Postal Service marks Ali in his hometown
The U.S. Postal Service unveiled a commemorative Muhammad Ali “Forever Stamp” in Louisville, Kentucky, on Thursday, featuring a photo of the boxing legend in his fighting prime. Postal officials said the stamps went on sale that day.
Officials said the Postal Service printed 22 million of the Ali stamps. The design includes a photo credit to an Associated Press picture from 1974 showing Ali holding up his gloves in a fighting stance, with the boxer’s last name rendered in bold black and red all-cap lettering.
Bob Costas, a longtime broadcaster who hosted the unveiling event, said: “We honor Muhammad Ali here in his hometown, a city that shaped him and that he reshaped forever.”
Friends and family of Ali gathered for the issuance. Lonnie Ali, the boxer’s widow, said: “This stamp will travel millions of miles, it will pass through countless hands, but it will quietly remind the world of a man who dared to believe that kindness could be powerful and that being in service to others could be heroic.”
Postal officials also said the Forever Stamps come with a stamp sheet featuring an additional photo of Ali posing in a pinstripe suit, which organizers described as a recognition of his work as an activist and humanitarian.
The AP story said Ali was born Cassius Clay Jr. and changed his name after converting to Islam. It also reported that he died in 2016 at age 74 after living with Parkinson’s disease for more than three decades, and that he is buried in Louisville.
During his lifetime and afterward, Ali received multiple honors, the AP reported, including an Olympic gold medal in 1960, the United Nations Messenger of Peace award in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. The AP story also recalled a remark Ali made in which he joked he should be on a postage stamp because “that’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”