The Cassius Clay Story

THE CASSIUS CLAY STORY

HIS LIFE AND TIMES IN THE SQUARED CIRCLE

DAVID W. COLEMAN SPORTSIDE BOOKS

THE CASSIUS CLAY STORY

HIS LIFE AND TIMES IN THE SQUARED CIRCLE

by DAVID W. COLEMAN

A Sportside Book

2011

Smashwords Edition Copyright 2011 by David W. Coleman All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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For my son, David, Jr.

and

For the ladies in my life,

Janet, Reina, and Amber

and

For my mother, Theresa

table of contents

preface

introduction

part 1: the early years (1960-1961)

part 2: the contender (1962-1963)

part 3: the challenge (1964)

conclusion

acknowledgements

appendix

preface/David W. Coleman

I WOULD THINK that someone reading this book might ask, Why? Why would someone write a book about Muhammad Ali and feel that he has anything he could possibly contribute, that hasn’t already been written? Why would someone go to such great detail in chronicling a fighter’s history, to the point where every fight and every opponent is examined?

When I established Sportside Books, my goal was to create the types of books that I had always wanted to read. I wanted my books to be thorough, almost to the point of being excessive. I wanted to describe the action that took place and explain the finest details of the deepest sports subjects, yet still do it in such a fashion that the reading of the books would be entertaining and enjoyable.

I am aware that The Cassius Clay Story may not appeal to the most casual of sports fans. I also believe that there are plenty of rabid sports and boxing fans who will appreciate my attempt at telling the whole story of a legendary man’s exploits in his chosen sport. There are also a vast number of people who are not huge sports fans who love Muhammad Ali and are interested in the story of what is now an often overlooked part of his life: What actually happened in the boxing ring those long years ago? Who did this legendary pugilist fight, and why? Where did these other boxers come from, and what happened to them after they met perhaps the greatest athlete in history? What impact did these bouts have on boxing’s heavyweight division, and how did they help to shape that division’s future?

The Cassius Clay Story tells the tale of this great heavyweight champion, right up until the day he changed his name. The Muhammad Ali Story will pick up where this book leaves off, exploring his championship reigns, his fierce rivalries with Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, and his triumph over George Foreman.

My hope is that Sportside Books will look at a variety of subjects and tell their stories in great depth, such as a pitch-by-pitch examination of a baseball game, or a play-by-play breakdown of a football game. My stated goal for this endeavor is to create the types of books that I have always wanted to read. If you love sports and their inner workings, I feel you have come to the right place.

Welcome to Sportside Books.

introduction

MUHAMMAD ALI is known as one of the most recognized, one of the most famous, one of the most influential, and one of the most beloved people living in the world, today. The heartfelt love expressed for the man is embedded in the popular culture of his home country, the United States of America, but his popularity has transcended all of the world’s nations.

A three-time heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Ali has also been revered as an independent thinker; as a rebellious figure; as a religious leader; as a political activist and societal critic; as a revolutionary; as a hero; as a martyr (during the period of his exile from boxing); as a college lecturer; as a comedian and humorist; as a role model; as an ambassador and emissary; as an advocate for peace; as a symbol of hope; and, perhaps most notably, as an international icon: a living legend who is a source of inspiration to millions of people.

Ali, who was born as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Junior and turned 69 on January 17, 2011, was once of such vocal and linguistic prowess that he was nicknamed, The Louisville Lip. His voice has been stilled in recent years and he now rarely makes public appearances. This is due to his having been afflicted with Parkinson’s disease, some symptoms of which (slurred speech, shaking of the hands) had begun to appear even while he was still boxing in the early 1980s. Some see the former champion as a tragic figure who deserves sympathy, but most reliable accounts report that Ali’s mind remains sharp, that he should foster no pity, and that he is happy. Ali is serving his causes, practicing his religion (the Sufi form of Islam), and living a life of leisure and relative luxury in the Phoenix area with his fourth wife, Yolanda (Lonnie) Ali.

There seem to be no bounds to Ali’s renown. He commands the kind of respect and reverence that is usually reserved for heads of state and religious leaders of a papal scale. In American Pop culture, his fame is, arguably, rivaled only by those of Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. As such, Ali has been the subject of seemingly countless books and films. Among the biographies written about him are: Sting Like a Bee (1971) by Jose Torres; The Greatest: My Own Story (1975) by Ali and ghostwriter Richard Durham; Muhammad Ali (1975) by Wilfrid Sheed; and Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times (1991) by Thomas Hauser. The Hauser book is considered, today, to be the definitive Ali biography. The Sheed book was probably the best compilation of words and photographs on Ali, to that point in Ali’s career, and remains a classic.

Other notable books on Ali’s fistic exploits include: The Fight (1975) by Norman Mailer, in which a profound writer probes the epic clash of Ali and George Foreman, from conception to impact; More Than a Champion (1998), a study of the third meeting of Ali and Joe Frazier, and how this struggle between two men reflects the struggle in the human condition and the struggle between peoples; Ghosts of Manila (2001) by Mark Kram, an examination of the same Ali-Frazier fight and how its brutality – before, during, and after the bout; within and without the boxing ring – continues to scar both men, more than 25 years later; and Facing Ali (2002) by Stephen Brunt, in which 15 of Ali’s opponents reflect upon the time they spent in Ali’s workshop.

It has been nearly 30 years since Ali engaged in the last prizefight of his career. With each passing year, that career becomes more and more a part of pugilistic history. But if ever there was a larger-than-life figure within the sport of boxing, it is Muhammad Ali. There have been many fascinating studies on the impact of Ali outside the boxing ring, since his rise to fame. Among these works are: Black is Best (1967) by Jack Olsen, a timely and no-holds-barred look at Ali’s challenge of and to the Establishment, just before his forced exile from boxing; The Tao of Muhammad Ali (1996) by Davis Miller, in which the author’s relationship with his hero forms the tapestry upon which the author writes a compelling autobiography; Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight (2000) by Howard Bingham and Max Wallace, an examination by Ali’s best friend and personal photographer of the much-neglected battle between Ali and the U. S. government for Ali’s career, his freedom, and his human rights; and The Soul of a Butterfly (2004), written by Ali and his daughter, Hana Ali, in which the Champ reflects upon the most important things he has learned in a lifetime.

In addition, Muhammad Ali has always been a spectacle. Perhaps more so than any other famous athlete the world has known, Ali was meant to be looked at, to be observed, to be examined, and to be listened to. He was a beautiful and handsome man and a near-perfect physical specimen. He was intelligent, verbose, and highly creative. He could be very witty and very funny, quite brash and brazen, and even mean-spirited or viciously cruel. Because of these traits and many others, Ali’s image and voice have filled the world’s televisions and movie screens. It seems safe to say that films of Ali’s fights have been broadcast and packaged for home entertainment, more than those of any other boxer. He has also been the subject of major motion pictures such as, The Greatest (1977); Ali (2001); and the Oscar-winning documentary, When We Were Kings (1996), which chronicled the bout between Ali and Foreman in Zaire and the festival which surrounded it, as an event.

It is strangely ironic that Ali, himself, was indeed the first one who ever realized his greatness. This was proven on the spoken-word recording that he put out in 1963 for Columbia Records, under his given name of Cassius Clay. I Am the Greatest found Clay already in the classic form of his championship heyday. He handled the role of comedian with astounding ease, and came off as being bright, charismatic, witty, funny, verbose, and full of himself, without taking himself too seriously. Muhammad Ali was the first athlete to use a record for self-promotion. He was the first in a long line of Black athletes to adopt a Muslim name. And, in the ESPN Home Entertainment documentary, Ali Rap (2006), it is credibly suggested that Muhammad Ali was the progenitor of Hip-Hop culture.

Throughout the many things that have been written or filmed or said about Muhammad Ali, what stands out most about the man is his unmatched charisma and class. These, and the love he generates within others, have had the effect of actually superseding perhaps the greatest sports story of all. To write about Ali in modern times and focus solely on his boxing career, seems to diminish this heroic figure and almost trivialize what he and his total life have meant to the history and culture of the world. And yet, if the story of Muhammad Ali is indeed the greatest in sporting history, would the prospective reader or listener or viewer not also be diminished, if that story – in its entirety – were never told?

While His Life and Times gave an authoritative oral history of Muhammad Ali’s life which, because of the cooperation of the subject, is unlikely to ever be equaled as an Ali biography, this book seeks to shine the spotlight again on the story within the story: the matchless feats of Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring. It focuses on the years Ali was known as Cassius Clay. It is not meant to suggest that Ali’s later accomplishments in life should be in any way undermined. Rather, it presents a detailed account of the first phase of a great American’s life story. It tells a story that has been undeservedly overshadowed, until now.

The sport of boxing was Muhammad Ali’s springboard and his Grand Stage. Within the confines of the squared circle, Ali did the work that began and confirmed his legend. It was inside the ring where Ali fought and defeated the best fighters of heavyweight boxing’s greatest age. It was inside the ring where he met champions such as Archie Moore, Sonny Liston, Floyd Patterson, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, and George Foreman. For the handful of prominent fighters from this era who did not face Ali, such as Ingemar Johansson, Eddie Machen, Leotis Martin, and Thad Spencer, their careers were much the lesser for that.

This iconic champion’s life has been literally a global tour de force, but his boxing career remains the foundation of an extraordinary public persona. Inside the ring is where the legend began. The Cassius Clay Story is the story of the beginning of that legend.

part 1:

the early years

THE LEGEND began in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17, 1942. That was the day Cassius Marcellus Clay, Junior was born to Cassius and Odessa Clay. The story of the introduction of young Cassius to boxing at age 12 has been well-told. While Clay’s amateur career is not the subject of this book, for completeness’s sake a brief summary is in order:

The story goes that in 1954, Cassius had ridden his bicycle to a Louisville auditorium to see a show. Upon leaving the show, he discovered that his bike had been stolen. The grief-stricken boy was told he should report the theft to the police, and there happened to be a police officer named Joe Martin in the downstairs gymnasium of the Columbia Auditorium. Cassius was crying and spouting off to Officer Martin about how he was going to whup whoever stole his bike. The officer responded to young Cassius that if he was going to whip anyone, he’d better learn how to fight.

Cassius soon joined the Columbia Gym, winning his first amateur bout over a kid named Ronnie O’Keefe. Clay would ultimately represent the United States in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, boxing in the light-heavyweight class, where he won the Gold Medal. Cassius Clay’s amateur record is listed most often as being 100 wins versus five losses. However, according to Ken Hissner of Dog House Boxing, in an article dated March 18, 2010 on the Web site http://www.doghouseboxing.com, Clay actually had eight losses before turning pro. These were to James Davis, John Hampton, Donnie Hall, Terry Hodge, Jimmy Ellis, Kent Green, Amos Johnson, and Percy Price. In the article, Hissner claims to have been sent a copy of Clay’s amateur record by a New Jersey boxing official.

BACK HOME in Louisville, the legend continues that Clay soon found out that his being a Gold Medal champion did nothing to change the fact that he was a young Black man living the South. He was still subject to the old Jim Crow laws that said he had to ride the back of the transit busses, enter reputable hotels only from the rear, and obey signs that designated certain privileges were reserved for Whites Only. Enraged by this, Clay is purported to have thrown his Olympic medal into the Ohio River. (This part of the legend may only be mythical. If it really did take place, a wrong was righted when Muhammad Ali was presented with a replacement Gold Medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.)

Cassius was determined to go professional, feeling already that it was his destiny to become the heavyweight champion of the