Muhammad Ali was many things. As we wrote in our feature story, Greatest Showman of a Generation: in an era when social media wasn’t even contemplated, the Champ was as much of a ‘rock star’ as perhaps a handful of genuine rock stars were, during the roughly 10 years of his athletic prime, from his May 25, 1965 defeat of Sonny Liston to Ali-Frazier III on October 1, 1975.
Who were the biggest popular culture icons of that mid-’60s to mid-’70s era? Mick Jagger was one. Elton John another. Sinatra for sure. Paul Newman. In death, JFK. Dylan. Warhol. The Beatles. Mickey Mantle. John Wayne. Hendrix.
Ali was as big as any of them. He was movie star handsome. He was as eloquent as any actor and the camera loved him.
His many talents went far beyond the boxing ring. The poetry and wordplay that he used to promote his fights are considered a precursor to hip-hop. He released two spoken word albums, both of which received Grammy Award nominations. He was a best-selling author, appeared in several feature films—including 1977’s The Greatest in which he starred as himself, and was even in a Broadway musical, 1969’s short-lived Buck White.
But the skill for which he may be least known was his aptitude on the piano.
Watch a brief clip of him in London in 1966 playing briefly (followed by some training in the gym). “I believe I’ll stick to boxing. This is a little too hard… takes too long.”
“It’s called the boogie woogie. Have you heard of it? And it goes like this…” (The piano portion begins at the :38-second mark.)
The Champ was honored posthumously by the USPS on January 15, 2026, two days before his birthday—he was born on Jan. 17, 1942—in his hometown of Louisville, Ky. The occasion was the first-day-of-issue ceremony for a Muhammad Ali Forever Stamp, in celebration of his career as a “boxer, activist and humanitarian.”
The stamps, available here while supplies last, feature a black-and-white Associated Press photograph of Ali from 1974. His last name is written in large capital letters reminiscent of boxing posters promoting an upcoming bout. The Champ once joked that he should be on a postage stamp because, “That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”
When the Olympic Games were held in Atlanta, Ga., in 1996, Ali was the surprise choice to light the Olympic Flame. Longtime NBC Sports host Bob Costas noted, at the ceremony honoring the Ali Forever Stamp, that the Games’ producers were keeping it a secret. “We’re not going to tell you who the torchbearer is. We want your [on-air] reaction to be as spontaneous as the people in the stadium and the billions of people watching around the world. They rehearsed it one time… at an empty stadium at 3 o’clock in the morning so that the secret would never get out.
“And, so, when Janet Evans, the great Olympic swimmer climbed up those steps, and handed the torch to Muhammad, he literally stepped out of the shadows and into the greatest possible global spotlight. You hear a lot of things in stadiums. But something I never heard, before or since… audible gasps… until a realization set in that, yes, it was Muhammad Ali. And those gasps gave way to thunderous applause and cheering. The most entertaining and voluble of athlete reduced in his ability to communicate. The man who had once declared ‘I am the greatest,’ was so deeply human, so deeply compassionate… that he was willing to present himself so proudly and nobly to the world in that condition. Everyone understood that. He had become a symbol of goodwill and of peace, and compassion and humanity.”
Years after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s, Ali died at age 74 on June 3, 2016. Visit the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville.
Ali shirts, books and other items are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
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