June 17, 2016
The funeral for boxer Muhammad Ali was a private, family affair. The gravesite was opened to the public Saturday, and one of the first people on the scene was an Iranian-American fan.
Farzam Farrokhi had worried there would be a horde of people Saturday morning elbowing for a place among the first to see Ali’s grave.
Instead, he found a quiet and reverent stream of visitors. There was not yet a headstone marking the spot. No rope cordoned off those wishing to kneel, pray or kiss the grave.
Farrokhi drove 12 hours from his home in Queens, New York, to Louisville, Kentucky. He was grateful for no massive crowds so he could sit and reflect on the life and the death of The Greatest, who suffered for years with Parkinson’s disease.
“I can’t imagine a heart like Ali’s being stuck in a body where he can’t do what he wants to do. Now he can be free,” Farrokhi told The Associated Press reporter watching the gravesite. “Maybe he’s shaking up the next world already.”
Ali was buried Friday in a corner of his hometown’s historic Cave Hill Cemetery, famous for its beauty and wildlife.
Farrokhi stopped at a florist on the way and surveyed the bouquets of roses. They had bunches in red and yellow and white. Then he found one that mixed all the colors.
“When you think of Ali’s fans, they’re every color,” he said. “It seemed right; that’s how he wanted the world to be.”
He pulled the flowers off the stems one by one, crushed the petals between his fingers and sprinkled them on top of Ali’s grave, Persian-style. He repeated it 11 times until he got to the last flower, a pale pink one.
He knelt and laid it whole at Ali’s feet.