Muhammad Ali: A Champion of Compassion

Despite a growing global presence and the need to travel for fights, Muhammad Ali always found his way back to his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, to visit friends and family. In summer 1963, Ali returned home from London, England, after defeating British heavyweight Henry Cooper, and was met with some unfortunate news about a former Central High School basketball star, Robert Carpenter. 

According to his neighbor, Robert Carpenter was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as a sophomore at the University of Iowa. As the effects of the disease worsened, he had to move back in with his mother and was confined to a bed. This saddened Ali as he remembered the admiration he felt when he heard of Carpenter’s athletic accomplishments and saw his photographs in the hallways of Central High. He felt he had to do something. 

Shortly after learning of Carpenter’s condition, Ali was soon at the basketball player’s home seeing to the delivery of a new hospital bed that could move up and down, a new phonograph record player with dozens of records, and a check for $125. A week after Ali’s visit, Carpenter recounted it to the Courier-Journal newspaper:

“Cassius looked at my trophies,” Carpenter said, “and he said, ‘You must have been good.’ I said, Oh, I guess I was pretty good.’ Then Cassius said, ‘Don’t you ever say that. Tell them you are the greatest.’”

 Robert Carpenter passed away only a month later on August 12, 1963.

Stricken Basketball Star Gets a Glow From Cassius - The Courier-Journal, July 17, 1963