Atlanta’s mayor, known by some for his pugilistic leadership style, is a big boxing fan and idolized Muhammad Ali for personal reasons.
His first name was influenced by the boxer, who died late Friday.
Mohammed Kasim Reed was born in June 1969. Reed’s dad, who also boxed, saw a principled man of strength in Ali, whose heavyweight championship had been stripped at the time because he refused to serve in the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.
“My father had seen Bobby Kennedy, President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated and so it was a time when he was very concerned about the direction of the country and so my name was influenced by that moment,” Reed said in a telephone interview Saturday.
“So when I would go to school as a boy, at Utoy Springs Elementary School … my name was acceptable because of Muhammad Ali. I can’t tell you what that meant.”
Reed, who later became known as Kasim, said he could not sleep upon learning of Ali’s death. The mayor admired many of the same qualities in Ali that impressed his dad, particularly Ali’s fearlessness.
“It’s a difficult time for me,” Reed said. “Outside of my household, Ali’s example had the greatest influence on my life.”
Reed’s City Hall office is adorned with books and photos of Ali. Reed overnight retweeted comments about Ali and some of his quotes. He ordered all flags on city buildings lowered to half-mast. The mayor said he plans to consult with Ali’s family about an appropriate tribute, possibly at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, located near Centennial Olympic Park.
The mayor spoke of how Ali’s life came “full circle” in Atlanta. It was here, in 1970, that Ali fought his first bout after being stripped of his heavyweight crown. In 1996, the world watched as Ali, fighting the effects of Parkinson’s disease, lit the cauldron to start the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
“Muhammad Ali used to say if you are the same person at age 50 that you were at age 20, then you wasted 30 years,” Reed said. “And so if you look at his life, his life had a full trajectory. He was an aggressive boxer who could be mean-spirited, who could be very hard on opponents become a world figure who focused on reconciliation who could light up the eyes of a child.”
Reed fondly remembered his only conversation with Ali, in 2010 at a charity event at the St. Regis Hotel in Buckhead, only a few months into his first term as mayor.
“He looked into my eyes and said, ‘You’re the mayor of Atlanta?,’ ” Reed recalled.
“Yes, sir,” the mayor replied.
“That’s good,” Ali replied, who shook Reed’s hand.
The mayor said he felt like a kid that night.
“I’ll remember that moment forever,” Reed said.
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