'The Greatest Fighter Of Them All:' Obama Pens Touching Eulogy On Muhammad Ali
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- President Barack Obama says he keeps a pair of boxing legend Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves on display in his private study in the Oval Office as a source of inspiration.
In a statement posted to the White House's official Facebook page on Saturday, Obama spoke of the heavyweight champion's impact on him while he was only 22 years old.
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"I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was—still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden," Obama wrote.
'I am America,' he once declared. 'I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me—black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.'
That's the Ali I came to know as I came of age—not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right."
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Obama continued, touching on Ali's sometimes controversial moments and praising him for his 'infectious, even innocent spirit' that helped him win respect and love from his fans.
"He wasn't perfect, of course," Obama wrote. "For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved."
"Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we're also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time."
Click on the link below to read the full letter.
Tributes to Muhammad Ali rolled in from fans and celebrities around the world Saturday, just hours after his death.
Ali had been hospitalized for respiratory problems Thursday, and news spread that this illness was serious.
Late Friday, his family confirmed that he had died.
A funeral for Ali will be held on Friday, June 10.
