tonight on "20/20" saturday. >> still the greatest of all time. >> muhammad ali, the tributes pouring in for an american legend. >> you see somebody like muhammad, he's like your father. >> the greatest, a champion known to everyone. what made muhammad ali so different than you could legitimately call him the most famous man in the world? not just for his fight in the ring, but for his stance against the vietnam war and his fight against racism in a time of social upheaval. >> he was able to get a lot of people to understand that things aren't going the way they're supposed to be going here in america. >> and in later years, taking on a new battle, against parkinson's. >> very playful. even when he was in the grips of

the disease, he would be pulling scarfs out of thin air. >> his devoted wife always been his side. >> i don't know if he thinks about parkinson's. he always thinks about what he's going to do tomorrow. >> the quick jabs. the quick wit. >> i tell you, cosell. >> i like to know what you're going to do when you retire from boxing. >> the playful joking. >> do you believe in fidelity? nobody's listening. >> he was a credit to his race. the human race. >> tonight, a highlight reel on the life of a hue roe. muhammad ali, the greatest of all time. good evening on this saturday, i'm elizabeth vargas. muhammad ali once said, "i figured if i said it enough, i would convince the world that i really was the greatest." well, it didn't take much convincing, once you saw him in the ring. and it wasn't just his prowess in the ring that made him an icon. now fans from all over are

honoring the legendary boxer who died last night in arizona at the age of 74, after being off life support. ali's final resting place will be in his hometown of louisville, kentucky, and our ryan smith is there right now, outside the muhammad ali center where his fans have been sharing memories and their mourning. ryan? >> reporter: elizabeth, his brother said ali knew he was the greatest from the moment he set foot in the ring. few knew this skinny kid from kentucky would grow up to be a global rye con. what began as a small memorial here at the hillary clinton center has ground by leaps and bounds. fans and friends braving downpours of rain to pay their respects. all throughout the day, there were tears and prayers. fans paying their respects to the champ, laying flowers, signs and boxing gloves outside of louisville's muhammad ali center and his childhood home opened up at a museum last week.

>> i have tears in my eyes, because he stood for us being great and understanding that you can overcome. >> reporter: the sky this morning, dark and rainy. flags were lowered to half staff, as louisville's mayor announced a memorial for the man known as the greatest. >> muhammad ali belongs to the world, but he only has one hometown. >> reporter: from every corner of the world, the tributes poured in. his outspoken personality making him a legend to so many around the world. >> great to think about him as much as we have today. he really deserves it. >> reporter: michael j. fox and ali became friends. >> he's very playful. even when he was in the grips of the disease, he would be pulling scarfs out of thin air and doing magic tricks and letting you know he was still magic. >> reporter: the three-time heavyweight champion, known for

speaking his mind. unchanged from the young man his classmates knew so many years ago. >> i walked down the halls of the high school with him. >> reporter: what was he like in high school? >> fun. just, like, clowned around. funny. he was just a really jovial, happy person. >> reporter: for his only brother, rahman, the memories are bittersweet. >> he will always be with me. he isn't gone. >> reporter: ali will be laid to rest here in his hometown. his family holding a private service on thursday, and then, on friday, a funeral procession from his childhood home all the way to the cemetery where he will be laid to rest. and also on friday, an interfaith memorial service will take place, president bill clinton, billy crystal and bryant gumbel, all eulogizing the champ. elizabeth? >> quite a lineup. thank you, ryan. over the past 24 hours, it seems

everyone has struggled with what to call ali, besides the greatest, of course. the boxer, the social activist, the war protester, the muslim, the humanitarian, the champ. he was all those things, and so much more. here's byron pitts. >> ah, ah, you out, sucker. >> reporter: ali was a lightning rod both in and out of the boxing ring. known for his grace, his power and his poetry. >> i'm handsome, i'm fast, i'm pretty, and can't possibly be beat. >> reporter: he was born cassius clay in louisville, kentucky. he learned to fight as a boy after his bicycle was stolen. and soon climbed the ranks of amateur boxing. by 18, he was the star of the u.s. olympic team. light on his feet and unlike anything the boxing world had ever seen. he took home a gold medal. four years later, the young boxer was up against reigning champ sonny liston, his first title fight.

defying 7 to 1 odds, he stole the heavyweight title in one of the biggest upsets in history. >> i don't have a mark on my face and i upset sonny liston and i just turned 22 years old. i must be the greatest. >> reporter: ali loved the spotlight, but privately he was going through his own transformation. he dared to align himself at both ends of the civil rights movement, a fan of dr. martin luther king jr., a shared faith with malcolm x. >> i would like for you to call me by my name now, muhammad ali. >> reporter: ali joined the nation of islam and rejected what he called his slave name. >> he was a revolutionary in terms of race, by standing up for things that a lot of people were not yet standing up for. and at the same time, he gave up a lot for his politics. and he was criticized and even vilified by many people. >> reporter: on the very short list of those who actually knew the private and public ali, a man equally blessed with gifts admired worldwide, famed actor,

singer and human rights activist harry belafonte. >> the first time i met him was in the airport in louisville. he says, they tell me i look like you. i can't have two of us in the world. he said, do you fight? and i said, no, he said, well, you're going to have to. because i'm coming after you. >> reporter: two shand many young men pictured during one of the ugliest times in american history. >> i then began to look at him and our struggle and our movement through a very different lens. i saw him as critically important to smashing traditions. >> reporter: perhaps that he showed it was okay for a black man to be bold, to be outspoken. >> the beauty of it was that it was really him, and i loved him for it. >> reporter: and ali never stopped loving the ring. >> only last week, i murdered a rock, injured a stone,

hospitalized a brick. i'm so mean, i make medicine sick. >> reporter: but just a few years later, a new controversy, this one, landing him in court. the year was 1967, the u.s. was deep in the vietnam war, when ali got his draft notice. he refused to serve, arguing the war violated his muslim beliefs. >> no. i will not go 10,000 miles from here to help murder and kill another poor people simply to continue the domination of white slave masters over the darker people of the earth. >> one of his most famous statements was, ain't no viet cong ever called me the n-word. and that said a lot for how black americans felt about the vietnamese war. >> reporter: ali was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his title and banned from the sport. >> he lost the heart of his athletic career, because he refused tovietnam.

now, that doesn't make him nelson mandela, but it was something. and it was striking to many americans that he not only had beliefs, but he stood up for them. >> still no comments? >> not now. >> reporter: it took almost three years for ali to win his appeal and get back in the ring. and he returned with a venn gang, taking on the seemingly invincible george foreman in the rumble in the jungle. won the hearts of the african crowd, in the biggest match in his career. >> too late! it's over! muhammad ali with an eighth-round knockout, recaptured the heavyweight championship of the world. >> so many people doubted him and thought that this bigger, tougher, strong man was going to beat him and then, you know, he won the fight with his smarts. >> reporter: and with his razor sharp wit outside the ring, ali met his match in abc sports caster howard cosell. their verbal sparring, born out of mutual respect and affection,

turned them into an irresistible comedy team on wide world of sports. >> i'm not sure there's anybody left for you, really, for you to fight. >> you. >> that may come about some day. thank you for coming on. >> just stay in shape. >> reporter: ali's triumphs made for some of boxing's greatest fights. and made ali one of the most popular figures of his time. >> muhammad ali enjoyed the pressure of being a role model. he enjoyed the fact that he could say that he was the greatest and then back it up. >> reporter: he graced the cover of 1"sports illustrated" 45 tims from 1963 to 1998. it was the golden stage of heavyweight boxing and ali was key. but years of punishment in the ring took its toll. >> can't talk no more. i'm all messed up. >> reporter: ali retired in 1981. three years later, at the age of 42, he was diagnosed with parkinson's disease. this time, he would have someone else in his corner. in 1986, he married lonnie, whom

he first met during a trip to his family home in 1963. that meeting immortalized in this video. little lonnie didn't even know who he was. together, they have faced the toughest fight of ali's fight. while ali grew weaker over the years, he could still inspire, lighting the olympic flame in atlanta. raising millions for charity. and speaking out for peace and solidarity with all muslims in the wake of september 11th. >> the united states honors muhammad ali. >> reporter: in 2005, ali was awarded the presidential medal of freedom for his part in the struggle for equality. >> i barack hussein obama do solemn my swear. >> reporter: it was a fight ali saw come to fruition when the nation elected the first black president. ali a guest of honor. a global ambassador for whom parkinson's could all but silence his speech, but not his presence.

>> he was a presence. he showed up. he spoke out for causes he believed in. i was sorry i didn't get a chance to speak to him one more time. i'm sorry for his family, for his fans, for people around the world who loved him. and at the same time, too, i was somewhat relieved for him that he was no longer battling or confined by it, that he's his true self again. >> reporter: in the ring, he had fuel peers, often compared to the great joe louis. it was said that louis was the first athlete to make america see and admire a black man. it was ali who made them listen. >> he was a credit to his race, the human race. i think in the final analysis rnls muhammad ali did us all a great service. >> our thanks to byron pitts. when we come back, our very own barbara walters with muhammad ali on women, religion, happiness, even what color he believes god to be.

and since no one can sell the greatest better than the man himself, he even provided his own introduction. take a listen. >> float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. watch barbara walters interview me. these outdoor furnishings from lowe's are so stylish it almost feels like were inside the house. not that i've been in there... or have i? now get a $50 lowe's gift card when you purchase this char-broil® advantage stainless steel gas grill.

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you are looking at a live shot from scottsdale, arizona, where people continue to honor muhammad ali at the hospital, where he spent his final moments. ali's family has had strong connections to the phoenix area. there is a muhammad ali parkinson's center there, a treatment and support clinic that ali worked closely to help create. over the years, our barbara walters has interviewed everyone who is anyone, but one of her most memorable interviews, playful and tough, was with muhammad ali in 1978. he was at a crossroads in his career after being defeated by leon spinks in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. one legend interviewing another. >> reporter: if i didn't know you, if we'd never met, i never heard of you, describe muhammad ali for me. >> well, i'm just a person, like everybody else. just popular.

>> reporter: what would hnl muhammad ali had been today had he stayed cassius clay? >> i really don't know. i often think about it. when i started boxing, i was 1 year 12 years old. it was just for fun, not for just a sport. and wanted to go, to go to the olympics and find out if i could make a living and turn professional. and here i am. but i don't know what i would have been. i'd be working in some factory, probably a taxi driver or a red cap at the airport, because i wasn't an educated type person. i didn't plan on going to no college. >> reporter: but what if you hadn't changed your life, your name, your belief and become muhammad ali? cassius clay was already a fighter. what if you'd stayed that? >> if i'd just stayed cassius clay, the fighter? >> reporter: yeah, yeah. >> oh, you wouldn't be here, probably, today. interviewing me. you couldn't ask me the questions you're talking to me, because you can't go asking no other boxer the questions you're probably going to have laid out for me. my name wouldn't be muhammad ali, i wouldn't be the world's most famous human. see, i'm the world's most recognized face.

>> reporter: do you like yourself? do you feel that you are a success as a man? >> well, that's where mainly the success comes. mainly a black man to be in white america, and to say what i've said, and to do what i've done, and is still number one, i mean, this don't happen in hollywood. this don't happen in beverly hills to those black people. they don't stand up and say and do the things i do, if it means jeopardizing the life or the money. so i'm more successful, and proven that i'm a man than anything else. >> reporter: is there anything you don't like about yourself? >> oh, a lot of things. >> reporter: oh, name one or two or 20 or 30. >> i gain weight too easy. >> reporter: yeah. >> i don't like that. i'm lazy. i don't pray as much as i should pray. >> reporter: how often do you pray? >> about twice a day. >> reporter: how often should you pray? >> five times a day. muslim. and i don't attend religious services like i should. i may attend twice or once a month, when it should be at

least twice a week. a lot of things i don't like, i got to straighten out. i don't like that my heart's too good, i'm always -- somebody's in need, really in need, i'm always trying to help them if i can. >> reporter: well, that's a good thing. >> yeah. >> reporter: do have a temper? >> only with those who i dearly love. if i don't love you, i don't care nothing about what you do, or what you say about me. but the -- but if my wife, if she makes me a little angry, i can get a temper, or if my children, or my mother, my father, my brother, but if you're no kin to me, i don't love you, then i don't care. that's my publicity, bad press, bad write-ups, all the controversy on me don't mean nothing. as long as i'm all right with my spiritual leader and my family, i don't care about the whole world. >> reporter: did you ever hit a man outside the ring? >> no. >> reporter: would you be scared to? >> well, if you do something like that, you would be so angry

at the time, you'd be such a method of self-defense involved, until -- i wouldn't have time to be scared, i would feel just in doing so, but i wouldn't hit nobody unless it meant saving my life or my wife or my family. >> reporter: you always talk about how pretty you are, but what do you really think of your looks? >> that's -- i'm not ugly, i'm not handsome. i'm in the middle. >> reporter: okay, on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of a success, you say you're a 10. on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of your looks where you are? >> i'd be about -- about -- about eight. >> reporter: about eight? ah, the modesty, the modesty. ali, it's 14 years since you became heavyweight champion of the world, and you say now, you're going to win it for the third time. you will be the only man ever to have regained the title. >> three times. >> reporter: three times.

what if you don't? >> hm? >> reporter: what if you don't? >> then i don't. it's very simple. i don't. >> reporter: is it that simple? >> yeah, i just don't. >> reporter: would it break your heart? >> no. that's why people are so shocked when i lost to frazier. the only excuse is, he won. when i lost to ken norton and broke my jaw, he won. when i lost to spinks, he won. but i have people thinking that if i lose, i'll have so much shame in me. i'll jump out a window. see, my faith does not -- one of the things, really, i'm a spiritual man. >> reporter: but it's a way of life for you. it's money, it's an entourage, it's a feeling about yourself. >> i'd give it all up tomorrow, find a job pumping gas in a gas station if i had to and me and my wife and my children get a two-room apartment and one bathroom and one kitchen and be happy. >> reporter: really? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: what happens to all of the people around you? >> and be happy. >> reporter: what happens to the 50 people you take care of and support and are part of your world?

>> no, no. i don't support 50 people. >> reporter: that's what i read in "the new york times." >> no. all great kings, and all great -- i'm a great man. i'm one of the world's greatest humans. so, i've got a crew, so what? you've got a crew. you're a tv lady. you've got a little crew, trucks all out here and wires all lined up and oh - - for you. and i'm a world man. can i have two or three people? can i have a little crew? >> reporter: it's not -- it's not, who do you think you are? it's, oh, please, take care of yourself. don't end up with nothing. it really is much more sympathetic. >> well, i don't worry about it. i don't even worry about it. >> reporter: is god black? >> no. god has no color. he sees, even though he has no eyes. he hears, though he has no ears. he remembers everything without the aid of mind or memory. he's not a man and not a woman. >> reporter: are you afraid of dying? >> no. >> reporter: no. >> i'm afraid of knowing i'm going to die. i'm not afraid of dying. but i'm afraid of knowing that i'm getting ready to die, like i'm in an airplane and we say, the pilot says, ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seatbelts, it looks like we'll have a little rough weather.

and we know there's a crash and this is not a dream, it's not a movie. the plane is crashing. i'm falling. that scares me. but the dying itself doesn't scare me. >> reporter: if you had one year, if you knew you had one year left to live, what would you do? >> if i only had one year left to live? what would i do? i'd do all i could to please god. not in a hypocritical way where he knows that i'm doing it because i'm just going to die. >> reporter: yeah? >> i'd try my best to be as sincere as i can to get right with god so i can go to heaven. >> words to live by. when we come back, from the boxing ring to the movie screen. how will smith took muhammad ali all the way to the oscars, coming up. whatever you're drinking.

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june 19 only at sesame place dot com. sesame place go before they grow. we are back live in louisville, where boxing gloves have been left, along with so many flowers and notes, remembering hometown hero muhammad ali. in addition to honoring the man, the muhammad ali center's mission statement has stated on its website is to promote respect, hope and understanding and to inspire adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be. like only a handful of athletes during his hay day, muhammad ali leapt out of the confines of a square tv set and onto the big screen. and whether he was playing himself or being played by the likes of will smith, we couldn't take our eyes off him. here's chris connelly. >> i have wrestled with an a e

alligat alligator. harpooned a whale! locked up lightning, threw thunder in jail! >> reporter: befitting his stature as the most significant political, social and cultural figure ever produced by american sports. a towering figure of his time, who challenged and reshaped his nation's views on race and religious freedom. and the speed, talent and grit as well as his breathtaking charisma and character that made him the greatest, and the world's most famous human being. >> everybody recognizes ali. and i think the responsibility of ali meant a lot to him. i think he wore that well. >> reporter: muhammad ali made frequent appearances in movies, both as the subject of dock men meantries, like 1970s "muhammad ali aka cassius clay" capturing his early fights and his famously poetic predictions. >> if he don't want to fight, he should keep himself home that night.

>> reporter: and in feature films playing himself, or portrayed by others. >> so what? i ain't got to be what nobody else want me to be and i ain't afraid to be what i want to be. >> reporter: will smith would earn an academy award nomination for his work in the title role of "ali," the biopic that tries to get its arms around ali's almost unimaginably turbulent life and times from 1964 to 1974. >> you want to send me to jail? fine, you go right ahead. i been in jail for 400 years, i can be there for four or five more. >> reporter: and the sheer magnetism that made ali so beloved by so many. >> all right, now listen, i'm going to hit your hand six times before you get to three. you ready. go. did i hurt you? >> i thought will smith gave one of his strongest performances it's hard to play ali. >> reporter: what makes it hard to play ali? >> we think about the cadence, "i whup you joe frazier," a lot of people can do that, we used to do it in the barbershop, but i think to capture the nuance of

ali, it's much harder to kind of reflect that. >> reporter: will smith and ali would forge a strong personal connection. smith helping the champ to make an unforgettable, healing appearance, days after 9/11, for the fund-raising telethon "america: a tribute to heroes." >> and if i had the chance, i'd do something about it. >> reporter: earlier, ali would play himself in a biopic, 1977's "the greatest" with ernest borgnine as his trainer, angelo dundee. i mean, unlike almost any athlete, he is movie star handsome. >> oh, absolutely movie star handsome. he, even as he got older, he aged well. he was always handsome. ♪ >> reporter: ali would also be an obvious influence on the character of apollo creed, rival and later, friend, to rocky balboa in sylvester stallone's "rocky" movies. >> i mean, apollo creed was muhammad ali. there's no doubt about. carl weathers did a great job, i

thought, capturing the spirit of ali in that movie. >> too much speed for them. too fast. >> reporter: yet it would be two documentaries, each fashioned from footage shot before a key fight but not assembled until many years later that would offer the richest insights into ali's fascinating self. "when we were kings" chronicles the weeks leading up to "the rumble in the jungle," ali's 1974 title fight in the nation of zaire, against the younger, heavy favored champ, george foreman. >> i remember that being one of the first documentaries to be a movie you wanted to go see. just to see the man behind the fight, so, you really got a chance to appreciate who muhammad ali was, when he wasn't always just playing to the camera. >> reporter: "muhammad and larry" meanwhile, would capture ali in a minor key, his skills and fitness fading, heading into a 1980 fight with champ larry holmes that he was doomed to

lose. >> he's taking a pounding. >> reporter: prefiguring the sad, slow decline that would follow. >> you begin to see him struggle with his words. and begin to see him struggle with moments. it's just sad to see someone that was this one thing, now so frail and so not in control of the things he was always in control of. so, it's hard. it's sad. >> we have been told that ali never tried to hide his parkinson's. he wasn't afraid to let people see him as he was. when we come back, ali and race. taking a powerful stand when he said cassius clay was his slave name, and risking the loss of millions of fans and millions of dollars by speaking his mind. that's no ordinary steak.t) that's applebee's hand-cut sirloin

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we are back outside the

hospital in arizona where muhammad ali died last night, surrounded by family. one fan leaving a note saying, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, rest in peace, muhammad ali. so many people feeling a strong connection to ali and his many trium triumphs. muhammad ali won his first heavyweight championship in 1964, in the middle of the '60s upheav upheaval. so, would ali speak his mind on those subjects, try to his first nickname, the louisville lip, or would he stay quiet, in order to keep all of his fans happy, black and white? ron claiborne takes a very personal look. >> just make me angry. never, never make me no underdog. >> reporter: cassius marcellus clay exploded onto the scene in 1960s america. bold, brash and black, talking trash and pointing fingers. >> i want everybody out there on tv to know it. i am the greatest. >> reporter: no one had ever seen anyone, certainly not a

black man, like him before. >> i'll never lose a fight. it's impossible. tell them. it's impossible. >> never lost a fight in your life. >> ask any of my fans. >> most of us had somehow adopted a code of existence. be a good negro. >> reporter: cassius clay, soon to be muhammad ali, blew up that model. >> i would like you to call me by my name now, muhammad ali. >> reporter: and shocked and angered white america. a lot of black people didn't know what the make of him either. >> i had a number of actors of color that would look at him and wonder, what was his name? what role as he playing? >> reporter: i was growing up, a kid in los angeles, when he stunned the boxing world by beating up the supposed unbeatable sonny liston. >> i don't have a mark on my face and i upset sonny liston and i just turned 22 years old. i must be the greatest. >> reporter: like millions of black americans, i grew up admiring martin luther king. the moral power and quiet dignity of non-violent protests

to earn advancement by tearing down legal barriers. yet here was a black man loudly and proudly proclaiming his blackness, and at the same time, thumbing his nose at white people. it was scary and thrilling. >> early on, a lot of people thought ali was too much of a showboat and they hated him. there was a lot of hate with ali. >> he didn't want to be a leader, but he wanted black people to look at him and admire him and say, i want to be like that. >> reporter: back in the '60s and '70s, muhammad ali espoused some unconventional ideas. >> no intelligent man in his white mind want black girls and white boys marrying. >> reporter: even his religious choice, joining the nation of islam, was far outside the american mainstream.

but what mattered more to african-americans, and to many white americans, was less his personal ideas than our personal ideal of muhammad ali. er reverence, defiant and proud. >>. >> if he want to go to heaven, i'll get him in the seven. if he keeps talking jive, i'll cut it to five. >> he talked trash. he had rhymes. and he looked like a person that was unafraid. >> reporter: when he was drafted into the armed services, he famously refused to serve. >> i'm not going to help nobody get something negros don't have. i'm going to die here fighting you, if i'm going to die. you my enemy. my enny emy is white people. >> reporter: that earned a draft evasion conviction that interrupted his career for three years. >> i heard him say, why would i want to go halfway around the world to free another people when my people aren't free in america? >> i think muhammad ali proved to all of america that the

vietnamese war was not being fought for good reasons. >> reporter: kareem abdul-jabbar met ali at a party. someone snapped this photo. >> when he said he was the greatest, he was really speaking for a whole generation of black americans who did not get the opportunities that they felt that they deserved. >> reporter: at 7'2", abdul jabbar towered over ali. but he says he never felt taller than when standing in his shadow. >> i felt that i was standing with someone who was a giant. >> reporter: the boxer's fame spread far and wide. in 1975, a song called "black superman" hit the charts in the uk. ♪ muhammad ♪ the black superman >> reporter: muhammad ali was a great boxer. the greatest? maybe. but really, that doesn't matter. this rebel, this renegade lived long enough to be revered by all americans.

but from the very beginning, and always, he will be an african-american hero. ♪ catch me if you can >> when we return, we're heading back to bluegrass territory, with two of louisville's hometown heroes, diane sawyer and muhammad ali, down home. two of the greats. before earning enough cash back from bank of america to buy a new gym bag. before earning 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% back at grocery stores and now at wholesale clubs. and 3% back on gas. kenny used his bankamericard cash rewards credit card to join the wednesday night league. because he loves to play hoops. not jump through them. that's the excitement of rewarding connections. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

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we are back live at the muhammad ali center in louisville, which opened in 2005, as fans lay flowers there.

and our very own diane sawyer, who is also from louisville, joined ali and his wife, lonnie, there in 2007. diane was treated to a guided tour by the couple, taking in everything from the champ's childhood bicycle that got him started boxing, to the story of how he met lonnie, the woman who has been by his side for 30 years, in sickness and in health. >> good to see you! >> reporter: thank you. couple of hometown kids, louisville kids went out to see the world. we did. a museum not so much about history as the spirit of a kid from a little house in louisville, who could somehow see himself astride the whole world and who is still daring, laughing. how about this guy? >> he said, "i'm pretty guy." >> reporter: the story is all here, including the beginning. it was a red bike he got for christmas. >> someone stole it and he went to tell the policeman there that

someone had stolen his bike and he was going to beat them up. so, smart, joe martin said, well, why don't you come to learn to fight first? and then he got him into the boxing at the columbia gym and the rest is history. >> reporter: but he was a child of segregation. and even though he had won his first olympic gold medal, he came back home to hear these words at a restaurant counter. >> hey, you. what you doing in here? you know i can't serve you. now, leave. >> those are very harsh words, especially for a young person to hear. >> reporter: we sit together in the theater to watch a movie of his gigantic life. based on the poem, "if" by rudyard kipling, one of his favorites. "if," it says, "you can dream and not make dreams your master, walk with kings nor lose the common touch." do you think it makes the parkinson's harder for him to see those days? >> you know, diane, muhammad not only looks at that film, just any film. and i don't know if he thinks

about parkinson's. he doesn't think about what's, you know, what his limitations are now or what it may keep him from doing. he always thinks about what he's going to do tomorrow. and i think when he looks back at those films, i think it inspires him as well. and sometimes i think he's in awe of himself. >> reporter: she told us he can still speak with her some in the morning, but the medication he takes for the parkinson's makes it difficult by noon. there is such conversation going on between the two of you all the time now. >> well, yeah. so, we have -- i understand muhammad's signals. and it's sort of a, some of it's a silent conversation. i can look at his face, i can tell what he wants or what he's thinking. >> reporter: also in the museum, a photo of the day she met him. is this the famous picture? >> that's the famous picture. >> reporter: that's what we talked about. >> as you see, i haven't changed much, diane. >> reporter: then, 22-year-old cassius clay teased his awestruck little neighbor.

did he remember saying to you, "i'm going to marry you when you grow up?" >> oh, yes. but you know what, diane? i have found out that muhammad said that to a lot of little girls. it wasn't just me. i can't say he said it to just me because it's not true. >> reporter: he had just been diagnosed with parkinson's when they met. they've now been married 20 years. and you never feel robbed? >> no. no. our life is so full, so rich. i mean, we have nothing to be sorry for, nothing to regret and nothing to pout about. >> reporter: back in the museum, a visitor can put their hand in a mold of muhammad ali's to hear about gratitude, giving back. >> children touch muhammad's heart in a way, you know, i don't think anyone else can. and he calls them refugees from heaven. they're little angels. and he just believes, you know, that all children should have a bright future. he'd do anything he could to help them. >> hey, what's up? i'm laila ali. >> this is laila. rrm in another pavilion, it's his daughter, laila, giving boxing lessons to people like

me. i'm sorry you had to see that. back at the elevator, an always mischievous ali says, he's sure, "i'm younger than i say." >> what? 40. >> reporter: 40. and in another pavilion, a tribute to a moment no one will ever forget. 1996, the olympic games. it was a big decision, but it was such an honor, such an honor. but when he tried to light the cauldron, and it didn't light. i was thinking, "it's not lighting. what's wrong? it's not lighting. he's holding it there." but once it lit, the swell of emotion that went through that crowd, through that arena, it was amazing. there were tears. there were shouts of joy. >> reporter: like the words of the kipling poem, "if you can force your heart and nerve and sinew to serve your turn long after they are gone." what is it you think he's saying in this moment to these athletes going forward? >> i think muhammad will say, do as much as you can, because that's the way you will be

remembered. god gives us special gifts. and the more god gives you, the more he expecting. >> lonnie, muhammad ali's lifeline for more than 30 years. coming up next, one of the most unlikely and enduring friendships of muhammad ali's life, when we come back. >> let's tell it like it is. right from the beginning. >> i'm amazed you famous enough. everywhere i go, you follow me to get your name in the papers and on television. this is my body roof. proof of less joint pain and clearer skin. this is my body of proof that i can fight psoriatic arthritis with humira. humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number #1 prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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they were two of the most recognizable faces and voices of their time. muhammad ali and legendary sports journalist howard cosell. verbalpartners with an unforgettable friendship. for all the famous match-ups in the life and times of muhammad ali, the most important pairing may have been the one that blossomed outside the boxing ring. with and unlikely side kick. the late, great abc sportscaster, howard cosell. i'll be back with the highlights of the knockout sequences in just a moment. >> reporter: their joking sparring matches became iconic on television. >> you have to time it. right there, see? >> reporter: but their friendship was forged in the searing issues of the times. the moment when he changed his name to muhammad ali, dramatized in the 2001 movie, "ali."

>> i apologize to you on the air, your name is muhammad ali. >> reporter: and supporting his refusal to be drafted by vietnam. >> there's been no arraignment, no indictment, no trial, no conviction, no appeal. there's no question about it, i first came to national attention in all of the interviews i did with you on wide world of sports. >> i think i'm the only athlete black or white regardless of what sport that's wise enough to match wilts with you. >> reporter: a connection between two men who could not have been less alike. the boxer and the broadcaster. >> i connell garar congratulate. it's my honor. your name is muhammad ali. >> what a pair. a reminder of a time that was and will never be again. muhammad ali once said, "i hated every minute of training, but i said, don't quit.

suffer now, and live the rest of your life as a champion." that, he did. and that is how we will remember him, as a champion and forever young in so many ways. as we say good night, we leave you with these iconic images of muhammad ali, set to that very song, bob dylan's "forever young," originally seen on abc's wide world of sports. i'm elizabeth vargas. for all of us here at "20/20," good night. ♪ forever young ♪ forever young ♪ may you stay forever young ♪

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