Sometime in 1969 or 1970, when I was a fourth-grade teacher at the Dearborn school in the Roxbury section of Boston, my class was invited to be in the audience of a TV show where Muhammad Ali was interviewed.

The students were excited to be there. I don’t remember what questions were asked or what the answers were, but what I do remember well was the beginning of our trip back to school. After the bus was loaded and just starting to move, Ali left the building containing the TV studio and walked along the sidewalk beside the street the bus was on. He noticed the kids waving to him, and as the bus picked up speed, he raced along beside it for quite a distance.

It thrilled the children and is probably what they, as adults, remember best about that day. I loved that pleasing the children was more important to him than maintaining his dignity.

Priscilla Markley

Winthrop