Everyone has heard Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. But it is former college basketball coach George Raveling who owns the original pages from which King read those timeless words.

The Philadlephia Daily News today tells the downright amazing story of how Raveling came to own the typewritten 2 1/2-page speech. (AP photo)

Raveling hadn't even planned to attend the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom." But he found himself headed to the Lincoln Memorial from Philadelphia, where he was a Villanova basketball player, at the urging of a friend's father.

It helped that the friend's dad provided a car, and cash for the trip.

The night before the speech, Raveling and his friend were spotted by some of the event's organizers. And because of their athletic builds, they were asked if they wanted to serve as volunteer security guards.

They said yes, and that's why Raveling was near King as he finished the speech. Raveling, who went on to coach at Washington State, Iowa and Southern Cal, described his lucky moment:

"As soon as he finished, the place went wild . . . I saw he had folded it up and I said, 'Dr. King, can I have that speech?' He turned to hand it to me and appeared as if he was going to say something when a rabbi on the other side came up and congratulated him on what a wonderful speech it was. And that was the end of it."

Raveling says the speech remains in a safe-deposit box, the FBI has verified King's fingerprints on it, and that he has been offered more than $3 million for it. But he says has no intention of letting it go, and probably will leave it to his children.

"Once a year or so, someone will approach me with an offer," Raveling said. "But I let them know I have no interest in selling it."