History Of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead. Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74. "After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74.

The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening," Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News. Ali had suffered for three decades from Parkinson's, a progressive neurological condition that slowly robbed him of both his verbal grace and his physical dexterity. A funeral service is planned in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. His daughter Rasheda said early Saturday that the legend was "no longer suffering," describing him as "daddy, my best friend and hero" as well as "the greatest man that ever lived."

Publication Information

Historical : Muhammad Ali
Birth Name : Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.
Other names :
- The Greatest
- The People's Champion
- The Louisville Lip
Born : January 17, 1942, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Died : June 3, 2016 (aged 74), Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S.
Cause of death : Septic shock
Resting place : Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
Monuments : Muhammad Ali Center, Muhammad Ali Mural, Los Angeles, CA
Gender : Male
Height : 191 cm
Occupation :
- The Greatest World Heavyweight Champion Boxer
- Religious and Charitable Work
Ethnicity : African American
Religion : Sunni Islam
Spouse(s) :
- Sonji Roi (m. 1964; div. 1966)
- Belinda Boyd (m. 1967; div. 1977)
- Veronica Porché Ali (m. 1977; div. 1986)
- Yolanda Williams (m. 1986–2016)
Children : 9, including Laila Ali
Parent(s) :
- Cassius Marcellus Clay Sr. (Father)
- Odessa Grady Clay (Mother)
Awards : List Of Awards

Even as his health declined, Ali did not shy from politics or controversy, releasing a statement in December criticizing Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. "We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda," he said.

The remark bookended the life of a man who burst into the national consciousness in the early 1960s, when as a young heavyweight champion he converted to Islam and refused to serve in the Vietnam War, and became an emblem of strength, eloquence, conscience and courage. Ali was an anti-establishment showman who transcended borders and barriers, race and religion. His fights against other men became spectacles, but he embodied much greater battles.

In 2005, President George W. Bush honored Ali with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his hometown of Louisville opened the Muhammad Ali Center, chronicling his life but also as a forum for promoting tolerance and respect. Divorced three times and the father of nine children — one of whom, Laila, become a boxer — Ali married his last wife, Yolanda "Lonnie" Williams, in 1986; they lived for a long time in Berrien Springs, Michigan, then moved to Arizona.

In recent years, Ali's health began to suffer dramatically. There was a death scare in 2013, and last year he was rushed to the hospital after being found unresponsive. He recovered and returned to his new home in Arizona.

In his final years, Ali was barely able to speak. Asked to share his personal philosophy with NPR in 2009, Ali let his wife read his essay: "I never thought of the possibility of failing, only of the fame and glory I was going to get when I won," Ali wrote. "I could see it. I could almost feel it. When I proclaimed that I was the greatest of all time, I believed in myself, and I still do."

Main Article: