Muhammad Ali's 65th Birthday on January 17, 2007; Send Your Personal Birthday Wish!

Muhammad Ali's 65th Birthday on January 17, 2007; Send Your Personal Birthday Wish!

January 05, 2007

    LOUISVILLE, Ky., Jan. 5 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Muhammad
Ali, who once said, "Old age is just a record of one's
whole life," will be turning 65 years young on January
17.  Fans, friends, and admirers from around the world are
invited to help celebrate the life and legacy of Muhammad
Ali by sending him a personal birthday message during the
month of January.  Participants are also encouraged to
contribute, in Muhammad's honor, a donation to the new
Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville,
Kentucky.

    Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1942, Ali's story is one
of inspiration: champion athlete, media icon, societal
symbol, United Nations Messenger of Peace, and a beacon of
hope to people around the globe for over four decades.  Now
the public has a golden opportunity to express to Muhammad
some of the motivation, joy, and magic he has afforded them
over the years. 

    Visitors must use the form provided on the Ali Center's
website, http://www.alicenter.org , to submit their personal
message to be possibly publicly shared. All birthday wishes
will be compiled into a gift collection for Muhammad.

    As a boxer, Ali brought unprecedented speed and grace
to his sport, while his charm and wit changed forever what
the public expected a champion to be.  His accomplishments
in the ring were legendary.  But over the years Muhammad
transcended from a boxing champion to a champion of
humanity. 

    He has hand-delivered food and medical supplies to the
Harapan Kita Hospital for Children in Jakarta, Indonesia,
the street children of Morocco, and an embargoed Cuba.  He
has participated in goodwill missions in Afghanistan and
North Korea, helped secure the release of 15 US hostages in
Iraq, was special envoy to Africa, and sought the truth on
POWs and MIAs in Vietnam.  At home, Ali has visited
countless soup kitchens and hospitals and assisted numerous
organizations and initiatives including: adoption agencies,
the Special Olympics, children infected with AIDS, and
Parkinson's research and treatment.

    Since opening in November 2005, the Ali Center's
mission is to extend Muhammad's values of respect,
confidence, dedication, giving, hope, and understanding,
worldwide and to promote cross-cultural dialogue,
peacemaking, and conflict management while inspiring all
people to be as great as they can be.  For more
information, visit http://www.alicenter.org .

    For more information, please contact:

     Jeanie Kahnke 
     The Muhammad Ali Center
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 


SOURCE  The Muhammad Ali Center