Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, 1942 – 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky. Began boxer at age 12 by 18 won gold medal 1960 Olympics and turned professional that year with the nicknamed “The Greatest”. Became Muslim after 1961 and 1964 renounced his birth name as a “slave name” and changed to Muhammad Ali. In 1966, Ali refused the drafted owing to his religious and ethical beliefs’ to the Vietnam War. They were guilty of draft evasion and stripped of his boxing titles, but his conviction was overturned in 1971.
One of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, and can be ranked as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time. The objector to the Vietnam War, made him an icon of the 1960s counterculture generation and a respected figure of pride for African Americans.
