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| January 13, 2002 | Sunday | Shawwal 28, 1422 |
Ali accepts star on Walk of Fame
HOLLYWOOD, Jan 12: Legendary boxing champion Muhammad Ali, surrounded once again by hundreds of adoring fans chanting his name, was not content to be just another star in Hollywood on Friday.
In accepting his star on famed Hollywood Boulevard, Ali, who sprang to fame in 1960 as a gold-medal winner at the Rome Olympics, explained why his star had been hung from a theater wall rather than embedded in the sidewalk with 2,188 other celebrities.
“I didn’t want my star to be on the sidewalk because I didn’t want anybody walking on it,” Ali told the packed crowd outside the Kodak Theater on Friday.
The ceremony was one of several held in Los Angeles this week honoring the heavyweight boxing champion’s upcoming 60th birthday on Jan. 17.
A one-hour CBS television “birthday celebration” special was also set to air on Jan. 16 featuring a parade of stars including Grammy Award winner Mariah Carey and actor Will Smith, who played the prizefighter in the feature film “Ali” which opened Christmas Day.
Ali shook from Parkinson’s disease and his speech was slurred as he stood at a podium. He thanked Hollywood for honoring him and waved at fans who packed the streets and theater balconies and hung out windows, shouting “Ali! Ali!”
“I wanted to be famous just to say what I’m saying now,” he said to the throng. “All my life I always said if I could get famous I’d do things to help other people. So many people who become famous ... do things that are not good for people.”
“So many people ask me why I changed my name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali,” he said.
“Chinese people get Chinese names, Russian people get Russian names. All people have names that fit them. But Blacks in America get names like George Washington. ... They have Caucasian and European names. All who are here: Ask yourself what’s your name? We have names.”
Ali was not only one of the greatest heavyweight boxers in history he was one of the most enduring and controversial heroes in sports, for his audacity in and out of the ring.
Ali’s dazzling hand and foot speed gave him the conceit to anoint himself “The Greatest,” a tag he backed up by winning the heavyweight ti