The character arc of Muhammad Ali
Born 17 January 1942 in Louisville. Died 3 June 2016 in Scottsdale. Between the two sit a stolen bicycle at twelve, Olympic gold at eighteen, the heavyweight title at twenty two, three and a half years banned in his prime for refusing the draft, a unanimous Supreme Court, and the crown regained in Kinshasa. The line below draws that whole life in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who was Muhammad Ali?
He gave up the crown and got bigger.
It began with a stolen bicycle. Twelve years old and furious, he told a Louisville police officer he was going to whup whoever took it, and the officer, who ran a boxing gym, suggested he learn how first. Six years later he had Olympic gold. At twenty two he took the world title from Sonny Liston and announced, accurately, that he had shaken up the world.
Then, at the peak of his powers, he refused induction into the army on grounds of conscience. Boxing stripped his title the same day. He did not fight again for three and a half years, the years an athlete never gets back, and he stood by the refusal through conviction, appeal and public fury until the Supreme Court reversed it without a single dissent.
The comeback ran through the hardest fights ever staged: Frazier three times, and in Kinshasa, at thirty two, the night he leaned on the ropes and let the strongest puncher alive tire himself out. He regained the crown few thought he would see again. His line is worth reading because its deepest dip was chosen, on principle, with the whole world watching, and the climb back made him bigger than the sport.
The moments
Muhammad Ali's timeline.
The 1950s
A stolen bike, a coach
Everyday. Twelve and furious about a stolen bicycle; officer Joe Martin said learn to fight first.
The 1960s
Olympic gold in Rome
Milestone. Eighteen years old, and already narrating himself.
Took the title from Liston
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A seven to one underdog at twenty two. I shook up the world, he shouted, correctly.
Took the name Muhammad Ali
Everyday, and it changed his direction. Cassius Clay was, he said, his slave name. The papers took years to use the new one.
Take the easier road, or the stand
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: refuse the draft, taken, or take the arranged option. He said he would rather go to jail than betray his conscience, and the cost made the stand mean more.
Refused the draft
Setback, and it changed everything. Stripped of the title the same day and banned from the ring in his prime.
The 1970s
Returned against Quarry
Milestone. Three and a half years of his prime were gone. Three rounds said the rest was not.
Lost the Fight of the Century
Setback. Frazier put him down in the fifteenth. First defeat, and the start of boxing's greatest trilogy.
The Supreme Court freed him
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The conviction was reversed without a single dissent. The stand had held.
The Rumble in the Jungle
Milestone, and it changed everything. Rope a dope: he let Foreman punch himself empty, then took the crown back at thirty two.
The Thrilla in Manila
Milestone. The third Frazier fight, fourteen rounds at the edge of what two people can give a sport.
The 1980s
The last fight
Everyday. Sixty one professional fights. He called time at thirty nine.
Parkinson's was named
Setback. He carried it publicly for three decades, and kept showing up.
The 1990s
Lit the Atlanta flame
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A trembling hand held the torch steady, and the stadium stood for him.
The line ends 3 Jun 2016, in Scottsdale. What it set moving has not ended: the title he gave up for his conscience now outweighs the ones he won, and every athlete who speaks up pays a little less than he did, because he paid first.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
His took seventy four years and three crowns. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Thomas Hauser, Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times, 1991.
- Clay v. United States, 403 U.S. 698, 1971.
- The Olympic records of 1960 and 1996.
- The fight records: Miami Beach 1964, Atlanta 1970, New York 1971, Kinshasa 1974, Manila 1975.
- The Muhammad Ali Center, Louisville.