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Ali set to knock out Ireland with hometown visit on September 1

Thousands expected to line streets to welcome boxing great

By
KELLY FINCHAM,
IrishCentral.Com Editor

Published Monday, August 10, 2009, 11:08 AM
Updated Monday, August 10, 2009, 11:36 AM

 

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Favorite son: Ali returns to ancestral home
Favorite son: Ali returns to ancestral home

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is on his way to Ireland just days after bringing Yankee Stadium to a standstill.

About 50,000 Red Sox and Yankees fans gave Ali a rousing standing ovation when he made a guest appearance at the new stadium on Thursday night.

Now, the former heavyweight champion has lined up a confirmed visit to his ancestral Irish home.

Ali will visit Ennis, the home of his great-grandfather on Tuesday September 1.

Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets of the quiet Clare town to pay tribute to one of Ireland's favorite sons.

Ali's great grandfather Abe Grady emigrated from his home on the Turnpike Road in Ennis to the United States in the 1860s.

Grady sailed from Cappa Harbour in Kilrush, County Clare, eventually settling in Kentucky, where he married an African-American woman.

Their son also married an African-American and one of their daughters would be Ali's mother, named Odessa Lee Grady.

She married Cassius Clay, senior, and they settled in Louisville, where their son was initially given his father's name on his birth in 1942.

He later changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to the Nation of Islam after winning the world title in 1964.

Speaking in Ireland today, Ennis Mayor Frankie Neylon said the town was thrilled to finally have Ali confirm.

"I have no doubt that the people of Clare will turn out in huge numbers to welcome Muhammad Ali and that the boxer himself will thoroughly enjoy his visit to the Ireland’s Banner County,” he said.

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