The Rumble in the Jungle -- October 30, 1974
Today is the fortieth anniversary of one of the most iconic boxing matches in history: The October 30, 1974 "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire -- Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman (the defending world heavyweight champion). The story of that fight was best told in When We Were Kings, the 1996 documentary film directed by Leon Gast. Read about Ali's refusal to be inducted into the military & the black athletes that supported him below the fold, & then watch the fabulous When We Were Kings @ http://www.youtube.com/...
When Black Athletes Stood With Muhammad Ali
Will the fatal shooting of Michael Brown result in a rebirth of political activism among black athletes, or will heated tweets be the most that we see?
In early August, when unarmed teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, demonstrations erupted, a number of high-profile black athletes responded with angry tweets. In a pre-season National Football League game, some players from the Washington team demonstrated solidarity by running onto the field with their hands up – a gesture that along with the chant, "Hands Up, Don't Shoot," became a symbol of the Ferguson protests. While some of the tweeting athletes have millions of followers, these were individual statements, not organized collective action.
Although relatively small in scale, does the response of black athletes to the Michael Brown shooting, signal a rebirth of political activism?
Twenty years after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier, and at the height of both the civil rights and anti-war movements, an extraordinary meeting took place in Cleveland, Ohio. On June 4,1967, at 105-15 Euclid Avenue, a small group of mostly high-profile black athletes, including Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Walter Beach, Bobby Mitchell, Sid Williams, Curtis McClinton, Willie Davis, Jim Shorter and John Wooten, and soon-to-be Cleveland Mayor Carl Stokes, came together to question, and ultimately stand with, Muhammad Ali, after the then reigning heavyweight boxing champion of the world refused induction into the armed forces.
Support for Ali from those athletes was not a slam-dunk, especially from several of the men who had connections to the military. They peppered Ali with tough, probing questions. And, he responded with a humble sincerity that won them over.
Ali was stripped of his title because of his refusal to serve in the military, three years after winning the heavyweight title. He was eventually arrested and found guilty of draft evasion. Four years later, however, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction. Although he didn't spend time in prison, Ali's refusal to accept induction – even though he was told that he would not have a combat role - cost him some of the best years of his boxing career. The decision also earned him the anger and enmity of a vast number of Americans. At the time, he was the most polarizing man in America.
Despite the public's antagonism, or maybe in part because of it, Ali also become an icon for young blacks, and the anti-war and counter-culture movements.
("Ali regained the heavyweight title in 1974, defeating George Foreman in the 'Rumble in the Jungle,' the Associated Press' Bruce Schreiner recently pointed out. "A year later, he outlasted Joe Frazier in the epic 'Thrilla in Manila' bout. Ali's last title came in 1978 when he defeated Leon Spinks.")
It was a bold and risky action for black professional athletes - none of whom were making anywhere near the huge salaries of today's professional athletes and whose careers were put in jeopardy - to publicly announce their support for Ali.
Forty-seven years later, Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to receive the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award. I know about the award ceremony because my friend Bob Barber sent me e-mail with a link to a column by the New York Times' William C. Rhoden that mentioned the award, and reminded readers of that remarkable 1967 gathering.
"Photos from their news conference became iconic images; the moment itself would be remembered as the first — and last — time that so many African-American athletes at that level came together to support a controversial cause," Rhoden wrote.
One of the lesser-known athletes who stood with Ali that day was Walter Beach III. "It was an unforgettable moment," Beach told Rhoden. "It was one of the most significant moments in my life. Ali was one of the most principled and moral human beings on the planet at the time, with the sensitivity and courage to stand." Beach added, "We met as black men around a moral and ethical issue, not as celebrity football or basketball players."
Beach, a starting left cornerback on the Cleveland Browns 1964 World Championship team – the city's most recent championship in any major professional sport - has written a new self-published memoir called "Consider This." In the book, Beach discusses his football career, his close friendship with Jim Brown - he is the chief executive of Brown's nonprofit Amer-I-Can program - and the struggles faced by black athletes in the 1960s.
Rhoden pointed out in his column that "when a superstar lends muscle to a cause," a lot can happen. Case in point: Jim Brown stood up for Beach – who had been identified as a troublemaker by NFL owners for speaking out on racial issues – convincing Cleveland Browns management to keep Beach on the team, when it looked like he would be released.
A few years back, Rhoden interviewed Brown and asked him if he thought such a meeting as the one in 1967 could happen again. Brown has been an outspoken champion of civil rights and a critic of black athletes for not taking political stands. At one point, Brown singled out Michael Jordan for refusing to support Charlotte, North Carolina's Black Mayor Harvey Gantt in his campaign for the Senate against the ultra-conservative Jesse Helms.
Brown told Rhoden: "It's a slow process, but you have to educate, not alienate. I think within the next three or four years, there'll be a major coming together of some black athletes and entertainers to really have a platform that can bring about a whole different awareness."