Muhammad Ali, Boxing's most celebrated athlete, heavyweight champion, philanthropist and social activist was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. Growing up in the segregated South, he experienced racial prejudice and discrimination firsthand. At the age of 12, Ali discovered his talent for boxing through an odd twist of fate after his bike was stolen.

Although he passed away on the evening of June 3, 2016, at a Phoenix, Arizona facility, he continues to be celebrated for his remarkable athletic skills, his willingness to speak his mind and his courage to challenge the status quo.

He is a demonstration that that it is not where one is that matters but what one is doing where he is. With proactivity, one can tranform dark ghettos of despair into communities of light and life. The challenges one goes through ought to be raw materials from which creative solutions can be forged.