Instead, they traded stories about Ali’s courage and his connection to everyday people. No one seemed to mind as the sun heated the day toward 90 degrees and people learned that the motorcade was maybe an hour behind schedule. flag in the front yard of one home flew at half-staff. Several dozen people stood in clusters along the residential street. She said he would always be in the hallway just smiling and running his mouth.”īrown was among maybe a dozen members of Guiding Star Baptist Church who camped out early on folding chairs in front of their church, waiting to catch a glimpse of the funeral procession. He never looked over you,” said Howard Brown, who was along the procession route holding a life-size poster of Ali in street clothes flicking a playful left jab. It was a fitting tribute for a man who was bigger than any superstar, and yet was always accessible to everyday people. And the people in the limos kept their windows down to encourage the fun. They felt free to run up to the long limousines that trailed Ali’s hearse to shake hands with family members, friends and celebrities. When the hearse carrying Ali’s body rolled by, people felt comfortable approaching, just as they used to when they saw him walking down the street. One man could be seen wearing red boxing gloves and doing a little shuffle as the procession approached. Spontaneous chants rose like they used to when The Champ entered the ring. It made its way past his downtown museum, his high school, the gym where he learned how to fight, and through the ramshackle streets of his old neighborhood in the predominantly black West End.Īs the line of cars moved slowly along Muhammad Ali Boulevard, people did not hold back. People lined the streets and cheered as Ali’s 17-car funeral procession took a final tour of his hometown. Instead, the city celebrated the unlikely life of a native son who rose from the repression of Jim Crow segregation to make his name as perhaps the greatest boxer of all time, and to cement his legacy as an inspiring symbol of courage and self-determination. But there was little mourning and no formality. Tens of thousands of Louisville, Kentucky, residents came out to say goodbye to Ali, who died last week at age 74.
But he always seemed most comfortable in the streets. The three-time heavyweight champion of the world was one of the most famous men on the planet. Muhammad Ali called himself The Greatest and the King of the World.
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