American Royalty

"I shook up the world, I'm the king of the world." Ali, after knocking out Liston

Here's an article on Ali's visit to Auburn University in 1973.

The only thing I remember my dad ever saying about Muhammad Ali was "He was a draft dodger." I think the Atlanta Olympics had come and gone (1996), and, of course, Ali had lit the cauldron.  And just after Dad made the comment - and we were in his truck, about to pull into a BlockBuster store in Dothan, AL - I countered his comment in nice way with some evidence of great things Ali had done, back then and in the present day.  Ironically, up until I had found out that a Vann cousin was in service during the Vietnam War (actually stationed in Thailand), I knew of no family member from Dad's side who made such a commitment, Later, after traveling to Vietnam and reading lots of material about the war, I was relieved my dad had not served.  Ali, too.  Avoiding, evading, dodging and skipping town would have been better.  But a recurring theme that comes up in times of war is that many folks wave the flag, but find ways not to participate.  They don't speak out against what's going on, yet behind the scenes strings are pulled for them not to go, or they themselves do whatever it takes not to go.  Ali just had more principles than those particular flag-waving folks.