LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – Spalding University said its bike that served as a tribute to Muhammad Ali has disappeared.
The university tweeted on Friday asking for anyone with information on the missing bike to contact socialmedia@spalding.edu or simply return the bike to the campus safety office. That office is located at 859 Library Lane.
#muhammadali #louisville #sharelouisville @louisvillemayor @WFPLNews @wave3news @WDRBNews @WLKY @WHAS11 @WHAS11Doug pic.twitter.com/iLvwX6HOtf
— Spalding University (@SpaldingU) August 19, 2016
The bicycle was hung from the University Center, formerly known as Columbia Gym, in Ali’s honor the morning after his death. It’s hung there ever since.
In Spalding’s tweet they said, “It has become a staple of our campus and is cherished by our faculty, staff, students, and the Louisville community at large.”
As the story goes, the front steps where that bike has hung above since June are the very ones where Ali’s path to becoming the Greatest really all started.
“In 1954, when Muhammad was then of course Cassius Clay, 12-years-old, he rode his bike here and went inside with his brother and maybe some friends to get a soft drink or something and while he was inside, his bike was stolen,” Chief Marketing and Public Relations Officer for Spalding University Rick Barney said. “He wanted to whoop somebody up, so he goes back in kind of upset and comes across Joe Martin, who was a Louisville police officer but also a boxing trainer. They interacted, and what that led to was Muhammad beginning to train as a boxer in this facility when it was Columbia Gym.”
Barney said the university never intended for this replica bike to stay up forever, but it hoped to keep it up until a permanent tribute was installed.
“We’re very proud of that history as an institution, very proud of Muhammad’s connection and his beginning and this campus. It’s an important piece of our history,” Barney said.
Barney said one of the university’s facilities managers noticed the bike was missing around 8:30 Friday morning. The school thinks it was likely taken sometime overnight.
“My guess is step ladder, up the ladder, cut it with a knife, take the bike,” Barney said.
There are surveillance cameras set up all over campus, but Barney said the university would much prefer to just have the tribute returned to its rightful spot.
“We’d love to have it back. It’s important to us. No questions asked if someone has any information that can lead to the recovery of it,” Barney said.
The team at the Muhammad Ali Center said it can’t help but notice the irony of the whole situation. It’s also choosing the path of forgiveness and extending a surprising invitation.
“I thought, oh no, this is another case of history repeating itself,” Jeanie Kahnke with the Muhammad Ali Center said. “I think that if Muhammad was here, he would want whoever stole that bike to bring it back for his own story. It turned out to be a pivotal moment in his life because once his bike was stolen, he learned how to box.
That of course changed the course of not only his life, but it changed the course really of history. We call that his red bike moment. So, I hope that whoever stole this bike has their own red bike moment and does the right thing.
Good came out of that theft. So, I would say that whoever stole this bike, I would invite them to come to the Muhammad Ali Center and hear the story about what happened and maybe give that bike back.”
The following is a statement from Lonnie Ali:
“I hope that in the spirit of respect, the person who took the red bicycle that was hung at Spalding University to commemorate Muhammad returns it to its original location. The bicycle has become a symbol for Spalding University and the Louisville community.”