Muhammad Ali / Elder Stateman -- Still The Greatest

MUHAMMAD ALI, possibly the most recognized athlete in the world, has found peace and happiness in family and philanthropy efforts despite a frenzied schedule and an ongoing battle with Parkinson's disease. -----------------------------------------------------------------

BERRIEN SPRINGS, Mich. - His is perhaps the most famous face in the world.

But at home, Muhammad Ali finds he has a young contender for the remote control.

After a recent day of personal appearances, he was relaxing in front of his big-screen TV, until his 5-year-old son, Asaad, rushed in from school, grabbed the remote and changed channels.

"That's the biggest fight," Ali said later, smiling. "I'm comfortable, I just got through traveling, and he walks in from school and says, `Oh, cartoons!' "

After a quick and gentle bout, Ali relents. "He's the boss."

This is Muhammad Ali at 54, a father of nine children, eight of whom are adults who live across the country. The private man clearly relishes fatherhood, as his fame continues to grow.

For nearly four decades, his has been a face recognized around the world, but his celebrity has been boosted by his appearance at the Summer Olympics, two new books and the prospect of movies about his life.

On this day, Ali had just returned from meeting a retired businessman who paid $15,000 at a Chicago adoption-agency auction for autographed boxing gloves and a meal with him, one of dozens of appearances he does annually - some for charity and others for income.

Ali is in a new time in his life as an unlikely elder statesman, speaking on behalf of causes including research for Parkinson's Disease, food relief for the hungry and the fight against youth violence.

It is thought by some that Muhammad Ali reinvents himself. But perhaps he evolves like a moon, becoming full, showing new slivers of himself over time.

Last year, he took $1 million in donated medical supplies to Cuba. He is now focusing on Rwanda, calling for donations of aid to Hutu refugees.

"There is so much focus on the Muhammad of the '60s and '70s, not the '80s and '90s," said his personal attorney, Ron DiNicola of Erie, Pa. "He maintains a heavy schedule of human rights and philanthropic endeavors."

An immutable part of the private Ali's daily life is his observance of Islam, the religion he embraced in 1963.

"Faith is something you don't brag about," he said. "It's not for publicity. In your heart and soul, only God knows that it's good. He's the only one you have to face in the end."

Ali's torch-lighting at the Olympics has brought a whirlwind into his life. His schedule during a recent three-day period included a business meeting at nearby Andrews University, an appreciation dinner at a soup kitchen he and his wife, Lonnie, support, stacks of mail, dozens of phone calls, contractors coming in and out of his house to renovate the first floor.

He spends about half his time raising money for charities and the other half selling his name to products and endorsements. He's made 133 trips so far this year.

It is enough to tire a younger man, yet Ali these days seems tireless. "Twenty-four hours of rest, and I'm ready to go again," he said.

Two Muhammad Ali movies in production are being rushed to completion "because of the resurging interest in Muhammad since the Olympics," Lonnie Ali said.

He is appearing publicly to promote further study of Parkinson's Disease and Parkinson's Syndrome. Ali was diagnosed in 1982 with the progressive disease that hampers muscle control, and can be accompanied by slurred speech, hand tremors, lethargy.

"I never feel bad, no pain," Ali said. "I take pills four times a day, two pills four times a day."

And he has not lost his strength.

"He's still very, very strong," said Tom Hauser, his biographer who wrote Muhammad Ali, His Life and Times. "All the things of every-day life, he can still do. He does them more slowly, but he does what he has to do."

Ali and Hauser are promoting "Healing," a tiny book that is Ali's blow against bigotry. They are speaking at high schools around the country about the journal, which contains 114 quotations, photos of Ali with others and quotes from Ali, the Bible and various people.

When he retired in 1981, Ali had won 56 fights and lost five, earning $49 million in the ring. By the time he paid advisers, taxes, divorce settlements and legal fees, he had about $3.5 million.

His career is handled now by his wife, friends and advisers who review all requests for appearances, endorsements, memorabilia and autographs.

Ali now is a millionaire who makes his living by being Muhammad Ali - earning $50,000 to $200,000 for personal appearances, which he makes 10 to 15 times a year, and millions more from lending his name to various products and franchises, investing and participating in book and movie collaborations.

His financial health is monitored by Lonnie, his fourth wife. She manages his career, their farm and their household.

She said she fell in love with Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) when she was 17 and that she always thought they might one day get together. After attending Louisville's Catholic schools, she studied at Vanderbilt, graduating in 1978, then worked for the state of Kentucky and for Kraft Foods until 1982.

It was that year she came back into Ali's life. He was suffering.

"I would say the lowest point in Muhammad's life was when his (third) marriage to Veronica (Porsche) was breaking up, and he realized that he would be losing the home life with Hana and Laila (their daughters)," Hauser said.

"At that point in his life he was starting to show the signs of his physical condition that are so evident today, his boxing career was over. . . .

"I remember Lonnie saying to me - that was the first time she ever saw Muhammad cry. That was just a very sad time for Muhammad. . . . He felt sort of old and used up, and physically not well."

What Ali apparently needed, it seemed, was a breath of life from home.

"She got this telephone call from him," said Lonnie's mother, Marguerite Williams, who still lives in Louisville. "He wanted her to come to California. She quit and went to California."

Lonnie kept her own apartment while earning a master's of business administration from UCLA, but she spent much time with Ali.

Ali's divorce from Porsche became final in January 1986, and Lonnie Williams and Ali returned to Louisville and were married 10 months later.

A tall, striking woman, Lonnie dotes on her husband, laying out his clothes and cooking his meals. She accompanies Ali on his frequent trips, sorts his mail and laughs at his jokes - when they're funny.

Those who know the Alis well describe a playful household. "He wants to play jokes," said Ursula Abrahams, 56, the housekeeper. "He puts rubber mice, insects, in the laundry. He keeps us laughing."

Ali and Lonnie will move to Louisville next year to oversee efforts to build a museum to honor his place in history: a $20 million to $40 million complex expected to be built by 1998.

Lonnie said her husband is curtailing some activity. "We've pulled back from endorsements in the last five years because Muhammad's name was so prostituted for so many years," she said. "So we let everything go for a while, then started taking on some. We're being very selective.

"Muhammad is not in the boxing ring anymore, so what is he marketing? He's marketing love, loving other people, understanding other people. Michael Jordan would elicit a different emotion. People don't want to break down and cry. Muhammad breaks down barriers."