Muhammad Ali to visit town in September

MUHAMMAD ALI will be named the first Freeman of Ennis when he visits his ancestral home next month.
Ali will be conferred with the honour at a civic reception at the offices of Ennis Town Council on September 1, Mayor of Ennis, Frankie Neylon confirmed this Monday.
The 68-year-old American (pictured below) will become the first person to receive the honour.
A special meeting of Ennis Town Council is due to take place next Monday in order to formally establish the honour and the types of privileges, if any, attached to it.
“Well, he won’t have to pay for parking or water rates,” quipped Cllr Neylon.
As part of his visit to Ireland, Ali is due to arrive at Shannon Airport at 2pm on Tuesday, September 1. From there, he will proceed to Waterpark House, Ennis, before embarking on a swift tour, by car, of the town centre.
It is anticipated that the town centre will be closed to traffic in order to facilitate the large crowds expected to descend on Ennis for the visit of a man widely regarded as one of the greatest sportsmen of all time.
An oak tree will be planted in Ali’s honour at Turnpike Road near the home of a local family, research has indicated are distant relatives of the former world boxing champion.
According to research carried out by Clare Heritage Centre in 2002, Ali’s great grandfather Abe Grady emigrated from his home on the Turnpike Road in Ennis to the United States in the 1860s.
Speaking yesterday Edel O’Donovan, whose late mother Eileen, was the last known O’Grady to live in the Turnpike area, explained that the family were still waiting for confirmation of the link.
“You’d prefer to be absolutely sure about it. But obviously, it would be great to meet him even apart from all the family connections, it would be great to see him anyway”, she added.
Grady sailed from Cappa Harbour in Kilrush, eventually settling in Kentucky, where he 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 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.
Ali will conclude his visit to Ennis with an appearance at Dromoland Castle later that day. There has been unprecedented interest in Ali’s visit, according to Cllr Neylon.
“The visit will serve as a huge boost to the local economy including its bars and hotels, which have experienced a huge downturn in business over the last year” he said.