Some famous people never leave their hometowns. Some never go back. And some have tangled, breakup-filled, yet enduring love affairs. So it is with Muhammad Ali and Louisville.

This is the self-proclaimed Gateway to the South where Ali was born Cassius Clay 63 years ago, where he grew up in a modest bungalow on the all-black west side, where a color line determined where he could shop, eat and see movies.

But it was also here that a white police officer named Joe Martin took the 12-year-old Clay, furious that his bicycle had been stolen, and taught him the sweet science of boxing. And it was here that a group of genteel white businessmen invested in the raw, loud-mouthed talent and financed his way to his first heavyweight title.