Muhammad Ali Is Irish
Researchers at the County Clare Heritage Centre
in the south west of Ireland have unearthed documentation
to show one of Ali's great grandfathers came from the county
town of Ennis.
It seems Abe Grady, born around 160 years
ago in County Clare, emigrated to the United States in the
1860s.
He settled in Kentucky and later married
an African-American woman.
Their son also married an African-American and one of the
daughters of that union was Ali's mother, named Odessa Lee
Grady. She married Cassius Clay, senior, and they settled in Louisville, where
their son, later to become known as the Louisville Lip,
was initially given his father's name on his birth in 1942.
He later changed his name to Muhammad
Ali when he converted to the Nation of Islam after winning
the world title in 1964.
Genealogist Antoinette O'Brien said: "Through
research being carried out for the Irish language TV station
TG4 on Ali, we established Ali's great-great grandfather,
John Grady, the father of Abe, rented a house and a small
garden in Ennis with a rateable value of fifteen shillings
(75p) in 1855.
"There is no doubt that Abe Grady was
Ali's great grandfather. I am not sure whether Ali knows
about this - we have not yet managed to contact him."
The development has delighted the small town
of Ennis. Local council chairman Michael Corley said: "We
would like to honour Ali as one of the heroes of the 20th
century and invite him here."
