LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Muhammad Ali’s Kentucky hometown will honor the late boxer by renaming its airport for him. The Louisville Regional Airport Authority’s board voted Wednesday to change the name to Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Ali would have turned 77 Thursday. He died in 2016. Ali’s widow, Lonnie Ali, said in a news release from the board that she is proud of the name change. She said although Ali was a “global citizen,” he never forgot his hometown. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer cited research showing that Ali’s name recognition is greater than Louisville’s and said he’s organizing a group to work toward celebrating Ali’s Louisville ties more broadly. The airport board said the decision came after a working group studied renaming the airport for more than a year.<doc-sep>(CNN) — Louisville visitors will fly "like a butterfly" after the city renames its airport after hometown great Muhammad Ali. After Wednesday's vote on a recommendation by a working group that studied renaming for more than a year, the city announced the airport will become the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, instead of Louisville International Airport. Heavyweight champion boxer Ali labeled himself "The Greatest of All Time," and was among the most famous and beloved athletes on the planet. Ali was known not only for his athletic prowess but also for his social activism. He died in 2016 after decades with Parkinson's disease. "This tells the world how proud we are to associate 'The Greatest' with not only our great city, but our great airport," Jim Welch, chairman of the Airport Authority Board, said in a statement Ali's widow, Lonnie Ali, expressed her support for the name change: "I am happy that visitors from far and wide who travel to Louisville will have another touch-point to Muhammad and be reminded of his open and inclusive nature, which is reflective of our city." Though the airport's name will change, the airport's three-letter International Air Transport Association Location Identifier, SDF, will not. Louisville Tourism says the city stands to reap economic benefits by boosting Ali-related tourism, much as the city has done in establishing Bourbonism as a global tourist experience.<doc-sep>Louisville’s airport is finally going to be named after Muhammad Ali. How cool is this? Goodbye mundane (Insert city name here) International Airport. Hello hippest airport name on the planet. The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. OK. So it’s a little clunky having Louisville on the front of it. And yeah, it’s really not an international airport unless you’re a box of frozen smoked mutton being shipped to an expatriate living in Berlin, but whatever. The Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. Has a nice ring to it. Oh snow! :Driver who rammed into giant Kentucky snowman suffered 'instant karma' Did I say it was the coolest, hippest airport name anywhere? Our neighbors to the north have the Indianapolis International Airport. Ho-hum. But give them a break. Their most famous son is bank robber John Dillinger. To the south, it’s the — wait for it —– Nashville International Airport. Snooze. You’re getting the picture. Cincinnati’s is even worse. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Boring, and geographically challenged. FIGURE OUT WHERE YOU ARE FOR GOODNESS' SAKE. (You’re in Kentucky.) That said, if Cincinnati named its airport after its most famous native, people would be flipping over their meal trays and throwing their complimentary peanuts at each other on flights to and from the Jerry Springer International Airport. So you might want to leave it like it is. From Gerth:McConnell doesn't have the guts to stand up to Trump and end shutdown The vast majority of larger airports have adopted the same, dull naming convention. (Insert city name here) International Airport. Over and Over and Over. Gag. And then there’s the places that have named their airports after people, and they really don’t have a puncher’s chance of beating Louisville. Take for instance, the Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. Pro tip to the Sooner State: Don’t name your airport after someone who DIED IN A PLANE CRASH. (Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, you should pay attention here, too.) Then, all you cities that named airports after politicians? No. Especially the ones who named their airports after living politicians. (Little Rock, I’m looking at you.) No, no, no, no, no. OK, props to New Orleans, with the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. It’s even clunkier than Lousville’s, but Satchmo was a badass. And he had chops. California has the Bob Hope Airport and the John Wayne Airport. One named after a comedian who ceased being funny during the Eisenhower administration and the other for an actor who played the same character in every movie he starred in. (Except for "The Quiet Man" — he played a different character and was quite good.) Some places have named their airports after otherwise long-forgotten airport managers and chamber of commerce types. Hey Omaha! Yeah you. Nobody knows who Eugene Eppley is. Related:Why can't Louisville airport change its airline code from SDF to ALI? See also:5 things to know about Louisville's new airport name: Muhammad Ali Birmingham, Alabama, and Jackson, Mississippi, have both named their airports after civil rights leaders — Fred Shuttlesworth in Birmingham and Medgar Evers in Jackson. That’s respectable. A few are named after war heroes. Some named after pilots and astronauts are cool: John Glenn, Rick Husband and Chuck Yeager all have airports that carry their names. Latrobe, Pennsylvania, has the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport. He was known for playing golf and drinking a terrible mixture of iced tea and lemonade. Not cool. Does anyone know why Memphis just has standard (insert city name here) International Airport when they could name it the Memphis Elvis Presley International Airport? Heck, they could give priority seating to people wearing jumpsuits. McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas is named after a dead U.S. senator who was a racist, anti-Semite and xenophobe. What better way to welcome people to your city. Sheesh. An airport in Saginaw, Michigan, is simply called MBS International Airport. It’s named after the three-letter airport code that goes on your luggage when you’re flying into Saginaw. Got to be the dumbest airport name in the world. But that’s OK, I guess. Not every city’s airport name can be The Greatest. More headlines:Where's Mitch? McConnell keeping his head down during historic shutdown Joseph Gerth's opinion column runs on most Sundays and at various times throughout the week. He can be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email at jgerth@courierjournal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/josephg.<doc-sep>
Louisville's airport is now the greatest of all-time -- well, according to its namesake. The Louisville International Airport, one of the busiest in the country for cargo transport, is now the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. The airport announced the change Wednesday afternoon, saying, "On Wednesday, January 16 2019, the Board of the Louisville Regional Airport Authority voted to meaningfully recognize the legacy of the humanitarian, boxing legend and Louisville native, Muhammad Ali by renaming the airport in his honor." Ali, the former heavyweight boxing champion and a civil rights icon, was granted the honor one day before his birthday. He was born in Louisville on Jan. 17, 1942 and died in June 2016. Born Cassius Clay, he changed his name in 1964, the same year he won the heavyweight championship for the first time by defeating Sonny Liston. It was just two years later, though, that he refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam, was sentenced to five years in prison and was stripped of the title. Though he appealed the criminal case, he was denied a boxing license nationwide and did not fight for 3 1/2 years in the prime of his career. After the conviction was overturned on appeal, he returned to the ring against Joe Frazier in 1971 in a fight dubbed "The Fight of the Century." Ali lost for the first time in his pro career. He won the title for the second time in 1974 when he defeated George Foreman at the "Rumble in the Jungle." Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer tweeted, "Muhammad Ali belonged to the world, but he only had one hometown." Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., called the decision "only fitting because he seemed to fly when he was in the ring." "For millions of people around the globe, our airport is their first impression of Louisville, and I can think of no better way to introduce travelers to our community than Muhammad Ali and the values he embodied and fought for his entire life," Yarmuth said. The airport will retain its location identifier initials of SDF.