A champion who gave up perhaps the best years of his life by taking a stand, a personal stand saying he would not serve in the draft. He would not fight against the communists in vietnam, and he paid the price for that with some of the best years of his life. But he came back and became champion again. Gary radnich is here now. And this is certainly somebody that just transcends sports. And with next time you see an athlete make a prediction, stick out his chest and tell you what hes going to do it all began with ali. His career began in lewisville kentucky where he won an olympic light heavy weight gold medal. And upon his return, he found that racism with a gold medal around his neck or not was still very prevalent in his native lewisville. The story goes he went to a bridge, threw his gold medal into the water never to retrieve it. And it went on to become the heavy weight champion. In the early 60s he was a 71 underdog when he took on sonny lipton and he said im going to beat this ugly bear. Im going to take him out. And sure enough he did. And at age 21 he was the heavy weight champion of the world. He traveled the gold and in those days you fight all comers. And he went to fight henry cooper in london. He had the rumble in the jungle with George Foreman. He was the man at all times. Of course as steve said, its an individual decision youre feeling on the vietnam war. But muhammad ali said i will not serve and indeed he was out for six of the prime years of his boxing career. Came back to fight joe frazier after the sixyear absence. Lost the 15 round decision. And people still say the greatest, most anticipated boxing match in history. You see him here in his later days when Health Issues pretty much put him on the sidelines. But occasionally he would go out. They still talk about the time at the atlanta olympics the shaking ali holding the torch. He baby sat this young lady, and it looks like he was a ladies man. A lot of beautiful women in his life. But she met ali when she was ten. And he was king of the world. She wept on to marry she went on to marry him. She was his 4th wife and he took care of him in later life. He was the man, i cant say it enough. I love when i hear the stories about him, he spoke at harvard and said im the only guy who had a d average to ever speak at harvard. And later in his career again i went to school in las vegas. We were lucky nah enough to get to see some of his fights. And late in his career he needed money. He was so generous and thats one people forget about these guys. He ended up broke, or here or there. While youre sitting on the couch hiding, he was helping millions on millions just with his attitude and he gave Financial Aid to all around him. He came back and on a night in las vegas was beaten to a pulp. It was a very sad occasion. And again after his retirement the parkinsons started to rear its ugly head. And from barry bonds to others that took Strong Political stances, everyone took their queue from muhammad ali. African american athletes and boxers in particular who were ripped off by their agents throughout the career saw ali come first and foremost to the head of the class. Somebodies going to say babe ruth was the best athlete but this guy was the guy that carried the stature that nobody before or since has been able to maintain. He was a great boxer, but again it was his predictions. Nicknamed the lewisville lip. And everybodys going to have a story about him. But living in las vegas. I had him on a little tv show when i was starting. He was filming in the mid70s. Not the will smith movie. But they did a quick version of the muhammad ali story where he played himself then he went on to play on nbc a roll called uncle buck. But he just couldnt translate to movies. Because thats ali i dont believe him as anybody else. He was filming this role and somebody said you want to interview muhammad ali. So we go down there, it was a quite a thrill. Again, not to make a big deal. But he said i like your car wheres the station. So he got in my fancy car, drove down to the station with his dad who was a sign painter in lewisville, couldnt have been nicer, couldnt have been more charming. Tv lights come on he starts yelling and screaming. Im the greatest and this movie of mine is going to be the greatest. And as soon as the camera went off he said hey man, get me back to my hotel. He was just the greatest. And ha he did that nobody else again has done before or since is he brought a since of humanity. Yeah. And there was a twinkle in his eye. Im picking names out here. But bar ray bonds great barry bonds, great. Great athletes but he didnt have the twinkle in his eyes. And there was a lot of people when he first arrived on the scene in the 60s there was a lot of just white people who did not like muhammad ali. They would go just to see him lose. I remember when he fought at the coliseum in los angeles. And what he did for so many Young African american people, young white people, is just give them a sense of hey, be proud of who you are and if you work hard enough youre not going to be muhammad ali but you can look in the mirror and say im not backing down from anybody. And he passes tonight. Only he knows the pain that he has been in all these years. But he was a guy that you just look at him and you think to yourself, you know, for sports fans particularly, and whose even come close to him. Theres babe ruth, willie mayes, Michael Jordan is fantastic at what he does, but outside of basketball what does he do . At least what hes known for he sells tennis shoes. This guy changed the world and made people around the world want to follow his lead. And to the day he died i still think he is the most famous athlete, there was many years he was the most famous man in the world. And theres a story about ali flying over new york and he goes to the pilot he says you know, you see all those lights down there theres not one house that i cant walk in knock on the door and say hey its muhammad ali come on in. He was that famous. So thats it, muhammad ali passes tonight. But i can tell you for the next week or so, i hate to say it. Donald trump, hillary clinton, see you later. Well be talking about what this guy meant, and what this guy did. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. There you go. Whats real funny, he had an eye for the ladies. But also my wife loves, right when we heard the news tonight shes talking about she was, you know a Million People have a story. She was on willshire boulevard and muhammad ali came down in la she said i didnt look very good but he winked at me. I was 10years old at the time. And in las vegas i would come in. And i saw henry belfontain. And young people dont realize. You google his fights or google what he did and youll appreciate it. For the third time, nobody before or since like that guy. Quite a memory that you have there. This wonderful man. Gary, stick around. Lets talk more in a minute. We want to show people home a respectful look back. Weve got a little bit wed like to share with people at home a sense of some of the things garys been talking about with perspective on muhammad aly. Muhammad ali declared himself the greatest. He was introduced to boxing when he was 12. Just six years later he brought home a gold medal from the 1960 summer olympics. He turned pro at age 18. And at 22 he stung the boxing world becoming heavyweight champion by defeating the champion. The 60s were his glory days but the Civil Rights Era would become a controversial period in his life. He renounced his given name and joined the black separatist nation of islam. His heavyweight title was revoked when he refused to serve in the vietnam war. He began an exile from championship fights until the Supreme Court overturnened his conviction on a technicality. Barely back in the ring his undefeated professional record came to an end in 1971 when he lost to joe frazier in a match dubbed the fight of the century. But he would get revenge in a rematch. The famous match ended in a technical knockout after the 14th round. On the last week. His last fight was in 1981 when he lost his title to trevor burbick. He had been diagnosed with parkinsons disease. As his condition grew progressively worse his spirit remained strong. In 1996 he lit the olympic flame at the summer games in atlanta. In 2005ali was presented with the president ial medical of Freedom Award the nations highest civilian honor. When you say the greatest of all time is in the room, everyone knows who you mean. [ cheers and applause. [ cheers and applause ] in his final years he penned a book, launched an online steer and even appealed to iranian officials for the release of two hikers. He was always the fighter who never backed down. Im renee marsh reporting. Muhammad ali died at the age of 74. Hes been fighting with parkinsons disease for some time. And went into the hospital with a respiratory health challenge. So many memories flooding our conscious now. Things we remember about him and now tweets coming in. This comes from mike tyson, god comes for his champion. Muhammad ali the greatest, rest in peace. Then from George Foreman. We were one guy as part of me slipped away the greatest piece. And this from rd kelly. R kelly the singer . Thank you. He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life. Muhammad ali rest in peace. And tracking comments from people in the world and doing the reflection were all doing here on the life of this great man. We looked at a lot of pictures when gary was putting him in some sort of context. Want to just take you through the greatest life and well start when he was young and well have a series of these throughout the next hour going up to about 11 15 and he started as a young kid. Hometown lewisville kentucky prior to his amateur boxing debut, 12years old, and 85 pounds at the time when he was young he won 100 out of 108 fights. He won at 1960 olympics in rome. And this kid was bully and had got some lessons from muhammad ali. A lot of people say he was the best with the most Vulnerable People among us the youngest and the oldest. Here he is with the beatles and then after beating lifton. And this is when he declared i am the greatest. So certainly the greatest life cuts short. Parkinsons had ailed him since the mid80s. And people will debate what role that had in his, or what role boxing played in the role that he had parkinsons. It impacts motor skills and people who know knew m him in recent years saw him as a shell of his former self. And beyond that he was afraid to be in the public eye. And he certainly wasnt afraid to continue to be a global ambassador and fight for the freedom of people, prisoners of war in Different Countries around the world. He was the guy that could broker deals that seemingly other World Leaders couldnt. And muhammad ali was a world leader in a unique kind of way. So more picture, and well walk a timeline with muhammad ali as he goes through the years. Right up until a couple months ago in april he was pictured. So well run the it there. And even though you talk about the frailty that came with parkinsons that twinkle in the eye was always there. And people loved that. Well talk about what that meant, and gary is really on to something by saying at one time there was nobody on the face of the planet that was as well known. In San Francisco talking to muhammad ali fans. We want to touch base with kate. Reporter good evening, as soon as we confirmed the news that muhammad ali had passed away i walked over to talk to people about him. And i was actually nervous that i was going to be breaking the news to people who are out on a friday night that he had passed away. But every Single Person that i approached within minutes of him passing away had not only heard about it but they had been following his progress, the news of him in the hospital this week. And people were very eager to talk about how muhammad ali had impacted their lives in the hope that they have that his legacy will impact our current athletes and sports heroes. He took a stance against the vietnam war and he didnt take it and run away he stood his ground and said this is what i believe. Hes a Great American hero stood for his beliefs. Very entraining, so yeah, a lot of sadness. When i was a kid and he was a man of conscious and an amazing lavement he was a world citizen. Amazing athlete. And he was a world citizen. Well take this and essentially try and move beyond the area of their own sport and essentially say this is what i believe and im prepared to take a stance no matter what the cost. And there you hear that man talking about the impact that an athlete can have and the fact that muhammad ali really epitomized that using your stature your power, your strength in your particular area is and your celebrity and thats something you dont see a lot with sports heroes these days. They tend to stick to their sport and thats it. But he thinks maybe thats something we need to see a little bit more. But with muhammad ali as gary mentioned his name guaranteed to be in the news over the next week or. So maybe well see some more of that. For now reporting live in San Francisco, pam and steve, back to you. Gathering feedback from the people. The conversations will go on over dinner tables and bars and at water coolers for the next week or more. One of my memories, and everybody has one. Was the whole exchange between abc sports anchor at the time and muhammad ali made howard corcel. And they would banter back and forth. And gary id like to talk to you about this. How they would go back and forth, and you know just seeing this white sports caster and this star of a heavyweight boxeninging champ but boxing champ but play with one another. Im going to talk corcel and and also joe frazier. And i keep referencing to you young folks looking at your phones and doing your thing, back in the time when ali was a king there were maybe 4 or 5 television stations so when he came on it was a big deal. Today everybodys afraid of offending someone. The first thing i think of is if you had a black man and a white man in this society and east going i got the complex to make the connection there would be people tweeting out there would be nervous people, but back in the day, his presence so powerful and he and howard cocel would go back and forth. One of my favorite thing was he would grab his tupe and shift it around. And everybody is more robotic and has to follow the norm. But ali respected him so much when he refused to take that step in Houston Texas to be inducted into the service, so the story goes he was the one media person who defended his right to choose. Everyone else turned on him. Howard defended muhammad alis right to say i will not go to vietnam or as ali would say on numerous occasions i aint got nothing against those vietcons. And howard cocel would say i made muhammad ali. And it was the greatest media guy, athlete relationship in the history of sports. Theres never been anything closer because he was a spirit ha did not follow the guidelines and they would go back and forth with each other. And it was a great, great, great relationship until he passed howard passing in the late 80s. I want to mention they would show frazier, smoking joe frazier, and one of my favorite ali stories. He tells it so well. During his exile from boxing ali was living in new jersey he was broke trying to get back in there, get the courts to overturn the deal that banned him from boxing right . So he goes down to philadelphia and in those days again, no twitter, no social media. Calls up one Radio Station saying im coming to kick joe fraziers you know what. They put it out over the air. And before you know it the streets of philadelphia are packed waiting for this. He said joe pick me up. He was broke. He asked joe frazier to loan him a thousand dollars. Then they get down and said ill make this fight happen for you. Why dont you take 5 million and ill take 5 million and well get it on. He says great thanks for the money. And a minute later he gets out in the street and starts yelling that ugly joe frazier. And that got the great fight in new york with Frank Sinatra ringside taking pictures. And its the greatest sporting event in my life. That was back in 1970. There was an ugly side to ali that has to be pointed out. In regards to joe frazier. When they had their fight and joe frazier was a sharecroppers son from South Carolina and ali for better or worse depending on how you look at things grew up middle class. His father was a house painter as we said. And ali had food on the table every night and joe frazier grew up dirt poor. But ali portrayed for their third fight they had split their first two and he portrayed him as an uncle tom because at those times the White Syndicate backed joe frazier and he painted him as an uncle tom and held up a little gorilla and would pound the gorilla and it really hurt joe frazier they didnt speak for years. Ali won in the and he said that was the closest hes ever been to death. Fortunately the last maybe 16 months i think ability 16 months before joe passed they got back together and mended old fences. For years he would say who won those fights, look at the shape the champ is in now and look at me im still moving. Pretty ugly dialling. But in the end dialogue. But in the end they know they are one in the same. Joe frazier and muhammad ali. There was cocel and frazier. And alis name will be in the first sentence, no question. Thanks a lot. Stick around. Right now we leave for a break with a look at the hospital where muhammad ali breathed his last. She had to earn it. Anded to cecilia aguiarcurry. Built a business. Became an expect in water policy. Balanced budgets. And always solving problems. Thats how she brought muchneeded technology to local classrooms. So every child has an opportunity to learn. And worked to create more local jobs. So more families can get ahead. Thats democrat cecilia aguiarcurry for assembly. Welcome back weve been talking this evening about the passing of heavyweight champion muhammad ali at the age of 74 in phoenix arizona. Hes been in the hospital with complications with respiratory problems. Complicated also by the parkinsons disease hes been fighting for so many years now. He claimed the name the greatest he defended it in the ring then he went out and earned it every day as a human being, as an ambassador, as a leader, as an advocate. And including in ways with his health towards the very end. How many years