``If you have an audience of 1,500 kids and if you reach one per cent -- and that's low with Ali -- that's 15 kids who are a little less prejudiced,'' Hauser said. ``Maybe those 15 kids talk to a brother or sister or a parent. We got into this mess one person at a time. Maybe we get out of it one person at a time.''

One of the stops on the trip was Pensacola, Florida, where the boxing great and Hauser met some resistance.

``A group of Christian fundamentalists tried to block the appearance,'' Hauser said. They said, ``We're not prejudiced, but we don't want a Jew and a Muslim talking to our children.''

Which, of course, was precisely the point in the first place. The communityprevailed and Hauser and Ali delivered their message.

Together, the two men wrote a book called Healing, a journal of tolerance and understanding (Harper Collins). It is a slim collection of quotations, from Voltaire and Aristotle to Eleanor Roosevelt and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Perhaps the most poignant quote came from Ali: ``I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.''

The book and the tour were cited by the Givat Haviva Educational Foundation, which will honour Ali and Hauser tonight in New York. The foundation is affiliated with Givat Haviva Institute in Israel, where 50,000 people a year come for workshops, seminars and educational programmes aimed at heightening understanding.

Hauser said Ali's impact remains enormous.

``It is 20 years since he won a fight and he is still the most recognised and loved person in the world,'' he said. ``Fame and celebrity are an end in itself. People respond to Ali. He views his mission now as teaching people howto love.''

There was pandemonium at every stop in the tour. At the Richards Middle School in Atlanta, a row of cheerleaders and football players formed to greet the speakers.

``They used Ali's old rhyme,'' Hauser said. ``They welcomed us with a cheer: `Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Richards welcomes Muhammad Ali.''

``There was a cascade of cheers as we walked in. At the end of the line there were two more kids and they said, `and Thomas Hauser.''

Among the stops on the trip was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Ali placed a white rose at the museum's eternal flame.

``I was left with a very simple thought,'' Hauser recalled. ``If we can harness the energy and love than emanate from this man, maybe we can change the world.'' One person at a time.