Muhammad Ali

Jeremiah Shabazz, 70, former minister of Mosque No. 12 of the Philadelphia Nation of Islam and confidant and adviser to Muhammad Ali, died of congestive heart failure Wednesday. It was Mr. Shabazz, a family member said, who in 1960 persuaded boxer Cassius Clay to become a follower of Elijah Muhammad and to become Muhammad Ali. In the late 1970s, Mr. Shabazz joined Ali's entourage, and news accounts at the time refer to him as the boxer's "top aide," "administrative assistant" and "legal counsel," although he had no law degree.

MUHAMMAD ALI'S daughter knocked down rumors of her father being near death Sunday, saying he was at home watching the Super Bowl. May May Ali said she talked to her father Sunday morning on the phone and he was fine. She said he was watching the Super Bowl at home in Arizona, wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey. "He's fine, in fact he was talking well this morning," she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press . "These rumors pop up every once in a while, but there's nothing to them.

Muhammad Ali, dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, stood nearly motionless Thursday night as he stared down intently at the Liberty Medal that had just been presented to him. The 70-year-old Ali, fighting through his Parkinson's disease, briefly lifted his right hand to acknowledge the sustained standing ovation of the audience on the front lawn of the National Constitution Center. The crowd erupted in a rousing chant: "Ali! Ali! Ali!" The world-champion boxer, antiwar hero, and cultural icon was awarded the 2012 medal for his life as a transformative figure personifying the struggle for liberty.

In February 1973, Elvis Presley gave Muhammad Ali a robe embroidered with the words, "The People's Champion. " In return, Ali presented Elvis with a set of boxing gloves inscribed "You're the Greatest. " It's been more than 33 years since "the King" passed away, but the two legends are reunited at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, as part of "Elvis and Ali: American Icons," a dual documentary exhibition. The exhibits, "Elvis at 21: Photographs by Al Wertheimer," and "Muhammad Ali: The making of an icon," chronicle the stars' rise to fame through photography, essays and film.

MUHAMMAD ALI is the Dalai Lama of the post-Sept. 11 world - the beatific sweetheart we call on to sanctify every important moment. He is always available to symbolize, well, whatever the heck you want. The Champ, who may be the world's most famous Muslim and the world's most famous American, is certainly the world's most famous Muslim-American, and he has been using that status for the good. He made news recently by pleading, in Allah's name, for the release of kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Free tickets to the Liberty Medal ceremony honoring boxing legend Muhammad Ali will become available to the public at 10 a.m. today. Ali, 70, whose movement and speech have been slowed by Parkinson's disease, will attend the formal award ceremony. Because he is not physically able to deliver an acceptance speech, his wife, Yolanda, will speak in his stead. The ceremony will take place Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. on the front lawn at the National Constitution Center. About 250 tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

A 10,000-square-foot Tuscan-style villa in Cherry Hill that boxing great Muhammad Ali bought in 1971 and sold in 1974 is scheduled for auction on Sept. 8. The five-bedroom, 41/2-bath house at 1121 Winding Dr., off Kresson Road, is listed at $1.9 million, according to Trend, the region's Multiple Listing Service. The auction will be conducted by Robert Salvato, of AC Auctions L.L.C. of Ventnor. Patricia Friedrichs, of Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors, is the listing agent for the house, which was completely renovated after Ali sold it for $175,000 to Anthony J. Micale, 74, president of Micale Management Corp.

Free tickets to the 2012 Liberty Medal ceremony honoring boxing legend Muhammad Ali will be made available to the public on August 14. Ali, 70, whose movement and speech have been slowed by Parkinson's disease, will attend the formal award ceremony. Because he is not physically able to deliver an acceptance speech, his wife, Yolanda, will speak in his stead. The ceremony will take place Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. on the front lawn at the National Constitution Center. About 250 tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Recently, I tuned in to a television program, Touched by an Angel, that I seldom watch. The attraction to the Sunday evening show was a cameo appearance by former world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali. Ali's role was to convey a positive message to a confused youngster. But I was hardly prepared for how much Ali's physical condition had eroded. He has become a tragic figure. Though it wasn't meant to happen, he came off as an extremely depressed version of his former self.

REMATCH IN A dinky hockey rink in Lewiston, Maine. Muhammad Ali knocks out Sonny Liston in the first round. Knocks him out with a short, swift punch that is so short, so swift, so lethal that the cynics looked at the slo-mo replay over and over and over, the way they scanned the Zapruder film frame-by-frame. And even then they weren't sure of what they hadn't seen. Ali told them the knockout right hand was an "anchor punch" and that he'd learned it from old-time movie comic Stepin Fetchit, who had learned it from the legendary heavyweight, Jack Johnson.

IT WILL BE larger than life. It will have energy. It will show the steely focus of the man, his determination, his power. And it will be sculpted by an artist who grew up in Philadelphia idolizing Joe Frazier and all that he stood for. "Joe Frazier was my first sports hero," Lawrence J. Nowlan said yesterday, the excitement bubbling through his voice like World Series clubhouse champagne. You remember World Series clubhouse champagne. The statue will be 8 feet tall and will stand at the corner of Pattison and 11th Street, near Xfinity Live's Spectrum Grill.

ALONGSIDE retired Eagles giant Brian Dawkins and actual giant Dikembe Mutombo, formerly of the Sixers, Mayor Nutter announced Wednesday that Philadelphia will host an international conference in September on how sports can be an agent of positive social change. Beyond Sport, which is chaired by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, brings about 1,000 participants together each year to discuss the role of sports in community building. Recent locations have included London, Chicago and Cape Town, South Africa.

The daughter of 71-year-old boxing great Muhammad Ali disputed rumors of her father's being near death Sunday, saying he was at home in Arizona watching the Super Bowl, wearing a Ravens jersey. May May Ali said she talked to her father in a morning phone call and he was fine. The rumors were started by a British tabloid quoting the fighter's brother, Rahman Ali , as saying the former heavyweight champ was near death. However, Rahman Ali said he had not seen his brother since the summer and had no contact with the family.

MUHAMMAD ALI'S daughter knocked down rumors of her father being near death Sunday, saying he was at home watching the Super Bowl. May May Ali said she talked to her father Sunday morning on the phone and he was fine. She said he was watching the Super Bowl at home in Arizona, wearing a Baltimore Ravens jersey. "He's fine, in fact he was talking well this morning," she said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press . "These rumors pop up every once in a while, but there's nothing to them.

Muhammad Ali, dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, stood nearly motionless Thursday night as he stared down intently at the Liberty Medal that had just been presented to him. The 70-year-old Ali, fighting through his Parkinson's disease, briefly lifted his right hand to acknowledge the sustained standing ovation of the audience on the front lawn of the National Constitution Center. The crowd erupted in a rousing chant: "Ali! Ali! Ali!" The world-champion boxer, antiwar hero, and cultural icon was awarded the 2012 medal for his life as a transformative figure personifying the struggle for liberty.

CALLING ALL Joe Frazier fans: If you want to see a statue of "Smokin' Joe" in Philly, then you had better chip in. Mayor Nutter and members of the late boxing great's family on Wednesday announced a fundraising campaign to build a statue honoring Frazier near the three sports stadiums in South Philadelphia. "Joe Frazier was undoubtedly one of the greatest heavyweight champions ever," Nutter said. "He fought in a style that truly embodies the city of Philadelphia. " Frazier, who beat Muhammad Ali to win the 1971 heavyweight title during a famously bitter rivalry, died of liver cancer last year.

Muhammad Ali, dressed in a black suit and wearing sunglasses, stood nearly motionless Thursday night as he stared down intently at the Liberty Medal that had just been presented to him. The 70-year-old Ali, fighting through his Parkinson's disease, briefly lifted his right hand to acknowledge the sustained standing ovation of the audience on the front lawn of the National Constitution Center. The crowd erupted in a rousing chant: "Ali! Ali! Ali!" The world champion boxer, antiwar hero, and cultural icon was awarded the 2012 medal for his life as a transformative figure personifying the struggle for liberty.

By Arthur Caplan When I was a kid growing up in the suburbs of Boston in the late 1960s, I had little firsthand contact with minorities. But I knew a lot about one African American man who kept showing up on our new color television and in the sports pages that I devoured every day: Muhammad Ali. Due to chronic illness, Ali can't speak as eloquently as he once did. But that doesn't mean he hasn't been heard. During my youth, there was no more prominent athlete than Ali. His every deed and word - and there were plenty of them - was news.

A group of distinguished athletes and the wife of Muhammad Ali tackled questions about athletes being role models and social activists during a forum this afternoon at the National Constitution Center. The panel - made up of Lonnie Ali, the boxing great's wife; his daughter Laila Ali, herself a former professional boxer; retired basketball star Dikembe Mutombo; and recent Olympic champions, boxer Claressa Shields, and rower Susan Francia - addressed a wide range of questions raised by moderator, acclaimed bioethicist Arthur Caplan.