[ applause ] tell judges to let out of prison the many african americans swept up by racist police and imprisoned by racist judges. [ cheers and applause ] many of them imprisoned today for offenses like possessing marijuana, that white people get away with all the time. [ cheers and applause ] tell our elected officials to imprison those who authorize torture, and those who ran the big banks and investment companies that caused the economic collapse of 2008. tell the leaders of turkey to stop killing the kurds. tell israeli prime minister netanyahu that the way to get security is for israel is to

stop the occupation of the west bank and help create a palestinian state. tell the next president of the united states that she -- [ cheers and applause ] tell the next president of the united states that she should seek a constitutional amendment to make all national and state elections funded by congress and the state legislatures or all other sources of money be banned, including money from corporations, from individuals, all other money. make it all public funding.

tell her that the way to achieve homeland security is not for us to try new ways of domination. the strategy of domination of the world, of the other, to get security, has been tried for the last 10,000 years, and it doesn't work. the way to get security is for the united states to become known as the most generous and caring country in the world, not the most powerful. and we can start with a global and domestic martial plan to once and for all end global and domestic poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education and inadequate health care. i want to share with the network of spiritual progressives, come and join us, spiritual progressives.org, i want to confirm our commitment to the

muslims on this planet and the people of all faiths and secular humanists as well. we wish to pay homage to all muslims of the world as they continue the fast of ramadan and join with them the loss and celebrating the life of muhammad ali, a great fighter for justice and peace. peace be upon him, peace be upon the prophet muhammad and peace be upon all of us, amen. [ cheers and applause ] >> rabbi michael lerner, turning it briefly into a bernie sanders family. he was invited to speak by the family. bill clinton got a tremendous charge out of that, especially the portion talking about his wife, as rabbi learner put it, the next president of the united states. >> after that speech, i have to

edit my remarks, honorable first man, william j. clinton. [ applause ] sydney hill in 2002, sydney hill was selected spiritual -- principal spiritual leader of his people, a true friend of the earth and beloved to all who know him. he is a leader whose spirituality is coupled with the passionate pursuit of justice. we are honored that he has come here today to share a few words and a few thoughts with us. chief hill? [ applause ]

[ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ] [ speaking foreign language ]

>> we are having some transmission issues. we apologize for that. when you see the screen go briefly green, we've lost our signal entirely. let's go back inside. [ speaking foreign language ] [ applause ] >> chairman stevens with us h e

here. translation, these are our relatives. it is my responsibility to pick up the words for the people of the long house. i wish you well, i want you to be at peace of mind. now, this great darkness that has happened to us, you must understand that he who have gathered us here, that his road is straight. peacefully, he will arrive at his land. our creator, it is the same as you call him allah.

these were the words. to the family, the relatives, and friends of muhammad ali, muhammad ali was a leader among men, and a champion of the people. [ applause ] he fought for the people of color, yet he was a man of peace and principle. a man of compassion, who used his great gifts for the common good. his spirit has a clear path to the creator. sydney hill, a spiritual leader

of the six-nation ir quau confederation, onan daga nation and myself, faith keeper, turtle client, onan daga council of chiefs, have journeyed here today to add our voice to this congratulations of world leaders, in honor of his work, and for the rights and dignity of people of color and the common man. [ applause [ applause ] he was always in support of the indigenous people in this hemisphere, in our quest for our inherent land rights, self-determination, identity, and collective rights that

include the natural world. we know -- we know what he was up against. because we've had 524 years of survival training ourselves. [ applause ] in 1978, a congressman from the state of washington put a bill into congress to terminate our treaties with the united states. and indian nations walked from california to washington, d.c. in protest. muhammad ali marched into washington, d.c. with us. [ applause ]

he was a free, independent spirit. he stood his ground with great courage and conviction, and he paid a price. and this country did too. and we all did. values and principles will determine one's destiny. and the principles of a nation will do the same. poor people do not have many options. and you fighters know what i'm talking about. he said that the ring was ali's path to his destiny.

he said he'd be heavyweight champion of the world, and he was. three times. and this is the fourth time, right here, right now. [ applause ] >> on his journey in life, he lived and learned the hard way. he brought a light into this world. my world. our world. and that light will shine a long, long time. [ applause ] peace, brother, peace.

and on behalf of our tribe, my friend, and the indigenous people everywhere, peace. thank you. [ applause ] >> we introduced chief hill, he was joined -- his words were translated by chief orin lions, who was born into a traditional indigenous family, grew up on the native reservations of upstate new york. in 1970, he became the chief and faith keeper of the turtle clan of the onan daga nation. his scholarship, stewardship, and leadership is a source of

benefit and great blessing for all who know him. now we like to introduce rabbi joe rooks rappur, senior rabbi of the temple in louisville. for he has been a leader in interfaith work. he has a passion for teaching youth, and in fact, it is his work with youth that led him to cross paths with muhammad ali. his religious leadership focuses on compassion, care and working together with all to build a better world. rabbi rappur. >> this is a reading from our memorial prayers on yom kippur. our day of atonement.

our most sacred day of the year. it was written many decades ago by rabbi alvin fine. a civil rights and humanitarian leader, who could never have known when he composed these words that he was writing a eulogy for muhammad ali. birth is a beginning and death a destination. and life is a journey, from childhood to maturity and youth to age. from innocence, to awareness, and ignorance to knowing, from foolishness to discretion, and then perhaps to wisdom. from weakness to strength, and strength to weakness and often back again. from health to sickness and back we pray to health again. from offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love. from joy to gratitude, and pain to compassion. from grief to understanding,

from fear to faith. from defeat, to defeat, to defeat, until looking backward or ahead, we see that victory lies not at some high place along the way, but in having made the journey, stage by stage, a sacred pilgrimage. birth is a beginning, and death, a destination. and life and a journey, the sacred pilgrimage to life ever lasting. we say words of prayer and they remain words. until we encounter a person who embodies these words and makes them real. i've said these words many times before -- at funerals and memorial services. but never have i felt them come to life and speak of a single shining soul as i do today. muhammad ali was the heart of this city, the living,

breathing, embodiment of the greatest that we can be. he was our heart, and that heart beats here still. [ applause [ applause ] let me tell you a story you already know. it's one of those stories about ali being gracious to a stranger that so many of us have told so many times and in so many ways, that we sometimes forget the lessons that these stories were intended to teach us. it's story hanna tells about her father towards the end of their book, the soul of a butterfly. hanna's driving her father to a book store on one sunday to pick up some bibles and korans for a project that he's working on. they pass an elderly man standing by the road with a bible in one hand and his thumb in the air with the other. they offer him a ride. and he thanks them, saying that he's on his way home from

church. he only needs to go a few miles down the street, where he can pick up a cab. hanna asked where he lives. he doesn't want to trouble them or go out of their way. he has no idea who is sitting in the front seat of this car. until muhammad ali turns around and says, it's no trouble at all. we're just on our way to a book store to buy some bibles and korans. once the man gets over meeting the greatest of all time, he insists that he has three bibles in his house, and he'd be pleased to give them to ali in appreciation for the ride. ali thanks him but says he wants to pay for the bibles. the man says, no, the bibles were meant as a gift. ali asked him what he does for a living. and it turns out that the man had a stroke and he's been forced into retirement. ali then tries to hand him a big

pile of money for the bibles. but the man refuses and this is where things get interesting. ali says, take the money, man! i'm trying to get into heaven! and the man replies, so am i! [ laughter ] ali is not taking "no" for an answer. he says, if you don't take the money, i might not get in. and the man replies, if i do take your money, i might not get in. [ laughter ] they arrive at his home and the man invites him in to meet his wife of 30 years. he gives ali the bibles. ali slips the money under a napkin on the kitchen table. they're about to leave and hanna gives the man her phone number and tells him to call him -- to call her if he ever needs a ride home from church again.

sitting in the car, ali turns to his daughter and asks, would you really go out of your way and pick him up and drive him all the way home? she says yes. and with tears in his eyes, he says, that's me, in you. [ applause ] he says, you're on the road to heaven. therein lies ali's greatness. in his ability to see within himself something greater. and in his ability to inspire others to see such greatness reside within themselves. there will never be another greatest like muhammad ali. but we together can now embody a measure of his kindness and his

compassion. we can say each of us in our hearts there's a little bit of ali in me. [ applause ] this week, we have mourned the loss and celebrated the life of a louisville legend and a citizen of the world. and of all the words and in all the ways, the most powerful moments have always been made in the voices of young people, repeated in prayer services, and chanted in the streets -- "i am ali." "i am ali." i am not the fighter that ali was. and i may not have the courage which he never lacked, and i am definitely not as pretty. [ laughter ] but in my heart and in my hope and in my prayers, i am muhammad

ali. [ applause ] when we say that, in our hearts, when we live that in our lives, then we together can build a legacy worthy of the greatest of all time. so say that now with me. in your heart and in this room, i am ali. [ applause ] >> you know, one of the amazing things that we've witnessed during our time here in louisville has been just so many stories of common, ordinary people. there's folks on the street, working in the hotels, the restaurants, virtually everyone has a story concerning how

muhammad ali touched their lives. he came to my fourth grade class. he helped me out in this or that way. he came to visit me when i was sick. just on and on and on. and collectively, those experiences, they become sinner ginnic, they become greater than the individual parts. and when we rose through the streets of the city today, i've witnessed something i've never, ever witnessed in my life. [ applause ] and i don't think i will ever witness again. i witnessed the power -- >> we're going to continue to listen to the memorial service for muhammad ali live in louisville, kentucky. our coverage will take a short break and we'll be back on the other side. defiance is in our bones.

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we're back and we continue to watch the memorial service from louisville, kentucky, for muhammad ali. and often times it takes a great writer to recognize the work of a great writer, and here's why i say that. we're here in the studio with mike lupica, who has been re-reading one of the better books about the life and times of muhammad ali by a man named david remnick. >> king of the world, not just one of the best sports books ever written, just one of the best books ever written. i was looking at it again last night and there's a story about when ali is 4 years old. he asked his father -- this is 1946. he said, daddy, the grocery store man's white. he said i go to the drug store, the drug store man's white. the bus driver is white. and he said, what do colored people do? and you know what they do, they go and live an american life that produces a day like this.

i've been thinking about this since he passed. there's this notion that we need to make america great again, it's been in all -- >> i haven't heard that, but go ahead. >> but we produced this man, and this man produced this day, and when you see this day, you think, we're doing okay. >> yeah, dave zirin was part of our coverage the night muhammad ali died. and even that night, we were saying, he was without parallel in american life. nothing has been covered or said since to make us not believe that. he was without parallel in american life. >> no, that's right. the great shaper of the 1960s, the person who had one foot in the black freedom struggle and one foot in the anti-war movement and brought them together. i'm so struck in louisville here today, thinking about this

funeral as muhammad ali's last act of resistance because as mike was just saying, you have people preying on divisions in this country, particularly preying on anti-islamic bigotry, and here's a day where the most famous muslim on earth is bringing people of all faiths together. the rabbi michael lerner, for goodness sakes. bringing so many people together to celebrate his life, and that in and of itself is an act of resistance. it's just one more reason to tip your hat to the greatness of this man. >> i got home the night of our coverage, i guess early hours of saturday morning and looked at the -- what i anticipated would be an enormous obituary, dominating the front page of though "new york times" and indeed it was. and really got a lump in my throat when i saw their choice of headlines. icon of the last century. that really focused your attention.

>> no, absolutely. and it was written by robert lipsight, somebody who has covered muhammad ali for over 50 years. the great chronicler of muhammad ali. and i've spoken about him several times since ali's passing, and the thing that he keeps going back to, the thing that's so striking about muhammad ali, is that he left an impression with everybody whom he came into contact with. that's certainly been my experience here in louisville over the last 48 hours is, you meet people who met him once, and they carry that memory with them for the rest of their life, like a jewel, like something to take out of their pocket and share with others. when they share it, other people's faces light up with the magic that they shared this experience, this experience of meeting muhammad ali and seeing a magic trick, or getting a kind word, or hearing him say "keep thfaith" and putting his hands up. i don't know where we're going to find more people like that in american life, but it's a hell of a model to emulate going

forward. >> on that night, we talked about how some men have departed from their sports careers and taken time off toward different aims. we talked about the ted williams example. ted williams left behind a baseball career to go fly jets in the korean war. muhammad ali left behind a boxing career because of religious conviction. we've already heard it referenced more than once today and you've spoken beautifully about the colleges he toured and how active he tried to stay during that period. >> well, it's remarkable, because muhammad ali, in so many respects, is a person of contradictions. he wasn't book smart, he never was book smart, but he had this remarkable ability to hear political ideas and arguments and internalize them, and then make them his own, in a way with

that was poetical, and witty and convincing and disarming. so it's 1968. his passport is taken away. he's facing five years behind bars in a federal prison. he could have very easily become a hermit in those circumstances. instead, he took it to the streets and he took it to the campuses. >> this is the daughter of malcolm x speaking right now. >> -- muhammad ali and his family and their thoughts. amidst that are the prayers of all faiths, all those touched, even those that don't claim a religion, are feeling something right now, in honor of the family and the memory of their father, husband. in the spirit of my parents, malcolm x shabazz and dr. eva

shabazz -- [ applause ] -- the presence of my five younger sisters, our children, and our grandchildren, i would like to first honor his beloved wife, my sister, lonnie ali. [ applause ] for all the strengths that you know and that resonate beyond, sometimes you do need a little help. no matter how magnificent you are. and indeed those that were with him, that loved him, his family members sustained that. his nine children and i will name them, miriam rashida jamila, mohammed jr, kalila, mia, hanna, laila, and assad, as

well as their mothers and the third generation of ali grandchildren who accompany them. [ applause ] to his only brother, ramman, to his extraordinary example of a best friend, howard bingham. [ applause ] and to his sister-in-law marilyn. to all the grief that i and others are depleted by, by his transition, there is none comparable to yours, and i know that. on this day and those to come, as you redefine your waking days

with a life without him here present, very different. photos, memories, all the things that we have on him that keep him going, he touched you differently and that has to be honored and recognized, never forsaken. just know that when you are the descendant of and the presence of someone whose life was filled with principle, that the seed is in you and you have to cultivate that responsibly as well. this moment is very meaningful for me, to have been amongst those chosen and blessed by muhammad himself and affirmed by his wife lonnie, to take part by

sharing of prose and statement during this home going ceremony. while he does i had a treasured relationship, the genesis of this love was through the love for my father. muhammad ali was the last of a fraternity of memories bequeathed to me directly by my dad. somewhere between me turning 18, 19, or 20, they all seemed to find me, somehow guided by an oath, a promise to my dad, long after him leaving this earth, to search for me. and they did. each one, remaining in my life until joining the rest of the heavens beloved summit of fearless humanitarians. this included muhammad ali, who my dad loved as a little brother, 16 years his junior.

and his entrusted friend. there was a double-take when i came upon him, a once childhood child and looking right into his face, and you know how he is. he gives you that little dare, like, is that you? from the very moment we found one another, it was as if no time had passed at all. despite all of the presumptions of division, despite all the efforts at separation, despite all of the organized distancing. we dove right into all of the unrequited, yet stated and duly acknowledged spaces we could explore and uncover. privately. we cried outloud. his belt, his grief for having not spoken to my dad before he

left and then just as loudly we'd laugh about the best of stories and some that can't be repeated. he was really funny. what was significant as brothers for my father and ali was their ability to discuss openly anything, all facets of life, namely the true meaning, as men with great responsibilities bestowed to them, of how to make an equitable difference in the lives of others. a unifying topic was faith, an ek yu men cal faith, respect for faith, all faiths, even if belonging to one specific religion or none. the root of such being the gift of faith itself. so in his own words, he wrote, we all have the same god. we just serve him differently.

rivers, lakes, ponds, streams, oceans all have different names, but they all contain water. so do religions have different names, and yet they all contain truth, truth expressed in different ways and forms and times. it doesn't matter where you're a muslim, a christian, or a jew, when you believe in god, you should believe all people are part of one family. for if you love god, you can't love only some of his children. his words and certainly ideals shared by both men, love is a

mighty thing, devotion is a mighty thing and truth always reigns. having muhammad ali in my life somehow sustained my dad's breath for me, just a little while longer. 51 years longer, until now. [ applause ] i am forever grateful that our union this earth together allowed for me to continue the shared understanding, preserved confidentialities and the comfort of living in his hometown of louisville, kentucky, for the past six years. that not a plan. and mostly for the gift of

knowing and loving his wife and children forever forward, as my own family. know that. as the last of the fraternity reaches the heavens, my heart is rendered ever longingly for that tribe. tribe of purpose. tribe of significance. tribe of confidence. tribe of character. tribe of duty. tribe of faith. tribe of service. we must make sure that the principle of men and women, like muhammad ali and others, whom dedicated their very being to assure that you get to recognize your own glory is sustained and passed on like that olympic torch. my dad would often state when concluding or parting from another, may we meet again in

the light of understanding and i say to you, with the light of that compass, by any means necessary. [ applause [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, representing the president of the united states and mrs. obama, miss valerie jarrett. [ applause ] >> good afternoon. on behalf of president obama and

miss obama, i wish to express to you their deepest regret that they couldn't be with us here today as we celebrate the extraordinary life of muhammad ali. i first met muhammad ali over 45 years ago, through his friendship with my uncle, gene dibble. and he, my uncle, would be so touched that his son gene is a pallbearer here today. thank you, lonnie. because of my family connection, the president and first lady asked me if i would read this tribute to you, penned by president obama. it was 1980, an epic career was in its twilight. everybody knew it. probably including the champ himself. ali went into one of his final fights an underdog.

all of the smart money was on the new champ, larry holmes. and in the end, the odds-makers were right. a few hours later, at 4:00 a.m. after the loss, after the fans had gone home and the sports writers were writing their final take, a sports writer asked a rest room attendant if he had bet on the fight. the man, black, and getting on in years, said he'd put his money on ali. the writer asked why. why, the man said. why? because he's muhammad ali. that's why. [ applause ] he said, mister, i'm 72 years old and i owe the man for giving me my dignity.

[ applause ] to lonnie and the ali family, president clinton and an arena full of distinguished guests, you are amazing. the man we celebrate today is not just a boxer or a poet or an agitator, or a man of peace. he was not just a muslim or a black man, or a louisville kid -- though i know you wish that was it, louisville, this wonderful city. he wasn't even just the greatest of all time. he was muhammad ali. the whole far greater than the sum of its parts. he was bigger, brighter, and more original and influential than just about anyone of his era.

[ applause ] you couldn't have made him up, and, yes, he was pretty too. he had fans in every city, every village, every ghetto on the planet. he was fettered by foreign heads of states, the beatles' british invasion took a detour to come to him. it seems sometimes that the champ was simply too big for america. but i actually think that the world flocked to him in wonder, precisely because, as he once put it, muhammad ali was america. [ applause ] brash, defiant, pioneering, joyful, never tired. always game to test the odds. he was our most basic freedoms -- religion, speech,

spirit. he embodied our ability to invent ourselves. his life spoke to our original sin of slavery and discrimination and the journey he traveled helped to shock our consciousness and lead us on a round-about path towards salvation. and like america, he was always very much a work in progress. we do him a disservice to gauze up his story, to sand down his rough edges, to talk only of floating like butterflies and stinging like bees. ali was a radical, even in a radical of times. a loud and proud and unbashedly black voice in a jim crow world. [ applause ] his jabs knocked some sense into us. yes, they did. pushing us to expand your

imagination, and bring others into our understanding. now, there were times when he swung a bit wildly, that's right, wound up and accidentally may have wrung the wrong opponent, as he was the first to admit. but through all his triumphs and failures, ali seemed to achieve the sort of enlightenment and inner peace that we are all striving towards. in the '60s, when other young men his age were leaving the country to avoid war or jail, he was asked why he didn't join them. he got angry. he said he'd never leave. his people, in his words, are here, the millions struggling for freedom and justice and equality, and i can do a lot of help in jail or not, right here in america.

[ applause ] he'd have everything stripped from him. his titles, his standing, his money, his passion, very nearly his freedom. but ali still chose america. i imagine he knew that only here in this country could he win it all back. so he chose to help perfect a union where a descendant of slaves can become the king of the world. [ applause ] and in the process, in the process, lend some dignity to all of us. maids, porters, students, and elderly bathroom attendants, and help inspire a young, mixed kid, with a funny name, to have the audacity to believe he could be

anything, even the president of the united states. [ applause ] muhammad ali was america. muhammad ali will always be america. what a man, what a spirit, what a joyous champion. god bless the greatness of ali. got bless his family, and god bless this nation we love. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, lonnie

ali. [ applause ] [ crowd chanting "ali" ] >> peace be upon you. you know, i said something to matt lauer yesterday that i firmly believe muhammad had something to do with all of this. and i think we are right. thank you all for being here to share in this final farewell to muhammad. on behalf of the ali family, let

me first recognize our principal celebrant imam zait shakir and also dr. timothy gianotti. we thank you for helping us fulfill muhammad's desire that the ceremonies of this past week reflect the traditions of his islamic faith. and as a family, we thank the millions of people who, through the miracle of social media, inspired by their love for muhammad, have reached out to us with their prayers. the messages have come in every language, from every corner of the globe. from wherever you are watching, know that we have been humbled by your heart-felt expressions of love. it is only fitting that we gather in a city to which muhammad always returned after his great triumphs. [ applause ]

a city that has grown as muhammad has grown. muhammad never stopped loving louisvill louisville. know that louisville loves muhammad. we cannot forget a louisville police officer, joe espy martin, who embraced a young 12-year-old boy in distress when his bicycle was stolen. [ applause ] joe martin handed young cassius clay -- sorry for tripping over that last word -- clay -- the keys to a future in boxing he could scarcely have imagined. america must never forget that when a cop and an inner city kid talk to each other, then

miracles can happen. [ applause ] >> some years ago, during his long struggle with parkinson's in a meeting, that included his closest advisers, muhammad indicated that when the end came for him, when he wanted us to use his life and his death as a teaching moment for young people, for his country, and for the world, in effect, he wanted us to remind people who are suffering, that he had seen the face of injustice, that he grew up in a segregation, and that during his early life, he was not free to be who he wanted to be. but he never became embitered enough to quit or to engage in

violen violence. there was a time -- [ applause ] -- there was a time when a young black boy has age could be hung from a tree, in mississippi in 1955, whose admitted killers went free. it was a time when muhammad's friends, men that he admired, like brother malcolm, dr. king, were gunned down and nelson mandela imprisoned for what they believed in. [ applause ] for his part, muhammad faced federal prosecution. he was stripped of his title and his license to box. and he was sentenced to prison. but he would not be intimidated so as to abandon his principles and his values. muhammad wants young people of

every background to see his life as proof that adversity can make you stronger. it cannot rob you of the power to dream and to reach your dreams. this is why we built the muhammad ali center, and that is the essence of the ali center message. [ applause ] muhammad wants us to see the face of his religion, true islam, as the face of love. it was his religion that caused him to turn away from war and violence. for his religion, he was prepared to sacrifice all that he had, and all that he was, to protect his soul and follow the teachings of prophet mohammad, peace be upon you. so even in death, muhammad has

something to say. he is saying that his faith require that he take the more difficult road. it is for more difficult to sacrifice one's self in the name of peace than to take up arms in pursuit of violence. [ applause ] you know, all of his life, muhammad was fascinated by travel. he was child-like in his encounter where new surroundings and new people. he took his world championship fights to the ends of the earth, from the south pacific, to europe, to the congo. and of course with muhammad, he believed it was his duty to let everyone see him in person, because after all, he was the greatest of all time. [ applause ] the boy from grand avenue in louisville, kentucky, grew in

wisdom from his journeys, discovering something new, that the world really wasn't black and white at all. it was filled with many shades of rich colors, languages and religions. as he moved with ease around the world, the rich and powerful were drawn to him, but he was drawn to the poor and the forgotten. muhammad fell in love with the masses and they fell in love with him. in the diversity of men and their faiths, muhammad saw the presence of god. he was captivated by the work of the dalai lama, by mother teresa, and church workers who are gave their lives to protect the poor. when his mother died, he arranged for multiple faiths to be represented at her funeral, and he wanted the same for himself. we are especially grateful for the presence of diverse faith leaders here today. and i would like to ask them to stand once more and be

recognized. [ applause ] thank you. you know, as i reflect on the life of my husband, it's easy to see his most obvious talents. his majesty in the ring, as he danced under those lights enshrined him as a champion for the ages. less obvious was his extraordinary strength of timing. his knoack for being in the rigt place at the right time. seemed to be ordained by a higher power. even though surrounded by jim crow, he was born into a family with two parents that nurtured and encouraged him.

he was placed on the path of his dreams by a white cop and he had teachers who wanted him to succeed. the olympic gold medal came and the world started to take notice. a group of successful businessmen in louisville, called the louisville sponsoring group, saw his potential and helped him build a runway to launch his career. his timing was impeccable, as he burst into the national stage. just as television was hungry for a star, to change the face of sports. you know, if muhammad didn't like the rules, he re-wrote them. his religion, his name, his beliefs were his to fashion, no matter what the cost. the timing of his actions coincided with a broader shift in cultural attitudes across america, particularly on college campuses. when he challenged the u.s. government on the draft, his