In 1996 at the start of the twenty-sixth Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, this great American hero lit the Olympic flame.
Who is this man? Why is he a great American hero?
These are difficult questions. To answer them we must go back over fifty years.
In 1942, when our hero was born, he was given the name Cassius Clay.
He was born into a poor, working-class, black family in Louisville, Kentucky.
When Cassius was a teenager, life for black families was very hard.
While white Americans were becoming rich, building nice houses, and going to good schools, black Americans were still very poor.
Cassius Clay never liked his name because it was a white man's name.
It was not a name that came from his ancestors, but rather it was the name of the slave owner who had owned his family years before.
As a child, Cassius Clay was furious with how white Americans treated black Americans.
When Cassius was 12, he started to box under the instructions of a policeman named Joe Martin.
Martin and others immediately saw that Cassius was a great boxer.
By the time he was 17, he had won a very important championship for young boxers: the Golden Gloves Championship.
Then in 1960, at the age of 18, Cassius went to the Olympics in Rome and won a gold medal.
He was on his way to becoming one of the greatest boxers in history.
After Cassius won a gold medal at the Olympics, he became a professional boxer.
His goal was to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
This is the highest title that a boxer can receive.
Cassius quickly became very famous. This was because he was not only a great boxer, but a good showman as well.
He would make up sayings about himself and other boxers.
His most famous line was: "I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee."
Cassius always said that he was the greatest boxer ever.
This made some people angry because he was so young and he had not yet fought the greatest boxers of the time.
But Cassius was a great boxer, and he had a new style of boxing.
On February 25, 1964, he fought Sonny Liston, the greatest boxer at that time, for the title of Heavyweight Champion of the World.
Of course everyone thought that Liston would easily win.
Cassius was called the underdog. That means everyone thought he was going to lose.
It was a very good fight. Both men fought hard for a long time.
Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, Cassius knocked out Liston and won the match, becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the World!
Two days later Cassius joined the Nation of Islam.
This is a group of black people who are committed to Allah and who take care of their bodies by not smoking, drinking, or acting immorally.
They also fight for a better life for black people in America.
At this time Cassius Clay gave up the slave name that he hated so much and chose a name based on his new religion.
Since then he has been called Muhammad Ali.
Muhammad Ali reached his goal and became the greatest boxer in the world.
Over the next three years, he fought in many matches and won every one of them.
He was truly the greatest fighter ever.
Then something very terrible happened to Muhammad Ali.
On April 28, 1967, Muhammad Ali was drafted into the United States Army to fight in the war in Vietnam.
However, he did not want to go to Vietnam because his religion taught him this war was not just.
Ali did not want to kill people who were not his enemies.
Because he refused to join the army, his title of Heavyweight Champion was taken away from him,
and he was not allowed to box anywhere in the United States.
Then on June 20, 1967, a formal trial was held by the government, and Ali was convicted of refusing to join the army.
He was sentenced to five years in prison.
During the late 1960s, Ali was very active in the Civil Rights Movement.
He encouraged black people to stand up against white people.
Finally in 1970 Ali was allowed to continue his boxing career.
Over the next ten years, Muhammad Ali proved that he truly was the greatest boxer in the world.
As Ali got older, he strengthened his religious beliefs.
He no longer hates white people like he did when he was young.
He believes that all people must work together to create a better world and prepare themselves for heaven.
Because Ali was a great boxer, he earned a lot of money.
However, he has shared his money with the poor.
He gave money to build schools, hospitals, and Islamic religious centers.
In 1981, after 22 years of boxing, Ali retired with one of the best records of all time.
In his career he competed in 61 fights. He won 56 of them and only lost 5.
A year after he retired, doctors discovered that Ali had an illness called Parkinson's disease.
Because of this disease, Ali is not able to speak well, and he moves very slowly.
However, his disease has not affected his mind. He still thinks very clearly.
To honor Muhammad Ali for his great contributions to sports and society,
he was chosen to light the Olympic flame at the start of the twenty-sixth Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia.
And now you know why Muhammad Ali is a great American hero.