LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Muhammad Ali Center celebrated Ali's 80th birthday on MLK Day. 

What You Need To Know

  • Muhammad Ali's 80th birthday is celebrated on Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year

  • The Muhammad Ali Center's Ali exhibits were free to the public on Ali's birthday

  • The Ali Center hosted free screenings of Dr. Kings' 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech

  • Point 4 goes here

Monday Jan. 17 would have been Muhammad Ali's 80th birthday. It was also Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville honored both on Monday and its exhibits were free to the public.

High school sophomore D'Amari Hood traveled with more than 40 others from Muncie, Indiana to visit the Ali Museum.

“It’s a cool experience that helps you learn more about him," Hood told Spectrum News 1. Hood is a student at Delta High School in Muncie but he's also a member of the Muncie Youth Empowerment Program (MYEP). 

MYEP is made up entirely of high school students from the Muncie area.

“What this program is all about is to empower youth to do more than just sports so we implement financial illiteracy, trade skills, bringing them to different things like this also to different colleges that they may not know," Tamica Crumes explains.

Crumes is not only a group leader of MYEP, she's also a member of her local NAACP chapter and during the day works for the Indiana Department of Childhood Services. This was also Crumes first time visiting the Ali Center and museum.

"You are so surprised by everything he did for our communities, for different countries, how much he loved and stood for so many different things I had no idea about. So it was really good to see we're lacking in knowledge about Muhammad Ali ... so it was wonderful to know about the different aspects about him."

Hood said he learned a lot about the Champ.

“One thing I learned today how he got his championship belt taken when he went to jail for not going to fight in the war and then he came back and he won it back. He could fight through anything," Hood added.

So when you're looking for a role model who was multifaceted and had an impact that transcended sports, no one was greater than Ali. Of course when talking about impact, it makes perfect sense that Ali's 80th birthday would fall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“One thing that stands out to me is that anything is possible from the legacy of both candidates from Muhammad Ali to Martin Luther King, what a great impact they had on our youth and our adults as well. So for us to bring out youth here during this time, it’s just monumental to all of us, really.”

In addition to making their exhibits free to the public on his birthday the Ali Center also screened Dr. King's 1963 "I Have a Dream," speech every hour in the museum auditorium.