Muhammad Ali once talked a suicidal man out of jumping off a ledge by Jay Busbee
"I'm no good," the 21-year-old man shouted, leaning out over a ledge nine floors above Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. “I'm going to jump!"
No one in the crowd below knew his name on that day, Jan. 17, 1981. We still don’t know his name now. But that didn’t stop some in the crowd from shouting for him to jump, to give everyone the show they wanted.
He'd been up there for hours, shouting that the Viet Cong were coming for him, resisting all police efforts to bring him down.
And then, in what must have seemed like a dream to the man on the ledge, Muhammad Ali appeared at a nearby window.
"It's really you!" the man said in disbelief.
"I'm coming out," Ali shouted. "Don't shoot me!"
"I won't shoot you," the man said. "I don't even have a gun."
Ali then began the delicate work of bringing the man in off the ledge. “I’m your brother,” Ali shouted. “I love you and I wouldn't lie to you ... I want to help you.”
"Why do you worry about me?" the man shouted to Ali. "I'm a nobody."
Ali then began the delicate work of bringing the man in off the ledge. “I’m your brother,” Ali shouted. “I love you and I wouldn't lie to you ... I want to help you.”
"Why do you worry about me?" the man shouted to Ali. "I'm a nobody."
The former heavyweight champ replied that to him, the man wasn't a nobody.
Ali and the man spoke for 20 minutes, and on more than one instance, it appeared that even Ali’s gift for inspiration wasn’t enough. But give Ali six rounds and he could wear down anyone. He convinced the man to open the door to the fire escape, then embraced the man and pulled him inside. Ali later escorted the man to the Sawtelle VA Hospital, and promised to get him the help he needed.
But that moment a hundred feet above Wilshire Boulevard showed more of Ali's heart than any of his fights.
"I'm going to help him go to school and find a job, buy him some clothes," Ali told reporters afterward. "I'm going to go home with him to meet his mother and father. They called him a nobody, so I'm going home with him. I'll walk the streets with him and they'll see he's big."
Whether Ali followed through on his pledge has been lost to history, though Ali would often support those in need without seeking the spotlight. Bottom line, though: Ali gave the man a second chance at life.
"No doubt about it," a police official said at the scene that day. "Ali saved that man's life."
Ali and the man spoke for 20 minutes, and on more than one instance, it appeared that even Ali’s gift for inspiration wasn’t enough. But give Ali six rounds and he could wear down anyone. He convinced the man to open the door to the fire escape, then embraced the man and pulled him inside. Ali later escorted the man to the Sawtelle VA Hospital, and promised to get him the help he needed.
But that moment a hundred feet above Wilshire Boulevard showed more of Ali's heart than any of his fights.
"I'm going to help him go to school and find a job, buy him some clothes," Ali told reporters afterward. "I'm going to go home with him to meet his mother and father. They called him a nobody, so I'm going home with him. I'll walk the streets with him and they'll see he's big."
Whether Ali followed through on his pledge has been lost to history, though Ali would often support those in need without seeking the spotlight. Bottom line, though: Ali gave the man a second chance at life.
"No doubt about it," a police official said at the scene that day. "Ali saved that man's life."
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