This article is from page 86 of the 2009-09-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
MICHAEL Corley took his seat in Waterpark House and waited. He’d waited for seven years and so 30 or sO minutes more didn’t matter. Muhammad Ali was in one of the anterooms of the Ennis Town Coun- cil headquarters — he would be out in his own good time, meantime Michael Corley could reflect on the
significance of this Civic Reception for Ennis Town Council and greater J Spay AbESe
“It means the realisation of a dream that we had back in 2002,” he says. ‘To me and to nearly everyone, Ali was an icon. I grew up with him and to have him now in Ennis is really incredible.
“Back seven years ago when I put a motion to the council calling for
him to be made a Freeman of Ennis, I thought that Ali would come — the enthusiasm that was there with the initial proposal, made me believe it would happen, but as the time passed I realised the difficulty of organising SUONE- Hace le
“It did take the Alltech Group to bring him and I’m delighted that the council did the next thing and reached out and honoured him in this
way. The significance of Ali getting this award is huge — it’s great to think that there are genes in Ali that origi- nated in Ennis 150 years ago. It is indeed a welcome home for Muham- mad Ali and I would hope that Ali looks on it like that, because part of him originated in Ennis.
“Ennis people are fantastic for meeting an occasion — whether it’s the great occasions of the hurling
teams in the ‘90s or whether it’s St Patrick’s Day parades organised by the council, people are great to come out. They’ve come out today.”
The day was only beginning and Michael Corley was soon on his feet as Muhammad Ali finally came into view, Stood motionless for a few sec- onds, sat down and took the applause. It was sustained.
The Greatest had landed.