LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Every June 3, Butch Zurbriggen arrives at Muhammad Ali’s grave when Cave Hill Cemetery opens and leaves when it closes. He chats with visitors, hands out books from his collection (he has 450 about the Louisville boxing icon) and rests quietly on a stone bench a few feet away from Ali’s headstone.
“I call it ‘sitting with greatness,’” said Zurbriggen, who drives to Louisville from his home in Columbus, Ohio each year.
What You Need To Know
- Thursday marked the five year anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s death
- Fans gathered at his childhood home and Cave Hill grave site
- They reflected on the life of a man who they say is missed by modern society
- One man said he visits Ali’s grave each June 3 from the cemetery’s opening to its closing
This Thursday, he had to do some of that sitting in his van as rain showers pounded Cave Hill Cemetery, temporarily keeping mourners away. But Zurbriggen was soon able to return to his spot, where he described first seeing Ali on TV as a teenager.
“I lived in, I guess you’d call it a ghetto,” he said. “I was headed in the wrong direction. I didn’t have a dad. So I kind of owe it to him for turning my life around.”
Zurbriggen is more than a super fan. He had a personal relationship with Ali, who he met a dozen times and shared meals with. He said the Louisville native was a “father figure.”
“It’s sad that he’s gone,” Zurbriggen said. “But I feel good about sitting here with him. I feel like it’s the best way I can honor him right now.”
June 3, 2021 marks the fifth anniversary of Ali’s death. It’s also the start of the Muhammad Ali Center’s Ali Festival, a citywide celebration of Louisville’s most famous son. As part of the celebration, visitors were invited to place a rose at Ali’s grave. Dozens did before the rain swept in.
Across town, at 3302 Grand Avenue, a group of friends took selfies in front of Ali's childhood home. Kathy Brown, Kim Ziegler, and Paula Musselman were in town from York, Pa., to take in the city's sights, including the home where Ali and his four siblings were raised.
"All the houses are the same,” Brown said of the well-manicured block of modest homes in West Louisville. “You'd have no idea that this is where his beginnings were. It's just amazing,"
The one-story, two-bedroom property has been restored in recent years, painted in the same pink hue it sported when a young Cassius Clay slept under its roof. A historical marker is posted on the front lawn, reminding visitors that this is where “values were instilled” in the soon-to-be world champion and world-famous humanitarian.
Ziegler said she remembers Ali as both a great man and a great fighter. She also remembers his death in 2016.
"It was a sad day in history," Ziegler said. But five years later, on her first trip to Louisville, its anniversary was a “great day to see the house."
Back at Cave Hill, Zurbriggen was glad to see others arrive to join him at Ali’s grave site. As he reflected on his hero’s death, he said Ali’s voice is sorely missed in a society so riven with division.
“He didn’t care what color you were, what religion you were, what sexual orientation you were — he loved everybody,” Zurbriggen said. “As he used to say, 'The real religion is love.'”