YOUNG CASSIUS Grades 5-6
by Craig Schaap
My name? That isn't important. What is important is that I am an old friend of Cassius Clay. Who is that you ask? Why he was one of the greatest boxers of all times. Some say the greatest of them all. You still don't know who he is. This could be because he changed his name from Cassius Clay to...
Wait a minute. I think I will make you guess a little bit longer before I tell you who he is. Let me tell you a few stories about Cassius while he was growing up.
The most important story was how he was introduced to boxing. At age 12, Cassius was at a fair downtown. Some kid stole his bike while he was there. He found out that a cop was downstairs in the Columbia Gym, so he went there to complain. In tears he told the policeman, Joe Martin, who was training an amateur boxing team, that his bike had been stolen.
"I'm gonna whip him if I can find him," said Cassius of the thief. Martin replied by saying that he better learn to fight before he started fighting. Cassius just then noticed all the activity down in the gym. He saw the snap of the punching bags, skipping of the rope, and sparring in the ring. With this next phrase, Cassius was introduced into the world of boxing.
"I didn't know this was here. Can I come?"
Getting his bike stolen may have been the best thing that ever happened to Cassius.
Clay wasn't a street fighter, but I can remember one day in which Cassius had no choice. We were all at a deli across from the school when two kids began harassing Clay. They kept pushing him around and telling him to fight. Cassius kept backing off and telling them he didn't want to do this. I guess one of the boys pushed to far because Cassius finally went after one of them. A right hand to the jaw and he floored him. After seeing what happened to his buddy, the other wanted nothing to do with Clay. That was a day in which I saw a side of Cassius I had never seen before. He was almost ready to cry after the incident. He looked like he felt sorry for them.
Then there was the time that a guy named Pearson got sick and tired of hearing how Clay was going to be the next boxing champion and vowed to put him in his place. The next time Clay came running down the street, Pearson stepped out from behind a post and hit Clay as hard as he could with a straight right.
He went to his knees, just like he was gonna fall, but stopped himself and looked up at Pearson. He stretched his eyes real wide, stood up and hit Pearson so fast that you could hardly see the punches. Pearson started screaming,
"Get him off me! Get him off me! He will be the next champ."
Now don't get me wrong. These things didn't happen all the time. Cassius was a good kid. He had lots of friends. They just had to accept some of the crazy things he did. What crazy things you say? Well, let's look at a day of school for Cassius Clay.
Clay would get up early in the morning and instead of riding the bus to school, he would race it in his steel toed work boots for 20 blocks, waving and grinning at the faces in the windows as he ran past innocent bystanders scurrying to get out of his way. When he arrived at school, he would break two eggs into some milk, shake it up, drink it, and say that he was now ready for school and always added that he was the "baddest men in Looville!"
He was quiet during class. Some say he always looked like he was meditating, but watch out when that bell rang. He would skip down the halls shadowboxing as he danced past students, stopping to throw a flurry of punches just inches from some freshman's nose, then duck into a bathroom to box himself silly in front of a mirror. During all this, he would carry a bottle of water with garlic in it around his neck. He said he drank it to keep his blood pressure down.
Yes, he was crazy, but he had a lot of friends. We'd eat in the cafeteria, and he'd come in and crack his jokes and say little silly things and have all the table laughing.
There were some other things that Cassius would do that were called crazy, but I would call them disciplined. He didn't eat pork and never drank soda. He shunned alcohol, never cursed, and he didn't chase women. You see, he was very shy when it came to girls.
Cassius finally decided to experiment in romance, or more specifically, in the technique of kissing, around his junior year in high school. On his first try he about blew up the lab. One night he walked a girl home who he had been dating for about 3 weeks. She found out that Clay didn't know how to kiss so she decided she was going to teach him how. In the process, he fainted. She thought he was playing at first, but he seemed to fall pretty hard. When He came to, she asked him whether he was ok. He said he was fine but that nobody would ever believe what just happened.
What's that you say? You still don't know who he is. Some say he was one the greatest boxers ever. He says he was and still is the greatest. I would have to agree. He is the one and only MUHAMMAD ALI!
Questions from story
- What was the factor that introduced Cassius Clay into the world of boxing?
- Name a couple things that people thought were crazy about Clay?
- At what part of the story did you figure out that the story was about Muhammad Ali?
- Say you went to school with Cassius Clay. Tell why you would or would not be friends with him. Include at least two reasons why.
1. Craig Schaap "Young Cassius"
2. Story Telling Outline
Bring these objects in order.
A. A picture of a bike, or real one.
B. Steel toed boots
C. Bottle of water around neck
D. Wash cloth
- Sit in a chair with steel toed boots, sweats, and white t-shirt.
- Read the story.
- Show objects at the beginning of each section where appropriate.
- i.e. Show bike or picture to introduce the story about Cassius Clay getting his bike stolen or start shadow boxing right before you tell the two fight stories.
3. Answers to questions
- He got his bike stolen. He went to tell a police officer. He told the cop that he was going to beat up the kid who stole it. The officer then taught him how to fight.
- He drank garlic water, raced school bus, shadowboxed in hallway at school.
- Either at the beginning, middle, or not till the story said who it was.
- Answers can vary
4. Nack, William "Cassius Clay" Sports Illustrated, Jan 13, 1992 v76 n1 p70