Muhammad Ali, the world heavyweight boxing champion, died at the beginning of June.
I wrote to him back in April 2005. For years I had watched Muhammad Ali’s fights on TV, and now – aware of the Parkinson’s disease that was taking its severe toll on his health – I felt constrained to write him a letter. I wrote as tactfully as I could – as a minister of the gospel.
The link between us was that we had both had the experience of visiting the home, in North Carolina, of another ‘First’ in his own field; that of a preacher who has spoken, face to face, to more people than any orator – secular or religious – in all history… the preacher Billy Graham. My hope was that the world-renowned boxer might take the opportunity of a return visit to a man who had earned his admiration and friendship and see him once again – for the last time. What might come out of such a visit?
