Ali was before my time, so I have no opinion on his an athlete. But growing up, I was taught by grandfather (who was a veteran) that Cassius Clay was a draft dodger and a coward.
Since then, always been interesting to see how many people have a completely opposite opinion of him.
Okay, now I have some words.
Lax you know I love you like a brother; no disrespect for you or you Grandfather.
I knew a couple of investors from the original syndicate that put together the financing to bring Cassius from a skinny Golden Gloves Champion to an Olympic Champion and then the unanimous World Heavyweight Champion.
Ali was always a complex man. He was entirely shaped by a lifetime of being told what he couldn't do. Which, for a young black man in Louisville, KY, in the '40's and '50's was a whole lot. Regardless of any of his views, and whether you look at them in the context of their time, or with 20/20 hindsight, he was a thinking man, of character, who always went with his principles, and followed through with his commitments. I don't know if he ever gave less than his best. Which is reason for admiration alone.
I know for a fact, from first hand witness accounts that he put up with things that nobody on this board would tolerate, and most wouldn't believe could ever happen.
There is a story about Ali returning from Rome, with the Gold Medal, American's waving flags with great adulation, and then being refused a seat in a diner in his home town, Louisville, for an off-rush hour breakfast with his management team. The story goes on to outline how he threw his Gold Medal in the Ohio River. The story is a bit more complicated than that, and the insult(s) Ali faced were worse, much more prevalent, and pernicious than that, but it captures the idea.
What Ali represented in small part, (this is a way oversimplification) from the view I have always had, is a strong persona, with the drive and ego to fight his way to the absolute top of his profession. It wasn't good enough for him to win, there had to be no doubt about it. And he had to do it with perfection and style.
And his style - it became the embodiment of his drive to the top, and his many other complex feelings, and the hurt he experienced at being treated like a second class citizen. I think the love for him as a boxer, and the hate expressed toward him as an independent black man were so intolerable that they fed the fire within him, and resulted in the absolute incredible athleticism, and flamboyant showman that emerged.
But I know he really had a difficult time with a number of things. As he explored Islam, he explored true Islam, which is a religion of peace. He found great comfort in his good friend Malcom X. He was there for all that subterfuge between the warring Muslim factions, saw FBI involvement, government dirty tricks, and was astute enough to see who was benefiting from the Viet Nam war, and who was paying for it.
Beyond any conversation about communism, dominoes, patriotism, or any other pro government position, the perception was that African-American males were being drafted disproportionately, killed by the bushels, compared to their white counterparts.
The truth is that the poor and under-educated, were dying at much higher rates than the children of wealthy upper-class families. We can debate for hours what 'really' happened but the perception of the day prevailed. And that is what is important.
In my advanced early education, it was because of the anti-war stance of Ali, and believe me he suffered greatly from decisions he made to follow his conscience, that I learned that Ho Chi Min was a great fan of Democracy, and the US. He tried to establish good communications and a relationship with the US from the Wilson Administration to the Truman Administration, with no response from the US. In fact the Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam was modeled closely after the American Declaration of Independence.
So he saw the war as unnecessary and inexpedient. Further, he had a pretty good idea of who was profiting from the war. It didn't help that news reports were coming out that Ladybird Johnson owned a significant amount of First Boston Bank shares, which in turn bought Bell Helicopter out of receivership. Bell of course made all of our favorites, the Huey (UH1). Every Huey that got shot down over Viet Nam, in fact made the President of the United States richer. These are historical facts that are beyond dispute, and were unknown to most Americans at the time.
I remember that my father was mildly against Ali resisting induction at the time, but once he found out about the business dealings, he changed his tune totally.
So it was a complex time, and Ali was a complex, intelligent man.
