Muhammad Ali: A Tribute to the Greatest

by Thomas Hauser

  OSCAR BROWN, JR. [WHO LATER WROTE THE MUSIC FOR “BUCK WHITE,” THE BROADWAY SHOW THAT ALI STARRED IN DURING HIS EXILE FROM BOXING]: My wife Jean and I and Jesse Jackson were over at Joe Louis’s house. Jean, Jesse, and I were sitting with Mrs. Louis in the dining room. Joe was in the bedroom, laying in bed, looking at television. Then he came to the door, and said, “Cassius is on TV; Cassius is on TV.” So we all got up to see Ali on TV. He was being interviewed, and he was saying, “I’m not an Uncle Tom like Joe Louis.” He kept on ranting and calling Joe Louis an Uncle Tom, and I’m standing there with Joe Louis. I don’t know how on earth it happened that I got into that position. The Lord just put me there, I guess. Joe didn’t say anything. He just went on back to bed. But the next time I saw Ali, I made a point of telling him, “I can’t stand to have the hero of my adulthood talking like that about the hero of my childhood. Joe Louis meant so much to us. No matter what you think, you have no right to say those things about him. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know what conditions Joe Louis came up under. If it hadn’t been for Joe Louis, you wouldn’t be here.”

  JOE LOUIS BARROW, JR: My father was not very happy to hear Muhammad Ali call him an Uncle Tom. He didn’t appreciate that. Joe Louis was very different from Muhammad Ali. He was a quiet individual. He was a humble individual. He didn’t talk a lot. My father was not into mouth. He was not into being braggadocious. And he had a speech impediment, so he didn’t articulate a lot. But he believed in this country, and he didn’t like Muhammad Ali questioning what he felt. Joe Louis loved America. He knew that America had its problems. He was treated as an inferior citizen, and he fought against that in his way. He didn’t picket; he didn’t march. And he was criticized in the sixties for not being more vocal, but those who criticized him didn’t have a sense of history. And frankly, I was disgusted with Muhammad Ali when he called my father an Uncle Tom, because Ali didn’t relate at that point to who Joe Louis was and what Joe Louis meant to this country.

  JOSE TORRES [FORMER LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AND ALI BIOGRAPHER]: Ali and Joe Louis had harsh words for each other. They had different beliefs about religion. They had different beliefs about patriotism. But I think what really bugged Ali about Joe Louis was that Louis never gave Ali credit for being a great fighter. And Joe Louis was a great fighter himself, so he had to know how truly great Ali was.

  PAT PATTERSON [THE CHICAGO POLICEMAN WHO SERVED AS A SECURITY AIDE TO ALI]: There were some hard feelings early on, but Ali and Joe Louis got to be friendly later. And there was one thing I’ve never figured out. When Ali saw Joe Louis, he’d start dancing and boxing, throwing punches real close to Joe’s face, right in his face. “I’ll eat you up; you’re too slow; come on, Joe.” Every time, he’d do that. Joe would move back, like he didn’t want to be bothered, and Ali would keep it up; dancing around him, throwing punches real fast. It never failed. And all of a sudden, Joe Louis would reach out and slap Ali right upside the face. Bop! A left hand, real quick. That would end it. And I never figured out whether Ali allowed it to happen that way or he couldn’t stop it. Because, you see, Ali was a humanitarian and he got a kick out of making you be who you were and making you better than you were supposed to be. So I don’t know if he let Joe Louis slap him or not.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I’ve been getting phone calls lately on my reclassification from 1-Y to 1-A. Reporters have been nagging at me. You know how they pick at you and twist things you say and make you say things you really don’t know what you’re talking about. They’ve been asking questions, and I have been with my big mouth, as usual, popping off. This time it got me in a little hot water.

  FERDIE PACHECO: Ali’s United States Army IQ score was 78. So what! Measuring Ali’s intelligence with a standard IQ test is like trying to measure joy or love with a ruler.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I’m against all war. I said that before all this draft-card burning stuff. I made a speech at a white college in Buffalo, New York. When I got to the room where I was gonna talk, they had thirty-four signs stuck up on the walls and behind the platform. The signs said things like, “LBJ; how many kids did you kill today?” So I told the man who invited me there, I wouldn’t talk until they took all the signs down.

  REPORTER: Why won’t you fight for your country?

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I’m a minister of my religion, and this country has laws for ministers. George Hamilton; why don’t he fight for his country? He’s making a movie. Joe Namath; why don’t he fight for his country. He’s playing football.

  REPORTER: Joe Namath has a bad knee.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Yeah; ain’t that silly. I saw Joe Namath playing football the other day. Twenty-seven passes out of forty-three is all he hit. Go talk to him about fighting for his country. I’m not using them as excuses, but you all keep jumping on me like I’m the last one; like you’ll lose the war if I ain’t in it.

  NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL [PUBLISHED ON APRIL 29, 1967]: Citizens cannot pick and choose which wars they wish to fight any more than they can pick and choose which laws they wish to obey. However, if Cassius Clay and other draft-age objectors believe the war in Vietnam is unjust, they have the option of going to prison in behalf of their beliefs. Civil disobedience entails a penalty, but the risk is less than for those young men who willingly serve their country in Vietnam and other places of hardship and danger.

  REPORTER: Are you worried about not projecting a good image?

  MUHAMMAD ALI: What do you mean, project a good image? An image to who? Who don’t like the image I project? That’s the weakest thing I’ve heard yet; I’m not a good image. For my people, I’m the best image in the world.

  JERRY IZENBERG [SPORTSWRITER]: Ali against Zora Folley was the last time that the crowd at an Ali fight was comprised almost totally of boxing fans. Later, we saw the capes and gold chains and beautiful people and whatever. This was like the last hurrah for an era.

  HOWARD COSELL: It seems to me that you’re taking Zora Folley too lightly.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Why would you say that?

  HOWARD COSELL: Because every indication has been that you’re confident you can beat Zora—

  MUHAMMAD ALI (interrupting): I’m confident I can whup all of them. This ain’t nothing new. What are you trying to make it look like something new for? I’m always confident.

  HOWARD COSELL: You’re being extremely truculent.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Whatever truculent means, if that’s good, I’m that.

  JOHN CONDON [DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY FOR MADISON SQUARE GARDEN]: When Muhammad was getting ready to fight Zora Folley at Madison Square Garden, there were a lot of public relations problems. But number one on the list was the fact that he’d indicated pretty clearly that, if he was drafted, he wasn’t going to go into the Army. Then, about two weeks before the fight, I got a telephone call from Jack Hand of the Associated Press, who told me that Muhammad’s appeal of his Selective Service classification had been unanimously rejected by the National Appeals Board. So I went over to Gallagher’s Steakhouse, where Ali was having dinner. He and Angelo were leaving when I got there. I told them, “Let’s sit down; there’s something I have to tell you.” So we went back into Gallagher’s and I gave Ali the news. He didn’t get excited; he didn’t seem upset. All he did was look at Angelo and say, “Angelo, you better tell them to sweep out that jail cell, because it looks like that’s where I’m going.”

  BARNEY NAGLER [SPORTSWRITER]: Muhammad Ali has claimed exemption from the draft because he is mostly concerned with preaching the words of Elijah Muhammad. The Supreme Court must decide whether it accepts Elijah’s teachings as a religion and Ali as a preacher of those teachings. The boxing commissioners, being students of comparative religion, long ago cast their votes against the only authentic heavyweight champion in the world. How easy it is to espouse the popular side of an argument; how much more difficult to stand firm in behalf of a cause believed righteous in the way Muhammad Ali stands. Ali is only a prizefighter. Perhaps too much store is put in the case of just o
ne self-defined pacifist. But he has chosen to challenge a system that, he believes, deforms his people. And his choice is that of a man of principle.

  KWAME TOURE [FORMERLY STOKELY CARMICHAEL]: Going to jail was my job. I’d been arrested twenty-five times in Mississippi and Alabama. So when they told me, “We’ll send you to jail for five years,” what I did was, I sat down and worked out a list of books that I’d finally get a chance to read. I wasn’t worried. I’d get a chance to sleep, no telephones. I’m used to jail. I wasn’t giving up anything. But Muhammad Ali had everything. Fame, glory, money, women, good looks, champion of the world. So when Muhammad would call me—we’d speak back and forth on the telephone—and he’d tell me, “I ain’t going,” I’d say, “Yeah; right on!” But I always wondered, when that final moment comes and he actually has to take that step, how will it come out? Because, no question, the FBI viewed Ali as more of a threat than H. Rap Brown and myself. Muhammad Ali had a broader base than we had. The government recognized that Muhammad Ali could cause more trouble than all of us. That’s why we understood that the weight of the blow would be hardest against Muhammad Ali. They were going to take his championship crown; no doubt about it. They were going to prosecute him; no doubt about it. They were going to do everything possible to bring him to his knees. Of all the people who opposed the war in Vietnam, I think that Muhammad Ali risked the most. Lots of people refused to go. Some went to jail. But no one risked as much from their decision not to go to war in Vietnam as Muhammad Ali. And his real greatness can be seen in the fact that, despite all that was done to him, he became even greater and more humane.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: When a man’s guilty, you don’t just say, “You’re guilty.” You hold court and prove it, and then you say he’s guilty. You don’t tell a man he murdered somebody without giving him a chance to explain and without letting the world see why you’re condemning him. I never heard of them taking nobody else’s title. People such as Sonny Liston have been in jail fifteen or twenty times. There’s people with scandals, people who’ve been caught in their cars, breaking speed limits and carrying guns. And they don’t get suspended, so what’s the reason for suspending me?

  WALLY MATTHEWS [SPORTSWRITER]: It’s very difficult to explain to young people today how important Ali was, because the society has changed so much over the past thirty years. Now black pride is taken for granted. People understand that it’s possible to be a patriotic American and still believe that the war in Vietnam was wrong. And everything today is driven by money; particularly in sports, where athletes think they’re making a sacrifice if they can’t wear clothes with their favorite logo on them at an Olympic awards ceremony. I mean, how do you explain to a twelve-year-old that Muhammad Ali, based on an act of principle, risked going to jail and sacrificed the heavyweight championship of the world. Try explaining that to a young person today. He’ll look at you like you’re crazy; or maybe he’ll think it was Ali who was crazy.

  RON BORGES [SPORTSWRITER]: My father, who’s eighty-eight years old now, isn’t the most liberal person in the world. He was a construction worker for most of his life and he never liked people who talked a lot. But when Ali was willing to go to jail for his beliefs, that got my father’s attention. He told me, “You know, I don’t agree with what this guy is doing, but he’s all right. You get very few chances to be a man in life, and this guy takes advantage of them.” And I’ll tell you something else. My father voted for George Wallace in 1968 and for George McGovern in 1972. That’s quite a change, and I have to believe that watching Muhammad Ali was part of what influenced him.

  REGGIE JACKSON [HALL OF FAME BASEBALL PLAYER]: I remember how I felt when Martin Luther King was assassinated. There was no one to cling to except Ali. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d had that kind of leadership burden thrust upon me. I do know that, ten years later when Ali lost to Leon Spinks, I was at my peak as a sports hero. I was Mr. October. And I knew even then there was no way I could begin to carry that load.

  JIM BROWN [FORMER FOOTBALL GREAT AND FOUNDER OF THE BLACK ECONOMIC UNION]: Ali is the only person I’ve ever seen who I knew was protected. Against all odds, he always came up with something because he’s a spiritual person, and I don’t necessarily mean religion. One thing I know for sure; you can’t use logic when you talk about Muhammad Ali.

  OSCAR BROWN, JR.: I heard the term “exile” used in connection with Ali’s inability to defend his title for a considerable amount of time, but I never thought of it as an exile. It was more just a rip-off and a robbery. Ali didn’t go anyplace; he was still here. The title didn’t go anyplace. The symbol of who is truly the champion of boxing is a belt that’s got diamonds and stuff, and all through the whole period you’re talking about, Ali had that belt in his living room. No, boxing was in exile. Boxing went away from its own standards. Boxing went away from its own creed. Boxing went away from the championship belt. It’s nonsense to talk about Ali being in exile. Ali was right here.

  RAMSEY CLARK [FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES]: His independence was of a different order of independence; almost inherent, as if he was born that way. I’ll bet you anything that, when he was five years old, he was like that. He just did what he thought he ought to do. He wasn’t born to be forced. He’s a totally independent human being. And to some people, that’s very dangerous.

  BILL BRADLEY [FORMER BASKETBALL STAR AND UNITED STATES SENATOR]: Muhammad Ali was important because he was self-possessed in the best sort of way. The fact that he was heavyweight champion added to people’s awareness of him and what he believed. But what was most admirable, regardless of his title, was his willingness to take a stand. That’s something everyone has to learn if we’re to become whole human beings. And because Ali did it, he was a powerful influence on many lives. Because of him, people became convinced that, if they stood up for their beliefs, they could prevail.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Everyone has a right to their own opinion.

  PAT PATTERSON: There was something about Muhammad that, once you were in his presence, it didn’t matter what you thought about him; you reveled at being there. People who thought they hated his guts would see him, come over, and shake his hand. Even racist redneck bigots would hold out their babies for him to kiss.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Life is strange. When I wasn’t allowed to fight, it was the Jewish newspaper people [Jerry Izenberg, Robert Lipsyte, Stan Isaacs, Leonard Schecter] and the Jewish TV people [Howard Cosell] who supported me most.

  JAMES EARL JONES: Ali visited the set at Twentieth Century Fox when we were filming The Great White Hope. We got in the ring together. We were both wearing boxing gloves. The photographers were busy flashing. Muhammad said, “Go ahead, hit me as hard as you can.” Well, I’d played the Jack Johnson character since the play opened on Broadway. I’d been put through my paces by real boxing trainers. So I gave Muhammad my best left hook; he blocked the blow. And in the process, quite accidentally, he broke my thumb. You know, when a fighter like Ali blocks a punch, the block is devastating in its own power. I felt the pain immediately.

  MUHAMMAD ALI [AFTER SEEING THE GREAT WHITE HOPE ON BROADWAY]: One thing is bothering me. What are they gonna do fifty years from now when they write a play about me? I wish I knew how it was gonna turn out.

  MUHAMMAD ALI [ON HIS THESPIAN CAREER DURING HIS EXILE FROM BOXING]: I was in a play called Buck White. The play was a flop; it lasted six days. But I was a hit.

  BARTLETT GIAMATTI [FORMER PRESIDENT OF YALE UNIVERSITY AND COMMISSIONER OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL]: It is Ali who brought to the surface the actor in every athlete more successfully and obsessively than anyone else.

  DICK SCHAAP: In 1969, the year the Mets won their first World Series, I spent the last few days of the regular season with the team in Chicago. Ali was living there at the time. I was writing a book with Tom Seaver, and the three of us went out to dinner together. We met at a restaurant called The Red Carpet. I made the introductions. And of course, this was the year that Tom Seaver was Mr. Basebal
l, maybe even Mr. America. Ali and Tom got along fine. They really hit it off together. And after about half an hour, Ali in all seriousness turned to Seaver and said, “You know, you’re a nice fellow. Which paper do you write for?”

  COED: Would you say you’re the greatest?

  MUHAMMAD ALI: I don’t say that no more. Would you say I’m pretty? Let me hear you.

  COED: I’m pretty.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: But you’re not just asking me to say I’m great. You’re asking me to say I’m the greatest. You say, I’m the prettiest.

  COED: I’m the prettiest.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: You’re lying! [The audience dissolves into laughter] No, darling; I was just playing. Don’t pay no attention. You’re as pretty as you believe and as pretty as you think you are.

  HOWARD BINGHAM [ALI’S PERSONAL PHOTOGRAPHER AND FRIEND]: Ali had one of those faces that you could not get enough of. All you had to do was aim, and every photo was an excellent photo. You could not miss with Ali.

  KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR: Ali would kid me all the time. He’d say I was almost as good-looking as he was. That’s the best compliment I ever got; someone saying I was almost as good-looking as Ali.

  MUHAMMAD ALI: Talking is a whole lot easier than fighting.

  HOSEA WILLIAMS [CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST]: When Ali gave up the championship, he became America’s number one role model in the black community. And when he came back, he truly convinced us all that, if you stand up and speak out for what is right, you will win in the end; that as tough as it is, even though you’re black and poor, you can make it if you really try.

  BRYANT GUMBEL: Joe Frazier was an available symbol behind whom people who hated Ali could unite. Was it Joe’s fault? Of course not. In fact, one of the sad stories to be written about that era is that Joe Frazier never got his due as a man. In some ways, he symbolized what the black man’s struggle was about far more than Ali did. But it was Joe’s misfortune to be cast as the opponent of a man who was the champion of all good things.