Fans at Shomburg Center Memorialize Muhammad Ali, 'A True Son of Harlem'

Many Harlem residents feel a special connection to Muhammad Ali. So the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture arranged for a special viewing of Friday's memorial service for Ali. NY's Erin Clark has the story.

David Christie says he will never forget the time he met Muhammad Ali.

"He walk over to me and he said to me, you look like Joe Frazier," Christie said. "On his way out he came over to me and he make a punch like that and then he took my hand and put it in his face like this and we took a picture."

Christie and other fans of the late, great boxing champ gathered at the Schomburg Center in Harlem to watch an internet stream of Ali's three-hour memorial service and pay their final respects.

"Fan? Loved him," said one man. "Loved him. From the beginning, from the Olympics to his last moment."

"I came to watch the memorial service because  Muhammad Ali is everything to me," said one woman.

"It's great to be here with others in the community for Muhammad Ali who was so great and just feel the energy and the love of community," said another.

And this community was Ali's – and not just because of its place in black America. Ali fought some of his greatest fights at Madison Square Garden and spent a considerable amount of time here after becoming a member of the Nation of Islam.

"He's not from Harlem, but he is truly a son of Harlem," said Michael Perry, senior librarian at the Schomburg Center. "People, old-timers, young people all have stories about Muhammad Ali from times when they met him, something that they saw him do, something that they heard him say that changed their lives."

It's a sentiment felt not only in Harlem, of course, but also across the world, as reflected at Ali's memorial.

So many people impacted by the greatest and the way he lived his life.

"He did a lot for just standing up and who he was for us," said one woman. "He was the first to really say say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud."

"He made you want to be the best," said another.

A life that fans here say inspired them, a legacy that will live on.