Donald Trump has announced that Kobe Bryant, Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson will be immortalized with statues.
The president revealed that all three sporting icons will be featured in the National Garden of American Heroes alongside the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Aretha Franklin.
Late NBA star Bryant, boxing legend Ali and MLB pioneer Robinson will eventually be joined by golf superstar Tiger Woods, Trump said this week.
The president was speaking during a White House event to celebrate Black History Month.
‘It’s going to be unbelievable,’ Trump said. ‘We’ll honor hundreds of our greatest Americans to ever live – including countless black Americans.’
News of Bryant’s statue drew huge cheers in the room, while Trump reserved special praise for Robinson – ‘What a great athlete that was’ – and cracked a joke about Ali with Woods.
Donald Trump has announced that Jackie Robinson will be immortalized with a statue
Trump said that Muhammad Ali will also feature in the National Garden of American Heroes
Late NBA icon Kobe Bryant will also be honored alongside other heroes of sports and culture
The golf legend was present at the ceremony and Trump asked him: ‘What do you think?’ Woods responded: ‘Not bad’.
Late NBA star Bryant cemented himself as one of the greatest basketball players of all time before his tragic death in a helicopter crash five years ago. Last year, the Lakers unveiled a statue of Bryant and his late daughter Gigi outside Crypto.com Arena.
Ali, known as ‘The Greatest’, is the most iconic figure in boxing history. The former world heavyweight champion and activist died at the age of 74 back in 2016.
Robinson, meanwhile, became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Last May, A man pleaded guilty to stealing a bronze statue of Robinson statue that was cut off at the ankles and later found in a trash can in Kansas.
‘The garden will predominantly feature incredible women like Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Coretta Scott-King,’ Trump continued.
‘It will be something very extraordinary. We’re going to produce some of the most beautiful works of art in the form of statues for men like Frederick Douglas, Booker T Washington…(and) Martin Luther King Jr.’
