Boxing in the early '60s, largely controlled by the people, was in a failing state until Muhammad Ali-Cassius Clay, in those days-appeared on the scene. Though Ali won the gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960, at the time the experts didn't think much of his boxing skills. His head, eyes wide, seemed to float above the action. Rather than slip a punch, the traditional defensive move, it was his habit to sway back, …showed first 75 words of 625 total…

…showed last 75 words of 625 total…night sky, he approached the unlit saucer with his flaming torch, his free arm wobbly visibly from the effects of Parkinson's. It was a kind of revelation that those who watched realized how much they missed him and how much he had contributed to the world of sport. The world would marvel that through the wonderful excesses of skill and character, he had become the most famous athlete, indeed, the best-known personage in the world.