The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page K2

PAGE2 COURIER-JOURNAL A SPECIAL SECTION 1942 Odessa Clay gives birth to her first child Jan.17 in Louisville. She and her husband, asign painter and church muralist, name the boy Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. 1944 Odessa gives birth to only sibling, Rudy. 1954 Twelve-year-old Cassius rides his new bike to the Louisville Service convention, where children can get free ice cream and balloons. There, the bike is stolen.

He vows to whip the thief if he finds him. He does find a policeman, Joe Martin, who teaches boxing in the Columbia Gym, in the Service Club basement. Martin says Cassius should learn to fight before he does any whipping. Six weeks later, the 89-pound youngster wins his first fight, over Ronnie 1959 Clay becomes the first Louisvillian to win a title in the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Chicago. He also wins the national Amateur Athletic Union light-heavyweight title a feat he will repeat the following year.

1960 Clay graduates from Louisville Central High School. Clay defeats Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland on Sept.5 to win the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Olympics in Rome. Clay signs a professional contract with 11Louisville businessmen led by distillery executive William Faversham. The Louisville Sponsoring Group pays him a $10,000 signing bonus. He buys a pink Cadillac for his parents.

Cassius Clay had one sibling, his brother, Rudy. Joe Martin, a Louisville police officer, introduced a young Cassius Clay to boxing. TIMELINE TO GREATNESS Clay beat Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland for the Olympic gold medal. call the Muhammad Ali Center a boxing museum. Yes, the six-story center will have memorabilia from most famous pugilist, including his gloves, trunks and robe and the torch he used to light the Olympic flame at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

But the mission goes far beyond boxing gloves and fight footage, its directors say. typically revolve around center President Michael Fox said. center will revolve around Those ideas are reflected in abroad range of educational exhibits and programming designed to reflect principles building self-esteem, spreading tolerance and brokering peace through negotiation. Ali said in a statement that he wants the center to reflect his beliefs a way that helps people of all ages and backgrounds better understand each other, without being preachy a worthwhile outing for the whole His wife, Lonnie, said the dream has been to build world-class center in our adding that they hope the center can capture magic inside each of and pass it on to future generations. Center officials anticipate the building will become a seat for international communications.

And they even hold out hope that Ali, a United Nations of since 1998, could periodically convene a meeting of foreign diplomats to discuss their differences. To achieve that, counting on the lasting appeal of a man, who, though slowed by still has amazing power to bring people said Yvonne Acosta, coordinator of the U.N. Messengers for Peace program. Muhammad is absolutely incapacitated, the most important thing to this man is to welcome, embrace and encourage people to use the Fox said. Slow in coming But the opening comes later than many expected.

Plans have percolated for years for a center honoring the three-time heavyweight champion whose fame as a humanitarian has spread since he quit the ring nearly a quarter-century ago. knew it would be hard. But this hard? This long? Probably Ali Center board chairwoman Ina Brown Bond said of getting the center open. Board member and Louisville businessman Larry Townsend said that when he agreed to serve as the first board chairman in 1997, he hoped the center would be open by 2003. The public areas are ready to open, but most of the rest of the building, including the office space, be finished until the spring.

also when a surrounding plaza, with a sculptural glass fountain, a reflective pool and amphitheater seating, as well as a pedway across Sixth Street to Riverfront Plaza will be completed, Fox said. Attendance Exactly how many people will be drawn to the Ali Center remains to be seen. Aconsultant, Arts Marketing estimated in a 2001 study that more than 400,000 people would visit the first year. Fox called that projection realistic but I think we will have our work cut out to reach those Ed Able, president of the American Association of Museums, said name absolutely bring people in. It will be a center focused on a highly acclaimed individual with enormous respect and admiration worldwide.

That can be enormously as a draw. But Able cautioned that attendance is hard to predict and that attendance predictions not to be as accurate as they might be. Most of them are The center has been doing promotional work for months, targeting travel and tour agencies nationwide, especially those that cater to African- American, senior, school and sports groups, said Daniel Kalef, the vice president of marketing. Charles Beckwith, owner of Turner Coaches in Terre Haute, said his company plans each year to bring three of four school groups, around 600 mostly middle-schoolers, to see the Ali Center. will have a lot of hands- on Beckwith said.

like things like Jefferson County Public Schools spokeswoman Lauren Roberts predicted that the Ali Center would be strong draw for field for local schools. Center programs Attendance will depend in large part on center officials successfully educating the public on what the center is all about. If people come simply to stuff, they will be Fox said. Instead, educational programming will be the heart and soul, he and other officials say. The staff has developed a curriculum for primarily mid- dle-schoolers on conflict management, in cooperation with the United Children in Armed Conflict program.

Several hundred schools nationwide are using it, with a goal of 10,000 schools within several years, Fox said. The center also plans to hold workshops, seminars and forums in cooperation with agencies such as the United Nations that would be aired worldwide by satellite radio or television, or over the Internet. Programs aimed at self-improvement also will be offered through the Web site. One would allow people to fill out a questionnaire that gauges their strengths and weaknesses and then connects them with an online counselor, Fox said. The center also will work with the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peaceand Justice, the 4-year-old agency at the University of Louisville.

Director Alvin Herring said the institute will keep its four- person staff and offices at the Belknap Campus but will continue to develop programs with the Ali Center. The institute recently started the Ali Scholars, a scholarship program for up to 10 UofL students being trained in conflict resolution and in working for social justice, Herring said. The Ali Center officials predict that the center can play a global role in promoting peace. Fox said that maybe several times a year foreign interests, perhaps diplomats or even heads of state, might come to discuss differences. That might rely on prestige as an international figure.

Former Gov. John Y. Brown an Ali Center board member and key fund-raiser, said Ali has easy access to many important people, adding that better to serve as a moderator of an international dispute. is a reverence and awe for Bond said. center will be seen as a neutral Officials say the mission may be most comparable to the U.S.

Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and the Carter Center in Atlanta institutions the Ali Center staff members have visited and to Graceland in Memphis as a place dedicated to one individual. Center officials see as a precedent that foreign emissaries from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and numerous other nations have come to the Carter Center. During some years the center has as many as three major mediations to if they can find some middle on spokeswoman Deanna Congileo. Sometimes former President Jimmy Carter sits in on the talks. Likewise, Ali open a lot of as a mediator, Congileo said.

ahead Ali Center officials hope its legacy will be long-lasting, both internationally and locally. Fox said the Alis, who live in Michigan, recently bought a mobile home so they can spend time at the center and have some residence here at some Eventually, officials say, the center will be able to build on its own accomplishments, in addition to its rich association with its worldwide appeal. one outside of Elvis has acomparable Townsend said. Memorabilia just part of mission By Sheldon S. Shafer The Courier-Journal By Sam Upshaw The Courier-Journal Muhammad Ali looked at the model of the Ali Center as it was unveiled in June 2003 along with Restaurant Group Chief Executive Officer Allen J.

Bernstein, left; Louisville Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson; and Ina Brown Bond, chairwoman of the Ali Center board. BEYOND THE MUSEUM will revolve around By Sam Upshaw The Courier-Journal Work continued in mid-November on the Ali Center in downtown Louisville. The public areas are ready to open, but most of the rest of the building, including the office space, be finished until the spring. A consultant, Arts Marketing estimated in a 2001study that more than 400,000 people would visit the center in its first year..