The Grand Opening Gala of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville last night drew celebrities and former Pres. Bill Clinton to honor "the Greatest." Louisville disability activist Cass Irvin took the occasion to write about Ali as one of her heroes as well.
Her
op-ed appeared in yesterday's Louisville Courier Journal:
In 1996, Muhammad Ali became a personal hero to me. I remember all the excitement and anticipation, the speculation around the opening of the Olympics in Atlanta about who was going to be the person to carry the torch to light the flame. The tradition of carrying the torch is very important. And it is symbolic because local people from all across the country, often unsung community heroes, get to carry it part of the way. It gives us all a chance to be involved with this exciting event.
The person chosen to light the torch at the opening of the Olympics is symbolic, too. There were rumors everywhere. Muhammad Ali was a prime candidate. Wouldn't that be something, I thought? Wouldn't it be wonderful if this man, this hero -- and person with an obvious disability -- were the chosen one to carry the Olympic torch for us all? No, wait. That "obviously disabled" part will probably knock him out of the running. And disability signifies unable, doesn't it? So you can imagine my amazement when I, along with an estimated 3 billion television viewers, watched Muhammad Ali walk out into the dark night carrying the torch. The sight of this large man, with the effects of Parkinson's visible, in a white gym suit climbing with his torch against a dark night sky to light the Olympic Torch was inspiring -- in the right way.
Irvin's memoir, Home Bound: Growing Up with a Disability In America, was published by Temple University Press last year.