He was born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942. At 18, he won Olympic gold in Rome. In 1964, at 22, he beat Sonny Liston and became heavyweight champion of the world. Soon after, he joined the Nation of Islam and took the name Muhammad Ali.
In 1967, with the Vietnam War raging, he was drafted. On April 28, 1967, at the induction center in Houston, his name was called. He did not step forward. He said his religious beliefs would not allow him to fight in the war.
The punishment came fast. Boxing officials stripped him of his heavyweight title and took away his license to fight. In June 1967, a jury convicted him of draft evasion. The sentence: five years in prison and a ten-thousand-dollar fine. He stayed free while he appealed, but for more than three years, at the very peak of his career, he was not allowed to box.
In June 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned his conviction. The vote was eight to nothing.
And in 1974, in Kinshasa, Zaire, Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman and became heavyweight champion of the world once again.
They took his title. He took it back.
