Why Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight Wasn’t in the Ring

 

Muhammad Ali under arrest after refusing to step forward for induction into the Army in 1967.

Note—This was originally posted after the death of The Champ ten years ago.

On April 28, 1967 the Boxing Heavy Weight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali, three times refused a direct order to step forward and accept induction into the Armed Forces at an Induction Center in Houston, Texas.  He was arrested and charged with Draft evasion, a Federal crime punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  Within hours the New York State Boxing Commission suspended his license to fight and stripped him of his title.  Other boxing commissions rapidly fell into line. 

In just a few short years The Champ had fallen from being Cassius Clay, a national hero as an Olympic Gold Medal winner and the pretty boy poet who electrified the boxing world with his speed and power to a reviled pariah.  His slide, at least in the eyes of many White fans, began when Malcolm X recruited Clay into the controversial Nation of Islam. 

As a 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist, young Cassius Clay of Kentucky was an over-night American Hero.

The announcement was made just after the fighter became the youngest man ever to take the Belt away from a reigning champion.  He beat the powerful Sonny Liston in one of the most watched fights in history in Miami on February 25, 1964.  Within days Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, gave him the name Muhammad Ali.  Ali had to struggle to get the press, public, and opponents to accept both his new religion and new name. 

Over the next three years he repeatedly defended his title, including a rematch with Liston, and a defeat of former champ Floyd Patterson.  But many of the fights were against lightly regarded white hopes across North America and Europe.  Ali dominated them all and continued to entertain with his poetry and boasting of being The Greatest. 

He also became a public face of the Nation of Islam and a huge recruitment lure for them in the Black community.  He spoke out more frequently on race relations and endorsed the militant Black separatism espoused by Malcolm X. 

He finally had a truly tough opponent to face when he went against Ernie Terrell on February 6, 1967 at the Astro Dome in Houston.  Terrell had taunted Ali in the press and at the weigh in refusing to call him by his new name.  Enraged, Ali pounded him for 15 rounds taunting him with “What’s my name, Uncle Tom…What’s my name.”  Many observers believed that Ali could have knocked Terrell out early in the fight but carried him just to do more damage.  White fans were even more enraged by Ali than ever. 

About this time the Selective Service System began reviewing the Champ’s draft status.  Although they always denied that the review was anything but routine, almost no one believed them after Ali began to make public statements against the Vietnam War. 

In 1964 the young Clay was called up but rejected for failing the Armed Forces qualifying test because of poor reading and writing scores.  By 1967, with the need for large numbers of fresh draftees for Vietnam, the standards for those tests were significantly lowered and Ali was declared eligible for the draft. 

When he was called up again, he refused to step forward on two grounds.  The first was that he was called as Cassius Clay and he no longer would answer to his slave name.  The second was on the religious grounds that he could not fight in any war that was not declared holy and just by Elijah Muhammad.  He based what he considered a good faith claim of conscientious objection on this belief. 

Publicly, he also questioned the Vietnam War itself.  “No Viet Cong ever called me Nigger,” he famously told an interviewer.  The press was almost unanimous in mocking the notion that a professional fighter could be a C.O. 

On June 27, 1968, a jury convicted him after deliberating only 28 minutes.  He immediately appealed and the case slowly wended through the courts.  A Court of Appeals upheld the verdict, and the case was sent to the Supreme Court. 

There was open gloating in the press--along with a flat refusal to use his chosen name--when Ali was convicted,

While awaiting a decision on his appeal, Ali boxed in Europe and spoke frequently on college campuses.  The war dragged on and became more unpopular with broader and broader segments of society.  Public support began to shift somewhat to Ali.  He was finally allowed to fight in Georgia in October 1970 crushing Jerry Quarry in three rounds.  Shortly after the fight the New York Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly stripped of his license by the Boxing Commission. 

He was able to fight again in Madison Square Garden in December beating top contender Oscar Bonavena in a tough fight.  That set up a bout against undefeated and undisputed Heavy Weight Champion Joe Frazier at the Garden the following March.  The much-hyped Fight of the Century ended with a unanimous decision for Frazier after an epic 15 round battle. 

                                                            At least some of the press sang a different song when Ali's conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Ali got better news when the Supreme Court finally heard his appeal.  On June 28 the Court unanimously overturned Ali’s conviction without ruling on the substance of his Conscience Objection claim.  The court ruled procedurally that the indictment failed to say which of Ali’s claims of exemption were rejected and for what reason. 

With the war winding down and unpopular, the Government declined to re-try the case.  Muhammad Ali was free. 

He returned to his quest to regain the Championship.  Ken Norton handed him his second defeat and was then beaten by Ali in a re-match.  A re-match with Frazier, by this time himself dethroned by George Forman, resulted in a unanimous decision for Ali setting up a title match with Forman. 

                                        Ali's rematch with George Foreman--The Rumble in the Jungle drew the largest world wide audience to date.

The Rumble in the Jungle resulted in Ali reclaiming the title in a match in Zaire which claimed an unprecedented worldwide audience.  Ali went on to numerous title defenses against opponents worthy and not. He beat Forman again in Thrila in Manila, Norton twice more, and up and comers Alfredo Evangelista and Ernie Shavers before youthful Olympic Champion Leon Spinks finally beat him in February 1978. 

The following September he won the WBA half of the now divided championship back for a record third time by beating Spinks in a rematch.  Afterwards, he retired undefeated. 

He came out of retirement to try and win the Championship for the fourth time from Larry Homes, but Homes hammered him and he was unable to come out for the 11th round.  After one more fight and loss he permanently retired in 1981 with a lifetime professional record of 61 fights, 57 victories, 37 wins by knock out and only five losses. 

In the years since his retirement the controversy over his draft resistance subsided as Ali’s stature grew and the public affection for him deepened. 

Abandoning the Nation of Islam and its separatism in 1975 in favor of mainstream orthodox Sunni Islam helped ease his acceptance.  So did his many acts of charity and community service. 

But it was his grace and courage in coping with increasing disability due to Parkinson’s Disease, probably the result of repeated head trauma as a boxer that endeared him to many. 

Ali received many awards and accolades.  He was called the most famous man in the world, the greatest athlete of the 20th Century, and the greatest boxer of all time.  He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and numerous international awards. 

Lighting the Torch at the 1995 Atlanta Games despite shaking with Parkinson's was the emotion highlight of the Games.

The pinnacle of his public acceptance and a moment of high emotion was when he was chosen to light the Olympic Caldron at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

But perhaps no honor spoke more loudly about how his draft resistance had not only been forgiven, but put in an appreciative context was when he was selected by the state of California Bicentennial Commission for the U.S. Constitution to “personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” public events throughout 1988 starting with the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Ali had a turbulent personal life.  He was married four times, unions which produced six natural children including his youngest daughter, Laila Ali the retired Women’s World Super Middleweight Champion.  He also had and supported two other daughters out of wedlock.  On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams, a friend since his youthful days in Louisville.   Together they adopted one son, Asaad Amin.

Lonnie was his inseparable companion, and increasingly Ali’s voice as Parkinson’s first garbled his speech and finally left him publicly mute.  Their relationship has alienated him from some of his oldest children, particularly the four from his second marriage to Khalilah Ali.

Ali and his wife Lonnie as he was honored in his hometown of Louisville.

With Lonnie at his side an increasingly frail Ali continued to make public appearances in support of favored charities and causes and seemed to enjoy them along with the accolades and attention at awards ceremonies and testimonials.  Until his last couple of years he would still mug a boxing pose for photographers. 

Ali’s story was often told, including his own book, The Greatest My Own Story co-written by Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison originally released in 1975.  There have been several other biographies, some hagiography and some blatant racist smears. Aspects of his life and career were captured in numerous documentaries.  In 2001 Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for the bio pic Ali.  The film sensitively examined his whole life, not just a parade of ring movements.

                                        

                                                            Will Smith was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Ali.

But his health was rapidly declining, and the public appearances became rarer. Despite the limitations, he still spoke out through his wife.  In he released a statement on Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda.”

Ali barely survived a crisis in 2013 and was hospitalized repeatedly afterwards.  In 2016 he was admitted to a Phoenix, Arizona hospital where he died on June 3. 

The Founder of the Dynasty—Maurice Barrymore

                                    Maurice Barrymore--matinee idol of the American Gilded Age stage.

The man who founded a theatrical dynasty that is still going strong in its fourth generation with actress/producer Drew Barrymore was born in far off and exotic Fort Agra, India practically within shade of the Taj Mahal on September 21, 1849. 

Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe was the son of a surveyor for the British East India Company and his wife Charlotte Matilda Chamberlayne de Tankerville.  The youngest of seven children, his mother died of complications from his birth.  He was largely raised by his double aunt Amelia Blythe, his mother’s sister who had married his father’s brother. 

When he was old enough young Herbert was sent to England for an elite education at Harrow and then on to Oxford to prepare for the law—the profession chosen by his father.  At Oxford the strapping young man preferred athletics.  He was captain of the football (soccer) team.  He also took up the manly sport of boxing.  Although the Marquess of Queensberry Rules were established, bare knuckle bouts were still popular, and the wayward young scholar fought in several.  In fact, he was a damn fine fighter and in 1872 won the Middleweight Championship of England.

As if the sporting life was not enough of an embarrassment to his family Blythe took up with actors and soon abandoned his father’s chosen profession for a life on the stage.  To spare the family humiliation he assumed the last name of noted early 19th Century thespian William Barrymore after seeing his name on an old poster.  He adopted a French first name in honor of his mother’s heritage.  As Maurice Barrymore he sat for his first theatrical photo portrait shortly after winning his boxing title.

Two years later he was on board the SS America sailing to Boston and putting an ocean between himself and the disapproving Blythes.  Soon after arriving he joined the established touring company of Augustine Daly and made his American debut in Under the Gaslight.  A year later in 1876 he was starring on Broadway in Pique.

                                    Georgina "Gorgie" Drew, the young actress Barrymore wooed and wed.

During the run of that play Barrymore became enamored of a young actress with a small part, Georgiana Drew, the sister of his friend and established star John Drew.   After a whirlwind courtship the couple married on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1876.  Georgiana, affectionately known as Gerogie, was a great beauty and would rise to stardom herself.  The two appeared both together and separately causing sometimes lengthy separations during which Barrymore frequently indulged in affairs with co-stars or star struck ingénues.  The couple had three children, Lionel born in 1878, Ethel born in 1879, and John born in 1882.  While the couple toured, the children were left in the keeping of Georgiana’s mother in Philadelphia and spent summer on their father’s Staten Island farm where he kept a collection of exotic animals. 

The handsome Barrymore quickly became one of the most famous leading men on the American stage appearing opposite almost all the top female stars of the day including Helena Modjeska, Mrs. Fiske, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Olga Nethersole, Lillian Russell, and Lily Langtry.

But his career was nearly cut short while on tour in Marshall, Texas on March 19, 1879.  Barrymore and cast mate Ben Porter had indulged in a poker game—a common pastime for an actor who prided himself on being a sporting man—and had relieved a notorious gunslinger named Jim Currie of a tidy sum of money.  Later that evening after a performance Barrymore, Porter and actress Ellen Cummins went to the White House Saloon for a late supper.  A drunken and enraged Currie confronted them.  Barrymore stood to and challenged him to a fist fight, confident in his skills as a boxer.  Unfortunately, Currie preferred pistols.  He drew and shot Barrymore point blank in the chest and Porter in the stomach.  Porter died in agony and Barrymore was rushed to a doctor’s office where the physician worked feverishly to save his life with an operation. 

Texas gunman Jim Currie awaiting trial for the murder of actor Ben Porter and the near fatal shooting of Barrymore.  Wealth and family connections helped get him aquitted despite the testimony of Barrymore and several eye witnesses.

Seven months pregnant with Ethel, Georgiana rushed from New York to be with her husband.   Barrymore recovered due largely to his strength and constitution.  Currie was brought to trial for murder and attempted murder.  Barrymore returned to Texas to testify, and dozens of witnesses saw the shooting of the un-armed men.  But it took a Texas jury ten minutes to clear Currie.  Perhaps because his brother was Shreveport, Louisiana Mayor Andy Currie  and the family had plenty of money and clout to spread around.

During his recovery Barrymore wrote a melodrama.  He invited Georgiana to accompany him on a touring production along with her close friend the Polish born actress Helena Modjeska who had convinced her to convert to Catholicism and baptize the children.  Despite their closeness, Georgiana knew that her friend had been one of her husband’s lovers.   On tour she discovered that Barrymore and Helena had renewed their romance under her nose.  For some reason Barrymore had signed over the rights to the play to his wife, who promptly withdrew them in mid tour causing the play to shut down.  The producer’s sued but did not prevail.  The reason for the abrupt closure was never explained to the press, although the gossips columns of the day often noted the actor’s indiscretions.

                                    Maurice and Georgie with their children Ethel, Lionel, and John about the time they sailed for England.

Barrymore continued to write plays and Georgie remained watchful but loyal.  In 1884 the couple and their small children sailed to England where he was to collect an inheritance from his aunt Amelia and hoped to impress the rest of his family with his success in America.  Returning from an American tour on the same ship was French legend Sara Bernhardt.  In hopes of enticing her to produce it, he gave the actress an un-copyrighted copy of his new play Nadjezda.  Two years later Bernhardt premiered in Paris in another new play, La Tosca by Victorien Sardou which is now best remembered as the source material for Puccini’s opera.  Barrymore detected similarities between that play and his and sued the author for stealing his work.  He suffered a humiliating defeat in court.  A judge ruled that the only similarity between the two plays was the sacrifice of the heroine’s honor to save her lover, but that was an old plot device that had been used many times going back to Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

Aside from his continued indiscretions with young women, Barrymore liked to spend time with athletes, especially boxers and wrestlers.  He kept fit by sometimes working out with them.  Among his pals were wrestler William Muldoon, and Heavyweight Champions John L. Sullivan, James J. Corbett.  He may have coached them on their own forays on the stage.  He encouraged his growing sons to take up the support and actually arranged an amateur bout between Lionel and actor Hobart Bosworth.

Tragedy struck on July 2, 1893 when the frail Georgiana succumbed to consumption.  Barrymore was both heartbroken and set adrift without his anchor.  He hardly knew what to do with the children, who were left for most of the summer on the Staten Island farm attended only by the man hired to feed the animals.  In need of a mother for his brood, Barrymore wed as soon as a respectable mourning period was complete.  On the one year anniversary of Georgiana’s death, he married Mamie Floyd.  Fifteen year old Ethel, who doted on her father, was crushed and shocked to see her mother replaced.  Lionel would leave home as soon as he was able, following his father on the stage.

                                    One of Barrymore's greatest success wan in The Heart of Maryland in 1899 opposite Mrs. Leslie Carter.

In the later years of the Gay 90’s Barrymore had some of the greatest success of his career.  In 1895 he co-starred with Mrs. Leslie Carter in the Civil War romance The Heart of Maryland. 

The following year he became the first genuine star of the Broadway stage to perform in Vaudeville.  The variety stage was rapidly gaining in audiences and, as elegant theaters were built just for it, in respectability.  Barrymore would tour doing scenes from his most famous roles or doing Shakespearian soliloquies.  Barrymore found it a good way to earn money between stage engagements and tours—his lavish lifestyle often left him embarrassed for cash.  The tours also built audiences for play appearances.  In the wake of Barrymore’s success, other actors would follow his example.

In 1899 he had his biggest Broadway success to date opposite Mrs. Fisk in Becky Thatcher, an adaptation of Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair.  Then he set off on a lengthy tour in The Battle of the Strong, a mediocre melodrama.  Back in New York Barrymore returned to booking Vaudeville shows.

In 1901 Barrymore was on a vaudeville stage in Harlem when, according to the New York Times “he suddenly dropped his lines and began to rave.”  The next day he became violent had to be taken to Belleview by his son John was admitted to a ward for the insane.  He was found to be suffering from an advanced stage of syphilis which often led to mental collapse and was then incurable. 

                                Ethel Barrymore cared for her father during his descent into insanity caused by syphilis.

All three children were now working on the stage, but Ethel, a young beauty, was already a star she undertook her father’s medical expenses and had him transferred to a more comfortable private institution in Amityville.  She visited him almost daily, but his condition continued to deteriorate, and violent episodes became more common.  On one visit he attempted to strangle her.  Another time the still athletic patient picked up an attendant, lifted him over his head in the manner of a wrestler and threw the man several feet.

On March 25, 1905 Maurice Barrymore died in his sleep at the age of 55.  Ethel had him interred next to her mother in Philadelphia.  Later, when that cemetery was closed both of their graves were moved to Mount Vernon Cemetery in the same city. 

Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight Wasn’t in the Ring

Muhammad Ali under arrest after refusing to step forward for induction into the Army in 1967.

Note—This was originally posted after the death of The Champ five years ago.

On April 28, 1967 the Boxing Heavy Weight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali, three times refused a direct order to step forward and accept induction into the Armed Forces at an Induction Center in Houston, Texas.  He was arrested and charged with Draft evasion, a Federal crime punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  Within hours the New York State Boxing Commission suspended his license to fight and stripped him of his title.  Other boxing commissions rapidly fell into line. 

In just a few short years The Champ had fallen from being Cassius Clay, a national hero as an Olympic Gold Medal winner and the pretty boy poet who electrified the boxing world with his speed and power to a reviled pariah.  His slide, at least in the eyes of many White fans, began when Malcolm X recruited Clay into the controversial Nation of Islam. 

As a 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist, young Cassius Clay of Kentucky was an over-night American Hero.

The announcement was made just after the fighter became the youngest man ever to take the Belt away from a reigning champion.  He beat the powerful Sonny Liston in one of the most watched fights in history in Miami on February 25, 1964.  Within days Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, gave him the name Muhammad Ali.  Ali had to struggle to get the press, public, and opponents to accept both his new religion and new name. 

Over the next three years he repeatedly defended his title, including a rematch with Liston, and a defeat of former champ Floyd Patterson.  But many of the fights were against lightly regarded white hopes across North America and Europe.  Ali dominated them all and continued to entertain with his poetry and boasting of being The Greatest. 

He also became a public face of the Nation of Islam and a huge recruitment lure for them in the Black community.  He spoke out more frequently on race relations and endorsed the militant Black separatism espoused by Malcolm X. 

He finally had a truly tough opponent to face when he went against Ernie Terrell on February 6, 1967 at the Astro Dome in Houston.  Terrell had taunted Ali in the press and at the weigh in refusing to call him by his new name.  Enraged, Ali pounded him for 15 rounds taunting him with “What’s my name, Uncle Tom…What’s my name.”  Many observers believed that Ali could have knocked Terrell out early in the fight but carried him just to do more damage.  White fans were even more outraged by Ali than ever. 

About this time the Selective Service System began reviewing the Champ’s draft status.  Although they always denied that the review was anything but routine, almost no one believed them after Ali began to make public statements against the Vietnam War. 

In 1964 the young Clay had been called up but rejected for failing the Armed Forces qualifying test because of poor reading and writing scores.  By 1967, with the need for large numbers of fresh draftees for Vietnam, the standards for those tests were significantly lowered and Ali was declared eligible for the draft. 

When he was called up again, he refused to step forward on two grounds.  The first was that he was called as Cassius Clay and he no longer would answer to his slave name.  The second was on the religious grounds that he could not fight in any war that was not declared holy and just by Elijah Muhammad.  He based what he considered a good faith claim of conscientious objection on this belief. 

Publicly, he also questioned the Vietnam War itself.  “No Viet Cong ever called me Nigger,” he famously told an interviewer.  The press was almost unanimous in mocking the notion that a professional fighter could be a C.O. 

On June 27, 1968, a jury convicted him after deliberating only 28 minutes.  He immediately appealed and the case slowly wended through the courts.  A Court of Appeals upheld the verdict and the case was sent to the Supreme Court. 

There was open gloating in the press--along with a flat refusal to use his chosen name--when Ali was convicted,

While awaiting a decision on his appeal, Ali boxed in Europe and spoke frequently on college campuses.  The war dragged on and became more unpopular with broader and broader segments of society.  Public support began to shift somewhat to Ali.  He was finally allowed to fight in Georgia in October 1970 crushing Jerry Quarry in three rounds.  Shortly after the fight the New York Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly stripped of his license by the Boxing Commission. 

He was able to fight again in Madison Square Garden in December beating top contender Oscar Bonavena in a tough fight.  That set up a bout against undefeated and undisputed Heavy Weight Champion Joe Frazier at the Garden the following March.  The much hyped Fight of the Century ended with a unanimous decision for Frazier after an epic 15 round battle. 

At least some of the press sang a different song when Ali's conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Ali got better news when the Supreme Court finally heard his appeal.  On June 28 the Court unanimously overturned Ali’s conviction without ruling on the substance of his Conscience Objection claim.  The court ruled procedurally that the indictment failed to say which of Ali’s claims of exemption were rejected and for what reason. 

With the war winding down and unpopular, the Government declined to re-try the case.  Muhammad Ali was free. 

He returned to his quest to regain the Championship.  Ken Norton handed him his second defeat and was then beaten by Ali in a re-match.  A re-match with Frazier, by this time himself dethroned by George Forman, resulted in a unanimous decision for Ali setting up a title match with Forman. 

Ali's rematch with George Foreman--The Rumble in the Jungle drew the largest world wide audience to date.

The Rumble in the Jungle resulted in Ali reclaiming the title in a match in Zaire which claimed an unprecedented world wide audience.  Ali went on to numerous title defenses against opponents worthy and not. He beat Forman again in Thrila in Manila, Norton twice more, and up and comers Alfredo Evangelista and Ernie Shavers before youthful Olympic Champion Leon Spinks finally beat him in February 1978. 

The following September he won the WBA half of the now divided championship back for a record third time by beating Spinks in a rematch.  Afterwards, he retired undefeated. 

He came out of retirement to try and win the Championship for the fourth time from Larry Homes, but Homes hammered him and he was unable to come out for the 11th round.  After one more fight and loss he permanently retired in 1981 with a lifetime professional record of 61 fights, 57 victories, 37 wins by knock out and only five losses. 

In the years since his retirement the controversy over his draft resistance subsided as Ali’s stature grew and the public affection for him has deepened. 

Abandoning the Nation of Islam and its separatism in 1975 in favor of mainstream orthodox Sunni Islam helped ease his acceptance.  So did his many acts of charity and community service. 

But it was his grace and courage in coping with increasing disability due to Parkinson’s disease, probably the result of repeated head trauma as a boxer that endeared him to many. 

Ali received many awards and accolades.  He was called the most famous man in the world, the greatest athlete of the 20th Century, and the greatest boxer of all time.  He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and numerous international awards. 

Lighting the Torch at the 1995 Atlanta Games despite shaking with Parkinson's was the emotion highlight of the Games.

The pinnacle of his public acceptance and a moment of high emotion was when he was chosen to light the Olympic Torch at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

But perhaps no honor spoke more loudly about how his draft resistance had not only been forgiven, but put in an appreciative context was when he was selected by the state of California Bicentennial Commission for the U.S. Constitution to “personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” public events throughout 1988 starting with the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Ali had a turbulent personal life.  He was married four times, unions which produced six natural children including his youngest daughter, Laila Ali the retired women’s World Super Middleweight champion.  He also had and supported two other daughters out of wed lock.  On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams, a friend since his youthful days in Louisville.   Together they adopted one son, Asaad Amin.

Lonnie was his inseparable companion, and increasingly Ali’s voice as Parkinson’s first garbled his speech and finally left him publicly mute.  Their relationship has alienated him from some of his oldest children, particularly the four from his second marriage to Khalilah Ali.

Ali and his wife Lonnie as he was honored in his hometown of Louisville.

With Lonnie at his side and increasingly frail Ali continued to make public appearances in support of favored charities and causes and seemed to enjoy them along with the accolades and attention at awards ceremonies and testimonials.  Until his last couple of years he would still mug a boxing pose for photographers. 

Ali’s story was often told, including his own book, The Greatest My Own Story co-written by Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison originally released in 1975.  There have been several other biographies, some hagiography and some blatant racist smears. Aspects of his life and career were captured in numerous documentaries.  But in 2001 Will Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for the bio pic. The film sensitively examined his whole life, not just a parade of ring movements.

                                        Will Smith was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Ali.

But his health was rapidly declining and the public appearances became rarer. Despite the limitations, he still spoke out through his wife.  In he released a statement on Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda.”

Ali barely survived a crisis in 2013 and was hospitalized repeatedly afterwards.  In 2016 he was admitted to a Phoenix, Arizona hospital where he died on June 3. 

Remembering Muhammad Ali and His Real Greatest Battles

Ali under arrest after his refusal to step forward and accept induction into the Army in 1967.

Note—This post was adapted from an entry way back in April of 2010 marking the anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s Draft Resistance.  That was nearly fifty years ago, but may have begun the Champ’s greatest battle until his struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

On April 28, 1967 the Boxing Heavy Weight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali, three times refused a direct order to step forward and accept induction into the Armed Forces at an Induction Center in Houston, Texas.  He was arrested and charged with Draft evasion, a Federal crime punishable by five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.  Within hours the New York State Boxing Commission suspended his license to fight and stripped him of his title.  Other boxing commissions rapidly fell into line. 

In just a few short years The Champ had fallen from being Cassias Clay, a national hero as an Olympic Gold Medal winner and the pretty boy poet who electrified the boxing world with his speed and power to a reviled pariah.  His slide, at least in the eyes of many White fans, began when Malcolm X recruited Clay into the controversial Nation of Islam.  

As a 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist, young Cassius Clay of Kentucky was an over-night American Hero.

The announcement was made just after the fighter became the youngest man ever to take the Belt away from a reigning champion.  He beat the powerful Sonny Liston in one of the most watched fights in history in Miami on February 25, 1964.  Within days Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, gave him the name Muhammad Ali.  Ali had to struggle to get the press, public, and opponents to accept both his new religion and new name. 

Over the next three years he repeatedly defended his title, including a rematch with Liston, and a defeat of former champ Floyd Patterson.  But many of the fights were against lightly regarded white hopes across North America and Europe.  Ali dominated them all and continued to entertain with his poetry and boasting of being The Greatest. 

He also became a public face of the Nation of Islam and a huge recruitment lure for them in the Black community.  He spoke out more frequently on race relations and endorsed the militant Black separatism espoused by Malcolm X. 

He finally had a truly tough opponent to face when he went against Ernie Terrell on February 6, 1967 at the Astro Dome in Houston.  Terrell had taunted Ali in the press and at the weigh in refusing to call him by his new name.  Enraged, Ali pounded him for 15 rounds taunting him with “What’s my name, Uncle Tom…What’s my name.”  Many observers believed that Ali could have knocked Terrell out early in the fight but carried him just to do more damage.  White fans were even more outraged by Ali than ever. 

About this time the Selective Service System began reviewing the Champ’s draft status.  Although they always denied that the review was anything but routine, almost no one believed them after Ali began to make public statements against the Vietnam War. 

In 1964 the young Clay had been called up but rejected for failing the Armed Forces qualifying test because of poor reading and writing scores.  By 1967, with the need for large numbers of fresh draftees for Vietnam, the standards for those tests were significantly lowered and Ali was declared eligible for the draft. 

When he was called up again, he refused to step forward on two grounds.  The first was that he was called as Cassius Clay and he no longer would answer to his slave name.  The second was on the religious grounds that he could not fight in any war that was not declared holy and just by Elijah Muhammad.  He based what he considered a good faith claim of conscientious objection on this belief. 

Publicly, he also questioned the Vietnam War itself.  “No Viet Cong ever called me Nigger,” he famously told an interviewer.  The press was almost unanimous in mocking the notion that a professional fighter could be a C.O. 

On June 27, 1968, a jury convicted him after deliberating only 28 minutes.  He immediately appealed and the case slowly wended through the courts.  A Court of Appeals upheld the verdict and the case was sent to the Supreme Court.  

There was open gloating in the press--along with a flat refusal to use his chosen name--when Ali was convicted,

While awaiting a decision on his appeal, Ali boxed in Europe and spoke frequently on college campuses.  The war dragged on and became more unpopular with broader and broader segments of society.  Public support began to shift somewhat to Ali.  He was finally allowed to fight in Georgia in October 1970 crushing Jerry Quarry in three rounds.  Shortly after the fight the New York Supreme Court ruled that Ali had been unjustly stripped of his license by the Boxing Commission. 

He was able to fight again in Madison Square Garden in December beating top contender Oscar Bonavena in a tough fight.  That set up a bout against undefeated and undisputed Heavy Weight Champion Joe Frazier at the Garden the following March.  The much hyped Fight of the Century ended with a unanimous decision for Frazier after an epic 15 round battle. 

Ali got better news when the Supreme Court finally heard his appeal.  On June 28 the Court unanimously overturned Ali’s conviction without ruling of the substances of his Conscience Objection claim.  The court ruled procedurally that the indictment failed to say which of Ali’s claims of exemption were rejected and for what reason. 

With the war winding down and unpopular, the Government declined to re-try the case.  Muhammad Ali was free. 

He returned to his quest to regain the Championship.  Ken Norton handed him his second defeat and was then beaten by Ali in a re-match.  A re-match with Frazier, by this time himself dethroned by George Forman, resulted in a unanimous decision for Ali setting up a title match with Forman.  

Ali's rematch with George Foreman--The Rumble in the Jungle drew the largest world wide audience to date.

The Rumble in the Jungle resulted in Ali reclaiming the title in a match in Zaire which claimed an unprecedented world wide audience.  Ali went on to numerous title defenses against opponents worthy and not. He beat Forman again in Thrila in Manila, Norton twice more, and up and comers Alfredo Evangelista and Ernie Shavers before youthful Olympic Champion Leon Spinks finally beat him in February 1978. 

The following September he won the WBA half of the now divided championship back for a record third time by beating Spinks in a rematch.  Afterwards, he retired undefeated. 

He came out of retirement to try and win the Championship for the fourth time from Larry Homes, but Homes hammered him and he was unable to come out for the 11th round.  After one more fight and loss he permanently retired in 1981 with a life time professional record of 61 fights, 57 victories, 37 wins by knock out and only five losses. 

In the years since his retirement the controversy over his draft resistance subsided as Ali’s stature grew and the public affection for him has deepened.  

Abandoning the Nation of Islam and its separatism in 1975 in favor of mainstream orthodox Sunni Islam helped ease his acceptance.  So did his many acts of charity and community service. 

But it was his grace and courage in coping with increasing disability due to Parkinson’s disease, probably the result of repeated head trauma as a boxer that endeared him to many.  

Ali received many awards and accolades.  He was called the most famous man in the world, the greatest athlete of the 20th Century, and the greatest boxer of all time.  He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and numerous international awards.  

Lighting the Torch at the 1995 Atlanta Games despite shaking with Parkinson's was the emotion highlight of the Games.

The pinnacle of his public acceptance and a moment of high emotion was when he was chosen to light the Olympic Torch at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

But perhaps no honor spoke more loudly about how his draft resistance had not only been forgiven, but put in an appreciative context was when he was selected by the state of California Bicentennial Commission for the U.S. Constitution to “personify the vitality of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights” public events throughout 1988 starting with the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Ali had a turbulent personal life.  He was married four times, unions which produced six natural children including his youngest daughter, Laila Ali the retired women’s World Super Middleweight champion.  He also had and supported two other daughters out of wed lock.  On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda “Lonnie” Williams, a friend since his youthful days in Louisville.   Together they adopted one son, Asaad Amin.

Lonnie was his inseparable companion, and increasingly Ali’s voice as Parkinson’s first garbled his speech and finally left him publicly mute.  Their relationship has alienated him from some of his oldest children, particularly the four from his second marriage to Khalilah Ali.

Ali and his wife Lonnie as he was honored in his hometown of Louisville.

With Lonnie at his side and increasingly frail Ali continued to make public appearances in support of favored charities and causes and seemed to enjoy them along with the accolades and attention at awards ceremonies and testimonials.  Until the last couple of years he would still mug a boxing pose for photographers. 

Ali’s story was often told, including his own book, The Greatest My Own Story co-written by Richard Durham and edited by Toni Morrison originally released in 1975.  There have been several other biographies, some hagiography and some blatant racist smears.  Aspects of his life and career were captured in numerous documentaries.  But in 2001 the Academy Award nominated Ali starring Will Smith as the boxer, sensitively examined his whole life, not just a parade of ring movements.

But his health was rapidly declining and the public appearances became rarer. Despite the limitations, he still spoke out through his wife.  In December he released a statement Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. “We as Muslims have to stand up to those who use Islam to advance their own personal agenda.”

Ali barely survived a crisis in 2013 and was hospitalized repeatedly since then.  A few days ago he was admitted to a Phoenix, Arizona hospital where he died last night.

This morning the world awakens to an out pouring of grief and a chorus of salutes.  There will even be crocodile tears from those who persecuted him and despised what he stood for—maybe even from The Donald.