Colin Kaepernick receives Muhammad Ali Legacy Award from Sports Illustrated

For risking a lucrative athletic career in his prime by staging protests against injustice, Colin Kaepernick has often been compared to Muhammad Ali. Thus, in giving the former 49ers quarterback an annual award named in honor of the boxing icon, Sports Illustrated declared that “no winner has been more fitting than Kaepernick.”

In an essay, Sports Illustrated’s Michael Rosenberg wrote, “In the last 16 months, Kaepernick’s truth has been twisted, distorted and used for political gain. It has cost him at least a year of his NFL career and the income that should have come with it. But still, it is his truth. He has not wavered from it. He does not regret speaking it. He has caused millions of people to examine it. And, quietly, he has donated nearly a million dollars to support it.”

Previous recipients of the award, which is given in association with the Ali family and which SI said honors “a figure who embodies the ideals of sportsmanship, leadership and philanthropy and has used sports as a platform for changing the world,” include Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown, Jack Nicklaus and Magic Johnson. In typical fashion, Kaepernick, who rarely speaks to the media, issued no public comment on the award but, also in typical fashion, he used social media to indicate he was pleased with the honor.

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/11/30/colin-kaepernick-receives-muhammad-ali-legacy-award-from-sports-illustrated/?utm_term=.2c6e53943bd9