CHICAGO DAILY NEWS: LAST WEEK IN HISTORY
“Don’t call me Cassius Clay. My name is Muhammad Ali. It is a beautiful Arabic name. Don’t call me Cassius Clay anymore. I am Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight champion of the whole world.”
Muhammad Ali made those remarks in March of 1964, one week after he asked a Chicago Daily News reporter to refer to him by his new name, a request that reporter Stuart Awbrey did not oblige.
No other celebrity in the 1960s attracted more admiration, hatred or controversy than Ali. “The Greatest,” as he called himself, was born Jan. 17 in Louisville, Kentucky — but he spent a great amount of time in Chicago during a tumultuous period in his life when he changed his name and later faced a trial for draft dodging.
The March 14, 1964, edition of the Chicago Daily News marked the first time Ali addressed his new name as he arrived at O’Hare on a flight from Louisville. He’d been world champion for just 19 days, Awbrey wrote, and he came to the city seeking the “‘knowledge, wisdom and understanding’ as a ‘little humble follower’ of
Elijah Muhammad.”
Wearing a black silk suit and bow tie,
Ali told Awbrey at O’Hare: “My leader has given me the name Muhammad Ali. Muhammad means ‘worthy of all praise,’ and Ali means ‘Lion of God.’ Clay’s in the ground. But I may keep it (the old name) for boxing purposes.”
Ali identified Islam as his religion, Awbrey reported, and he described how he prayed to the east five times per day and ate “righteous food.” The heavyweight boxer planned to stop in Mecca on his upcoming world tour.
Never one to shy away from controversy, Ali took shots at ex-champ Sonny Liston and Malcolm X.
“I don’t never hate. Hate makes you throw your arm out of place,” he said, referencing Liston.
When asked about X’s “rifle clubs” for Black Americans, Ali said, “What Malcolm X does is his business. I don’t believe in carrying no rifles or pistols. I don’t believe in violence unless I’m attacked.”
Ali seemed to contradict himself when he voiced his support for the separation of Black and white people but still maintained that he could join the NAACP — a group supporting integration — or “any group that brings freedom, justice and equality for 22,000,000 Negros.”
When Awbrey questioned his contradiction, Ali responded: “A wise man can act a fool, but a fool cannot act a wise man. I’m a wise man.”
Throughout the article, Awbrey referred to Ali as Clay, attributing all quotes to Clay and not Ali. That’s why almost a week later, Ali reiterated to reporters in New York City: “Don’t call me Cassius Clay.”