RIP Mohammed Ali
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Rest in Power Champ
- Thread starter deadheadskier
- Start date
jimk
Well-known member
I have pretty clear memories of his entire pro boxing career. No doubt one of the most riveting athletes in American sports history. I don't recall his '60 Olympic victory, but I was fully aware of his first title bout when he beat Liston, it was in early '64 just a few months after JFK was shot. I was 10 yrs old. I followed all of his great fights over the years. I'm having a hard time thinking of another top athlete in my life time that was as "quotable" as Ali. He was surely a fight promoter's dream. His later battle with Parkinson's was one of life's great ironies. He was the ultimate trash talker, jokester/poet, and BS'r and yet started to have problems with speech almost immediately after retiring from boxing. He virtually lost his ability to speak for decades before his death. He was one of the most graceful, speedy, and highly coordinated heavyweight fighters of all time and he could barely walk for the last half of his adult life.
My feelings about his social legacy are a bit more mixed. I admired him for the graceful and humble way he accepted a terrible illness that struck him way too young. I was raised in a military family and his stance on the Vietnam war was not popular in my family. My dad was still in the Navy at the time this was going on. I felt like Ali used his money and fame to dodge the draft when others had to serve, but I recognize many viewed him as a legitimate anti-war protester. He was certainly an important civil rights figure and even a genuine religious figure. He seemed to do a lot of nice charity work in his later years with an eye on heaven. By the end of his life he had become a worthy icon of Black Pride.
Some beautiful quotes coming from George Foreman about Muhammad Ali.
My feelings about his social legacy are a bit more mixed. I admired him for the graceful and humble way he accepted a terrible illness that struck him way too young. I was raised in a military family and his stance on the Vietnam war was not popular in my family. My dad was still in the Navy at the time this was going on. I felt like Ali used his money and fame to dodge the draft when others had to serve, but I recognize many viewed him as a legitimate anti-war protester. He was certainly an important civil rights figure and even a genuine religious figure. He seemed to do a lot of nice charity work in his later years with an eye on heaven. By the end of his life he had become a worthy icon of Black Pride.
Some beautiful quotes coming from George Foreman about Muhammad Ali.
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MMP
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I did a book report on him when I was in 5th grade. RIP Champ.
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Not Sure
Well-known member
He had a training camp in Deer Lake Pa. , My friends Uncle would do work for him on occasion . Well one night they went to the local watering hole . "Country Squire" . The champ had one too many and passed out and fell off his barstool so Ira staggers over looks down and yells 8,9,10 ! and waves his hands. He always treated them well RIP.
Edd
Well-known member
As a kid, I was in awe of him. I even watched the Saturday morning cartoon he was in. Totally made sense to me that they'd make a cartoon of his adventures.
joshua segal
Active member
It is nice to see when those who were tried in the court of public opinion and through attempts by unethical government officials are vindicated: RIP Mohammed Ali, Pete Seeger, MLK Jr., Dalton Trumbo and probably many others.
Warp Daddy
Active member
As a college kid back when CC Morphed to MA it was taken with mixed reviews , many at the time thought he was a draft dodger who was using religion as a medium . Over time he became a man of substance and earned his rep as a pacificist . His athleticism was unsurpassed, his early self promotion and trashtalking was yet another controversial social barrier . Yet intuitively most ofus knew it was an act and a damn good one ....a trend setting tome forthe future.
Remember him whuppazzing that UGLY BEAR ( as hecalled Liston ). Who could ever forget his taunts I'm Pretty , ur an Ugly Bear etc etcand then he wore the big old man out in the ring. ALI. Was a force for good and displayed great courage in his decades long struggle and earned respect as he carried himself with grace and style . Even tho he was racked witha disease that took his fascile speech , he used his innate sense of humor well with MUGGING for the camera and feigning a punch at celebrities whenever they would engage him .
RIP. Champ !
Remember him whuppazzing that UGLY BEAR ( as hecalled Liston ). Who could ever forget his taunts I'm Pretty , ur an Ugly Bear etc etcand then he wore the big old man out in the ring. ALI. Was a force for good and displayed great courage in his decades long struggle and earned respect as he carried himself with grace and style . Even tho he was racked witha disease that took his fascile speech , he used his innate sense of humor well with MUGGING for the camera and feigning a punch at celebrities whenever they would engage him .
RIP. Champ !
joshua segal
Active member
It was a time when African Americans were treated very poorly in the military. The government was still working hard to enforce Jim Crow Laws and here we had a strong popular African American who had the gall to stand up for what he believed. Our thinking of the era was powerfully influenced by his vilification by the military, the FBI and the government. I don't believe he changed. Society changed around him.
steamboat1
New member
Pacifist my ass. He had no problem getting in a ring & beating someone to a pulp. Draft dodger.
G.O.A.T.
He made boxing a global event. When Ali boxed the world stopped and watched.
The first athlete to "brand" himself. A social icon. I will always love him for telling Don King the "get the f**k away from me" after he beat George Foreman in 74. There are not enough words to describe his impact.
A person who will in many ways live forever.
He made boxing a global event. When Ali boxed the world stopped and watched.
The first athlete to "brand" himself. A social icon. I will always love him for telling Don King the "get the f**k away from me" after he beat George Foreman in 74. There are not enough words to describe his impact.
A person who will in many ways live forever.
Edd
Well-known member
We all saw this dumb comment coming a mile away right?
joshua segal
Active member
Interesting. Are you are implying (or stating) that anyone who participates in competitive sports cannot be a pacifist? I don't know if Ali was a pacifist or not - but it was clear that he opposed the Viet Nam War and it was also the case that he received far harsher treatment than any Caucasian would have received. If he was a draft dodger, he was in good company and to give equal treatment to both political sides of the aisle: Bill Clinton and "W".
Yeah, it's definitely not apples to apples. I'm sure many NFL players would want nothing to do with killing others even though they play a very violent game every Sunday. Comparing sport to war makes little sense.
Warp Daddy
Active member
QFT many college athletes especially of that time frame ( myself included ) believed that the so called Gulf Of Tonkin Incident was a false flag . Many chose alternative paths rather than choosing to kill strivctly for the benfit of the military industrial complex . The so called resolution and incident were later believed by the mainstream to be bogus . I had a teammate at the time on our freshman football squad who was older and had served as an advisor in Vietnam in 1960-61 when it was a not yet a hot war and the area had been effed up atDien Bien PHu when the French had screwed up .
The VietNam conflict was highly unpopular at the time , many served to their credit ( i had a former hs teammate killed on his first day at Cam Ram Bay on a perimeter incursion ) Much turmoil , much social unrest and tension in WWII family who now had kids in college saying to old LBJ , HELL NO !,
steamboat1
New member
Which part about serving your country when called don't you understand?
Maybe we should just roll over & give it away because we object to violence.
Like I said no hero in my book.
Ask the 58,220 servicemen who died in Vietnam.
Maybe we should just roll over & give it away because we object to violence.
Like I said no hero in my book.
Ask the 58,220 servicemen who died in Vietnam.
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Are you a veteran steamboat? Have you ever had to make that choice?
dlague
Active member
Well I am and it is a part of his story that bothers me a bit. Then again, times were different then so I do not cast judgement. In the same respect my son served in Afghanistan but he volunteered to be in today's Army.
Thank you and your son for your military service. I certainly respect anyone's choice either way. I'm not anti-military. I'm also not against those who reject fighting the war of politicians, which Vietnam certainly was.
All vets are heroes, but I don't feel it's the duty of every man born here to be willing to die for the country in foreign lands that pose little threat. Not all wars are fought to protect our way of life. The wars in the Middle East certainly can be argued are doing just that. Vietnam not nearly so much IMO. I come from a military family myself. My grandfathers both fought in WW2 (one driving Patton's Jeep for a spell). My dad served in Korea. I respect the hell out of anyone who has served, but I don't cast judgement on those who choose not to.
jimk
Well-known member
Ali's status as a very famous Muslim from the "western world" gave him a unique global reach that perhaps no other major American celebrity ever had before him. Promoters capitalized on this by holding several of his biggest fights in exotic foreign locations. Among the many comments I read/heard yesterday that really drove this point home was from a guy from Pakistan (95% Muslim). This guy said he was from a rural area and remembered back in the 1970s when 500 people from his village gathered around a small TV set to watch one of Ali's televised fights. He said Ali was literally the only person they knew of from outside the country of Pakistan!
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