When Billy Graham Met Muhammad Ali
Following the death of cultural icon Muhammad Ali, Franklin Graham is sharing his personal memories of the boxing champion who visited his father, evangelist Billy Graham, at the family's home in North Carolina.
"The world has lost a champion. Muhammad Ali was considered by many as the greatest boxer of all time. His career began during a difficult period in our country with the racial tensions of the 1960s and the Vietnam War.
His outspoken positions caused him to be both loved and hated by some," Graham wrote in a Facebook post about Ali, who died on June 3 at age 74, following a bout of respiratory illness, connected to complications with Parkinson's disease, which he battled for decades.
"I had the privilege of meeting him on several occasions, and he visited at my parents' home in Montreat, North Carolina. Muhammad Ali's father brought him to visit my father Billy Graham because he was concerned over Ali's faith in Islam and was afraid that his son had been led astray," Franklin Graham revealed.
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He added: "They had a great visit, and my father had prayer with him. They met together again several years ago in Louisville, Kentucky, when my father was there to preach. My prayers are with his family as they mourn this loss."
