LOUISVILLE, Ky. — I still remember the silence.
Not the roar that followed Muhammad Ali throughout his life. Not the chants, applause or cheers that greeted him from Louisville to Kinshasa to Manila. What I remember most from the week of his funeral 10 years ago was the silence that fell over Louisville as hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets to say goodbye.
For a moment, the world seemed to stop.
I came to Louisville in June 2016 to cover Ali's passing and funeral for ESPN. I left believing I had witnessed something much larger than the farewell of the greatest boxer who ever lived.
I wrote then that Ali's star shined brightest not in a boxing ring but on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where his star hangs on a wall because he refused to allow people to walk on the name of the Prophet Muhammad. I wrote after his funeral that Ali's final victory wasn't over Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier or George Foreman, but over the divisions that once made him one of the most controversial figures in America.
For one remarkable week, Louisville became what Ali had spent his entire life trying to show the world a place where race, religion, politics and nationality faded into the background and humanity came first.
Ten years later, Ali's widow, Lonnie Ali, hopes the world can rediscover that spirit.
On the 10th anniversary of Muhammad Ali's passing, the Muhammad Ali Center announced the inaugural Day of Compassion, an annual global day of service that will take place every June 3. The initiative is rooted in one of Ali's most enduring beliefs:
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."
The announcement comes exactly a decade after an estimated one billion people worldwide watched Louisville say goodbye to its most famous son. More than 100,000 mourners lined the streets while another 15,000 packed the KFC Yum! Center to celebrate a man who spent a career knocking people down and a lifetime lifting people up.
"June 3rd marks 10 years since Muhammad's passing, and the world has never needed his message more," Lonnie Ali said. "Muhammad believed that daily acts of compassion are how we bridge divides, find common ground and bring out the best in one another. Today, his call to serve others feels more urgent than ever.
"At the Muhammad Ali Center, we are honoring his legacy by marking June 3rd as a Day of Compassion. We invite you to join us. Take action, serve others and see the difference a single act can make."
The Day of Compassion will launch in Louisville during the 10th annual Ali Fest celebration, which runs from June 1-7. The Muhammad Ali Center has partnered with Metro United Way to coordinate acts of service involving nonprofits, schools, faith communities, businesses and community leaders throughout the city.
The effort extends well beyond Louisville. Cities participating in the Muhammad Ali Index's compassion studies — including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Phoenix, San Antonio and Washington, D.C. — are being encouraged to organize acts of service on June 3. Organizers hope the event grows into a global annual observance dedicated to compassion in action.
For Lonnie, the anniversary remains deeply personal.
"First, you know, this is always an emotional time for me," she told me. "My body seems to know it, that it's approaching, even if I may not be aware how soon it is. But it's also a remembrance of everything Muhammad stood for, his legacy, the lessons he taught us, the example he set.
"Every lesson he leaves us can help us become better human beings because he was the example for that. That's one of the reasons we're having this Day of Compassion — to celebrate Muhammad's legacy and honor him in a way that I know he would love."
The Day of Compassion arrives at a moment when Lonnie believes Ali's message is needed more than ever.
"We are living through a time where we are becoming extremely polarized politically, socially and culturally," she said. "Families are being pulled apart. The nation is being pulled apart because we have isolated ourselves in our own echo chambers. We only listen to people who sound like us, look like us and think like us.
"That is a formula for destruction, not only for ourselves but for communities as well. The fabric that builds a community is based on human contact, human interaction, people coming together, working together and finding common ground. That's what this Day of Compassion is about.
"It's a reminder that we are compassionate people and compassion is how you connect to the next individual."
As our conversation continued, Lonnie returned repeatedly to a theme that often gets lost when people talk about Muhammad Ali.
Many remember him as arguably the greatest boxer who ever lived. Fewer understand what he was trying to accomplish outside the ring.
"I think they're still learning," she said when asked whether people fully appreciate Ali's humanitarian legacy. "There are some people who are pure boxing fans and that's the only part they really examine and delve into because they're fascinated by everything he accomplished as a boxer.
"But there was that second mountain that he was climbing, even as a boxer, where he was using boxing as a platform to reach out to people and connect to people, not just here in America but throughout the world.
"He always looked at people with curiosity. He was always curious about what other people were trying to do and achieve and how they were alike and what he could learn from them. He had that kind, empathetic, compassionate heart that allowed him to meet people without judgment.
"That gave him a unique ability to connect with humanity."
It's one of the reasons Ali's legacy has only grown in the decade since his death.
When Ali died on June 3, 2016, tributes poured in from every corner of the world. Political leaders, athletes, entertainers and ordinary people mourned together. In a country often divided by politics, race and religion, Ali somehow brought everyone into the same room one final time.
Asked what memory from that week still stays with her, Lonnie didn't mention the celebrities or world leaders who came to Louisville.
She talked about the city itself.
"How the city came together," she said. "It was the perfect example of everything Muhammad stood for and wanted to teach as a final lesson. Compassion. Coming together. Being inclusive. Opening your arms to perfect strangers.
"We had a billion people watch that service. Louisville was at its best. From the mayor's office to the police department to people in the neighborhoods who swept their streets clean to make sure that when that procession came through Muhammad had the best sendoff possible.
"They lined the streets. Every day that week Louisville showed up. That was the example for the world. And I know if it can happen once, it can happen again."
As she spoke, I thought back to those days.
The crowds weren't there simply because Ali was famous. Plenty of famous people die.
They were there because Ali had spent decades teaching people something that feels increasingly rare today: that humanity matters more than ideology.
That lesson wasn't something he performed for cameras.
"Muhammad didn't do acts of service because there were cameras turned on," Lonnie said. "He never wanted cameras on him. He preferred to do this in private because he said, 'If I do it with cameras, then that means I'm not doing it for the person I'm trying to help. I'm doing it for me.'
"This is the way he showed up every day in life. It became as simple for him as breathing. That's who he was at his core.
"He never allowed himself to pass somebody who needed help. If he was in a room full of people, he knew which ones needed him the most and that's who he gravitated to."
When I asked which of Ali's defining traits the world most needs today, courage, conviction or compassion, Lonnie smiled at the premise.
For her, they were inseparable.
"Muhammad always demonstrated courage," she said. "He was always his authentic self. He was always true to himself. What felt right to him is what he did. What he thought was morally right, he would do.
"He wasn't afraid to be the only person standing up for what he thought was right. He didn't need a crowd or a following. Even if the tide was going against him, he stood firm. That takes courage.
"But the compassion part was just who he was. From the time I met him when I was six years old, Muhammad was a man of compassion who had empathy and kindness for everyone. It's just how he was made."
Perhaps that explains why Ali transformed from one of the most controversial athletes in America into one of the most beloved figures in the world.
Lonnie doesn't believe Muhammad changed.
"Muhammad didn't change," she said. "Muhammad might have gotten broader in his views, but Muhammad didn't change. We changed.
"Time bore him out as being correct. Muhammad was always authentic and true to who he was and his beliefs. His moral compass was always calibrated correctly. Ours may not have been."
So what would Muhammad Ali think if he could see the state of the world today?
"I don't think Muhammad would be surprised," Lonnie said. "People at times revert back to things that are not always good for everyone and the pendulum swings.
"But it would never prevent him from being that compassionate person that he was. He would continue to do and be the authentic Muhammad Ali."
Ten years after his death, that's the lesson she hopes people take away from June 3.
Not simply admiration for Muhammad Ali.
Action.
"I'm really not looking for them to take away something about Muhammad besides setting the example," she said. "I hope they learn and find joy in the service they are engaging in and see the joy they are creating for the people they are helping.
"I don't want it to be one day out of the year. I want it to be every day.
"I hope this sparks the flame of compassion in all of us, that we are intentional about our compassion and the acts of service that we perform. I hope we recognize how we can lift people up who may be in need around us.
"And that it becomes something we do as easily as breathing. That's how Muhammad lived. But that takes practice. I hope we practice every day."
Ten years after covering Ali's funeral in Louisville, that may be the lesson that stays with me most.
Muhammad Ali's greatest victories were never confined to a boxing ring. They were found in the lives he touched, the people he lifted up and the example he left behind.
A decade after his passing, the world still talks about his championships, his knockouts and his poetry.
But perhaps his final lesson remains his most important one.
Be kind.
Serve others.
Lead with compassion.
Muhammad spent a lifetime trying to teach us that.
The question, 10 years later, is whether we're finally ready to learn it.