Muhammad Ali was a boxer and social activist who is generally looked at as one of the most skillful athletes of this century. Ali instantaneously became an Olympic gold medalist in 1960 at an incredibly young age and instantly after, the world heavyweight boxing champion. Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay was born on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. Young Ali demonstrated that he wasn’t frightened of any battle at an early age. Growing up in the discriminative South, Ali familiarized himself with racial prejudice and discrimination straight from the horse’s mouth. At the age of 12, Clay identified his gift for boxing through an incidental circumstance. After his bike was taken, Clay expressed his frustration by telling a police officer that he desired to beat up the bandit. In due time, Ali began working with Officer Martin to gain experience and promptly after began his boxing career.
Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of laborers. His mother courageously brought up Jackie and her four other children single-handedly. They were the one and only African-American family in their section. The discrimination, animosity, and injustice they experienced only strengthened their relationship. From this humble origin would arise the first baseball player to tear down Major League Baseball's color barrier that segregated the sport. The MLB selected his number as the first one to ever retire for every team after he became the first modern black player.
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Imagine as a young child hearing athletic sermons in church every Sunday. Do you think it would inspire you to succeed at sports? Billie Jean King came from a very athletic family, she initially obtained her inspiration to pursue sports from the athletic sermons she would hear. Billie Jean King overpowered through an enormous amount of hardships as well as tremendous individual conflicts to become the most outstanding professional tennis player of her time. After running all over the community to acquire the money for her first racket, Billie Jean King first came across gender inequality at the age of 12. King was excluded from a group photo of tennis players because she had worn tennis shorts that day, rather than the tennis skirt normally worn by female athletes while performing in a tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Club. She quickly learned that the unequal treatment that female athletes experienced wasn’t only relegated to the dress code.
When Muhammad Ali was just eighteen years old he won a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. After returning from the Olympiad, the young Ali would under no condition leave behind his precious gold medal. A week had passed since returning from Rome, Ali walked inside a Louisville restaurant and was denied service. This situation infuriated Ali and it initiated his political journey. His journey from young superstar to activist is extraordinary. In 1964, Muhammad Ali joined the Nation of Islam after beating Liston for the heavyweight championship of the world. The Nation of Islam was led by Malcolm X, an activist popular for his controversial advocacy. Ali declined an invitation into the U.S. Army pointing out his disapproval towards the Vietnam War. This action came at a very extreme price. He was stripped of his title, banned from boxing, and no longer had a source of income. Unlike Jackie Robinson who was asked to take heavy abuse and swallow his pride to play at the highest level in baseball, Ali refused to turn the other cheek. Like Jackie Robinson, Ali opened the door to other athlete activists to protest to the general public. Muhammad Ali became a symbol of courage, a stand-in-your-face icon.
In 1947 Jackie Robinson stood companionless going toe to toe with the Major League Baseball. Brooklyn Dodgers owner Rickey thought Robinson could be the man to breach the color barrier that existed throughout the league. He understood that breaking the color line would demand the strength to tolerate nuisance, intimidation, and physical force to compete without exchanging punches. Rickey took his chances with a twenty-seven-year-old rookie who he thought would be ready and willing to take on these challenges. From the beginning, Jackie was getting spiked, slapped, and spat on whenever he stepped onto the diamond field. Robinson obtained mountains of hate mail from stone-cold killers and crews of anti-integrationists. He rode out every storm, first with his quietness, and later as his fearlessness evolved, with outspokenness that compelled people to take sides with him. Jackie Robinson used his sporting accomplishments, ability, and expertise as a starting line to progress the effort for equal identity. He opened up the door to a generation of talent and smashed the color barrier at great personal cost.
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