Muhammad Ali

Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up with his parents, Odessa and Cassius Clay Sr., and his brother, Rudolph, in a house at 3302 Grand Avenue in the city’s West End. He attended mostly Black public schools. When his bicycle was stolen, a city policeman introduced him to boxing; Joe Martin became his first trainer. Boxing soon came before everything; at Central High School his studies suffered.

At eighteen he made the 1960 U.S. Olympic team. He was so afraid of flying after a rough flight to the trials that he nearly refused to go to Rome; the story goes that he bought a parachute at an army surplus store and wore it for the whole flight. In Rome he called himself the King of the Olympic Village, became one of its best-liked athletes, and won the light heavyweight gold medal. Later that year he turned professional.

On February 25, 1964, in Miami, the young challenger knocked out Sonny Liston in the seventh round to become heavyweight champion of the world. Just before the fight he publicly announced his conversion to the Nation of Islam, and he declared: “Cassius Clay is a slave name. I didn’t choose it, and I don’t want it. I am Muhammad Ali, a free name — it means beloved of God.” He became a close friend of Malcolm X, though he stayed with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation when Malcolm broke with it.

In 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, Ali was drafted. He claimed exemption as a conscientious objector on religious grounds, and when the claim was denied he refused to be inducted. He was stripped of his title, his passport was taken, he was convicted of refusing induction, and he could not box for years at the peak of his career. In June 1971 the Supreme Court, in Clay v. United States, unanimously reversed his conviction because the draft appeal board had given no reason for rejecting his claim.

Back in the ring, Ali lost to Joe Frazier in 1971. In 1974 in Zaire he regained the championship by beating George Foreman in the “Rumble in the Jungle.” He lost the title to Leon Spinks early in 1978 and won it back that fall. His last fight, against Larry Holmes in 1980, ended in defeat in the eleventh round.

Ali’s faith guided his life. The Nation of Islam promoted Black self-determination and rejected the nonviolent strategy of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.; Ali insisted on his Muslim name and based his refusal to serve in Vietnam on his religion. Later he devoted himself to humanitarian causes and spoke of six core principles — confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect, and spirituality — and of sport as a force that could unite people and treat everyone fairly.

Ali’s stand cost him dearly: he was convicted of a federal crime, banned from boxing in his prime, and lost his passport. His loyalty to Elijah Muhammad led him to side against his friend Malcolm X after their split. In the fall of 1984 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

As his illness advanced, Ali appeared in public less often — which made his surprise appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he lit the Olympic cauldron, all the more moving. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter had sent him to Africa to promote the boycott of the Moscow Olympics, and in 2002 he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville tells his story. When he died in June 2016, his casket was driven past his childhood home and through Louisville’s West End; he is buried in the city’s Cave Hill Cemetery, and in 2019 Louisville’s airport was renamed in his honor.