Muhammad Ali: The Birth of a Legend, Miami, 1961-1964 (Hardcover)

by Flip Schulke (Author), Matt Schudel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
While still a teenager, Cassius Clay approached trainer Angelo Dundee and asked for the chance to spar with one of his professional boxers. The 17-year-old entered the ring with Willie Pastrano and quickly outboxed him. Clay went on to win the Olympic gold medal in Rome. Three months later, Clay moved to Miami to train with Dundee.

Flip Schulke was an up-and-coming photographer on assignment with Sports Illustrated and Life. He went to Miami to cover this upstart boxer. Shulke took to Clay immediately: "I fell in love with the guy the minute I met him. He was so much fun." The result was a series of photographs taken over three extended periods. Muhammad Ali: The Birth of a Legend includes dozens of these photos of the young Clay--including the famous underwater shots first published in Life. Shulke captures the boyish Clay and his bright, broad smile as well as his serious shift to the Muslim faith and his name change to Muhammad Ali. He also sheds light on the pervasive racism Ali endured: though he had won a medal for the United States, he was not allowed to try on a shirt in a Miami department store. ("Once in a while, [Blacks] could try a jacket on because they can slip that on over a shirt. But a shirt's against your skin.") The accompanying text by Matt Schudel features lengthy reminiscences from Schulke about his encounters with Ali. A warm and fitting tribute to The Greatest. --Sunny Delaney

Product Description
In September 1960, Cassius Clay, a young boxer from Louisville, Kentucky, won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Rome. Barely three months out of high school, Clay had embarked on a career that would lead him to the pinnacle of athletics as a boxer and a social icon. Within four years he would defeat Sonny Liston and thus become the world heavyweight champion, at which point he converted to Islam and took the name Muhammad Ali. By this time, he was already a legend, with a reputation for a strong sense of humor and a penchant for outlandish acts of self-promotion, which earned him the enmity of a few, but the love of most of the world.

Although Ali was certainly famous by the time of his bout with Liston, and his legend grew even more afterward, not much is known about his early years. After the Olympics, Ali moved to Miami in December 1960 to train with the celebrated Angelo Dundee. It was there that he honed his boxing as well as his self-promotional skills and grew into the boxer who would be able to take down the feared Liston.

In three extended sessions in the early 1960s, before he became known to the world as Muhammad Ali, the young Cassius Clay was captured by the cameras of Flip Schulke, himself a young man trying to make his name in the world. Photographing for Life and Sports Illustrated magazines, Schulke presented the young Clay in tender, almost intimate settings that would never be duplicated once the spotlights focused on the young boxer. It was a perfect match of camera and subject; Clay's warm, boyish exuberance beams directly through the lens to reveal a personality of extraordinary confidence and charisma. He would become one of the most widely photographed personages in the world, and these remarkable photographs show him at the very beginning of his journey.

Since that time, Ali's fame has only grown, to the point where he is generally considered the greatest athlete of the century, as well as a role model for young and old fans alike. These remarkable photographs show him at the beginning of his journey. Muhammad Ali: the Birth of a Legend, Miami, 1961-1964 will be a necessary book for anyone interested in Ali's legend.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 113 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312203403
• ISBN-13: 978-0312203405
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,664,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maybe the most perfect example of an athlete who ever lived, December 9, 1999

By	Chantal - See all my reviews

This book is worth the price for the pictures of 19 year old Ali alone. I have been an Ali fan since I was 12, and I have never seen these pictures before! Ali was 19, and made up a story about how he worked out in a swimming pool, so that the photographer would take underwater photos. They are incredible. So is the fact that, even though he had already won a gold medal, he wasn't allowed to try on clothes in a Miami department store because he was black.There are pictures of him running 5 miles to the gym in his dress pants and work boots, because he didn't have gym clothes! I can't stop looking at these pictures, and I can't believe how brave he was and how hard he had to work.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone should have this book on their mantle !, December 16, 1999

By	Sonney J. Pelham (East Orange, N.J.) - See all my reviews

This is a book that's hard to put down. Just when you've thought you had read all you can read about Ali, a book like this comes along. The pictures make you feel as if as though you were there yourself. This was one of the best gifts I've ever received. I plan to pass this treasure on to many for Christmas.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll keep going back, December 14, 1999

By	Margaret "mkw64" (New York) - See all my reviews

I received this book as a gift and I find myself going back to it over and over. Like going back to a museum time and again to look at a favorite work of art. The photographs of Clay/Ali are so personal and so beautiful. Odd as it sounds, I feel grateful that Mr. Schulke has shared these photographs with me, with everyone lucky enough to discover them. I came to Amazon just now to order this book for a friend and found myself moved to write these few words. There's something about the book and about the story of Clay/Ali that wants to be shared.