'What's Our Name?': Muhammad Ali Visit Launched Ravens' Championship Season

BALTIMORE, MD — The Ravens were in the presence of "The Greatest." Jack Harbaugh had given the same speech to every team he had coached. In September 2012, Muhammad Ali was beside him as he told the Ravens the story behind "What's our name?"

It's a chant Ravens coach John Harbaugh, Jack's son, had used for years to inspire the Ravens and push them to a Super Bowl victory in February 2013. The line originated with Ali decades earlier in the boxing ring.

Muhammad Ali died on Friday. He was 74.

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As Jack Harbaugh tells it, Ali was fighting Ernie Terrell in 1967. Terrell had refused to call him Muhammad Ali after the boxer changed his name from Cassius Clay when he converted to Islam.

"Boom. What's my name?" Harbaugh says, boxing the air as his voice bounced around the stadium as players and Ali looked on. "Boom. Boom. Boom. What's my name?"

"At the end of the fight Terrell said this, 'I couldn't see him anymore. I saw three Muhammad Alis. I saw four Muhammad Alis. I didn't know which one was coming,'" he told the team. "The fight lasted 15 rounds. Do you know why it lasted 15 rounds? That was how long Muhammad wanted it to last."

"He said to the world this, 'What's my name?' It became a battle cry in our family," Jack Harbaugh said. "Respect. That's what we're looking for in this world."

Then, Jack Harbaugh turned to Ali. "I humbly say this man is my hero. This man has molded myself, my family and all the teams I have coached."

>>>Watch the speech at NFL.com

After Ali's visit with players, staff and their families, the Ravens would go all the way to the Super Bowl with Ali in their corner, noted New York Times writer Ken Belson.

"We were totally taken,” Lonnie Ali told Belson. “It wasn’t one thing but everything about the Ravens that impressed us, starting with the coach. They are a family, and we felt like family. We became fans.”

After winning the Super Bowl, coach John Harbaugh stood on the field in Baltimore in front of a cheering crowd ready to welcome their champions home. But he wanted to hear something from the crowd first.

"What's our name?" he said.