The champ was here.
Boxing legend and American icon Muhammad Ali visited the Ravens’ facility on Sunday and met with the team following the morning walk-thru. He is in Baltimore as part of fundraising efforts for his charity, Generation Ali.
Ali’s visit was a surprise to the players, and he was introduced to the team by Jack Harbaugh, the father of Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh.
The team watched a video clip of Ali during this morning's meeting and after practice Jack was speaking with them to tell Ali's famous "What's My Name?" story from his fight against Ernie Terrel. During the fight, Terrel repeatedly called Ali "Cassius Clay," which was his name before he converted to Islam. Ali won the fight convincingly and after he would land punches on Terrel, he would shout, "What's my name?" That story was the basis for the Ravens using "What's My Name" as their slogan during the 2008 season.
As Jack was telling the story, Ali came out to the practice field on a golf cart and the players formed a huddle around him. They broke the huddle by chanting "champ."
Players then lined up to take pictures with Ali and meet with him individually.
After practice, many of them took to Twitter to share the unique experience.
Here’s a look at some of the responses on Twitter:
