The New York Times:
Muhammad Ali, the three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who helped define his turbulent times as the most charismatic and controversial sports figure of the 20th century, died on Friday. He was 74.
Ali was the most thrilling if not the best heavyweight ever, carrying into the ring a physically lyrical, unorthodox boxing style that fused speed, agility and power more seamlessly than that of any fighter before him.
Ali was as polarizing a superstar as the sports world has ever produced — both admired and vilified in the 1960s and ’70s for his religious, political and social stances.
When I heard the news that he was sick and in the hospital, I knew it was just a matter of time. He was an amazing man in so many ways who lived a life that was full and full of controversy but you got the impression he wouldn’t have it any other way. I met Ali at a Macworld Expo in the late 1990s. I don’t have many heroes in my life but he was definitely one of them. I was in awe of the man and I’m never in awe of other human beings. I had tears in my eyes (just as I do now writing this) as I told him how honored I was to meet him. He didn’t speak but did that familiar boxer’s thing of lightly tapping me on the jaw with his fist. I wish I had a picture of that moment.
I grew up during the Ali era and always loved who he was and what he stood for. I enjoyed him and Howard Cosell always at odds….and what a great model he was to all of growing up at the time. I miss him.
This is how a century really ends. Not suddenly at midnight to drinking and dancing. It ends gradually, over the new century’s early decades, as the old century’s icons pass away.
Champ, hero, legend.
Forever.
I also don’t have many heroes, but Ali was definitely one of them. One more legend is gone.
I do not know the last thing about boxing, but German TV here today showed parts of the interview in which he explained his reasons for not joining the Vietnam war. What a great character in a sea of celebrity lemmings.
After Bowie, Rickman, Prince and now this, I am looking forward to 2017. We have Neil Young, John Cale, Harry Belafonte, Gary Oldman and Thomas Pynchon left. The others? Far too many.