By Eiman Zuberi
You would never know Asaad Amin Ali '19 is Muhammad Ali’s youngest son. Ali says he had to work for anything he ever wanted because his parents made sure of it.
“At one point I wanted a job at the Muhammad Ali Center and my mom didn’t even help me get an interview,” he said, laughing.
Ali will officially become a part of the Louisville Alumni family on May 11 when he graduates with his bachelor’s degree from the College of Arts and Sciences. While his parents have helped him immensely, they also made sure he carved his own path in life.
“I don’t want to be treated differently than my peers. My parents have raised me to treat everyone the same. What came off that is me living a humble and normal life,” he said.
Adopted as a baby and raised in a small town in Michigan, Ali had a relatively quiet childhood. “We had a farm,” he remembers. “It was somewhere to get away from everything. It’s really small, no one is going to look for you there."
Years later, Ali remembers watching firsthand the impact his father had. “If I had known back then, the opportunity to be arrogant would have come up a lot more. I’m just glad it never got to be like that,” he said.
Ali has lived in multiple cities but now calls Louisville home, just like his father always did.
“He’d been around the world but you would always hear him talking about Louisville being the greatest. As much as he means to people in the city, the city meant everything to him, too. And that has sprung down to me. I love this city,” he said.
“This is his birth spot, this is where his mom and dad lived, this is where he grew up, it’s where he got his bike stolen, it’s where he started boxing,” Ali said, referring to the classic story of how his father got into the sport. “That’s why when he passed away, he was buried in Louisville. It was like he was going back home, to be with his family again.”
“Muhammad Ali was more than just my dad. He was a public figure and a lot of people related to him,” Ali said. “Keeping his legacy alive is not just about keeping him alive, it’s about keeping everything he stood for alive.”
As he walks across the stage at commencement, Ali will demonstrate a lesson his parents taught him: perseverance is the key to success.