to create new light for the 1996 olympics. [ applause ] muhammad always knew instinctively the road he needed to travel. His friend know what i mean when i said he lived in the moment. He never dwelled in the path or harbored anxiety about the future. Muhammad loved to laugh and he loved to play practical jokes on just about everybody. He was short footed in his self awareness, secure in his faith and he did not fear death. Yet, his timing is once again poignant. His passing and it is meaning for our time should not be overlooked. As we face uncertainty in a world and di to who we are as a people, muhammads life provides useful guidance. Muhammad was not one to give up on the power of understanding, the boundless possibilities of love and the strength of our diversity. He countered among his friend people of all political persuasions and saw truth in all faiths and noblities of all races as witnessed today. Muhammad may have challenged his government but never ran from it nor america. [ applause ] he loved this country. I think you saw the nations soul measured by the soul of its people and he saw the good of everyone and if lucky to have met him you know what i meant. He would think about his own salvation and he would say i want to get to heaven and do good deeds to get there. I think muhammads hope that his life provides some guidance what we achieve for all people what we aspire for ourselves and family. Thank you. [ applause ] your watching wusa9 news. Our coverage of muhammads service. That was muhammads widow speaking. He challenged his government and never ran from it. Lets listen. Ladies ali. Peace be with you and on behalf of the ali family, thanks to louisville, kentucky. All of the love you have shown to us in our lives is unbelievable. Im to thank the entire globe. My father is loved all other and the professional is overwhelming and so beautiful. I want to say we love you, just like you love us. Thank you very much. [ applause ] as you know, my father loved poetry, he was always loving and promoting his fight and poems from the heart and spiritual poems and i wrote a piece for him in honor of him on behalf of my sisters and brothers and everyone who has loved my father. It is called thank you our dear father. My t your physical body is no more but my mine tells different tales of all that you taught me, your family and the masses. Most importantly, the belief in god who created humanity to thrive in quality. You fought for a purpose to uphold the principle that we as a people have divine human rights. Staring right in to the eyes of profession you proclaim your beautiful complexion, your god given skills, your independent will and the freedom of your faith. As your daughter, i am grateful for all of our conversations about men, women and relationships, guiding me to first have a loving relationship with self, refusing anyone top my esteem and expect the respect of a queen. [ applause ] thank your our dear father to ask to think about our purpose and showing us the beauty of service to others. We marvel at your sincere love for people as you treated all who approached you with dignity. Whether they were rich or poor, your kindness was unconditional. Never perceiving anybody as beneath you. So many have shared personal stories about what you have met to them. As you have exemplified values and qualities that have enhanced their lives. If i have a dollar for every story i could pay for the sky. Your family is so proud of the legacy you left behind but i hope help turn the tide of self hate and violence because we are overwhelmed with moments of silence for tragic deaths. Here on the soil, american soil in the middle east or anywhere else in this world, we crave for peace. The peace that you rest in now. We will forever cherish the 74 years yograced this earth, you will be greatly missed but now we send you off in celebration a blown kiss and prayers. As you enter your final round gods last boxing bell will sound in heaven. I love you. We all love thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, rasheeda ali walsh. We are so honored that you have packed this room with your love. Thank you all. Thank you so much for being here today. To celebrate our father. You are the greatest father to us and it was gods will to take you your family will try our best to make you proud and carry on your legacy of giving and love. You have inspired us and the world to be the best version of ourselves. May you live in paradise, free from suring you shook up the world and life and now you are shaking up the world in death. Daddy is looking at us saying i told you i was the greatest no one compares to you, daddy. You once said, i know where im going and i know the truth. And i dont have to be what you want me to be. Im free to now you are free to be with your creator. We love you so much, daddy. Until we meet again. Fly, butterfly. Fly. Hello. My name is ala. I was born on muhammads birthday. It was named after him. He used to call me the little greatest. We can all learn from muhammads example of kindness and understanding. When muhammad was asked how he would like to be remember, he said i like for them to say he took a few cups of love and a tablespoon of patient yen and a teaspoon of generosity and he mixed willingness and happiness and he had lots of faith and stirred it up well and spanned it over the span of a lifetime and he served it to each and every deserving person person he met. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, natasha natu. I would like to say i am truly honored to be here and thank the Muhammad Ali Family to give me the opportunity to speak and to echo the voice that muhammad has given me. So let me tell you a story. About a man, a man that refused to believe that reality was limitation to achieve the impossible. A man who once reached up through the pages of a textbook and whose reflection of herself mirrored those that could not see past the color of her skin. But instead of drawing on that pain from the distorted reality, she found strength. Just as this man did when he stood tall in the face of pelting rain and shouted i am the disturbance in the sea of your complacency and i will never stop shaking your wave. And his voice echoed through hers. Through mine. And she picked up the rock that were thrown and threw them back with a voice that was so powerful that it turned all of the pain that she had faced in her life and into strength. And tenacity and now that 8 yearold girl stands before you that tells you that alis cries still shakes these waves today. That we are to find strength and our identities, whether we are black or white or asian or hispanic. Lgbt, disabled or abled body. Moslem, jewish, hindu or christian, his cry represents those that have not been hurt and invalidates the idea that we are to conform normative standard. That is what it means to defeat the impossible. Because impossible is not a fact. Impossible is an opinion. Impossible is nothing. When i look into this crowd i smile. I smile to recognize that he is not even gone. He lives in you and he lives in me and he lives in every person that he has touched in every corner of this world. Reality was never a limitation for ali. For opponents threw, impossible is never enough to knock us down because we are ali. We are greater than the rock or the punches that we throw at each other. We have the ability to empower and inspire and to connect and to unify and that will live on forever. So let me tell you a story about a man, his name is muhammad. He is the greatest of all time. [ applause ] he is kentucky and he lives in each and everyone of us. And his story is far from over. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, john ramsey. First of all on behalf of my fellow louisvilleian, we offer our condolences and our felt private memes and for lonnie ali. We thank you so much. I got to tell you louisville when i was in the procession today and i saw the tens and thousands of people and all of the warmth and the love and respect that was shown for muhammad. I got to tell you my heart swelled with pride and i know he was watching from above and he absolutely loved it. I dont think you would be surprised. I think muhammad would say louisville, kentucky is the greatest city of all times. Im feeling good, man. I will tell you what, how can we lose with the stuff we use. Im feeling so good i am going to make a comeback and change my name to walnut street. Thats how good i feel. For me. I always felt connected to louisville boy and maybe it was because i love the louisville cardinals like muhammad. But as our relationship evolved, i found that a lot of people fell this personal connection with muhammad and thats part of the ali magic. Initially for a lot of men my age and certainly myself it was the athlete that i was attracted to. That kind of size, that kind of speed, agility and that grace, not only made him the heavyweight champion of the world three times but it made him Sports Illustrated sportsman of the century and the ap athlete of the century. Certainly it made him the athlete, once in a lifetime athlete but i would argue that the love, compassion and ability to lift us up once in a lifetime person. You know muhammad was blessed with many gifts as i said and a wise and faithful stewart. Many stories about muhammad but there are a couple that encapsulate what he is about. In 2,000 i made a trip to the summer olympics with muhammad and one day he decided we would go see a boxing match and i remember we are ring side and 15,000 people are shouting usa, usa and i think this is my olympic moment. I was filled with patriotic pride. The boxer came down from the ring and took the obligatory pick with muhammad and hundreds of photographers were taking pictures and thousands of people cheering for muhammad and this victorious fighter and then muhammad leaned down to me and whispein said i want to seat loser. Excuse me. I want to see the loser. So i motioned over to an olympic official and i Said Muhammad wants to see the loser, can we go to the locker room and we go to the locker room and there is not tens of thousands of people and not any photographers and just a kind the corner with a towel around his neck and he has a bloody mouth under his eye, this has to be the lowest point of his athletic career. He felt like he left down his country and defeated and the vibe in that room was the lowest of low. But when muhammad walks in he recognizes him and he says muhammad and muhammad started to dance and say show me what you got and muhammad starts to throw out jabs and this kid starts ducking and smiling and muhammad says i saw what you did. You are moving good. You can be a champion, give up. And i remember it warmed my heart how he took this kid from here to here in an instant and i remember i got in the car and i said to muhammad, i Said Muhammad i try to be a nice guy but i was caught up in a moment, i didnt give that losing boxer a second thought, i Said Muhammad, you are the greatest and he said tell me something i dont already know. And so what i dont want people to forget, no doubt to me, he is the finest example of a human that i ever seen. The finest example of a great human being that i ever seen of the kindness that a human possesses, that was muhammad but dont forget about this. He was the coolest cat in the room. Charisma. He had swag ard before he knew was swagger was. I remember went to about 25 years ago he came in town to visit his mother and he wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse and i had a friend that was a big muhammad fan and at the time there was a Fireman Convention and they had engine numbers and i seen this a lot of times they line up for an autograph. I will tell you the bad guy and let you eat and he said no, i will sign between bites and he is taking bites of his food and signing and this one guy walked up and you can tell he is a big fan. He knew muhammad. Scared to death and he said champ, i saw the stance you made in the civil rights movement. I saw your stance against the vietnam war. I got to tell you you are my hero. And muhammad wanted to change the channel and he said hero, jumping and saving lives and babies and putting your life on the line. You are the real hero. And the fireman responds real quickly and he said you fought the bear and he said you fought the rabbit Floyd Patterson and George Foreman and smoking joe frazier and Muhammad Said yeah, but joe wasnt really smoking and i Said Muhammad that is a good line. He says you are right, write that down. But it wasnt all about signing autographs and kissing babies. You know, if there was a village that needed food, and a third world country, muhammad was on the plane and will travel with check. If there was a conflict and he could be part of a resolution, again, muhammad will travel. As lonnie had mentioned, hostages muhammad was the man of act. One of my favorite quotes and i think it is in your program, Muhammad Said service to others is the rent you pay for your room on earth and i want to say to champ, your rent is paid in full. Your rent is paid in full. Your rent is paid in full. You know, and in fact i think he paid it forward because he has taught us to love rather than to hate, to look for commonalities rather than differences and, therefore, i think he has paid it forward for all of us. So as we all know now the fight is over but im here to tell you the decision is in is unanimous because of ali muhammad we all win. Thank you so much muhammad. It is time for a man of peace to rest in peace and thank you so very much. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, billy crystal. [ applause ] thank you, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the halfway point. I was started. Dear lonnie, family and friends, mr. President. Members of the clergy, all of these amazing people here in louisville. Today this outpouring of love and respect proves that 35 years after he stopped fighting he is still the champion of the world. Last week when we heard the news, time stopped. There was no war. There were no terrorists, no global catastrophes and the world stopped. Since then my mind is racing through my relationship with this amazing man, 42 years that i know him. Every moment that i can think of is cherished and others tell of accomplishments he wanted me to speak and tell you personal moments we had together. I met him in 1974 Getting Started as a standupcomedian and starting but i had one good routine. It was a three minute conversation between Howard Cosell and muhammad where i would imitate both of them. Ali had just defeated George Foreman and became the heavyweight title and sport magazine made him the man of the year and dick shaft was the editor for sports and he would host this dinner honoring muhammad and dick called my agent looking for sport material and as fate would have it, that comedian was not available and she wisely said its destiny, man. And she wisely says i got this young kid and he does this great imma taking i couldnt believe it. My first time on television and with ali. I went to the mazza hotel and it was jammed and i met mr. Shaft, a part of my family. He said how should i introduce you, no one knows who you are. And i said one of alis close and dearest friends and my thought was i will get to the microphone and go into my Howard Kosell and be fine and i move to the jammed ballroom and i saw him for the first time in person. It is hard to describe it. You had to live in his time. You have to look at clips. And live in his time watching his fight. And the genius of his talent was extraordinary. Every one of his fights was an aura he predicted a round to knock somebody out and he would do it. He was funny. He was beautiful. And he was the most perfect athlete and those were his own words. But he was so much more than a fighter as time went on. With Bobby Kennedy gone, Martin Luther king gone, malcom x, there were millions of men eligible for the war and all of us huddled on the Conveyor Belt feeding the war machine and ali stood up by standing up with himself and after stripped of the title and after he was stripped of the title and the right to fight anywhere he gave speeches on colleges that totally reached comfortable speaking with kings and queens and never lost his sense of humor and his passion about the fight for this resonated strongly. My father was the first to integrate bands. He was referred to as the branch rookie of jazz. My uncle and my family jewish people produced strange things. Billy holidays song with africanamericans in this country and i felt him and there he was just a few feet from me and i couldnt stop looking at him and he was like in slow motion, his amazing face smiling and laughing. I was seated a few seats for him and in the day all of these athletes and these sports. Frank ohare, archie griffin, neil simon, all on the day fawning over ali that looked at me with an expression that seemed to say what is joel gray doing here . Mr. Shaft introduced me as one of alis closest and dearest friends. Two people clapped. My wife and the agent. I rose, ali is still staring and i passed behind him and went to the podium and went right to the cosell, hello, live and some would pronounce it bear. They are wrong. It got big laughs. And then i went into the ali. And everybody is talking about George Foreman, he is ugly and slow, george was slow. And then i rubber ducked george and i can be in my bed before the room gets dark. [ applause ] howard im announcing that i got new religious beliefs i want to be known as izzy isobatz, an orthodox jew the greatest of all time. He was loving it. When i was done, he gave me this big bear hug and whispered in my ear. You are my little brother. Which is what he always called me until the last time other. If he needed me for something. I was there. He came to anything that i asked him to do. Most memorable. He was an honorary chairman for a dinner where i was being honored by the jerusalem federation. He took photographs with everybody. The most favorite moslem man in the world honoring his jewish friend. And. [ applause ] because he was there, because he was there, we raised a great deal of money. And i was able to use it to endow the university in jerusalem with something that i told him about. And it was something that he loved the theory of. And it thrives peace to Work Together in peace creating original works of art. [ applause ] and that doesnt happen without him. I had so many so many funny, unusual moments with him. I sat next to him on Howard Cosells funeral, a somber dayton sure. Muhammad and i were sitting next to each other and he quietly whispered to me,ling brother do you think he is wearing his hairpiece . So i said i dont think so. Well then how will god recognize him . So i said his mouth, god will know. So he started laughing. It was a muffled laugh but then we couldnt contain ourselves. Here we were at a funeral, me with muhammad ali laughing and laughing. And then he looked at me and he whispered howard was a good man. One time he asked me if i would like to run with him one morning. Do road work with him and i said amazing. Where do you run. I run on the country club early in the morning, private nobody bothers me, we will have a great time and i said champ i cant run there. The club is reputation for being restricted. They dont allow jews there. They dont have any jewish members. He was incensed. Im a black moslem and they let me run there. Ling brother, im never going to and he didnt. [ applause ] my favorite memory. My favorite memory perhaps was 1979. He just retired and there was a Retirement Party at the forum in los angeles for muhammad and 20,000 of his closest friends in los angeles. I performed a piece that i had created, the imitation had grown into a life story. Its called 15 rounds. And i play them from the age of 18 until he is 36 ready for the rematch with leon sphinx. I posted it on the internet. Of me portraying ali doing his life for him all of those years ago in 1979. Though at 20,000 people there. But i was doing it only for him. Its one of my favorite performances that i have ever done and got lost in him. I didnt know where i was. At the end of the performance and suddenly i am back stage with another is holding on to me crying and then i see ali coming with a full head of steam and looking at me and nudged mr. Pryer aside and whispered in my ear with a big bear hug, little brother you made my life better than it was. But didnt he make our live a little bit better than they were. That my friends is my history with a man that i have labored to come up with a way to describe the legend. A tremendous bolt of lightning created by Mother Nature out of thin air. A fantastic combination of power and beauty. We have seen still photographs of lightning bolts at the moment of impact, ferocious and magnificent in its elegance and at the impact it everything so you can see everything clearly. Muhammad ali struck us in the middle of the night in a threatening storm and his power toppled the mightest of goes and we were able to see clearly and injustice and poverty self realization, courage, laughter, love, joy, and religious freedom for all. Ali forced us to take a look at ourselves. This young man that thrilled us, angered us and challenged us ultimately became a silent messenger of piece that toll life is best when you build bridges between walls. My friends. My friends, om once in a thousand years or so do we get to hear a mozart. A sea of picasso. Ali was one of them and at his heart he was a kid from louisville that ran with the gods and walked with the crippled and smiled at the foolishness of it all. He is gone but he will never die. He was my big brother. Thank ther. Thank you. [ ladies and gentlemen, bryant gumble. The great mya anjelou that was herself no stranger to fame wrote that ultimately people forget what you said and people will forget what you did. But that no one will ever forget how you made them field. As applied to muhammad ali. The march of time may diminish his poetry and his butterflies and bees and dull the memories of the thriller vanilla and the rumble in the jungle but i ub forget how muhammad ali made us field. Now im not talking about how proud he made you feel with his exploits or how special he made you feel when you were privileged enough to be in his company. Im talking about how he gripped our hearts and our souls. And our conscience and made our fights his fights for decades. People like me who were once young, semigifted and black will never forget what he thrilled in us. Some of us like him took pride in being black, bold and brash. And because we were so unapologyic, we were eyes of many way too up paty. Way too arrogant. Yet we reveled like being like him. He gave us levels of strength and courage, we didnt even know we had. But alis impact was not limited to those of a certain race or a certain religion or mind set, the greatness of this man for the ages was that he was in fact a man for all ages. Has any man ever stripped a greater art to his life . What does it say of a man, any man that he can go from being viewed as one of his countrys most polarizing figures to arguably the most beloved. [ applause ] and to do so without changing his nature or for a second compromising his principles. Yeah you know there were great causes and Great National movements and Huge Division that afforded alis opportunities to symbolize our struggles but harry truman had it right when he said men make history and not the other way around or as lauren hill so nicely put it consequence is no coincidence. Be fitting stature as the , a fight, he fought not only the baddest and biggest men inside his day in the ropes but outside the ring he went outside the rope with an array of critics and seemingly endless succession of societial normals and the architects of inviral more ral war and the u. S. Government. He even fought ultimately to his detriment the limitations of father time. Strictly speaking fighting is what he did. But he broadened that definition by sharing his struggles with us and by viewing our struggles as his. And so it was that at various times he accepted and led battles on behalf of his race and in generation and defense of his religious beliefs. And ultimately in ely in spite of his disease. I happened to be overseas working in norway this past week and my buddy matt called and told me that champ had been taken to the hospital. At this time it was really serious. Right away i called lonnie who was as always a pillar of strength. And as we discussed the medical details, the doctors views and the ugly reality of mortality lonnie said bryant, the world still needs him. And indeed it does. Always worked to bridge the economics and social divides that threaten a nation that he darryl loved. The world needs a champion that always symbolized the best of islam to offset fear. The world needs a champion for inincluding for all. Hating people because of their color is wrong ali says and it doesnt matter which color does the hating, it is , it is just plain wrong. [ applause ] yeah, we do muhammad ali now. We need the strength and the hope and the passion and the conviction that he always demonstrated. But this time oube and for once he will not get up. Not this time. Not ever again. Let me close with a quick personal story. 50 years ago muhammad ali defeated george tavelo in toronto, canada. The very next day he showed up in my hyde park neighborhood on the south side of chicago. As ali got out of the car in the driveway of a home of mohammed. I ran out of the home and ran ti the fence and for the first champs hands. I was 17, i was awestruck. And man i thought he was the greatest. And now half a century, and a lifetime of experiences later, i am still awestruck. And im convinced more than ever that muhammad ali is the greatest. [ applause ] to be standing here by virtue of his and lonnies numbing is one that i will take to my grave. Thank you, champ. Ladies and gentlemen, the 42nd president of the united states. The honorable William Jefferson clinton. Thank you. I can just hear muhammad saying now well, i thought i should be eulogized by at least one president. And by making you last in a long, long, long, long line. I guaranteed you a standing ovation. Im trying been left unsaid. First, lonnie, i thank you and the members of the family for telling me that he actually as bryant said picked us all to speak and giving me a chance to come here. I thank you for what you did to make the second half of his life greater than the first. [ applause ] i thank you for the Muhammad Ali Center and what it has come to represent to so many people. Here is what id like to say. I spent a lot of time now as i get older an older and trying to figure out what makes people tick. How do they turn out the way they are. How does some people refuse to become victims and rise from every defeat. Weve all seen the beautiful pictures of the home muhammad ali was a boy in. And people visiting and driving by. I think he decided something i hope every young person here will decide. I think he decided very young to write his own life story. [ applause ] i think he decided before he could have possibly worked it all out fate and time could work their will on him, he decided that he would not be ever disempowered. He decided that not his race, nor his place, nor the expectations of other positive, negatives or otherwise would strip from him the power to write his own story. He decided first to use these stunning gifts. His strength and speed in the ring. His wit and way with words and managing the public. And his mine and heart to figure out at a fairly young age who he was and what he believed. And how to live with the consequences of acting on what he believed. Steps one and two and still just cant quite manage living with the consequences of what he beliefs. For the longest time in spite of all of the wonderful things that have been said here. I remember thinking when i was a kid this guy is so smart and he never got credit for being as smart as he was. And then i dont think he ever got the credit for being until later, as wise as he was. In the end, besides being a lot of fun to be around and basically universal soldier for our common humanity. I will always think of muhammad as a truly free man of and being a man of faith he realized he would never be in full control of his life. Something like parkinsons could come along. But being free, he realized that life still was open to choices. It is the choices that muhammad ali made that have brought us all here today in honor and love and the only other thing id like to say i think we all really, really need to think about. As the first part of his life was dominated by the triumph of his truly unique gifts, we should never forget them. We should never stop in the movies. We should thank wil smith for making his movie. We should all be thrilled it was a thing of beauty. But the second part of his life was more important because he refused to be imprisoned by a disease longer than Nelson Mandela was kept imprisoned. In the second part of his life he perfected gifts that we all have, every single solitairery one of us have gifts of mind and heart. It is just that he found a way to release them. And in i asked lonnie the time they were living in michigan and i gave a speech in southwest michigan an Economic Club and a ritual when a president leaves office and you had to get react cha mated. Nobody plays a club when you walk in the room. I think it is called the Economic Club. They treat you like you deserve to be listened to and they came to dinner with me and he knew somehow he knew that i was a little off my feet that night. I was trying to imagine how to make this new life and so he told me a really bad joke. And he told it so well and he laughed so hard that i totally got over time. He had that feel about you know there is no textbook for that. Knowing where somebody else is in their head. Picking up the body language. Then lonnie and muhammad got me to come here for the Muhammad Ali Center and i was trying to be elder states men dignified and i have to elevate this guy and saying this stuff in high tone language and muhammad sneaking us behind me and puts his fingers up, finally after all of the years we have been friends, my enduring image of him is like a three shots. The boxer i fell to as a boy. The man i watched take the last steps to light the olympic flame when i was president and ill never forget it sitting in atlanta and by then we knew each other and by then i felt i had a sense of what he was living with and i was still weeping like a baby seeing his handshake and leg shake and knowing by god he was going to make those last few steps no matter what it took. The flame would be lit and the fight would be won. I knew
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