Orrin Hatch: “I am delighted that my dear friend Muhammad Ali has been named by Gentlemen's Quarterly as Athlete of the Century. We…”

“I am delighted that my dear friend Muhammad Ali has been named by Gentlemen's Quarterly as Athlete of the Century. We have had many noteworthy athletes in this century--the century that has brought us modern sport. Excellence has been personified by such sports heroes as Lou Gehrig, Babe Didrickson Zaharias, Bobby Orr, Walter Payton, and Michael Jordan. But, to my mind, though this company is clearly outstanding, GQ made the obvious choice. Muhammad Ali's road to sports immortality began on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. Introduced to boxing at the age of 12, Ali won National AAU and Golden Gloves titles. He brought home the Olympic gold medal from Rome in 1960. After turning professional, he stunned the sports world by defeating the also great boxer Sonny Liston in 1964. His victories over such accomplished opponents as Liston, Floyd Patterson, Ernie Terrell, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, and Ken Norton make him, in my mind, the greatest boxer of all time. But Ali's greatness goes beyond his physical strength and athleticism, In 1964, he converted to the religion of Islam, adopting a set of beliefs for which he would sacrifice a great deal. In 1967, at the height of his career, he was convicted of draft evasion and stripped of his heavyweight title. For a period of three years, Ali was shunned by the boxing world and vilified by many who had previously hailed him.”