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AP<\/p>\n
FILE – In this Feb. 2, 1999 file photo, boxing legend Muhammad Ali poses for a photo after an interview in New York. The man who became the world’s most recognizable athlete was a baby sitter, a jokester and a dreamer in the predominantly black West End neighborhood of Louisville where he grew up and forged lasting friendships while beginning his ascent toward greatness. Now, as the iconic boxer slowed by Parkinson’s disease prepares to turn 70 next week, he’s coming home for a birthday bash at the downtown cultural center and museum that bears his name. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew, File)<\/p>\n
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Louisville, Kentucky <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Long before he became one of the world\u2019s most recognisable sportsmen, a young Cassius Clay honed his skills by sparring with neighbourhood friends and running alongside the bus on the way to school in his home town of Louisville. <\/p>\n
The man better known as Muhammad Ali was a babysitter, a joker and a dreamer in the predominantly black West End neighbourhood where he grew up and forged lasting friendships while beginning his ascent to greatness. <\/p>\n
Now, as the famous boxer, slowed by Parkinson\u2019s disease, prepares to turn 70 next week, he is coming home for a birthday bash at the cultural centre and museum that bears his name. The private party tomorrow will double as a fundraiser for the six-year-old Muhammad Ali Center, which promotes ideals of tolerance, respect and individual achievement. <\/p>\n
The birthday party will highlight a week-long extended tribute to the city\u2019s favourite son, whose name and face emblazon buildings and street signs. <\/p>\n
Ali turns 70 on Tuesday, January 17, three days after the party. <\/p>\n
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FILE – In this April 4, 1963 file photo, heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay is seen with his mother, Odessa Grady Clay, in a car outside their home in Louisville, Ky. The man who became the world’s most recognizable athlete was a baby sitter, a jokester and a dreamer in the predominantly black West End neighborhood of Louisville where he grew up and forged lasting friendships while beginning his ascent toward greatness. Now, as the iconic boxer slowed by Parkinson’s disease prepares to turn 70 next week, he’s coming home for a birthday bash at the downtown cultural center and museum that bears his name. (AP Photo\/H.B. Littell, File)<\/p>\n
AP<\/span><\/p>\n Those who knew him before he developed his famous ringside persona \u2013 the brash predictions followed by rapid-fire punches that backed up his taunts \u2013 remember a happy-go-lucky kid with a ready smile who had a serious side, aspiring to show his mettle as a fighter. <\/p>\n Ali\u2019s boyhood neighbour, Lawrence Montgomery sr, 78, was one of the first to feel the sting of the young boxer\u2019s jabs. At the teenage boy\u2019s request, Montgomery held up his hands and Ali popped them with punch after punch. <\/p>\n Montgomery saw early glimpses of the boxing star\u2019s bravado that earned him the \u201cLouisville Lip\u201d nickname. <\/p>\n \u201cHe told me then that he was going to be the heavyweight champion of the world, and I didn\u2019t believe him,\u201d Montgomery said. <\/p>\n \u201cI told him, \u2018Man, you better get that out of your mind.\u2019 But he succeeded. He followed through.\u201d <\/p>\n Early on, Ali\u2019s neighbours and classmates saw the work ethic that enabled him to defeat the likes of Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Sonny Liston in epic bouts that sealed his reputation as an all-time great. <\/p>\n FILE – In this Nov. 18, 2005 file photo, boxing great Muhammad Ali is accompanied by his wife Lonnie and singer Kris Kristofferson as he tours the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky. The man who became the world’s most recognizable athlete was a baby sitter, a jokester and a dreamer in the predominantly black West End neighborhood of Louisville where he grew up and forged lasting friendships while beginning his ascent toward greatness. Now, as the iconic boxer slowed by Parkinson’s disease prepares to turn 70 next week, he’s coming home for a birthday bash at the downtown cultural center and museum that bears his name. (AP Photo\/Ed Reinke, File)<\/p>\n AP<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of travelling on a bus to school, Ali raced it in early morning workouts that stretched for kilometres. <\/p>\n \u201cHe would jog and of course we would pass him up,\u201d said Shirlee Smith, 69, who graduated with Ali from Louisville Central High School in 1960. \u201cThen we would stop at every corner to pick somebody up and he would pass us up. And he would laugh and wave at us all the way to school.\u201d <\/p>\n Ali and the bus usually arrived at school about the same time, she said, but Ali never seemed out of breath. <\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t faze him in the least,\u201d Smith said. <\/p>\n Some early mornings, when Montgomery arrived home from his overnight shift at the postal service, he would see Ali running in heavy boots towards a neighbourhood park and back, an 8km round trip. <\/p>\n Ali\u2019s introduction to boxing was spurred by a theft. <\/p>\n His new bicycle was stolen when Ali was 12. He rode the bike to a community event to get free popcorn and sweets. When it was time to go home, the bike was gone. Wanting to report the crime, the shaken boy was introduced to Joe Martin, a police officer who doubled as a boxing coach at a local gym. <\/p>\n Ali told Martin he wanted to whip the culprit. The thief was never found, nor was the bike, but soon the feisty Ali was a regular in Martin\u2019s gym. <\/p>\n Victor Bender was an aspiring boxer when he and Ali began a lasting friendship when both were 12. The two became sparring partners as Ali slowly began turning his raw natural abilities into boxing skills. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was developing punches back then,\u201d Bender said. <\/p>\n While Bender shifted his attention to basketball and American football, becoming a stand-out at Central High, Ali developed into a top amateur boxer, winning two national Golden Gloves championships by the age of 18. <\/p>\n Even in his early days, friends say, the gangly Ali aspired to become a heavyweight. After high school, Ali won a gold medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome. <\/p>\n Unlike the brash boxer whose face become a fixture on television years later, Ali was a bit shy at school, Smith said. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was not a lady\u2019s man,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n Ali\u2019s self-confidence soared as his career took off, but much of the brashness was aimed at garnering attention, said Gordon Davidson, the attorney for the group of Louisville businessmen who sponsored Ali in the early years of his professional career. <\/p>\n \u201cAs far as this \u2018I\u2019m The Greatest\u2019 \u2013 all of that was what I\u2019ll call sideshow,\u201d he said. \u201cHe could turn it on and turn it off when he wanted to.\u201d <\/p>\n Montgomery\u2019s daughter, Karen Montgomery Williams, 56, remembers Ali as her first babysitter. The easygoing teenager would turn serious during those Saturday babysitting sessions when a local boxing show came on television, she said. <\/p>\n \u201cI just remember having to sit down and be quiet,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n Montgomery\u2019s father said Ali refused to charge him for babysitting his children. <\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing he would require was having bologna (polony) sandwiches in our refrigerator,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Ali moved to Miami in the early 1960s, but he never forgot his Louisville roots. He would return to the neighbourhood, smartly dressed and driving a Cadillac convertible, Montgomery said. <\/p>\n In later years, Ali would entertain local children with magic tricks, a favourite pastime. <\/p>\n Ali\u2019s boyhood home \u2013 a small, single-storey frame house \u2013 still stands in the working-class neighbourhood. In the front garden there once grew a tree that Ali used to spar with as a boy. Now only a stump remains. <\/p>\n Ali and his wife, Lonnie, now have homes in Michigan, Arizona and Louisville. <\/p>\n His boyhood friends stuck with Ali, who was brought up as a Baptist, after he converted to the Muslim faith, changed his name and refused to be drafted for military service during the Vietnam War. <\/p>\n Those decisions alienated him from many in America during those turbulent times. Ali was stripped of the first of his three heavyweight crowns in 1967 for refusing to fight in the war. <\/p>\n Bender was drafted into the army at the same time as Ali. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the time, I kind of believed like he did, but I didn\u2019t fight it,\u201d Bender said. \u201cI went on and did my time. And, if he had gone in, he would have been successful with his time, too.\u201d <\/p>\n Bender, a Baptist, said he respected Ali\u2019s faithfulness to his adopted religion: \u201cHe has been a very spiritual individual who you would love having as a friend; who you could count on being in your corner.\u201d <\/p>\n Davidson, a confidant to Ali during those years, warned the champ that skipping the draft would badly damage his career. Ali listened respectfully but would not budge. <\/p>\n \u201cHe said he appreciated that, but his religion was more important to him,\u201d Davidson said. <\/p>\n Montgomery said Ali had always been admired in the neighbourhood for sticking to his principles. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was a role model for all of us in the neighbourhood,\u201d he said. \u2013 Sapa-AP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AP FILE – In this Feb. 2, 1999 file photo, boxing legend Muhammad Ali poses for a photo after an interview in New York. The man who became the world’s most recognizable athlete was a baby sitter, a jokester and a dreamer in the predominantly black West End neighborhood of Louisville where he grew up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-7023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"NM](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/8f3e6_3206530389.jpg\")
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