On Saturday, Brown was in Louisville, Ky., to receive the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. Beach, home in Pennsylvania to be with his wife, who recently had surgery, did not attend the ceremony.

But Beach said the 1967 meeting, and what it signified, was ingrained in his consciousness.

“It was an unforgettable moment,” he said by phone Saturday. “It was one of the most significant moments in my life. Ali was one of the most principled and moral human beings on the planet at the time, with the sensitivity and courage to stand.”

Beach added, “We met as black men around a moral and ethical issue, not as celebrity football or basketball players.”

Beach, 81, chronicled the Ali meeting and other events in a new self-published book, “Consider This,” that contains the insights of his journey through life. A significant part of that journey was a stretch from 1960 to ’66 when Beach, a native of Pontiac, Mich., played professional football.

Brown and Beach became friends in 1963 when Beach joined the Browns as a free agent.

He had been released by the Boston Patriots of the American Football League the previous year, after he organized a protest by the black players on the team against segregated accommodations in New Orleans, where Boston was scheduled to play a preseason game. While the white Patriots were set to stay in a luxury hotel, the black players were to stay with black families.