LeBron donates $2.5M to Ali exhibit at national African American museum
When he took the stage to open the 2016 ESPY Awards alongside friends Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade by calling on his fellow athletes to stand up for racial justice and stem the tide of gun violence, LeBron James invoked the name of one of his late heroes.
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“It’s time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, ‘What are we doing to create change?’” James said. “It’s not about being a role model. It’s not about our responsibility to the tradition of activism. I know tonight we honor Muhammad Ali — the G.O.A.T. — but to do his legacy any justice, let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence. And, most importantly, go back to our communities, invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better.”
On top of his considerable philanthropic work off the court, James is now using his resources to honor the legendary boxer and iconic figure, who died in June at age 74, in another way. The Cleveland Cavaliers superstar told Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY Sports that he’s joining with his charitable foundation and his longtime friend and business partner, Maverick Carter, to donate a total of $2.5 million to the recently opened National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., to go toward an exhibit entitled “Muhammad Ali: A Force for Change.”
From Zillgitt:
“Muhammad Ali is such a cornerstone of me as an athlete because of what he represented not only in the ring as a champion but more outside the ring — what he stood for, what he spoke for, his demeanor,” James told USA TODAY Sports in an exclusive interview about the exhibit.
“I think of him every day. Without his passion and goals and morals, I don’t know if I’d be sitting here today talking to you about it.”
Ali’s death fell between the first two games of the 2016 NBA Finals between James’ Cavs and the Golden State Warriors. Players, coaches and league officials all shared their reverent remembrances of how Ali — one of the greatest boxers of all time, and one of the most singular, irrepressible and inspirational figures in all of sporting culture — impacted their lives and developments, through both his peerless work in the ring and his willingness to speak out on the social issues that mattered to him, including his famed conscientious objection to the Vietnam war, which cost him his world heavyweight championship and nearly his freedom.
Due to his status as one of the most famous and newsworthy athletes in the world — as well as his demonstrated commitment to weighing in on political social issues like the killings of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, the racism of former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, the scourge of gun violence — James drew the most attention when asked to speak about what Ali meant to him. From Chris Mannix of The Vertical:
“What he stood for, I mean, it’s a guy who basically had to give up a belt and [relinquish] everything that he had done because of what he believed in,” James said of Ali. “It’s a guy who stood up for so many different things throughout the times where it was so difficult for African-Americans to even walk in the streets.
“For an athlete like myself today, without Muhammad Ali, I wouldn’t be sitting up here talking in front of you guys. I wouldn’t be able to walk in restaurants. I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere where blacks weren’t allowed back in those days [if it weren’t for] guys like Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Lew Alcindor, Jackie Robinson, and the list goes on and on.” […]
“I would never compare myself to Muhammad Ali because I never had to go through what those guys had to go through back in those times,” James said. “But in my own daily struggles, as I continue to say, growing up in the inner city, being a statistic that was supposed to go the other way and I’m able to sit up here today and knowing that I was a guy who beat the odds, it’s just you never take for granted the path and the guys who just every single day just struggled in their individual lives and everything they had to go through on a daily basis for us, for a guy like myself.
“Yes, I’ve had some adverse moments in my life and, yes, I’ve had to deal with a lot of things as a professional, and I’ve spoken up on a lot of issues that other athletes may not speak upon, but I feel it’s my duty to carry on the legacy of the guys who did it before me.”
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James’ donation — which joins Michael Jordan’s $5 million gift and the $1 million given by Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie prior to the opening of the museum as significant contributions from NBA royalty — will contribute to an exhibit that “focuses on Ali’s boxing accomplishments and social activism, including politics, religion, civil resistance and community work,” according to Zillgitt, helping carry on Ali’s legacy in a way resonated with the late champion’s widow.
“I am overwhelmed by the incredible generosity LeBron James has shown,” Lonnie Ali said, according to Tom Withers of The Associated Press. “This exhibit will enable children visiting the Smithsonian to learn more about Muhammad’s work outside of the ring, particularly his humanitarian work and stance on social justice for all people […] I know that if Muhammad was alive today he would be honored.”
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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