Fellow traveler Muhammad Ali passed yesterday. The man lived a great life. Some would say the greatest life. Now it’s time to reflect and put Ali where he belongs — in the pantheon of the giants.
One such reason he deserves to be there is a story that has emerged about Ali almost not being allowed to be the final torch bearer for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. The head of the organizing committee, Billy Payne, expressed concern with going with someone he perceived as a Vietnam War draft dodger. NBC executive Dick Ebersol had to step in.
Muhammad Ali may be, outside of perhaps the Pope, the most beloved figure in the world. In the third world, he’s a hero. In the Muslim world, he’s a hero and fellow traveler. To anybody young — just about — in the United States, he’s a man of great moral principle who was willing to go to prison.
Ebersol carried the day and Ali was back in. It gave us this moment, a moment of triumph for the ailing Ali:
I still remember watching that moment on TV. It brought a tear to my eye then, and it does now.
Ali had refused to fight in Viet Nam in 1967 when he was drafted. This led the state of New York to find him guilty of draft dodging. He was stripped of his title and denied travel visas. Ali didn’t run away. He fought for his constitutional right to abstain from being a soldier on moral grounds. Ali was willing to go to prison for 3 years instead of die in Vietnam. Eventually the US Supreme Court overturned the conviction and Ali had another victory under his belt. The Supreme Court ruling was unanimous in Ali’s favor — 8-0.
Ali lost 3 years of income due to his moral stance. But it set the stage for a hell of a comeback when he fought Frazier in the Fight of the Century in 1971. It was a great one.
