Two of the Greatest

All my life I’ve enjoyed watching sports and growing up as a kid, I had many sports heroes. But if I had to choose my all-time favorite, it would be Muhammad Ali.

As a kid I read every book or magazine on Ali that I could get my hands on-- and of course, I watched him on TV.

Back then title matches were broadcast on network television-- there was no pay-per-view or HBO. It was Wide World of Sports and Friday Night Fights.

But back then also, it wasn’t just about watching the fights themselves-— it was the coverage leading up to the fights.

And with Ali, those moments were always very entertaining. He was poetic, and he was witty. He was clever, and he was profound.

But those classic TV moments would not have been the same without Mr. “I just tell it like it is,” Howard Cosell.

Cosell had become famous (or infamous) through his work on Monday Night Football, but it was his role as Muhammad Ali’s side-kick that will forever be ingrained in my childhood sports memories.

The amazing thing looking back at that time is the social impact those two men had on this country during a very turbulent period in our nation’s history.

The civil rights movement was gaining momentum in the early 1960s, but discrimination and racial prejudice was prevalent throughout America.

And both Ali and Cosell knew discrimination very well. Ali is African-American, but at the height of his fame, he was also brash and boisterous and he never shied away from speaking out on issues such as race, social injustices, or the Vietnam War. But doing so was considered very controversial during that time period.

Now Howard Cosell was loved by some, but hated by many. He too also never hesitated to speak out on controversial issues. Cosell was Jewish, and often received anti-Semitic mail, as well as hate mail from racist fans who despised his support of African-American athletes.

In 1967, Ali refused for religious reasons to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. He was subsequently arrested for draft evasion, stripped of his heavyweight title, and his boxing license was suspended.

Cosell was outraged by those events. He claimed Ali was being singled out because he was an outspoken African-American who opposed the Vietnam War.

Ali's license to fight would eventually be reinstated and he would go on to regain his heavyweight title in 1974 when he knocked out George Foreman in the 8th round.

Now the 1960s and '70s were a turbulent time in our country's history when issues such as race and equality often caused a divide in this country.

I don't believe there is a better example of any two men, two completely different, yet very similar men, whose relationship and friendship impacted the issues of race and equality greater than Muhammad Ali and Howard Cosell.