The “Champ” The “Louisville Lip” and American Hero – Muhammad Ali dead at age 74

 
His most beautiful poem was, “No.”

by David Miller

CINCINNATI OHIO – Growing up, I remember little about Hank Aaron except that his was a good catch opening up a baseball card pack. Hank’s cards could be traded for most any card any of my buddies had. You would often get three or four of theirs, for the “Hammers” card. My buddies and I would collect pop bottles around town until we had enough to turn-in for a pack. My father and his friends used to buy their Weideman Beer by the case, and the 24 tall bottles came in a heavy duty cardboard box. I am sure that I would take a few of those returnables out of that case from time to time, much to his chagrin when he went to Hetzel’s Carry-Out himself to find the case was one or two bottles light. But for me, Aaron was just another ballplayer, until just a short time ago I came across some baseball home run stats, and realized his record would still stand if not for performance enhancing drugs.

I heard Johnny Bench on the radio just a few years ago saying that the use of steroids was the best thing that ever happened to baseball. It was during a time when some were predicting the death of major league baseball as America’s favorite pastime, and the pursuit of Aaron’s record, which was now filling up stadiums. Bench’s logic was that if the stands are full, steroids were good for baseball. Right now, give me a Johnny Bench card and it gets clamped to the side of my bike with a clothes pin – making annoying noise against the spokes.

Oh yea, I remember Bill Cosby doing his God thing, and listening to his recordings, but I was never really a fan.

But, it was actually the “Champ” on the field, thirty feet away from me on June 20, at Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Game that turns out to be one of the most memorable nights of my life. I remember one day around 1990, that Muhammad Ali was at Memorial Hall in Cincinnati, just down from the Alcoholic Drop Inn Center where I was working. He and other sport figures were signing autographs that day, and I remember that the admission price was something like $10. I had the admission price, but that was pretty much all I had. I kept thinking that I didn’t need an autograph – I just wanted to be in the same room with him. I went back to work, not wanting to spend my last ten-dollars. I have spent twenty-years living with regret.

As soon as they got on TV, I have watched every fight of Ali’s. I tuned in a half hour early fidgeting with the tuner controls – adjusting color and contrast settings. I remember sitting very, very close to the screen, trying in vain to be able to see one of his lightening jabs actually land on an opponent’s jaw. I never did see one land, just taking Cosell’s word for it most of the time.

Ali, refused to go to a war he didn’t believe in. They took away his Heavyweight Title. He knew he might be sentenced to a lengthy jail term, and he was getting back off of the floor – again.

“I am America. 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”

“Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong”

“No Viet Cong ever called me a nigger”

In the end, Ali faced a jail term, and they took away his Heavyweight Title.

It was in later years that I slowly began to realize that it had become very hard for people to call the “Champ” a coward. After-all, the list of people who knocked him down, only seeing him get back off the floor to knock the daylights out of them, is fairly impressive.

Ali became my hero: he was brave enough to say, “No.” I was not. I truly believe he saved countless American and Vietnamese lives by saying, “No.” I believe the war ended sooner, because he was courageous enough to say, “No.” I think he shortened the war, may have saved my own life.

The “Louisville Lip” was silent at the Civil Rights Game, but up from the sell-out crowd swelled voices, “Ali… Ali… Ali… Ali… Ali… Ali…”

Now, about Bill Cosby. You see, Cosby and Aaron were able to walk around on the field, talking to people, mingling. Cosby, the entertainer, the comedian, was especially engaging, really hamming it up. But there sat the “Champ” a lonely figure to one side of the stage, even though his wife, Lonnie was standing behind him. The comedian noticed, went to Ali’s side, bantered with him, and then held his hand through much of the ceremony, eventually putting his arm around the “Champ’s” shoulders.

Aaron spoke with dignity, but let his bat do most of his talking; breaking a record that in my opinion, still stands today. Ali is known for his mouth as much as for his hands, however his most beautiful poem was, “No.” Cosby on June 20, spoke to me too, without uttering a word.

(Editor’s Footnote added December 1, 2014: Bill Cosby’s legacy, recast: Accusers speak in detail about sexual-assault allegations )

It is with sincere gratitude that I express my thanks to the Red’s organization for the wonderful hospitality they offered me on June 20. Click below to see the rest of the story of the Civil Rights Game in photos.