Holy Crap, Muhammad Ali Is Irish?

And yet he accomplished so much with his life. Amazing.

Muhammad Ali paid a visit to the hometown of his Irish ancestors Tuesday.

Tens of thousands are awaiting the three-time world heavyweight champion’s arrival Tuesday in the western Irish town of Ennis, the home of Ali’s great-grandfather Abe Grady. Fans have adorned shops and streets with posters of Ali and red, white and blue USA bunting.

Am I the only one who wasn’t aware of the fact that Ali had some Irish in him? You think you know everything about a person that you have never met nor have done any research about and then they drop a bomb on you like this. Crazy.

Grady settled in the United States in the 1860s and married a freed African-American slave. One of their grandchildren, Odessa Lee Grady Clay, was Ali’s mother.

Amazing. I guess you do learn something new every day. For instance, I just found out that Ali is suffering from some rare and relatively unknown disease called Parkinson’s, which causes him to be so shaky all the time. And here I thought it was because he drank way too much coffee and was a chronic alcoholic. Interesting.

Boxing legend Ali traces roots to Irish town [The Seattle Times/AP]