Billy Crystal delivers eulogy at Muhammad Ali memorial service

Comedian Billy Crystal delivers a eulogy during Muhammad Ali’s memorial service in Louisville, Ky., June 10, 2016.

“We all have an Ali story”. “Muhammad Ali struck us in the middle of America’s darkest night. Apart from Sugar Ray Robinson…I don’t think any boxer compares in terms of his contribution to professional boxing in the ring”, he told Chief Jerry Forson on the show.

Rumors that Donald Trump would attend were quashed Friday morning when Gunnell said Trump called Ali’s wife, Lonnie, to inform her that he was unable to make it. His religion, his beliefs, his name were his to fashion, no matter what the cost.

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger recalled the time he spent with Muhammad Ali at boxing legends funeral in Louisville, Kentucky.

In 1964, Ali famously converted to Islam, changing his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his “slave name”.

Ali was proved right about the war in Vietnam and most Americans ended up agreeing with him. He earned scorn for his incendiary comments about his opponents, once calling Frazier a “gorilla”.

Survived by nine children, Muhammad Ali’s legacy goes beyond that of an ordinary man; it is a tale of an ordinary person who grew up to lead an extraordinary life.

The procession then travelled along Muhammad Ali Boulevard, passing the Muhammad Ali Centre and his childhood home as fans threw flowers towards the vehicle carrying Ali’s body.

Other guests at the service included many members of Ali’s family, Hollywood director Spike Lee, football legend Jim Brown, basketball’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg. “He loved this country and he understood the hard choices that are born of freedom”.

“For the youth here, he is an example”.

Fans such as Cathy Oost, 61, a retired public school teacher who lives in Louisville, was one of several hundred people to gather under blue skies at the cemetery gates to pay their respects.

“I can just hear Muhammad saying now, ‘Well I thought I should be eulogized by at least one president and by making you the last of a long long long long line I guaranteed you a standing ovation, ‘ ” he said with a laugh. Valerie Jarrett, a senior White House adviser, planned to read a letter Obama wrote to Ali’s family at the service.

Ali was laid to rest on Friday in St. Louis. Crystal shared how the late boxer treated him as a “little brother”. “I grew up having my identity shaped by what he accomplished”, he said.

While the first half of his life was marked by triumph as one of the world’s greatest athletes, Clinton said, “the second part of his life was more important because he refused to be imprisoned by the disease that kept him hamstrung longer than Nelson Mandela was kept in prison in South Africa”. Blacks, women activists and students were ostracized by many. A traditional Muslim funeral service was held Thursday, with an estimated 6,000 admirers arriving from all over the world. “It was selfish for us to think that we could hold on to him forever”.