Early Life

Cassius Marcellus Clay was born om January 17th, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. His father, Cassius, Senior, was a sign painter, while his mother, Odessa, worked as a maid for wealthy white folks in Louisville. A precocious but polite child, young Cassius was raised as a God-fearing Baptist along with his younger brother Rudy. In his younger years he gave no indication to his athletic future. He steered clear of sports, preferring to play marbles with Rudy or read comic books on his bed. In 1954, when he was twelve years, Cassius and a friend rode their bicycles to the Columbia Auditorium, which was hosting the Louisville Home Show. They spent the afternoon checking out the wares of various African-American merchants and gorging themselves on the free popcorn and candy that was on offer. When they emerged from the exhibition, the boys were dismayed to discover that Cassius' brand new red and white Schwinn bike was missing. It had been stolen. Cassius was livid with rage. Crying and upset he began asking people if they'd seen who took his bike. A woman suggested that he report the theft to Officer Joe Martin who operated a boxing gym in a nearby basement. Finding Martin, Cassius explained what had happened, adding that he was going to 'whup' whoever had taken his bike. Martin, who had been coaching youth boxing for decades, asked the boy if he knew how to fight. When Cassius admitted that he didn't, the officer suggested that he'd better learn. It was the beginning of a long friendship and a glorious career.

An Emerging Champ

Cassius threw himself into boxing training with a passion and commitment that impressed Martin. Although he had very little natural skill, he had more heart than anyone else in the gym. He'd race to the gym every day as soon as school let out and would even train on Saturdays. Martin had never seen a kid work so hard. Outside of the gym, Cassius stayed away from anything that would interfere with his training. He was displaying the kind of determination and discipline that was lacking in many of the older boxers that Martin coached. Martin introduced Cassius to a local boxing trainer named Fred Stoner, who helped to teach him the fundamentals of the sport. Under the guidance of these two men, young Clay began winning one amateur bout after another. Month after month, year after year, a handful of amateur wins built up a formidable record. By the age of 18 he had won 108 bouts, six Kentucky Golden Gloves championships and two national AAU titles. In the ring, Cassius was fearless. He carried a self confidence and believe in his ability that put his opponents off guard before the first round bell had even sounded. But in his personal life he struggled. He was a poor student, with his teachers unable to understand why he couldn't transfer the dedication he put into his sport to his studies. No one realized at the time that his struggles in school were due to the reading disability, dyslexia. In February, 1957, Professional Boxer Willie Pastrano visited Louisville with his trainer, Angelo Dundee. Cassius found out where he was staying and phoned Pastrano's hotel room. The phone was picked up by Dundee. Cassius blurted out that he was going to be the world's greatest boxer and that he wanted to meet Pastrano. With nothing on their schedule that afternoon, Dundee and Pastrano invited Cassius to their hotel room. For the next several hours, Cassius peppered Pastrano with questions, only pausing long enough to predict his own future greatness. A bemused Angelo Dundee was impressed with the boy and kept in touch with him. He sometimes sent Cassius and his family free tickets when one of his boxers had a fight lined up in Louisville.

In March, 1959, Cassius was training in a gym in Chicago, Illinois prior to an AAU title bout. He overheard some other boxers talking about a group called the Nation of Islam, who were espousing Black pride. Back home in Louisville, he decided to learn more about the group by doing a school assignment about them. However, his teacher shut the idea down, telling him that the group were dangerous and that they preached hatred against all white people. Clay, however, was still intrigued by the Nation of Islam. He got hold of a copy of a newspaper they put out and reading as much as he could about them. At the same time, he was wrestling with the weighty decision about what direction to take his boxing future. People had been talking him up as a hot prospect for the 1960 Olympics in Rome. At that time, only amateurs were eligible to compete at the Olympics, so he had to decide if he was going to turn professional or compete in Rome as part of the United States boxing team. He turned to Angelo Dundee for advice. Dundee told Cassius that he could earn more money as a pro if he was an Olympic champion first. As a result, he decided to stay an amateur and compete in the Olympics.

By the time the American Olympic team were set to depart for Italy, Clay was in peak physical condition and mentally primed for victory. But, there was one slight problem – he was terrified at the prospect of flying on a plane. In fact, he was so terrified that he almost passed up the opportunity to represent his country. He only relented when his old friend and mentor, Joe Martin, convinced him to fly with a parachute on his back! Fortunately, Cassius didn't need to operate his parachute and the plane touched down in Rome without incident. He began his Olympic campaign with a quick two-round win over Belgium's Yvon. That victory was followed with a win over the Soviet Union's Genrdiy Shatkov, the gold medal winner at the 1956 Olympics. Cassius then triumphed in the semi-finals, defeating Australia's Anthony Madigan. The only man standing between Clay and Olympic glory was Poland's Zbigniew Pietrzykowski. In contrast to Cassius, who had only been boxing for six years, Pietrzykowski was a three-time European Champ and had even won bronze at the 1956 Olympics. However, it was Clay who played the more aggressive game, throwing an avalanche of punches to take a first round lead. The Polish champ was unable to recover and, at the end of three rounds, Cassius claimed the Olympic Light heavyweight gold medal. Cassius returned to Louisville a local hero, with even the mayor turning out to receive him. He was so proud of his victory that he wore his gold medal everywhere. About a week after his return, he and a friend ducked into a restaurant to get out of the rain. But when they tried to order a couple of cheeseburgers and milkshakes, they were told that the restaurant did not serve Black people and were thrown out. Cassius Clay was an Olympic champion. Yet he was still a second class citizen in his hometown. Standing on the Second Street Bridge, he grabbed his gold medal, ripped it from his neck and threw it into the Ohio River.

Turning Pro

Despite his frustration with the social climate, Cassius was facing a bright boxing future. Turning professional, he was sponsored by a group of local white businessmen who agreed to sponsor him. They offered to pay him ten thousand dollars up front and to cover all of his training expenses. In return, they would take half of his earnings for the next six years. Despite his impressive victories in Rome, boxing pundits didn't expect a great career for Clay. The consensus was that had quick footwork, but not much else. He spent too much energy, they said, dancing around the ring and, when he leant back to protect his face, he would leave his body exposed. However, Cassius relied on his long reach to strike his opponents from a distance. Cassius wanted to train under Angelo Dundee, but his sponsors sent him to California to work with a trainer by the name of Archie Moore. He made his pro debut in front of his home crowd on October 29th, 1960. His opponent was Tunney Hansaker. Clay won the fight with a unanimous six round decision. It was a great start to his pro career. But Clay wasn't happy with Archie Moore's training style and he headed to Miami and asked Angelo Dundee to take over as his trainer. Dundee agreed, but it meant that Cassius had to live in a very rough neighborhood that was filled with gangs, drugs and prostitution. Still, he took immediately to his new training environment, flourishing under the tutelage of Dundee.

By now it had become evident that Cassius was a master self promoter. In fact, his mouth worked faster than his fists. He never tired of announcing that he was the greatest, the prettiest and the fastest athlete to ever step into a ring. But, he was soon encouraged to talk even more. In June, 1961, Clay traveled to Las Vegas for a boxing match. While in Vegas, he went to see a wrestler by the name of Gorgeous George. Cassius watched as George acted outrageously, trash talking his opponent for an upcoming match. He talked endlessly before, and even during, the match. The whole crowd rooted for the other guy. After the match, Cassius met George backstage. The wrestler explained that his self promotion was designed to get as many people as possible to pay to come and see someone shut his mouth. He advised Clay to keep sassing his opponents and to always be outrageous. He also told him to find a gimmick to set himself apart. Clay soon found his gimmick – he would predict the round that he would win the match in.