Muhammad Ali - for want of a bike

 

Odessa and Cassius Clay's first child, Cassius Clay jr., was born on January 17, 1942. Their second son, Rudolph Clay, was born two years later in September. Odessa Clay made a living as a domestic Helper, while Cassius Clay painted billboards and signs around their hometown in Louisville. The parents named their baby "GG" because he made that sound when they played with him as he lay in his crib (Ali later jokes that what he was really trying to say was "Golden Gloves"). 

    Clay jr. Lived a relatively normal life until he was 12 years old. In the summer of 1954, Clay and his little brother went to the summer festival in their town, and Clay parked his brand new bike near the festival. But as they were heading home, the bike was no longer there. Clay surveyed the neighborhood for the bike, crying and threatening to break the offending hand. His friends advised him to go see Joe Martin, a Black police officer who taught boxing at a local gym. 

    Clay then told the story to Martin and cautioned him that clay was going to apprehend the thief before Martin took justice in his own hands. then, Martin suggested Clay that he should learn how to fight before actually getting into one. Amazed by the artistry displayed by the youngsters in the gym, Clay soon forgot about the bike and began focusing on another prize: prizefighting. 

   Clay trained tirelessly with Martin at the Columbia Gym for the next three years. Before his thirtienth birthday, Clay appeared on a locally televised boxing show produced by Martin. The show was named Tomorrow's Champions.

    Clay was already a local Hero by the time he entered Louisville's Central High School at age 15. Media attention began in September 1957 with a three-paragraph story in the Louisville Courier-Journal acknowledging his extraordinary boxing abilities. In December 1957 Clay travelled to Cincinnati for the National Golden Gloves championship, his first of many successful appearances. He lost fewer than a dozen fights over the next three years and quickly earned national recognition as one of the best amateur boxers in the nation. He easily earned a spot on the American boxing team for the 1960 Olympic games in Rome, Italy. 

    In September 1960, Clay won a gold medal at the Olympics in Rome. On his flight home, he prepared a poem that he read at a small group of supporters at the airport:

    How Cassius Clay Took Rome

    To make America the greatest is my goal

    So I beat the Russian, and I beat the pole

    And for the USA won the medal of gold

    Italians said: "You're greater than the Cassius of old

    We like your name, we like your game

    So make Rome home if you Will."

    I said: " I appreciate your kind hospitality

    But the USA is my country still

    Cause they waiting to welcome me in Louisville."

    After that, Clay spent two years taunting sonny Liston. When Liston's managers finally relented, they felt pretty certain that Liston would win and generate millions of dollars from ticket sales. But alas, Clay's game plan paid off. On February 25, 1954, Liston stepped into the ring with Clay at Madison Square Garden. Seven rounds later, Clay stepped out of the ring and went into history as the new heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

    But Clay did not live happily ever after. On February 26, Clay admitted at a horde of reporters that he was a member of the nation of Islam, or as the press called it: "Black Muslims". He also was rejecting his christian name and is taking an Islamic name: "Muhammad Ali". Battle lines were quickly drawn around Ali by the media, the military and people who controlled professional boxing.

    On February 27, the day after he made the announcement, a U.S. Army spokesman told reporters that Ali would be drafted in quick order. Members of congress and professional boxing said that Ali was "morally unfit" to hold boxing's champion belt. For them, he was a bad symbol for american youth. And sports writers refused to acknowledge Clay's new name and insisted on calling him cassius. Ali's reaction to the army's decision was as quick as it was unexpected. "You want  me to do what the white man says and go to war against some people I don't know nothing about and get some freedom some other people when my own people can't get theirs here?" Ali asked. He said that he would not fight for his country, and would go to jail but never to war.

    when he was officially refused to be induced on April 28, 1967, he was immediately stripped off his boxing title and banned from fighting in his own country and most of the western world. One month later, in Houston courtroom, Ali was fined $10,000 and given a 5-year prison term. Ali's career spiraled downward, and he found it difficult to make it financially. He had to borrow pennies from friends and accept meals from strangers who admired him. But no matter how worse things got, Ali always believed in himself. "Allah okays the adversary to try us", he said. " That's how he sees if you're a true believer."

    Three years later, the trial for Ali began. through monitoring telephone calls and surveilling physical activities, the FBI testified that the supreme court could revise some control over his fate. Then, on June 28, 1971, the supreme court accepted Ali's appeal. One month later, Ali was back in the ring after a 3-year layoff. Even though Ali lost three of his most promising years as an athlete, he held on to something far more important: his faith and the faith of his fellow men.

    Today, even after Ali's death, he is the best-known person on the planet according to the public opinion polls. The Guinness Book of World Records listed Ali as the "most-written-about human being who ever lived", and placed him in front of Lincoln, Jesus and Napoleon. 

    And to think that this hero who everyone admires might have not been one if it weren't for a thief - whom no one knows...