He has been hospitalized in Arizona with respiratory distress and his family is by his side. Prayers to Ali and his family. Float like a butterfly…
Hate to hear this.
So sad to hear this 
He has been a personal hero of mine since I was in preschool and I actually wrote about him in my Common App essay. I really hope he is able to recover.
"If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread they can sure make something out of you. "
It just broke that he has passed away. Very sad. I’m staring at my Muhammad Ali “Impossible is Nothing” poster as I type this.
Just curious as to where you’re reading this, @romanigypsyeyes. I can’t find it on any of my newsfeeds (CNN, NPR, USA Today, ESPN, The New York TImes).
Never mind, it just came through on MSN. Very sad. D1 and her friend met him once in the Washington, D.C. airport when they had a layover as they were flying back to their colleges after an unexpected trip home for the funeral of a high school friend. They got their picture with him; said he was very approachable. This would have been in 2004.
@teriwtt currently watching it on MSNBC. It sounds like Lonnie Ali just released a statement. Let me see if I can find it. (Correction here: it was the family spokesman who confirmed it and in his confirmation mentioned Lonnie and his family was by his side.)
ETA: Here’s one link: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/muhammad-ali-greatest-all-time-dead-74-n584776?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=83ca86aabd79e6a9cecb3c293e83dbc2
I also just flipped over to CNN and they’re reporting it as well.
Ooops, I see we cross-posted.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!
This has always been one of my favorite quotes and I had no idea that it came from him: “Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”
Wonderful NY Times video, 19 minutes long:
Muhammad Ali: ‘What’s My Name?’
http://www.nytimes.com/video/sports/100000003216440/muhammad-ali-whats-my-name.html
RIP, Mohammed. WIll always remember the lighting of the torch at the 1996 olympics.
I have to be honest, I know nothing about Muhammed Ali other than he was a boxer, had the name change from Cassius Clay – vague memories of hearing “The Thriller in Manila” and the classic “float like a butterfly sting like a bee” line. My family never really watched boxing matches. So I don’t really have much emotion necessarily about his passing but it’s been interesting reading about his life. I wasn’t aware Parkinson’s could be triggered by head trauma. How awful. I have to say the sport seems kind of barbaric to me.
Here is one article on dementia pugilistica and parkonsinism/parkinsons disease. I wonder if the family will allow an autopsy/brain biopsy. Would be very helpful for science, IMO.http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/neu.2011.1957
I remember listening to round-by-round accounts of his first fight (1971) with Smokin Joe Frazier on Radio with my brothers! It was only available on closed circuit movie screens. It wasn’t broadcast on tv or radio. Radio just had the fight summary after each round.
ropeadope #olympicgold #thegreatest
@oldmom4896 - that’s a great video tribute. Thanks!
My friends and I listened on a tiny transistor radio as he upset Sonny Liston in a fight in Maine. Two of us rooted for him and one of us hated him with a passion. I was very excited when he won. Boxing was a major sport back then.
Many people disliked him because he refused to serve in the military during the Vietnam war and that was big news. I had no opinion and didn’t realize my turn to choose was coming up in a few years too.
Very sad. Was all that fame and fortune worth it?
RIP. I was a fan of his beginning with the first Ali-Frazier fight.
I saw him up close once, in about 1980, before the Parkinson’s diagnosis. He was doing card tricks for a small circle of onlookers in a convention hall. My lasting impression was how truly huge he looked in person. Especially his hands.
Separately, I hope the moderators can correct the thread title; his name was spelled Muhammad Ali, not Mohammed. A tribute thread ought to at least spell his name right!
I did.