Associated Press<\/p>\n
Muhammad Ali’s refusal to sign his Vietnam-era military draft card upended the boxing champ’s life and added a powerful voice to the anti-war movement. Now that piece of history is coming up for sale.<\/p>\n
There’s a blank line on the card where Ali was supposed to sign in 1967 but refused to do so \u2014 a polarizing act of defiance as the Vietnam War raged on. It triggered a chain of events that disrupted his storied boxing career but immortalized him outside the ring as a champion for peace and social justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing reminded of my father\u2019s message of courage and conviction is more important now than ever, and the sale of his draft card at Christie\u2019s is a powerful way to share that legacy with the world,\u201d Rasheda Ali Walsh, a daughter of Ali, said Thursday in a statement issued by the auction house.<\/p>\n
The auction house said it will hold the online sale Oct. 10-28, adding the card came to it via descendants of Ali. A public display of the card began Thursday at Rockefeller Center in New York and will continue until Oct. 21. The document could fetch $3 million to $5 million, Christie’s estimated. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a singular object associated with an important historical event that looms large in our shared popular culture,\u201d said Peter Klarnet, a Christie\u2019s senior specialist. <\/p>\n
Ali, the three-time heavyweight boxing champion, died in 2016 at age 74 after a long battle with Parkinson\u2019s disease. An estimated 100,000 people chanting, \u201cAli! Ali!\u201d lined the streets of his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, as a hearse carried his casket to a local cemetery. His memorial service was packed with celebrities, athletes and politicians.<\/p>\n
The draft card, typewritten in parts, conjures memories from when Ali wasn’t universally beloved but instead stood as a polarizing figure, revered by millions worldwide and reviled by many.<\/p>\n
For refusing induction into the U.S. Army, Ali was convicted of draft evasion, stripped of his boxing title and banned from boxing. Ali appealed the conviction on grounds he was a Muslim minister. He famously proclaimed: \u201cI ain\u2019t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.\u201d<\/p>\n
During his banishment, Ali spoke at colleges and briefly appeared in a Broadway musical. He was allowed to resume boxing three years later.<\/p>\n
He was still facing a possible prison sentence when in 1971 he fought Joe Frazier, his archrival, for the first time in what was labeled \u201cThe Fight of the Century.\u201d A few months later the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction on an 8-0 vote.<\/p>\n
The draft card was issued the day the draft board in Louisville ordered Ali to appear for induction, Christie\u2019s said Thursday in a news release. The card was signed by the local draft board chairman but pointedly not by Ali.<\/p>\n
The card identified him by his birth name \u2014 Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. \u2014 but misspelled his given middle name. Upon his conversion to Islam, he was given a name reflecting his faith, the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville says on its website. Meanwhile, the top of the draft card reads: \u201c(AKA) Muhammad Ali.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ali Center features exhibits paying tribute to Ali\u2019s immense boxing skills. But its main mission, it says, is to preserve his humanitarian legacy and promote his six core principles: spirituality, giving, conviction, confidence, respect and dedication.<\/p>\n
Now an artifact reflecting how Ali personified some of those principles will be up for auction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time collectors will be able to acquire a vital and intimate document connected to one of the most important figures of the last century,\u201d Klarnet said Thursday.<\/p>\n
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