Words of Wisdom

The Transformation and Ascension of Young Cassius Clay



                      

                         The Rematch 1965 Lewiston Maine

Many people know of the fighter Muhammad Ali and the greatness of his legacy, but 
some don't know the backstory that made one his most remarkable accomplishments even more extraordinary. This entry highlights the villainous background of the once

invincible fighter whom he dethroned to become the heavyweight champion 50 years ago. It also provides a description of some of the action that took place from various rounds of the highly anticipated bout. Finally, the text describes an account of one of the most bizarre occurrences in the history of professional boxing, one that the then little known Cassius Clay would have to also fight through if he were to become the heavyweight champion of the world.

“I feel great, I don‘t have a mark on my face and I just upset Sonny Liston and I just turned 22 years old. I must be the greatest!” These were the words jubilantly expressed by the then 8-1 underdog as he was being interviewed by Steve Ellis after fighting and defeating one of the most feared heavy weight champions that ever lived.

The night of February 25,1964 in Miami Beach, Florida the transformation and ascension of young Cassius Marcellus Clay into Muhammad Ali began, but the historic victory through which he

metamorphosed and meteorically rose could very well not have happened, at least not then.

How could it have been that Cassius Clay, a 22 year-old unproven fighter had won the 1964 heavyweight championship title fight?  Many experts had predicted that he would fold under the inexperience of his youth. Not only was he expected to lose the fight, he was expected to lose by a knock-out. Clay had only 19 professional bouts. Although he was undefeated and appeared well skilled as an up and coming fighter, his victories were not against the highest level of competition in the heavyweight division. Also he had been knocked down and almost counted out in his previous contest by England's Henry Cooper, a challenger considered to be a far less adept fighter than the rugged opponent he would meet for the title. Clay's opponent for the title fight would be Charles Sonny Liston, the world’s heavyweight champion at the time.  Liston was a career felon who started his boxing career while serving time in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Liston looked and acted the part dramatically well. He was more physically imposing than Clay and with a record of 35-1 he was far more experienced than his youthful challenger.  Included on his resume and documented in an article written by Jack Puma for Classic Sports, was an arrest of Liston for assault of a policeman in Saint Louis. Liston reportedly broke his knee, gashed his face and took his gun, for which he served nine months in the city workhouse. In a different incident after he was released, a hardened Liston assaulted another officer and left him upside down in a trash can.  Liston's record of bad behavior in the ring was equally menacing. On the very first punch he threw as a professional, he knocked his opponent out.  Then he walked through the division of heavyweight contenders competing for the throne like he was taking a stroll through the park and snatching candy from babies. In his first attempt to win the title he beat one of the best heavyweights ever, Floyd Patterson by an astounding first round knockout and for good measure in the rematch he knocked Patterson out again in the very first round.

It was in part because of Liston's violent nature that Clay fittingly nicknamed him, "The Big Ugly Bear". Liston struck paralyzing fear in the minds of his adversaries before his fights and inflicted paralyzing pain to their body's during them. Going into the championship fight with Clay, because of the criminal element and his pugilistic prowess, Liston was clearly viewed as having the advantage in the public's eye as well as with odds makers. Already the favorite to win, a couple of weeks before the fight
Liston gained another psychological edge.  It was described in Thomas Hauser‘s book, The Life and Times of Muhammad Ali. Clay saw Liston while Liston was losing at the craps table in a Las Vegas Casino. Clay taunted him. An upset Liston threw the dice and threatened Clay. Clay left. A short time later Liston saw Clay, walked up to him and slapped him. After Clay sheepishly responded by asking Liston, "What you do that for?" After answering with an expletive, Liston turned to a friend standing nearby and said, “I got the punk’s heart now”.

Fast forward, two weeks later to the Miami Beach Convention Center. Clay and Liston meet in the center of the ring for the introduction and the stare down. Standing face to face Liston glared at Clay in a curiously mean way, as if part of him was trying to frighten Clay and the other part was trying to figure out what to make of him and all of his pre-fight antics. Clay, slightly taller, peered down at Liston with a facial expression that exuded a silent confidence that boldly stated that he had no respect for him, and no fear of him. After the men returned to their corners Clay bounced lively up and down in his corner as he anxiously awaited the sound of the bell to start of the match. When the bell rang for the first round Liston came out and immediately pressed the fight. He pursued Clay aggressively throwing several punches. He was unsuccessful at landing any as Clay moved away effortlessly. Several seconds into the fight, still throwing hard punches, Liston missed one and Clay countered with a well timed pin point accurate left hook. Midway through the round, Liston swinging wildly with all of his might continued to miss punches. Later in the round for several seconds more, an undeterred Liston proceeded to stalk Clay as Clay fluidly danced away. Then suddenly Clay stopped and stood his ground, at which point he became more offensive. He carefully landed a quick jab as he simultaneously dodged Liston's punches. Then Clay, switching from defense to offense at a second's notice gradually started to establish control of the round by landing more lightning quick jabs.  An undaunted Liston relentlessly attempted to attack Clay, whose movement beautifully displayed a style of illusiveness that had never been seen. Conditioned to expect Clay to move away during his pursuit, Liston became more of an easy target when he moved in and the much quicker Clay stood and  went toe to toe with him. Near the end of the round Clay landed a solid combination and barely missed another while slipping Liston's punches. As the bell sounded to end the round, unable to hear it because of crowd noise, the fighters continued to fight until they were separated by the referee. Despite all of his effort Liston had only managed to land a few grazing punches and to the surprise of Liston, the experts and many of the spectators, the round was over and Clay was still standing. The end of the first round also signaled the beginning of the realization to the befuddled Liston, who had been handled unlike ever before that he was in for one of the toughest fights of his professional career. 

Early in the third round, Liston barreled forward and Clay unleashed a fury of hard punches that staggered Liston. It was the highlight of the round. As the round progressed Clay appeared to tire and Liston landed a few significant blows.

Before the bell rang to start the fifth round, Clay stood in his corner blinking his eyes and intently asking his trainer Angelo Dundee to cut his gloves off because he couldn‘t see. Something had mysteriously gotten into his eyes and impaired his vision.  Dundee attempted to flush his eyes with water to restore his vision but to no avail. Dundee persuaded Clay to go back out. He instructed him to avoid any physical contact by posturing defensively and moving away. The prospect of beating Liston with good vision was already a monumental task. Now to win the heavyweight title, he would have to overcome a critical disadvantage, temporary blindness. As instructed, Clay went back out and exposed himself to the ferocious attack of the Big Ugly Bear. Liston, immediately aware that something was wrong, savagely went after Clay, swinging with wild abandon and renewed vigor. Clay covered up and struggled to stay away from his opponent who seemed rather anxious to end the fight instantaneously. Clay desperately tried to hang on as the heavy handed hitter went after him even more aggressively.  Then suddenly out of nowhere Liston hit Clay with a huge left hook! It wasn’t clear if Clay had been hurt as he continued to back away with his hands up to protect his face. As time was running out in the round and Clay’s vision gradually returned he started to fight more offensively, and at one point to the amusement of the crowd, he even taunted Liston by peppering his face with several soft but bothersome jabs. Shortly thereafter Liston's effort ended with the round in futility.  At least for the time Clay had managed to survive an attempted mauling that was intensified by a blindsiding twist of fate.

Having been tested in the previous round, at the start of the sixth round Clay showed tremendous poise as he moved confidently around the ring demonstrating that he was in total command of the contest. Using his trigger quick jab Clay tagged Liston hard repeatedly, seemingly at will and generated surprising force with his stinging power punches. He was virtually flawless as he continued to moved from offense to defense as necessary to avoid being hit. Between round six and seven Liston's corner men worked frantically to close the cut under his left eye as he sat there on the stool looking like a man who had been beaten into submission. Then suddenly, it was over! Liston, one of the toughest fighters ever to lace up a pair of gloves refused to come out for the 7th round to defend his title, making him the only heavyweight champion in history to lose his championship belt by way of retirement.  

Through the course of the fight in Miami Beach that night Clay transitioned from contender to champion. Shortly after his magnificent rise to greatness he changed his name to Muhammad Ali.


                                                 http://youtu.be/bvzw9xSuEHY

Chuck Berry: The Vine of Rock and Roll

                                          

Photo By: Linda Gardner

Born 87 years ago on October 18th, Charles Edward Anderson Berry became one of the most influential pioneers in music.  Better known as Chuck Berry, his musical contribution is considered to have been a vine for the growth of rock and roll. The popularity of the genre expanded greatly through Berry as it vibrantly moved from his unique lyrical style, electrifying guitar solos and his animated showmanship. Berry cleverly fused his catchy tunes with the common experiences of teenage life. The formula crossed over into mainstream music and gave a loud voice to the first generation of rebellious teens.  Driven by the themes of automobiles, rock and roll and education, the lyrics and music to his songs revved up vivid imagery of what American teen culture was like and led to several hits, including School Days, Maybellene and Johnny B. Goode. Berry scored his only number one song on the Top 100 Billboard in 1972 with “My Ding a Ling”. Berry holds the distinction of being the first inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1984.  Referring to the style of music, John Lennon once said that if you had to give it another name, "You might call it Chuck Berry". Considered by some to be the father of rock and roll, Chuck Berry is a native of Saint Louis, Missouri. The home that he once lived in  is located on Whittier Street and  is registered as a National Historic Site. A statue of  Berry was erected in the Delmar Loop, an area of his hometown. The structure stands not far from the Blueberry Hill landmark restaurant and music club where the "Vine of Rock and Roll" still performs once a week.

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East St. Louis Trayvon Martin Rally/March

                                   
On July 20th childhood friends of Tracy Martin, Tommie Liddell, Undre Howard, Reginald Jordan and Raymond House with the assistance of Stephanie Miles planned and organized a march/rally in Martin’s hometown of East St. Louis, Illinois. The march to the United States district court and the rally that took place there were to show love and support for Martin in his continued fight for justice in the aftermath of the acquittal of his son's killer. The peaceful demonstration, attended by several hundred people, started at the East St Louis Board of Education. It occurred under the umbrella of the National Call to Action Day, a nationwide protest where people in over a 100 cities marched on the lawns of federal courts to pressure the U.S. Justice Department to file charges against George Zimmerman for the violation of Trayvon Martin’s civil rights.

Barry Malloyd, a minister at Mount Sinai M.B. Church and author of the book Mama Said Write It, started the rally on a spiritual note.  He petitioned God with a passionte prayer asking that justice be served in the nationally known case. Malloyd said, "Truth crushed to stone will rise again." He also pleaded for peace in East St.Louis, a community plague by violence and crime.

Among  the featured speakers were personal friends of Tracy Martin, Tommie Liddell and Raymond House, Ayonna Khayyam, financial literacy educator and vice president of Young Money Entertainment Inc., and Saint Louis radio personality Carol Daniel.

House (left) professed the community's love for the Martin family. He said, "East St. Louis loves Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton and we are especially proud of them for the way they have expressed themselves with dignity, from the circumstances surrounding their son's death and throughout the trial of the man who killed him. They took the high road when there where so many other avenues they could have taken".

Daniel (left) delivered a powerful message to the youth in attendance. She said “We need you to be all that Trayvon Martin will never be”.

Liddell (right) read a statement from Martin to the residents of East St. Louis. His message in the wake of the aquittal verdict was “My faith is being tested right now".
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14 year-old Khayyam (right) also addressed the younger people. She said "Knowledge is the key to success. If you're illiterate nobody's going to take you seriously, and with our generation, not taking school seriously, society is going to treat us like a joke"!

As Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton continue to pursue justice in the killing of their son, they are advocates of the Trayvon Martin Foundation, a non-for-profit organization that raises awareness of ethnic, gender and racial profiling. A goal of the organization is to educate youth in the area of conflict resolution as part of a larger effort to prevent deadly confrontations between them and strangers.                                                                         

                                                                                               

East St. Louis Trayvon Martin Rally Speech

                                            

Photo by Linda Gardner-(center) Raymond House

Good Afternoon Everyone. No Justice! No Peace! No Justice! No Peace! East St. Louis loves Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, and we are especially proud of them for the way they have expressed themselves with dignity, from the circumstance surrounding their son’s death and throughout the trial of the man who killed him.  They took the high road when there were so many other avenues they could have taken.

Last year when they came to support the stop the violence rally here in East St. Louis, we the friends of Tracy Martin, presented him and Sybrina with a plaque in memory of their son Trayvon. Inscribed on the plaque was our pledge to them and our prayer for them.  As written it reads “We stand with you, we support your fight for justice and we pray that God continues to be your strength”.  That was our promise then and in the overcast of the verdict, it remains the same. We stand and support them in their continued fight for justice.

Similar to the nationwide marches that led the state of Florida to charge George Zimmerman with second degree murder last year, there are nationwide marches now to have charges filed against him in federal court. Today is a national call to action and people all over the country have answered by marching, because we want an investigation to determine if Trayvon Martin’s civil rights were violated. George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, lied about the circumstances surrounding it, never explained it court and was still found not guilty by the jury. There is a grave injustice in that!

In the community of common sense we don’t believe for a minute that Trayvon was peering through windows and looking at houses, just because Mr. Zimmerman said he was.  Who does that when walking from the store in the rain while talking on the phone in a neighborhood where they have business to be? In the community of common sense we do believe that George Zimmerman created reasons to report Trayvon Martin to the police, to portray him as a suspicious person.  What really made him suspicious?  In the community of common sense we do believe that if Trayvon Martin were white George Zimmerman would have gone on to Target instead of making him a target.  He would have stayed seated in his vehicle and we would not have had to question whether he was standing his ground or not.

Fifty years ago, a march driven by the force of a quarter of a million people traveled to Washington D.C. to fight for civil rights and against this kind of discrimination. Because of that march and the laws passed behind it, forty-five years later an African American man was able to walk into the White House, not as a servant, but as the president of the United States, the highest office of power in the world. As far as he has come as an African American man to get there, if an African American boy isn’t able to walk a few yards to a house in neighborhood he’s visiting, without being discriminated against and being killed, then we as a people still have a long way to go. Thank you

The March on Washington 50th Anniversary

http://youtu.be/LkntwZKBpWw

A walk from the National Mall to the White House is a relatively short distance to travel. Depending on the starting point and the pace the stroll could take as little as thirty minutes. At any rate, if  you begin from where African Americans began fifty years ago it would be a much longer journey. On August 28, 1963 from a place of second-class citizenship, a group of African Americans and their supporters gathered at the National Mall for the March on Washington. The march was a demonstration for freedom and jobs. Driven by a force of a quarter of a million people its influence would travel through time to the White House and into history.

As a vehicle of the civil rights movement, the March on Washington carried its message of equality for African Americans from the National Mall on Capitol Hill to the the floor of the legislature in Congress. Dispatched from the Lincoln Memorial, the message boldly served as a notice of intent to reform. Adjoined with a civil rights bill proposed by President Kennedy, it trudged through the bureaucracy of Washington. The moving message prompted the passage of two important laws in successive years, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Impelled into reality by the march,  the landmark laws embarked on a mission to remove the road blocks of injustice that prevented minorities from moving forward. Persevering for decades through systemic racism the enduring statutes went on to break down those barriers.  Consequently, a path toward better educational and employment opportunities was constructed. It was through that path that the course of life for black people changed and the way was paved for the first African American to arrive at the White House as the president of the United States.

On January 21, 2013, four years after serving his first term as president, Barack Obama arrived at the National Mall again, almost fifty years after the March on Washington.  He was there to be sworn in for his second term as president.  He took the oath on the holiday named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, the keynote speaker at the March on Washington. The bible used to swear him into office was Dr. King's traveling bible.

    

Dred Scott: Statue of Freedom

                                                                                             

Photo By Raymond House

In the mid 1800’s a legal issue in the state of Missouri involving slavery further flamed the debate of whether to abolish it and eventually led to the Civil War.  At the center of the controversy was Dred Scott.  He had been born a slave around 1799 to the Blow family in Virginia.  After the family relocated to Saint Louis they sold Scott to John Emerson.  When Emerson died Scott tried to buy his freedom from the estate of Emerson’s wife who inherited him as property. The attempt was unsuccessful and in 1846 with the help of legal representation, Scott filed suit in the Saint Louis Circuit Court. The basis of his argument hinged on the fact that he had been taken by his owner from the slave state of Missouri into areas where slavery was against the law. This was a violation of “Once free, always free”, a common law doctrine that had been previously recognized by the courts. The law made it illegal for slaves who had ever been freed to be enslaved again.  Under the ownership of John Emerson, Scott had lived with him in the free-state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin.  The governing entities in anti-slavery areas also supported the view that time spent by slaves in free-states and territories made them free. Since there were no laws within their boundaries to govern the possession of slaves, they believed that slave owners with slaves in their jurisdictions forfeited their rights to own them.  Without a legal precedence of someone trying to obtain their freedom after leaving a free area and returning to a slave state, the court had to determine a course of action.  In 1847 the case went to trial and despite the favorable legal presence of the Once Free, Always Free Law and the strong anti-slavery sentiments of abolitionists, the judgment went against Scott and he remained a slave. However, due to the evidence of hearsay discovered after the verdict, the judge ordered a re-trial.  In the second trial, citing the fact that Scott had been wrongfully enslaved while living in free-areas a jury decided to grant him his freedom.  Displeased with the decision, his owner appealed it and in 1852 the Missouri Supreme Court overturned it.  The court stated that “Once free, always free”, which had been adhered to for the previous 28 years was no longer applicable.  Scott was returned to a life of slavery. Since Scott’s owner lived in New York, his lawyer was able to have the case retried under appeal in the federal district court. Another trial was held. Nevertheless, the original decision was upheld, Scott lost his case and again was denied his freedom.  In 1857 the case went to the United States Supreme Court. It decided against awarding Scott his freedom too. The judge ruled that no person of African ancestry could claim citizenship in the United States. Furthermore, since he was not considered a citizen, it was illegal for him to file suit in a federal court. The court also concluded that granting Scott his freedom after he temporarily lived in anti-slavery areas, would have denied his rightful owner of possessing his property, which would have been a violation of the Missouri Compromise.  Still considered as the property of the newly married heiress Irene Emerson, Scott's status was reaffirmed to be that of a slave.  Emerson's marriage prior to the Supreme Court verdict was the start of an unexpected turn toward freedom for Scott.  Emerson's husband was an abolitionist and had been unaware that his wife owned the most controversial slave in the country. After finding out, he and his wife decided to return Scott to his original owners, the Blow family.  The Blow family had also become abolitionists and just four months after the Supreme Court ruling they released Scott and his wife Harriet.  Finally after years of fighting court battles as a slave Scott was free. In September 1858 he went to work as a porter and less than two years later he died from tuberculosis. In 1863, a few years after Scott's death the Emancipation Proclamation, an executive order by President Lincoln started the process of freeing all slaves.


Interestingly, it was in the court of law that Scott pursued his liberty, but it was through the court of changing public opinion that he gained it. As the progressive attitude to abolish slavery grew it persuaded the people who owned Scott to set him free.  Perhaps it’s fitting where the statue of Scott and his wife erected in 2012 is located. 155 years after its ruling to keep him enslaved the statue of Dred Scott stands in the yard of the Saint Louis Old Courthouse. Ironically, as a lifeless sculpture he has gained more freedom outside the courthouse than he was able to as a living person inside of it.