Ali's Irish roots revealed
Muhammad Ali is Irish, according to new genealogical evidence.
Researchers at the Co Clare Heritage Centre 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 Co 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."
