Abdul-Jabbar, Brown, Russell To Receive SI's Ali Legacy Award For Lifelong Activism

SI has named KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, JIM BROWN and BILL RUSSELL as this year’s recipients of its Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, recognizing each for their athletic achievements and long records as social activists. The trio will be honored on Dec. 12 during SI’s Sportsman of the Year ceremony at Barclays Center. “In 2016 we learned that the consequences of speaking out on hard issues were often painful ones, but also how deeply athletes can impact and advance the conversation on those same hard issues,” said SI Group Editorial Dir CHRIS STONE. "Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar all recognized, and acted on this in a far harder time in America.” SI’s Legacy Award was created in ’08 and then renamed last year in honor of MUHAMMAD ALI, with JACK NICKLAUS being the first recipient of the rededicated award. For Abdul-Jabbar, the SI recognition also follows his recent awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom by PRESIDENT OBAMA.