"I don't have to be what you want me to be," Ali said.
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Ali wanted little more than to be the heavyweight champion, and to be free to practice his religion. Supreme Court later overturned his case on a technicality. The decision never cost Ali a day in prison, even though he would be sentenced to serve five years for draft evasion. "I am going to die a Muslim," he said the day before.
His religion, Ali said, did not allow him to kill in Vietnam in the name of others. government called upon Muhammad Ali not once but three times to take a step forward for induction in the U.S. But as he stood with 11 other inductees, the U.S. The Associated Press used his birth name, Cassius Clay, in the story that fateful day in April 1967 in Houston. No one knew what to call this heavyweight champion, or for that matter knew what to think about him. "What's my name?" he kept asking Folley, who had refused to call him by his adopted Muslim name.įolley wasn't alone. "It's a testament to their commitment, their courage, their intellect, their understanding of the issues, and their potential role in rectifying some of these challenges that you have people like them in those positions who are willing to pay that price," said Harry Edwards, longtime civil rights activist and a sociology professor emeritus at University of California, Berkeley.Īli's final fight in the ring before taking on the government was at Madison Square Garden, where he punished Zora Folley before stopping him in the seventh round to remain unbeaten. Anybody that knows anything about football will tell you that he is a talented athlete and should be on somebody's team."īlack athletes have a storied history of being sidelined for speaking out, dating as far back to Jack Johnson in the early 1900s. That was the height of his career in his mid-20s, the heavyweight champion of the world. The 70-year-old Abdul-Jabbar, who has had conversations with Colin Kaepernick, said the former NFL quarterback who sparked league protests by kneeling during the national anthem before games, is paying a similar price.Īli "sacrificed a lot to take that position," said Abdul-Jabbar, author of "Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court." ''That was a great sacrifice on his part. But we let him know that we were behind him and eventually he won his case."īut Ali lost the heavyweight title and three years of what would have been the prime of his career during his forced exile from the ring. "That was important because America didn't think black Americans had any voice whatsoever," the basketball legend said.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said it was important for black athletes to stand with Ali, to show he had support within his community. People didn't believe him, but he believed." "He never wavered because he believed Allah was on his side. "He believed 1 million percent," said Gene Kilroy, Ali's longtime business manager. He had announced after beating Sonny Liston to win the heavyweight title in 1964 that he converted to Islam and was a follower of the Nation of Islam. Like many black athletes who stand - or take a knee - to speak out for political or social change, he paid a price for his actions.īut he never wavered, despite nearly going bankrupt and drawing the wrath of a good portion of a country that viewed him merely as a draft dodger. Revered by many at his death, Ali was equally reviled at that time.
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