Akron’s “Chosen One” is part of a project to celebrate the life of “The Greatest” boxer to ever live.
LeBron James’ SpringHill Entertainment, which he runs with fellow St. Vincent-St. Mary alum Maverick Carter, and Antoine Fuqua’s Fuqua Films have partnered with HBO to create a multi-part documentary about the life and times of Muhammad Ali.
“It’s tough to put into words how much it means to me to be a part of this project honoring the legacy and telling the extremely important story of the great Muhammad Ali,” said James, who received the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Monday night at an event that also honored Ali’s legacy. “He transcended sports and used his platform to empower people, which paved the way for all athletes and people of every race and gender that came after him, myself included. It’s important that his story continues for generations to come.”
The announcement of the documentary series follows James’ donation last month of $2.5 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture for a special exhibit featuring the boxer.
The Muhammad Ali: A Force for Change exhibit opened in September and tells the story of how Ali’s contributions transcended the world of sports. He died in June at age 74.
The documentary marks HBO’s first partnership with James’ SpringHill Entertainment. The show will feature never-before-seen photos and footage from private collections of the Ali family and recreate some of the pivotal moments in the boxer’s life.
SpringHill has had a busy fall with other deals inked with NBC to produce a sitcom dubbed There Goes the Neighborhood that will be set in Cleveland, a drama series following a sports medicine doctor who specializes in treating big-time sports athletes while confronting his own personal medical crisis, and a game show.
NBC and James’ The Wall, hosted by Chris Hardwick, is a game show that will feature “everyday people and families competing for life-altering amounts of money in a thrilling game of knowledge, camaraderie and a little luck.”
The game show premieres at 10 p.m. Dec. 19.
Craig Webb can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com and 330-996-3547.