Tributes continued to come in Sunday as thousands of people visited the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali after his death in a Phoenix hospital at the age of 74.
“I don’t want my name on the ground, (and) people walkin’ on my name,” Ali said at his Walk of Fame ceremony.
Of the 2,582 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ali’s is the only one above ground. It is on an exterior wall of the Hollywood & Highland complex.
The famed boxer’s funeral will be Friday in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and it will preceded by a public procession.
Ali received his Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2002 for live theater in recognition of his famous flair and poetry that boosted the popularity of boxing. The star was unveiled in connection with a CBS special honoring Ali’s 60th birthday.
Flowers were placed near the star after Ali’s death, and people lined up to have their pictures taken.
Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson paid tribute to Ali’s role as a social justice fighter at the star today, where he urged Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to declare a Muhammad Ali Day in Los Angeles.
Garcetti earlier today released a statement on Ali’s death.
“Muhammad Ali gave us incredible skill as a fighter, an incomparable gift for words, and a peerless legacy as a sports and cultural icon. He also modeled the extraordinary power of self-determination — inspiring millions to treasure their humanity, claim their dignity, and give all they have to the global causes of peace, justice, and equality,” Garcetti said. “It was my great privilege to honor him when I was City Council president. And his daughter, Maryum, shared his values with us during her years in the Mayor’s Office of Gang Reduction & Youth Development. Los Angeles mourns today with the entire Ali family.” Tonight, members of the local American Muslim community will pay tribute to Ali with a special prayer and candlelight vigil at 5 p.m. at the Bilal Islamic Center at 4016 South Central Ave. in Los Angeles, a mosque that Ali helped to build. The public is invited to attend.
The former champion’s family said today that Ali died from septic shock. The family also announced that his public funeral would be held Friday in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
Ali first came to prominence in 1960 when he won a gold medal at the Rome Olympics, fighting under his birth name, Cassius Clay.
“As Olympians, our role is to inspire others to achieve their dreams, and no person has ever lived that role more than Muhammad Ali,” said four-time gold medal-winning swimmer Janet Evans, the vice chair and director of athlete relations of LA 2024, the group seeking to bring the 2024 Olympics to Los Angeles.
Evans called passing the Olympic torch to Ali to light the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics “the defining moment of my career and a memory I will treasure forever, as much as any of the medals I won.”
Ali turned professional in 1960. The 13th fight of his professional career that saw him win the world heavyweight championship three times was at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, a fourth-round technical knockout of George Logan April 23, 1962.
Ali fought three more times in the Los Angeles area, the final time on Sept. 10, 1973, when he won a 12-round split decision over Ken Norton at the Forum, avenging the second defeat of his professional career. Ali lived in Los Angeles during parts of the 1970s and 1980s.
“We have lost a legend who proved the human spirit knows no bounds,” Mayor Eric Garcetti wrote on Twitter. “Muhammad Ali you will never be forgotten.”
Ali first won the heavyweight championship on Feb. 25, 1964, when the heavily favored Sonny Liston did not answer the bell to start the seventh round at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
After the fight, he dropped what he called his “slave name” becoming Muhammad Ali and disclosing he became a member of the Nation of Islam.
Ali angered many Americans in 1967 by refusing induction into the U.S. Army, citing his religious beliefs. His boxing license was suspended, he was stripped of his title and convicted of draft evasion. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1971.
Ali regained the title in 1974 with an eighth-round knockout of the previously undefeated and favored George Foreman in a bout in Zaire known as the “Rumble in the Jungle.”
After losing the title to Leon Spinks on a split decision in 1978, he regained it later that year when he defeated Spinks on a unanimous decision.
“Muhammad Ali was truly the greatest — an athlete who transcended sports to become a global icon,” Evans said. “He inspired me and millions of others around the world, to be the best version of ourselves.”