Who Floats Like a Butterfly...
and Stings Like a Bee?
Image from ClipArt Library
Well, it all started with a stolen bike.
The 12-year-old boy in 1954 was heartbroken and angry to discover that his bicycle was taken from him. He marched down to the local gym to report the theft to a police officer who also trained boxers there. That police officer, named Joe Martin, saw how upset and hurt the boy was, and he offered to teach him how to box.
The boy took Joe Martin up on his offer and trained with him. He worked very hard at boxing, and when he was 18 years old, he competed in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He won the gold medal for boxing in his weight class!
Back in the United States, he became known for his wit, charm, and confidence in the boxing ring. He was called "The Greatest" and he claimed that in the boxing ring he would "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." He would win several boxing championships!
image from NBCNews.com
That boy with the stolen bicycle was Cassius Clay.
Cassius later changed his name to Muhammad Ali.
'I ran downstairs, crying, but the sights and sounds and the smell of the boxing gym excited me so much that I almost forgot about the bike,'' Ali would write in his autobiography.
Thanks to Joe Martin, Ali was able to turn his anger and sadness at losing his bike into intensity and dedication to something new.
And the rest, as they say, is history!
Have a wonderful weekend!
