Berry Tramel: Lou Gehrig's message lives on

→5. Muhammad Ali’s "I am the Greatest,” Feb. 25, 1964: Sport has not seen an orator like Ali before or since, and his most memorable lines came after knocking out Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title. "I shook up the world! I’m king of the world! You must listen to me. I am the greatest!” The greatest is debatable. That the world listened is indisputable.

→4. Babe Ruth’s "Boys,” April 27, 1947: The dying Babe’s farewell speech to his sport on Babe Ruth Day at Yankee Stadium mostly rambles, but the once-bombastic Babe speaks from the heart about boys and baseball.

→3. Knute Rockne’s "Win one for the Gipper,” Nov. 10, 1928: Historians don’t believe the Notre Dame coach was truthful in describing George Gipp’s last words, but Rockne’s halftime speech from the Army game lives on: "...tell them to go out there with all they got and win just one for the Gipper...”

→2. Jim Valvano’s "Don’t ever give up,” March 4, 1993: In receiving the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage Award, the former North Carolina State basketball was entertaining and eloquent and left America with a simple motto — "Don’t give up; don’t ever give up.” Eight weeks later, he was dead from cancer.

→1. Lou Gehrig’s "Luckiest man,” July 4, 1939: One month after he was diagnosed with ALS, Gehrig used fewer than 300 words to tell 62,000 fans in Yankee Stadium why he considered himself so blessed.

BY BERRY TRAMEL