Former President Bill Clinton will deliver a eulogy at the memorial service for legendary heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, who died at age 74 on Friday evening after a decades-long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
“We haven’t confirmed all eulogists at this time, but eulogies will be led by President Bill Clinton, Bryant Gumbel and Billy Crystal,” a spokesman for Ali’s family said during a press conference Saturday afternoon.
A funeral service and procession will take place next Thursday in Louisville, Ky., the birthplace and hometown of Ali, and include an interfaith service for friends and family.
Clinton awarded the three-time world heavyweight champion the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House in 2001. His leading role at the funeral is sure to provide some handy public relations for his wife Hillary’s presidential campaign.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a former Mormon bishop, will also attend the ceremony as a representative of the Mormon faith.
“I was honored to award him the Presidential Citizens Medal at the White House, to watch him light the Olympic flame, and to forge a friendship with a man who, through triumph and trials, became even greater than his legend,” Clinton said in a statement about Ali’s death.
