Float like a butterfly, Sting like a bee. Want someone for an ad? Call Muhammad Ali.
New York Times
February, 2004

THAT, or something like it, must be the newest doggerel making the rounds of Madison Avenue. In the last month, consumers around the world have seen Mr. Ali - known for the butterfly-bee analogy during his poetic boxing career - advertise three blue-chip brands. Two of the campaigns, for Gillette and I.B.M., began during Super Bowl XXXVIII on Feb. 1; the third, for Adidas, started four
days later.

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Review of the Production "Brown Butterfly," a Tribute to Muhammad Ali
New York Times
April 1, 2003

Craig Harris, Marlies Yearby and Aaron Davis Hall took three years to create "Brown Butterfly," but the monumental production, performed on Saturday night at the hall at City College, is well worth the wait. Music, dance and video imagery combine inseparably to pay tribute to Muhammad Ali and his place in American social history.

Produced by Aaron Davis Hall, "Brown Butterfly" evokes Mr. Ali's journey from the boxing ring to the world arena. The 75-minute production is driven by Mr. Harris's score and its live performance. But Ms. Yearby's choreography establishes the gut-level fundaments of Mr. Ali's life: move fast and endure being "out there by yourself," as Ms. Yearby put it in a recent interview.

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Ali's Fight Night is a Real Knockout
The Arizona Republic
March 17, 2003 

No one was fighting at this weekend's Fight Night benefit, but there were plenty of punch lines and lots of heavyweights in the ring, so to speak, with Muhammad Ali.

The celebs began to hit town Friday in private jets and gathered that night for an intimate dinner at the Royal Palms Inn. The champ, who is now fighting to knock out Parkinson's disease, shared a magic trick with friends like Evander Holyfield and members of the Fight Night Founders Club, which includes sports mogul Jerry Colangelo and Arizona Diamondback investors Ken and Randy Kendrick.

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Muhammad Ali to Rumble at "Jungle"
The Journal Gazette 
January 13, 2003 

The Fort Wayne Komets are bringing in a fighter, the self-acclaimed "Greatest of All Time."

Muhammad Ali will be at the Komets' Feb. 8 game at Memorial Coliseum, team officials confirmed Sunday night.

"We are very fortunate to be able to bring in Muhammad Ali, in my opinion the greatest boxing champion of all time and one of the greatest celebrities and greatest known individuals in all of the world, to go to the hockey game that particular evening," Komets president Michael Franke said.

"He will drop the opening puck at center ice. We have already arranged for a special vehicle that will bring him out on the ice. And I also understand he would like to meet the players before the game, which is outstanding."

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Muhammad Ali to be Featured in New Coca Cola Ad
Chicago Sun Times         
 January 10, 2003

Stars, 'real' in new Coca-Cola advertising.

Finally, Coca-Cola is getting back to being real.
A cavalcade of stars will headline a major new Coca-Cola ad campaign debuting Monday on the American Music Awards telecast. The campaign with the concise tagline "Coca-Cola. . .Real" includes more than a dozen television commercials, as well as print and radio. The general market work comes from Coke's longtime lead agency, McCann-Erickson/New York, while Burrell Communications/Chicago and Lapiz/Chicago are handling African-American and Hispanic executions.

Celebrities appearing in the new work include R&B singer Mya, hip hop artist Common, actors Penelope Cruz, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, late-night host Craig Kilborn and even boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

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Muhammad Ali Center to Tell Boxer's Story
Yahoo News 
January 1, 2003

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A two-floor exhibit at the Muhammad Ali Center will tell the story of the boxing great - from childhood to heavyweight champion to globe-trotting humanitarian. The center is expected to open in downtown Louisville in late 2004. Design work on the exhibits is about 40 percent complete, said Mike Fox, president of the center.

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Muhammad Continues to Spread Hope: This Time to the People of Germany         
Lord Mayor of Riesa, Germany,Wolfram          
Kohler's personal letter 
October 2002

Dear Lonnie and Muhammad,

I would like to thank you again for your visit to our city. For many people it is still unbelievable that the world's greatest sportsman of the century came to Riesa.

Maybe you got a little impression of all the problems the city and its inhabitants have had over the last few years. You also had the chance to see how we work with courage and energy to solve these problems. Most importantly, your visit has encouraged the people here to fight for their city, and region against high unemployment, migration of the youth, and a better environment.

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Breaking Ground "The Mentor"
The Muhammad Ali Center Newsletter 
Summer 2002           

It was an event marked by colorful multi-cultural performances, local pride, heartfelt gratification-and even a few magic tricks by the Champ himself. June 11, 2002 was a day that Lonnie and Muhammad Alihad "anticipated for many years." in the sizzling summer heat of Louisville, amidst a crowd of over 200 people, Mayor Dave Armstrong-along with Lonnie and Muhammad Ali, and Chairwoman Ina Bond- broke ground for Phase I of the city's new facility.

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23rd National Gives The Hobby a Lift
"Strong crowds, Special innovations, Ripken, Muhammad Ali, and a Babe Ruth bat cited"
Sports Collectors Digest
September 6, 2002 

The hobby got just the boost it needed two weeks ago in Chicago as the National Convention Played to solid crowds in its four-day run that featured innovations from the taping of Attic Finds to everybody, free on Thursday, to Muhammad Ali making his final Appearance. Brandon Steinerof Steiner Sports Marketing, which ran the Autograph Pavilion, took note of the upheaval on Saturday, but insisted that it hardly detracted from such an historic event. "This was unbelievable," said Steiner."It may have been one of the greatest autograph days that the hobby has seen in the last 10 years in terms of sales and in the talent that was in the room (It was Muhammad's last appearance).

Michael J. Fox, Muhammad Ali Lend Drama to Parkinson's Hearing
CNN.COM          
May 22, 2002 
       

(CNN) -- Actor Michael J. Fox of "Spin City" TV-show fame and boxing champion Muhammad Ali appeared at a Congressional hearing Wednesday morning to appeal for more money to support research into Parkinson's disease, a malady that afflicts both celebrities.The hearing included requests for mitigated restrictions on stem cell research and testimony about how the disease stiffens the body, eventually disabling it, while leaving the mind intact.

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America's Muslim Uses His Image as a Call For Peace
By Greg Hazley 
October 2001

In the days following the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the focus of federal law enforcement agencies and the world at large turned toward the Muslim community, as a strict, fundamental interpretation of Islam was believed to have motivated some of its followers into performing the suicide terror attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

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Ali Center Planned in Louisville
Associated Press
April 14, 2002

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The design for the proposed Muhammad Ali Center includes towering images of the boxing great and an enormous metallic ``torch'' to symbolize his life and humanitarian ideals.Plans for the $41 million center were made public Thursday. The six-story center is to have 93,000 square feet of exhibit space, galleries, classrooms, a library, theater and cafe. Surrounding it will be a plaza with an amphitheater.Ali proclaimed, ``I'm here,'' as he entered the news conference at City Hall. But he sat quietly as his wife, Lonnie, and other organizers spoke.Lonnie Ali said the center will embody her husband's dream of creating ``a place that inspires adults and children everywhere to be as great as they can be.''``This is his legacy and our dream and your opportunity,'' she said.