Ali’s hometown of Louisville mourns its favorite son
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Rahaman Ali stood in a little house on Grand Avenue and dabbed his eyes as he shook hand after hand.
The visitors had come from as far away as Georgia and as near as down the street. They came despite the pouring rain to pay tribute to his brother, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali.
“God bless you all,” the 72-year-old Rahaman said to each.
As the world mourned Muhammad Ali, his death held special meaning here in Louisville, where the boxing great was the city’s favorite son.
“He was one of the most honorable, kindest men to live on this planet,” his brother said while greeting mourners at their childhood home, recently renovated and turned into a museum.
Cars lined both sides of the street for blocks. The guests piled flowers and boxing gloves around the marker designating it a historical site. They were young and old, black and white, friends and fans.
Another makeshift memorial grew outside the Muhammad Ali Center downtown, a museum built in tribute to Ali’s core values: respect, confidence, conviction, dedication, charity, spirituality.
“Muhammad Ali belongs to the world,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said at a memorial service Saturday morning outside Metro Hall. “But he only has one hometown.”
Rahaman recalled what Ali was like as a boy named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., long before he became the most famous man in the world, the Louisville Lip, celebrated as much for his grace and his words as his lightning-fast feet and knockout punch.
In their little pink house in Louisville’s west end, the brothers liked to wrestle and play cards and shoot hoops.
“He was a really sweet, kind, loving, giving, affectionate, wonderful person,” Rahaman said, wearing a cap that read “Ali,” the last letter formed by the silhouette of a boxer ready to pounce.
When he was 12 years old, Ali had a bicycle that was stolen and he told a police officer he wanted to “whoop” whoever took it, Fischer said at the memorial service. The officer told him he’d have to learn how to box first.
Daniel Wilson was one year behind Ali at Central High School and remembered he was so committed to his conditioning that he didn’t get on the school bus like everybody else. Instead, he ran along beside it, three miles all the way to school each morning.
“The kids on the bus would be laughing and Ali would be laughing too,” he recalled Saturday morning at the Grand Avenue home where he went to pay his respects to an old friend.
Ruby Hyde arrived at the memorial holding an old black-and-white framed photo of a young Ali. She’d been a water girl at his amateur bouts as a teenager in Louisville, and seen even then that there was something special, something cerebral, about the way he fought.
Years later, he came back to the old neighborhood as a heavyweight champion, driving a Cadillac with the top down.
“All the kids jumped in and he rode them around the block,” she remembered.
He never forgot where he came from, she said.
“He’s done so much for Louisville. He’s given us so much,” said Kitt Liston, who as girl growing up in Louisville admired Ali’s unblinking fight for justice and peace. “He’s truly a native son. He’s ours.”
Liston’s voice trembled as she recounted running into him at a baseball game a few years ago.
“I got to tell him how much I cared about him. He put that big ol’ paw out and just shook my hand,” she said. “He just had time for everybody.”
The mayor ordered the city’s flags flown at half-staff.
Outside Metro Hall, Fischer pointed west, toward Ali’s childhood home, about three miles away in one of the city’s poorest zip codes.
“There can only be one Muhammad Ali, but his journey from Grand Avenue to global icon serves as a reminder that there are young people with the potential for greatness in the houses and neighborhoods all over our city, our nation, our world,” he said.
Fischer told mourners to teach all children Ali’s legacy: that a kid from Kentucky can grow up to be The Greatest.
“That’s how we become champions,” he said. “Muhammad Ali has shown us the way.”
A trio of U.S. boxers wear gold medals at the Olympic village in Rome, September 6, 1960. From the left are: Wilbert McClure of Toledo, Ohio, light middleweight; Cassius Clay of Louisville, KY, light heavyweight; and Edward Crook of Fort Campbell, KY, middleweight. (AP Photo)
The Beatles, from right to left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr pretent to be knocked out by a fake blow from Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali), lying on the floor of the ring, while visiting the heavyweight contender at his training camp in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, Feb. 18,1964. (AP Photo)
Young heavyweight fighter Cassius Clay is seen at City Parks Gym in New York, Feb. 8, 1962. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi)
Cassius Clay, in white trunks, is shown in his professional boxing debut, October 29, 1960, in Louisville’s Freedom Hall, against Tunney Hunsaker – a part-time fighter and the full-time police chief of Fayetteville, West Virginia. Six thousand partisan fans saw Clay win a six round decision. (AP Photo)
Young heavyweight fighter Cassius Clay is seen with his trainer Angelo Dundee at City Parks Gym in New York, Feb. 8, 1962. (AP Photo/Dan Grossi)
Cassius Clay weighs in at 204 pounds for his 12-round heavyweight fight in Los Angeles, California, November 15, 1962, against Archie Moore, left, who came in at 197 pounds. Adjusting the scales is Clayton Frye, secretary of the California Athletic Commission. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali (center) the Olympic champ turned pro, visited Tennessee A&I State University at Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 1961 for a reunion with fellow Olympic Ralph Boston and Wilma Rudolph, both track stars. The Louisville boxer says he?s ready to most champion Floyd Patterson. He will seek his 10th straight pro win on December 13 at Louisville against Willi Besmanoff. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) misses with a left as Charley Powell ducks in the first round of their scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight. Ali knocked out Powell in the third round at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh on Jan. 25, 1963. (AP Photo)
World heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay runs alongside a horse-drawn carriage, in Queen’s Mews, Knightsbridge, London, May 11, 1966. Clay is in training for his fight against British challenger Henry Cooper on May 21. (AP Photo/Peter Kemp)
Muhammad Ali blows out the candles on a cake baked for his 25th birthday today, Jan. 17, 1967. The cake, weighing 578 1/2 pounds, was presented to Ali as he started the day’s training in Houston. Fifteen hundred eggs, 150 pounds each of flour, sugar and butter were used in the making of the cake. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky)
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, holds the “Muhammad Speaks” newspaper with his picture as he and followers of the Muslim sect leave the Las Vegas convention center, after weigh-in ceremonies. Ali, who weighed in at 210 pounds, defends his title against challenger Floyd Patterson, November 22, 1965, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Sal Veder)
Perspiration beads the face of world heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali shown in training for his May 25, 1965 fight with Sonny Liston at Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo)
Basketball star Wilt Chamberlain extends a long left in the direction of world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali as they met at an ABC television studio in New York, March 10, 1967. Chamberlain stands 7 feet, 1 inch tall, and Ali is 6 feet, 2 inches tall. Chamberlain’s reach is over 90 inches, Ali’s is 79 inches. Their proposed fight, in all seriousness, never came off. (AP Photo)
Keith Green, nine-year-old fourth grader from P.S. 175 in Manhattan, is shown striking a victorious pose after “flooring” heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden in New York, March 14, 1967, as Ali trained for his March 22 bout with Zora Folley. Keith was among 300 children from P.S. 175 who visited Ali. (AP Photo/John Lindsay)
Muhammad Ali gets a rub down as he uses his hands for a demonstration during a dressing room chat with newsmen after a light workout in Houston, Feb. 2, 1967. Ali is training for the Feb. 6 heavyweight title fight with WBA champion Ernie Terrell. Others are unidentified. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky)
World Heavyweight Champion Cassius Clay, left, and Ernie Terrell stand face to face during a weigh-in for the title fight tonight in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 6, 1967. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali falls through the ropes while working out with sparring partner Jimmy Ellis in Houston, Tex., Feb. 2, 1967, a few days before his heavyweight match with Ernie Terrell. (AP Photo)
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali, his father Cassius Clay, Sr., and his brother Rahaman Ali, are shown at his training camp in Miami Beach, Florida, February 9, 1971. (AP Photostf)
Muhammad Ali, in a jovial mood as his March 8 bout with Joe Frazier draws near, is seen speaking on the phone and wearing a king’s crown, March 6, 1971, in Miami Beach. Ali and Frazier will meet on the 8th in New York’s Madison Square Garden. (AP Photo/Joe Migon)
Muhammad Ali gets a bear-hug in the ring from Sammy Davis Jr. moments after taking a 12-round decision from England?s Joe Bugner in a 12-rounder at Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 14, 1973. Davis gave President Richard Nixon a similar hug at the Republican convention last summer. (AP Photo)
A battered Muhammad Ali walks back to his corner as a triumphant Joe Frazier, background, celebrates his title defense after the 15th round of their title bout in New York, March 8, 1971. After the bout, Ali was taken to have his injured jaw X-rayed. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali hits Ron Lyle with a hard right to the chin during fifth round action of the title bout in Las Vegas, May 16, 1975. Ali won with a TKO in the 11th round. (AP Photo)
** FILE **Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali makes a point during a news conference that he conducts from inside the ring in Atlanta, Ga., in this Oct. 24, 1970, file photo. A new book, “Ali Rap: Muhammad Ali the First Heavyweight Champion of Rap,” proclaims Ali’s verbal barrage was more than self-promotion, but sowed the seeds of hip-hop, which came into being in the `70s. (AP Photo/FILE)
Title fight announced – Sports promoter Don King stands between Muhammad Ali, left, the heavyweight champion, and Joe Frazier in New York, Thursday, July 17, 1975, after it was announced that Ali and Frazier will meet in a title bout dot. The Ali – Frazier fight will be their third match-up. Each has won once. (AP-Photo)
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali connects with a left to the face of Jimmy Young during their championship bout at Landover, Md., April 30, 1976. Ali won a unanimous decision in fifteen rounds. (AP Photo)
World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali points to a photo of scantily-clad challenger Ken Norton, Sept. 23, 1976, as Ali and supporters picket outside Norton’s training headquarters in Grossinger, N.Y. Signs carried by Ali and his friends claim that Norton has made X-rated movies. Actually, Norton has had featured roles in the films “Mandingo,” and “Drum,” which are R-rated. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
Pop artist Andy Warhol, left, is shown photographing Muhammad Ali, his infant daughter, Hanna, and wife, Veronica, Thursday, August 18, 1977, at Ali’s training camp in Deer Lake, Pa. (AP Photo)
Soccer player Pele, right, embraces boxer Muhammad Ali during a ceremony honoring the Brazilian soccer star of the New York Cosmos at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J., October 1, 1977. Cosmos won 2-1 over Santos of Brazil in the final game of Pele’s career, in which he played on both sides, one each half. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and his bride, Veronica Porsche, pose for photographers, June 19, 1977, following their wedding in Los Angeles. It was the third marriage for Ali. (AP Photo/stf)
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, left, signs a replica of his star for the Hollywood Walk of Fame as Johnny Grant, honorary mayor of Hollywood, holds it up Friday, Jan. 11, 2002, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Challenger Muhammad Ali is pictured grimacing after champion Leon Spinks landed a left during their heavyweight title bout at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 16, 1978. Ali regained the title with a 15 round unanimous decision. (AP Photo/stf)
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Martha Louis Barrow, the wife of ex-heavyweight champion Joe Louis, talk at a dinner in Washington, D.C. on May 13, 1978. The dinner is honoring Ali as fighter of the decade and Louis as fighter of the century. The awards were presented to Ali and Mrs. Louis on behalf of her husband by the Omnibus House Group, a Washington based media organization. (AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi)
Muhammad Ali, left, Liberace, center, and Hulk Hogan get together at Madison Square Garden in preparation for their upcoming wrestling event, March 29, 1985, in New York. Ali will be guest referee and Liberace time keeper when Hulk Hogan and Mr. T, of A-Team fame, are pitted against Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul (Mr. Wonderful) Orndorff. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Muhammad Ali, former world heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medal winner, carries the Olympic torch for a kilometer in Louisville, Ky., May 27, 1984. (AP Photo/T. Palmer)
Cassius Clay faces newsmen in the dressing room at Madison Square Garden, in New York, night of March 13, 1963 after winning unanimous decision over Doug Jones in 10-round bout. (AP Photo)
Former boxer Muhammad Ali, left, hugs former U.S. President Bill Clinton as he walks onstage at the grand opening gala celebration for the Muhammad Ali Center, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)
FILE – In this Nov. 15, 1962, file photo, young heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay, who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, points to a sign he wrote on a chalk board in his dressing room before his fight against Archie Moore in Los Angeles, predicting he’d knock Moore out in the fourth round, which he went on to do. The sign also predicts Clay will be the next champ via a knockout over Sonny Liston in eight rounds. He did it in seven rounds. Ali turns 70 on Jan. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Harold P. Matosian, File)
Muhammad Ali at wheel of car on April 2, 1963. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) the windy young heavyweight from Louisville, Ky., shadow boxes on Nov. 13, 1962 in the final stages of his preparations to fight Archie Moore in the Los Angeles Sports Arena November 15. A superb physical specimen, the undefeated Clay says ?That old man will never catch me.? (AP Photo/Don Brinn)
Cassius Clay’s handlers hold him back as he reacts after he is announced the new heavyweight champion of the world on a seventh round technical knockout against Sonny Liston at Convention Hall in Miami Beach, Fla., on Feb. 25, 1964. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight challenger Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) lets out a howl as he steps to the box office Feb. 22, 1964 in Miami Beach, Fla. Ali and Sonny Liston will fight Tuesday night. (AP Photo)
World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali ?Cassius Clay? poses wearing the 24-carat gold-plated championship belt presented to him in New York on Sept. 17, 1964. Clay predicted a long reign on the boxing throne for himself and eventual retirement as ?the undefeated, untarnished, and still the prettiest? heavyweight champion of them all. The belt was presented by ring magazine in whose offices the ceremony took place. (AP Photo)
FILE – In this Feb. 18, 1964, file photo, The Beatles, from left, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, take a fake blow from Cassius Clay, who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, while visiting the heavyweight contender at his training camp in Miami Beach, Fla. Ali turns 70 on Jan. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/File)
Muhammad Ali demonstrates his ability to land punches in any situation during his bout with Ernie Terrell in Houston, Feb. 6, 1967. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) at left stands by after he landed a right to the head of challenger Cleveland Williams which knocked him down for the fourth time in their title bout in Houston?s domed stadium on Nov. 15, 1966. The punch was landed in the third round and moment?s later referee Harry Kessler put a stop to the mismatch, awarding Ali a technical knockout. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali gets his gloves laced outside a boxing ring in Houston, Texas in February 1967. Ali is training for a Feb. 6 championship title fight with Ernie Terrell. (AP Photo)
Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali, surrounded by neighborhood youngsters, was very bitter about his reclassification to 1-A by his Louisville, Ky. draft board, Feb. 18, 1966 in Miami, Fla. Ali held a press conference at his Miami home after learning of the change. (AP Photo/Toby Massey)
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali is momentarily displeased after weigh-in ceremony, May 25, 1965 in Lewiston, Maine, arena. Challenger Sonny Liston will be the object of Ali?s more potent attentions in 15-round title bout tonight. Liston weighed 215 ¼ and Clay 206. (AP Photo)
Referee John LoBianco directs champion Muhammad Ali to a neutral corner before he started the knockout count over prostrate challenger Zora Folley in seventh round of heavyweight little fight. Ali was declared victor on a knockout at 1:48 of the round in fight in New York’s Madison Square Garden, March 22, 1967. (AP Photo)
World heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali sits in his room on his arrival in Houston, Feb. 20, 1967. The champ was silent on his thoughts about his draft status referring all questions to his New York attorney. The Houston Selective Service appeals board refused his appeal for a deferment. He was trying for a deferment on grounds that he is a Muslim minister. Ali starts training tomorrow for his title defense against Zora Folley on March 22 in New York. (AP Photo/Ed Kolenovsky)
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), the deposed world heavyweight boxing champion, told an anti-war rally at the University of Chicago on May 11, 1967 that there is a difference between fighting in the ring and fighting in Vietnam. (AP Photo/Charles Harrity)
Muhammad Ali, former world heavyweight boxing champion, toys with the finely combed hair of television sports commentators Howard Cosell before the start of the Olympic boxing trials, Aug. 7, 1972, in West Point, NY. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali, right, winces as Ken Norton hits him with a left to the head in their scheduled 12-round re-match, Sept. 10, 1973 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. (AP Photo)
With compressed lips, Muhammad Ali punches bag on Jan. 10, 1974 in his Deer Lake, Pa., training camp where he is preparing for his January 28 rematch with Joe Frazier. Ali still broods about his defeat by Frazier back in March 1971 but says he is going to win this time. (AP Photo/ Rusty Kennedy)
Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali displays the Hickory Award he received in New York, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 1975 honoring him as the professional athlete of the year for 1974. Ali picked up 49 first-peace votes and 249 points in nationwide balloting among sports writers and sports casters. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)
Muhammad Ali puts on a show at the New York State Athletic Commission?s office in New York City on Jan. 23, 1974 as he tries to force his way into the room where Joe Frazier was getting his pre-fight physical. Ali and Frazier meet on January 28 in evening in Madison Square Garden in a heavyweight boxing match. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler )
Muhammad Ali and his assistant trainer and friend Bondini Brown sing a song in the ring after Ali weighed in at 215 pounds for his bout at Madison Square Garden in New York with heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, March 8, 1971. (AP Photo)
Japanese pro wrestler Antonio Inoki kicks the back of Muhammad Ali’s leg in an attempt to trip him down on the mat during their boxing wrestling bout on June 26, 1976 at the Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Inoki challenged the World Heavyweight boxing champion in a 15-round fight billed as “World Martial Arts championship.” But the fight ended in a draw before the 14,000 spectators who paid from 17 to 1,000 U.S. dollars for their seat. Ali was to receive 6.1 million dollars and Inoki up to 4 million. (AP Photo/MC)
FILE – In this June 3, 1976, file photo, Muhammad Ali, left, and Ken Norton stand in the infield at New York’s Yankee Stadium to promote their title fight that was held in September of that year. Yuri Foreman, the junior middleweight champion, is scheduled to face Miguel Cotto at the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday, June 5, in the first boxing match the Yankees have hosted since the 1976 bout. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File)
President Ferdinand Marcos, left, of the Philippines, presents the President’s Trophy to heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, second from right, after Ali defeated Joe Frazier in their “Thrilla in Manila” fight at the Coliseum in Manila, Oct. 1, 1975. Posing from left are, President Marcos; promoter Don King; Ali’s brother, Rahman; Ali, and his father Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr., right. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali, left, heavyweight champ hams it up with challenger Chuck Wepner during weigh-in at Cleveland Coliseum on Sunday, March 23, 1975 at Richfield, Ohio. Wepner meets Ali in a scheduled 15-round title bout Monday Center is TV commentator Howard Cosell. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali is seen prior to the first round of his title fight against heavyweight contender Ken Norton, shouting “Norton must fall” at Yankee Stadium in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1976. Days later on Friday, Oct. 1, in Istanbul, Ali told a crowd of reporters and photographers that “as of now, I am quitting boxing and will devote all my energy to the propagation of the Muslim faith.” (AP Photo)
Boxing great Muhammad Ali pleads with Kristal Yates, 6, of New Haven, for a kiss as he toured the Newington Children?s Hospital in Newington, Mass., Aug. 24, 1979. The little girl refused to give him one, but did get his autograph. (AP Photo/Bob Child)
Host David Frost roars with delight at a remark by former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali, July 5, 1978. The two were talking during broadcast of Frost?s “Headliners” show on NBC. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm)
Former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali on his twelve day visit to the Soviet Union, Russia in June 1978. (AP Photo)
Boxer Muhammad Ali doing his roadwork past St. Basil’s and Lenin’s mausoleum in Moscow in June 1978. (AP Photo)
One left to the head that Muhammad Ali isn?t even trying to dodge. The hand is that of his 13-month-old daughter, Hana, who is clambering over Ali on Sunday, Sept. 26, 1977 in the New York hotel room to which he returned after working out for his impending title defense. (AP Photo)
Muhammad Ali poses with Dream Team members from left: Scottie Pippen, Hakeem Olajuwon, Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton after receiving the gold medal, which replaces the 1960 gold medal he lost, during half time ceremonies at the gold medal game of basketball competition at the Centennial Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta Saturday, August 3, 1996. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch presented the medal to Ali. (AP Photo/Eric Draper)
Zaire dancer with spear moves ahead of Muhammad Ali through welcoming crowded at Kinshasa airport, September 10, 1974. Ali arrived in a chartered Air Zaire plane from Paris for the world championship fight with George Foreman. AP Photo/ Horst Faas)
President Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005, to boxer Muhammad Ali in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Muhammad Ali, right, is shown with Black Muslim Leader, Malcolm X, outside the Trans-Lux Newsreel Theater on Broadway at 49th Street, New York City, March 1, 1964. They had just watched a screening of films on Ali’s title fight with Sonny Liston in Miami Beach, Feb. 25. (AP Photo)