Ford makes $5 million contribution to Muhammad Ali Center
By Bruce Schreiner / Associated Press LOUISVILLE, Ky
May 2002

Muhammad Ali's quest to build a center to promote peace accelerated Tuesday with a $5 million donation from Ford Motor Co. that has organizers envisioning the start of construction.
The automaker's gift, the largest private donation yet for the Muhammad Ali Center, pushes fund-raising to the point that "we can see ground breaking right around the corner," said Ali's wife, Lonnie.

So far, $32 million has been raised and organizers say $60 million is needed to start construction. They also need to raise another $20 million for operating costs. They hope for a groundbreaking early next year and an opening in late 2003. The former three-time heavyweight champion envisions the center as a crowning achievement to his humanitarian efforts around the world.

Lonnie Ali, speaking on her husband's behalf, said the Ali center would continue the ex-boxer's humanitarian ideals.

"We know Muhammad will not be able to travel and work as he does forever," Lonnie Ali said. "But we believe that his legacy must continue to inspire people to respond to each other with kindness."

The center will commemorate Ali's boxing career but will emphasize his philosophy, not his achievements in the ring, his wife said.

"It is about values, it's about faith in oneself, it's about recognizing a common good, about sharing our strengths and our experiences with one another," Lonnie Ali said. "Hopefully, by teaching our children these values, conflict will be diminished and peace will describe where we are, not where we hope to be."

The center, in partnership with the University of Louisville, will feature an institute aimed at conflict resolution.

Ali, who has Parkinson's disease, did not speak at the announcement but was the center of attention. After posing with Ford officials and his wife while holding an oversized check, Ali tucked the check under his arms and began to walk from the stage, drawing laughter from the crowd gathered near the waterfront.