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Greg: The inspiration was Muhammad's actual journey that he took from very meager beginnings to become the heavyweight champion of the world and then his effort to take that success and translate it into impacting young people and adults around the world. The center was built out of his conviction to become a world change agent leader and we created a facility that articulates his vision and focus on world affairs such as peace, which he felt was important, conflict resolution - because he fought in countries with a lot of conflict and he wanted to be a force behind this. Even tho boxing considered a violent sport, he wanted to bring people together to face these issues and the Center built on those convictions It's also built on the individual journey, greatness, that one can be as great as he or she aspires - so it's not only the community but also the individual and what they aspire to be and if you could imagine his life as a poor kid from Louisville, Kentucky who became a world champion at such a young age and made such a difference in our society - he faced segregation and he felt it was important to send a message to the individual as well as to the world community.

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Greg: Muhammad and Lonnie are both actively involved on the board but also in all the programming and visit frequently, doing the tours to ensure the Center maintains his vision and they greet visitors - some are planned but many are spontaneous - a man from Ireland, 22, who had a tattoo of Muhammad on his arm, remembered Muhammad from videos -- he visited the Center and it just happened that Muhammad was there and they met and the young man cried because he couldn't believe it was happening.

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Greg: In our present day with all the conflict around the world, many scared about the direction of the world, including the environment and civil conflict, Muhammad touches all ages, all ethnicities, races -- he has traveled the world to bring a singular message as a boxer and as a world figure to work together as a community and if you ever see him with children, it's a whole different experience, he reminds us that we're one society and connected. He took his experience and turned it into something very positive. A great lesson to look at his life and what he was able to do with his life. He loves everyone.

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Greg: Ali made a conscious decision based on his religious conviction -- what we have here in the United States is a freedom to practice our religion, something not available around the world -- he stood by his belief and suffered from that financially -- but he also used that time to speak at colleges about the war and his specific concerns -- it's great we're from a country where we can be patriotic but we also can disagree with certain decisions. Muhammad is tremendously patriotic and loves his country but his decision on Vietnam was one many made -- we all want peace but how to we attain it? Not just world peace but peace within communities.

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Greg: For young people we have a curriculum that looks at confidence, conviction, dedication, respect, giving and spirituality. This engages young people around these core principles. We have a journey throughout the Center that points out those values -- not every person can visit the Center, so we take those core values and use them in different settings -- for example, the Center and the Ali Institute at University of Louisville is creating a leadership initiative where we take non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world with non-profit groups in the United States to come together to develop strategies to deal with conflict -- young people in conflict around the world are disenfranchised and they are also disenfranchised here -- so we bring leaders together to work with those young people and build programs in these organizations to go out and teach. We need to prepare the next generation that will lead us. So we take those six core principles to focus on those particular issues so if you can't visit the Center, you can still be touched by the Center's teachings. We're engaging the U.N. and others to work with us. Using the Ali presence and the visibility of his work, will be a good foundation to get the message out through these six core principles. We also are preparing a traveling exhibit to bring this to the public.

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Greg: He understands his place in our history. He was born and raised in a turbulent time in the U.S. regarding race relations and war, and equity in terms of poor not having as many rights as others and he was a civil rights icon -- he engaged everyone from Malcom X to Martin Luther King, Jr. he called both of them friends he belonged to the Nation of Islam but =he was able to stay by his conviction -- he met with pres kings and world leaders -- only someone like him could demand those types of audiences so he transcended issues and conflict in order to engage leaders in those conversations and he's doing that today, engaging world leaders in talk about issues important to everyone. That is his presence in the world and he wants his Center and other human efforts to do more work on hunger and food security, as well as peace -- in his third phase, working on things where he thinks he can make a difference. The Center has documentation that truly shows who Muhammad Ali is in the world.

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