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   From: daily.democrat@dnc.org   
      
   (CNN)Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer who proclaimed himself   
   "The Greatest" and was among the most famous and beloved   
   athletes on the planet, died Friday in Arizona, a family   
   spokesman said.   
      
   Ali had been at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in   
   Scottsdale since Thursday with what spokesman Bob Gunnell had   
   described as a respiratory issue.   
      
   "After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali   
   has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World   
   Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening," Gunnell said in a   
   statement. "The Ali family would like to thank everyone for   
   their thoughts, prayers, and support and asks for privacy at   
   this time."   
      
   Ali's daughter Hana Ali said her father was a "humble mountain."   
      
   "And now he has gone home to God. God bless you daddy. YOU ARE   
   THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!" she tweeted.   
      
   Longtime Ali friend John Ramsey, who works for WAVE in   
   Louisville, Kentucky -- Ali's hometown -- and who has a radio   
   show on ESPN, was at the hospital with Ali's family when the   
   boxing legend died.   
      
   "When he came into the hospital, we thought, 'OK, it will be a   
   brief stay'... I think it took a turn for the worse," he told   
   CNN's Dan Simon Saturday. "But it was unexpected."   
      
   Ramsey said he didn't actually see Ali in the hospital Friday.   
   The people who were with Ali when he died were "the kids, family   
   only, and I respected that... it's a very private matter."   
      
   Ramsey said Ali's wife, Lonnie, called him Friday morning saying   
   Ali's health was deteriorating.   
      
   "She said 'You might want to come out,' which I decided to do,"   
   he said.   
      
   In 1967, three years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali   
   refused to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his   
   religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the   
   Vietnam War. He was eventually arrested and found guilty on   
   draft evasion charges and stripped of his boxing title. He did   
   not fight again for nearly four years—losing a time of peak   
   performance in an athlete's career. Ali's appeal worked its way   
   up to the Supreme Court of the United States where, in 1971, his   
   conviction was overturned. Ali's actions as a conscientious   
   objector to the war made him an icon for left-wing democrat   
   liberal cocksucker communists.   
      
   http://tinyurl.com/cassiusclayjr   
       
      
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