On Sunday, family and friends gathered to celebrate baseball legend, Hank Aaron.

Sunday would have been his 89th birthday.

The birthday celebration was held at Friendship Baptist church in southwest Atlanta.

“I wanted to make sure that we realized and remembered his legacy, his life and his love,” said his wife Billye Aaron.

Friendship Baptist Church was actually the home church for Hank and is his wife Billye.

“His spirit that just made everybody want to do a little more to help somebody else,” said Ambassador Andrew Young.

Mrs. Billye told WSB most people know her husband’s work in baseball and sports, but she would really like people to remember his work and philanthropy for helping others, especially young people, who want to chase their dreams of college.

“He was a very caring, loving, human being who always tried to give. He always cared enough, often after holidays and Christmas time,” Billye said.

He is the one man that Muhammad Ali said he idolized “more than myself.” He became known to the world as “Hammerin’ Hank.”

Legendary Atlanta Brave and Major League Baseball record holder Hank Aaron died Jan. 2021 at the age of 86.

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