Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Dedicates the Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award to Muhammad Ali
Tribute to Ali Recognizes Lifelong Achievement in Sports and Enduring
Legacy of Influencing Change and Inspiring the World
Today Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated announced that it
will dedicate the franchise's Sportsman Legacy Award in the name of
boxing legend, civil rights leader, humanitarian and icon, Muhammad Ali.
It will now be known as the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali
Legacy Award. The Legacy Award was created in 2008 to honor former
athletes and sports figures who embody the ideals of sportsmanship,
leadership and philanthropy as vehicles for changing the world. There is
no better example of this tradition of excellence and influence than
Muhammad Ali. Mr. Ali will be recognized at a dedication ceremony taking
place at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky., on October 1, which
also marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary 「Thrilla in
Manilla」 bout in which Ali defeated Joe Frazier. It is arguably the
greatest heavyweight championship fight ever.
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「When I was featured on my first Sports Illustrated cover in
1963, it was a huge turning point in my career," said Muhammad Ali.
"Ever since, Sports Illustrated has been there documenting
the great moments of my life, a relationship that has been integral to
both my boxing career and now, the mission and legacy of the Muhammad
Ali Center. It’s a relationship for which I will always be grateful. To
have an award named in my honor by Sports Illustrated is
something I could have never expected as a young man back in 1963 when I
posed for that first cover. I am truly touched. I know there will be a
great tradition of champions to receive this award in the future and I
look forward to celebrating their spirit and accomplishments.」
Time Inc. and Sports Illustrated are proud to pay tribute to
Muhammad Ali as the embodiment of this award. The company is proud to
team up with Under Armour which will showcase its performance collection
inspired by Ali at the dedication event. The global performance brand
recently announced a long-term partnership with The Champ, celebrating
his unyielding will as an athlete and humanitarian. Ali is a true
champion whose achievements in the ring only begin to tell his story.
Ali was also a catalyst for social, political and humanitarian change
that has shaped the global culture and influenced several generations.
Furthermore, this honor symbolizes the long and storied relationship
between SI and Ali: Muhammad Ali has been on the cover of Sports
Illustrated 38 times, was named Sportsman of the Year in 1974 and
received the singular distinction of being named SI's Sportsman of the
20th Century. Some of the most iconic images of sport in the last
century - including famed SI photographer Neil Leifer's shot of Ali
standing over former champ Sonny Liston and his dozens of other images
of the man inside and outside the ring – feature Ali and first appeared
to the public on the pages of SI. Over the years some of SI's most
esteemed journalists -- Mark Kram, Gary Smith, Pat Putnam and William
Nack -- have documented the Ali story.
Only two individuals have been selected by the SI editorial team to
receive the Legacy Award. Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder and driving
force behind the Special Olympics, was the inaugural honoree, with her
brother Bobby accepting the award in her honor during the annual
Sportsman of the Year ceremony. In 2014, Earvin (Magic) Johnson was
honored for his two decades as an entrepreneur, philanthropist and
social and political activist. He also accepted the honor at the annual
Sportsman event, where he was commended by President Bill Clinton and
NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
"It is very exciting to have this prestigious award, which I was honored
to have received last year, associated with Muhammad Ali, one of the
greatest athletes and cultural figures of our time," said Earvin (Magic)
Johnson. "I grew up reading Sports Illustrated and have long
followed the career of and looked up to 'The Greatest,' and am humbled
to now forever have my name linked with both Ali and a true inspiration
in Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was the first to be very deservedly
recognized with the tribute."
"Every time we sat in a room to discuss the Legacy Award honoree we
found ourselves measuring the candidates up against the collective work
of Muhammad Ali who is the most transcendent figure in sports history,"
said Sports Illustrated Group Editor Paul Fichtenbaum. "It's only
fitting that we pay our highest tribute to him by renaming the award in
his honor."
Ali is an Olympic gold medalist, Golden Gloves champion and three-time
world heavyweight champion boxer with an all-time record of 56 wins (37
KOs) and five losses. Outside of the ring Ali became an international
media phenomenon after his early successes in the sport and used that
platform to voice his views on everything from the civil rights movement
in the U.S. to his public conversion to Islam and his refusal to serve
in the Vietnam War and fight for peace, to his public battle with
Parkinson's disease. Other awards and accolades for Ali over his
lifetime include being named a United Nations Messenger of Peace,
receiving a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Constitution
Center Liberty Medal and Amnesty International's Lifetime Achievement
Award. He has made goodwill missions to Afghanistan and North Korea;
delivered medical supplies to an embargoed Cuba; traveled to Iraq and
secured the release of 15 United States hostages during the first Gulf
War; and journeyed to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela upon his
release from prison. In addition to co-founding The Muhammad Ali Center
with his wife, Lonnie, Mr. Ali hosts the annual Celebrity Fight Night in
Phoenix and contributes substantially to the awareness of and research
efforts for Parkinson’s disease. The Muhammad Ali Center, in the Alis'
home of Louisville, Ky., is a cultural center that promotes the six core
principles of Muhammad Ali ("Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving,
Respect, and Spirituality") to achieve personal and global greatness,
and provides programming and events around these principles.
Muhammad Ali has proven that one person can have a powerful impact on
the world and that athletes can discuss subjects outside the arena in
order to inspire peace and well-being. Under this new name, the
presentation of Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Sportsman of
the Year Muhammad Ali Legacy Award will forever honor this legend's
achievements.
ABOUT TIME INC.
Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is one of the world's leading media companies,
with a monthly global print audience of over 120 million and worldwide
digital properties that attract more than 140 million visitors each
month, including over 60 websites. Our influential brands include
People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living,
Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, Cooking Light, Fortune and Food
& Wine, as well as more than 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom
such as Decanter, Horse & Hound and Wallpaper*. Time Inc. is home to
celebrated franchises and events including the Fortune 500, Time 100,
People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year,
the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the Essence Festival and the biennial
Fortune Global Forum. Hundreds of thousands of people attend our events
every year. We have been extending the power of our brands through
various investments and acquisitions, including the formation of Sports
Illustrated Play, a new company devoted to youth and amateur sports, and
the acquisition of inVNT, a company that specializes in live media. We
also provide content marketing, targeted local print and digital
advertising programs, branded book publishing and marketing and support
services, including subscription sales services for magazines and other
products, retail distribution and marketing services and customer
service and fulfillment services, for ourselves and third-party clients,
including other magazine publishers.
About the Muhammad Ali Center
The Muhammad Ali Center, a 501(c)3 corporation, was co-founded by
Muhammad Ali and his wife Lonnie in their hometown of Louisville,
Kentucky. The international cultural center promotes the six core
principles of Muhammad Ali (Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving,
Respect, and Spirituality) in ways that inspire personal and global
greatness and provides programming and events around the focus areas of
education, gender equity, and global citizenship. Its newest initiative,
Generation Ali, fosters a new generation of leaders to contribute
positively to their communities and to change the world for the better.
The Center’s headquarters also contains an award-winning museum
experience. For more information, please visit www.alicenter.org
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150925005552/en/
Time Inc.
Danny Leonard, 212-522-0361
danny_leonard@timeinc.com
or
Elizabeth
Marsh, 212-522-0941
elizabeth_marsh@timeinc.com
Copyright Business Wire 2015Business WireSeptember 25, 2015 - 11:34 AM EDTNews by QuoteMediawww.quotemedia.com
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