Ali

by Jonathan Eig

  The FBI had suspicions: FBI memo, July 30, 1965, FBI Vault.

  “I think Sonny gave that”: Geraldine Liston, interview, ESPN Classic.

  19. TRUE LOVE

  “How could I stand by seeing you”: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 200.

  “I’ll be right there”: Jerry Izenberg, interview by author, January 20, 2015.

  “She put on a short short”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 155.

  “plain and simple” floor-length dresses: “Muslim Dispute with Wife May Lead to Clay Divorce,” Fort Pierce (FL) News Tribune, June 24, 1965.

  “That was the breaking point”: Safiyya Mohammed-Rahmah, interview by author, August 6, 2015.

  “That man’s gonna be on top”: Abdul Rahman, interview by author, August 19, 2016.

  “in a manner such”: FBI report, February 6, 1968, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  Herbert had tried to sleep with Sonji: Rahaman Ali, interview by author, August 29, 2014.

  “Herbert couldn’t control her”: Rose Jennings, interview by author March 10, 2014.

  “I just love my husband”: “Muslim Dispute with Wife May Lead to Clay Divorce.”

  “He won’t see me”: “Clay’s Wife Gets $350 Partial Aid,” Fort Pierce (FL) News Tribune, July 1, 1965.

  “I would like to say that I loved her”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 155.

  “They’ve stolen my man’s mind”: Ibid., 149.

  “I have no one in mind”: Ibid., 156.

  “He went through hell”: Rahaman Ali, interview by author, August 29, 2014.

  “to long and determined dining”: Mark Kram, Great Men Die Twice (New York: St. Martin Griffin’s, 2015), 76.

  “fat and piggy looking”: Odessa Clay, interview by Jack Olsen, n.d., Jack Olsen Papers.

  “He dirty. Muhammad dirty”: Ibid.

  Herbert Muhammad had made: “Woman Beaten, Nab Son of Muhammad,” Chicago Defender, October 13, 1962.

  Agents reported that Herbert received: FBI report, January 14, 1966, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  “He is ‘money crazy’ ”: FBI report, January 16, 1967, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  “The part of being”: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  “Herbert Muhammad could not read”: Rose Jennings, interview by author, March 10, 2014.

  He also studied to: Safiyya Mohammed-Rahmah, interview by author, August 6, 2015.

  “the ultimate decider of everything”: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  Ali had been borrowing: Gordon Davidson to Muhammad Ali, January 6, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  He didn’t spend much: Memo: “Detail of Advances to Clay during 1964,” March 17, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  Ali paid the insurance: Gordon Davidson to Chauncey Eskridge, March 9, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  He told one boxing promoter: Hank Kaplan, interview with Muhammad Ali, n.d., Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.

  took it as a personal affront: Gordon Davidson to Joseph Thomas, February 8, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  Ali got in his car immediately: Gordon Davidson to Archibald Foster, December 9, 1964, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  Ali’s take from the Liston fight: Worth Bingham memo, n.d. (1965), Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  “When we pointed out”: Arthur Grafton, memo to Louisville Sponsoring Group, August 5, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  “our boy” and “his unsophisticated mind”: Archibald Foster to Arthur Grafton, August 9, 1965, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  $3.5 million mosque: Ibid.

  “The longer we talked”: Ibid.

  “It was a bruising day”: Ibid.

  20. A HOLY WAR

  “truth, fact, and reality”: Muhammad Ali, interview with Hank Kaplan, n.d., Hank Kaplan Boxing Archive.

  approved by Herbert Muhammad: Ibid.

  “It’s going to be the first time”: “Playboy Interview: Cassius Clay,” Playboy, October 1964.

  “Uncle Tom Negro”: Cottrell, Muhammad Ali, Who Once Was Cassius Clay, 240.

  “I am a Negro and proud to be one: “ ‘I Want to Destroy Clay,’ ” Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1964.

  “I have rights, too”: Floyd Patterson, “Cassius Clay Must Be Beaten,” Sports Illustrated, October 11, 1965.

  “Come on, American!”: Cottrell, Muhammad Ali, Who Once Was Cassius Clay, 243.

  “A happiness feeling came over me”: Floyd Patterson and Gay Talese, “In Defense of Cassius Clay,” Esquire, August 1966.

  “I got a feeling I was born”: “Rabbit Hunt in Las Vegas,” Sports Illustrated, November 22, 1965.

  “He had something like”: Olsen, Black Is Best, 166.

  “It wasn’t that he wanted proof”: Ibid., 167.

  in the trunk of his Cadillac: Ali and Durham, The Greatest, 188.

  As his contract with: “Memo to the Executive Committee of the Louisville Sponsoring Group,” January 11, 1966, Gordon B. Davidson Papers, Filson Historical Society.

  “I am vitally interested”: Ezra, Muhammad Ali, 93.

  “who gives me strength”: FBI memo, June 14, 1967, FBI Vault.

  “obviously now being completely”: Arthur Grafton, “Memo to the Members of the Louisville Sponsoring Group,” Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  at least one member of the group: Memo to the Executive Committee of the Louisville Sponsoring Group, January 11, 1966, Gordon B. Davidson Papers.

  “The fight racket has been turned”: Ezra, Muhammad Ali, 93.

  Arum presented the idea: Bob Arum, interview by author, November, 17, 2015.

  Arum was summoned to a meeting: Bob Arum, interview by author, June 22, 2016.

  When the meeting was over: John Ali, interview by author, April 4, 2015.

  getting about a third: FBI report, February 6, 1968, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  He was making so much: FBI report, January 16, 1967, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  “and this was his reward”: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  neither he nor anyone else in the Nation: John Ali, interview by author, April 4, 2015.

  “The Nation was not dependent”: Ibid.

  “The more I think”: Archibald Foster to Louisville Sponsoring Group, February 8, 1966, Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  “relinquish our contract”: Arthur Grafton, “Memo to the Members of the Louisville Sponsoring Group,” Louisville Sponsoring Group Papers.

  21. NO QUARREL

  “The answer is blowin’ ”: “Fighter Charges Board with Bias,” New York Times, February 18, 1966.

  the death toll would triple: “Statistical Information about Casualties of the Vietnam War,” April 29, 2008, National Archives, http://www.archives.gov/­research/­military/vietnam-war/­casualty-statistics.html#date.

  white cracker sergeants: Robert Lipsyte, An Accidental Sportswriter (New York: Ecco, 2012), 73.

  “How can they reclassify me 1-A?”: “Fighter Charges Board with Bias.”

  “Halloran went inside”: Bob Halloran and Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  “Yes, sir, that was a great surprise”: Muhammad Ali interview, n.d., sound recording, Jack Olsen Papers.

  Ali and his friends gathered: Ibid.

  “I am a member of the Muslims”: “Clay Wants KO in ‘Flight of Century,” Tucson Daily Citizen, March 28, 1966.

  antiwar protesters had used the phrase: Stefan Fatsis, “No Viet Cong Ever Called Me Nigger,” Slate, June 8, 2016, http://www.slate.com/­articles/­sports/­sports_nut/2016/­06/­did_muhammad_ali_ever_say_no_viet_cong_ever_called_me_nigger.html.

  He named Elijah Muhammad: “Selective Service System, Special Form for Conscientious Objector,” February 28, 1966, National Archives and Records Admi
nistration.

  “Slave Name Cassius M Clay Jr”: Ibid.

  “the greatest American patriot”: “Jim Murray,” New Journal (Mansfield, OH), February 23, 1966.

  “If I knew everything I had said”: “Clay Not on March Draft List,” Kokomo (IN) Morning Times, February 22, 1966.

  But before the hearing: FBI report, January 16, 1967, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  “That’s when they threw us out of Chicago”: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  “If the Bay of Pigs”: Cleaver, Soul on Ice, 118.

  “I was determined to be the one nigger”: “The Black Scholar Interviews: Muhammad Ali,” in Early, ed., The Muhammad Ali Reader, 89.

  “It doesn’t look right”: “Clay Says He Is a Jet Plane and All the Rest Are Prop Jobs,” New York Times, March 25, 1966.

  “Elijah Muhammad pumped a lot of poison”: Gordon B. Davidson, interview by author, April 18, 2014.

  using his personal credit card: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  “warrior on the battleground of freedom”: “Showdown with a Punching Bag,” Sports Illustrated, March 28, 1966.

  When one of Ali’s sparring: “Clay Knocked Down by Sparring Partner,” New York Times, March 20, 1966.

  “I mean Jesse, the youngest”: “Historicist: The Heavyweight Showdown,” Torontoist, March 23, 2013, http://torontoist.com/­2013/03/­historicist-the-heavyweight-show-down/.

  “Harder! Harder!”: “The Battle of Toronto,” New York Times, March 30, 1966.

  Chuvalo outpunched Ali: Punch counts tabulated for the author by CompuBox, Inc.

  “monolithic”: Eddie Futch, interview by Ron Fried, n.d., courtesy of Ron Fried.

  “the hardest thing I’ve”: “Champion Hails His Rugged Rival,” New York Times, March 30, 1966.

  “I got to go dancing with my wife”: George Chuvalo, Chuvalo (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2013), 176.

  22. “WHAT’S MY NAME?”

  “Standard Oil doesn’t try”: “Champ in the Jug?” Sports Illustrated, April 10, 1967.

  “Is my baby okay?”: “Intimate Look at the Champ,” Ebony, November 1966.

  Usually, he landed better: Punch counts tabulated for the author by CompuBox, Inc.

  “It showed total income”: Capital Accounts memo, Worth Bingham Papers, Louisville Sponsoring Group, October 20, 1966, Filson Historical Society.

  a balance of $109: Bank Statement, Citizens Fidelity Bank and Trust Company, Worth Bingham Papers, May 15, 1966, Filson Historical Society.

  “we also showed young men”: “Cassius and His Angels Are Parting Friends,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 16, 1966.

  The match would air: Ezra, Muhammad Ali, 115.

  Ali said he wanted: “The Massacre,” Sports Illustrated, November 21, 1966.

  “manfully and uselessly”: Ibid.

  “Trouble with Clay”: Joe Louis, “How I Would Have Clobbered Cassius Clay,” The Ring, February 1967.

  “Why you want to say ‘Cassius Clay’ ”: Howard Cosell interview with Muhammad Ali and Ernie Terrell, December 28, 1966, ESPN Classic, www.youtube.com.

  “I got nothing against”: “The Left That Was,” Sports Illustrated, February 6, 1967.

  “I want to torture”: “Cruel Ali with All the Skills,” Sports Illustrated, February, 13, 1967.

  “No, I don’t believe”: “Muhammad Ali vs Ernie Terrell [Full Fight],” www.youtube.com.

  “a kind of a lynching”: Hauser, with Ali, Muhammad Ali, 165.

  23. “AGAINST THE FURIES”

  “A house is on fire, pretend”: “Learning Elijah’s Advanced Lesson in Hate,” Sports Illustrated, May 2, 1966.

  “If total integration would”: “My Friend Cassius,” Louisville Courier-Journal Magazine, July 31, 1966.

  “not to be held up as an example”: Hauser, Muhammad Ali, 280.

  “Well, we weren’t brought here”: “The Black Scholar Interviews: Muhammad Ali,” Black Scholar, June 1970.

  “Six-foot-two and a half”: “The Sex Symbol,” Inside Sports, November 30, 1980.

  Martin Luther King Jr. had begun speaking: Andrew Young Jr., interview by author, August 11, 2014.

  “It was about the same time”: Ibid.

  “may become a new symbol”: “Cassius vs. Army,” New York Times, April 30, 1967.

  “he is taking the ultimate position”: Tom Wicker, “In The Nation: Muhammad Ali and Dissent,” New York Times, May 2, 1967.

  “that great theologian”: “Clay May Cause Draft Law Change,” San Antonio Express, August 26, 1966.

  “While thousands of our finest”: “Congressman Takes Swing at Clay’s Draft Status,” San Antonio Express, Feb. 22, 1967.

  “I am sure history will look”: FBI memo, February 23, 1967, FBI Vault.

  “seriously consider submitting”: Allen J. Rhorer to Ramsey Clark, May 9, 1967, Muhammad Ali Collection, National Archives and Records Administration.

  “He can come”: FBI memo, Chicago bureau to director, March 17, 1966, FBI Vault.

  “because of his publicity value”: Ibid.

  secured signed statements: Hayden C. Covington to Muhammad Ali, September 2, 1966, personal collection of author.

  “I told the Honorable Elijah Muhammad”: Ibid.

  “Retire. Tonight.”: “Muhammad Ali vs Zora Folley — March 22, 1967 — Entire fight — Rounds 1 — 7 & Interviews,” www.youtube.com.

  “The trickiest fighter”: “Zora Folley Ranks Muhammad Ali as No. 1,” Sports Illustrated, April 10, 1967.

  “I’ve left the sports”: “Taps for the Champ,” Sports Illustrated, May 8, 1967.

  24. EXILE

  “mainly consisted of joking”: FBI memo, February 6, 1968, Herbert Muhammad File, Malcolm X Manning Marable Collection.

  “We’re all black brothers”: “Clay, Dr. King Call Talk ‘Renewal of Fellowship,’ ” Louisville Courier-Journal, March 30, 1967.

  “Check me out on this”: “As Preacher, Cassius Is Forced to Settle for a Split Decision,” Louisville Times, March 30, 1967.

  “Why should they ask”: “Clay, Dr. King Call Talk ‘Renewal of Fellowship’.”

  “Oh, they liked it”: “As Preacher, Cassius Is Forced to Settle for a Split Decision.”

  “greatest purveyor of violence”: “Beyond Vietnam,” April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, Stanford University, http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/­encyclopedia/­documentsentry/­doc_beyond_vietnam/.

  “an instrument in the hands”: David Garrow, The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: Penguin Books, 1981), 182.

  “stand up for my religious”: “High Court Delivers Blow to Clay,” Abiline Reporter News, April 18, 1967.

  “I gave him no more advice”: Howard L. Bingham and Max Wallace, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000), 145.

  On the morning of his: “Taps for the Champ.”

  “it would lighten our trip”: “Cassius Joked, Danced Right up to Refusal,” Louisville Courier-Journal, April 29, 1967.

  “The action of the sports”: “Clay Refuses Induction, to Lose Boxing Crown,” Louisville Courier-Journal, April 29, 1967.

  “Mama, I’m all right”: “Taps for the Champ.”

  25. FAITH

  about ten minutes in jail: FBI memo, June 14, 1967, FBI Vault.

  Herbert Muhammad had suggested: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, unpublished memoir, n.d., courtesy of Khalilah Camacho-Ali.

  “exponential”: Safiyya Mohammed-Rahmah, interview by author, August 6, 2015.

  “Do you know who I am?”: Ibid.

  she was working two jobs: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, interview by author, March 28, 2016.

  silver Eldorado: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, unpublished memoir.

  alone with a man in a car: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, interview by author, November 21, 2014.

  completed the last three miles: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, unpublished memoir.

>   “I wanna see what”: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, interview by author, March 1, 2016.

  “She loved Ali so much”: Safiyya Mohammed-Rahmah, author interview, August 6, 2015.

  They were married: “Muhammad and Belinda’s Wedding Cloaked in Secret Maneuvering,” Chicago Defender, August 23, 1967.

  Ali’s parents flew to: “Cassius Takes Bride in Chicago Ceremony,” Atlanta Constitution, August 19, 1967.

  Herbert Muhammad stood: “Nuptials for Muhammad Ali,” Chicago Defender, August 21, 1967.

  For their honeymoon: Khalilah Camacho-Ali, interview by author, March 27, 2016.

  “I married a man with no job”: Ibid.

  “Krim went to see Lyndon”: Bob Arum, interview by author, June 22, 2016.

  “to convince Ali to take the deal”: Bob Arum, interview by author, November 17, 2015.

  “But I wasn’t setting it up”: Ibid.

  When Brown met with: Jim Brown, interview by author, June 25, 2014.

  “My first reaction was”: Willie Davis, interview by author, November 19, 2015.

  “Well, I know what”: “I’m Not Worried about Ali,” Sports Illustrated, June 19, 1967.

  John Wooten confirmed: John Wooten, interview by author, November 19, 2015.

  “Hey, man, all you’d do”: Curtis McClinton, interview by author, November 19, 2015.

  Bill Russell was fascinated: “I’m Not Worried about Ali.”

  “Three, four, five hours”: Jim Brown, interview by author, June 25, 2014.

  “There’s nothing new”: “Clay Won’t Reconsider,” Kokomo (IN) Morning Times, June 5, 1967.

  “We heard his views”: Ibid.

  “He has something”: “I’m Not Worried about Ali.”

  Two weeks later, an all-white jury: “Clay Guilty in Draft Case; Gets Five Years in Prison,” New York Times, June 21, 1967.

  “Clay should serve his time”: Bingham and Wallace, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, 162.

  “I’m with you”: Ibid., 179.

  FBI agents watched Ali’s house: Charlotte Waddell, interview by author, October 2, 2015.

  “You could hear people talking about it”: Dave Zirin, What’s My Name, Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2005), 67.

  “What kind of America is it”: Mike Marqusee, Redemption Song (London: Verso, 1999), 165