Here's something I put together on my three choices: Muhammad Ali, Roberto Clemente, and Vin Scully. Yeah it's a bit long, but with school out I've got time on my hands. I've included video and/or audio links. Two of the five clips are long but worth checking out.
MUHAMMAD ALI: I rooted hard for Joe Frazier when he and Muhammad Ali squared off in the Fight of the Century on March 8, 1971. Just 10 days short of my 13th birthday, I thought Ali was a loud-mouthed braggart who was bad for sports. My opinion of Ali changed as I learned more about him, and by October 1974 I was pulling a the then-underdog Ali when he upended George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle. What I mainly learned from Ali is that people are complex, and that you should never judge a book by its cover.
Boxing accomplishments aside, I admire Ali more as a man than an athlete. In retirement, he has devoted much of his time to philanthropy. He announced that he had Parkinson's disease in 1984 (the same disease my mother battled in her later years). Despite the progression of the disease, he has continued to support causes he believes in. Ali has traveled to numerous countries to help out those in need. In 1998, he was chosen to be a United Nations Messenger of Peace because of his work in developing countries. He has been involved in raising funds for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center in Phoenix, and has also supported the Special Olympics and the Make a Wish Foundation among other organizations. He is the embodiment of what it means to be a champion.
Below are two Ali-related links. The first is the entire telecast of his 1964 bout with Sonny Liston. The second is ‘Muhammad Ali (The Meaning of Christmas)’” an excellent 2003 song by New Jersey’s own Greg Trooper.
Ali-Liston 1964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nMlsT_3Nco
Muhammad Ali (The Meaning of Christmas) – Greg Trooper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FVRIWBSQXg
ROBERTO CLEMENTE: I was just 14 when Clemente died in a Dec. 31, 1972 plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicauragua. While I was old enough to remember the assassination deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., the Clemente tragedy marked the first time a well-known person’s death had a major effect on me. Since I had watched him play baseball so often on television I somehow thought I knew him. Just three months earlier I was in front of the TV when he got his 3,000th and final hit against the Mets' Jon Matlack. And who didn’t admire his superhuman performance during the 1971 World Series, especially in Game Six? But it turned out that I didn’t know about the sense of humanity that drove Clemente when he wasn’t playing baseball. His death didn’t make sense to me, and I must have spent a week walking around in a daze as I tried to sort it out.
On the field, Clemente hit .331 during his 12 peak years (1961-72) while setting records for most assists by a right fielder and most Post-World War II triples. But those things were secondary to the deep amount of caring he had for other people. He is a true hero who made the world a better place during his 38 years on it.
This brief clip (less than two minutes) spotlights Clemente’s Game Six heroics in the 1971 World Series. It’s amazing stuff, especially the throw at the end.
Roberto Clemente in the sixth game of the 1971 World Series
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=roberto+clemente
VIN SCULLY: Now in his 66th year in the Dodgers’ broadcast booth, Scully is the ultimate baseball lifer. The game has changed many times over since he called his first game in 1950, yet Scully not only remains on the job but continues to excel. At age 25 in 1952 he became the youngest person to ever call a World Series game (the record still stands), and has called well over 11,000 games in his unparalleled career, Scully is commonly recognized as the greatest baseball announcer ever, not because of his durability but because no one has ever done it better. It’s going to feel mighty weird when he finally hangs ‘em up.
Weird Scully fact: Although he played center field as a student at Fordham University, Scully never saw a live major league game until calling his first Dodger game in 1950. In fact, it wasn't until 2004 when he and then-Dodgers owner Frank McCourt attended a game at Fenway Park that Scully went to a pro baseball game as a spectator. Scully and McCourt took in another game at Fenway in 2010.
Here are two Scully clips. The first is his famous ninth-inning call of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game in 1965. Sheer poetry. The second is way longer: It’s a complete radio broadcast of a Dodgers-Cubs game from 1957, the Dodgers’ last season in Brooklyn. Scully and Jerry Doggett call the action while Sandy Koufax is on the mound for the Dodgers. Baseball fans might want to put three hours aside and check this out.
Vin Scully calling the ninth inning of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game
Full radio broadcast of Dodgers-Cubs game, 1957
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w7Kt1vo-3Y
