Muhammad Ali Draft Could Reach Millions at Historic Auction

Muhammad Ali’s refusal to sign his military draft card during the Vietnam era transformed the boxing champion’s life and added an influential voice to the anti-war movement. Now, this piece of history is for sale. In the card, there is a blank space where Ali was supposed to sign in 1967, but he refused to do so, an act of defiance that generated controversy amid the Vietnam War. This act triggered a series of events that disrupted his outstanding boxing career, but immortalized him outside the ring as a defender of peace and social justice.

Remembering my father’s message of courage and conviction is more important now than ever, and the sale of his recruitment card at Christie’s is a powerful way to share that legacy with the world.

Rasheda Ali Walsh, daughter of Ali

Christie’s announced that it will hold the online sale from October 10 to 28, adding that the card was obtained through Ali’s descendants. A public exhibition of the card began Thursday at Rockefeller Center in New York and will continue until October 21. The auction house estimated that the document could reach between 3 and 5 million dollars.

This is a singular object associated with an important historical event that has a great impact on our shared popular culture.

Peter Klarnet, senior specialist at Christie’s

Ali, three-time world heavyweight champion, died in 2016 at the age of 74 after decades of living with Parkinson’s disease. It is estimated that 100,000 people chanted “Ali! Ali!” in the streets of his hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, while a hearse transported his coffin to a local cemetery. His memorial service was packed with celebrities, athletes, and politicians. The recruitment card, typed in parts, evokes memories of when Ali was not universally loved, but stood as a polarizing figure, revered by millions worldwide but vilified by many. By refusing to be drafted into the United States Army, Ali was found guilty of evading military service, stripped of his boxing title, and excluded from boxing. Ali appealed the conviction, claiming he was a Muslim minister. He famously proclaimed: “I ain’t got no quarrel with the Viet Cong.” During his exile, Ali spoke at universities and appeared briefly in a Broadway musical. He was allowed to resume boxing three years later. He still faced a possible prison sentence in 1971 when he fought Joe Frazier, his archrival, for the first time in what was called “the Fight of the Century.” A few months later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction by an 8-0 vote. The recruitment card was issued on the day the Louisville draft board ordered Ali to report for induction, Christie’s announced Thursday in a press release. The card was signed by the chairman of the local draft board, but not by Ali. The card identified him by his birth name, Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., but misspelled his middle name as “Marsellus.” After his conversion to Islam, he was given a name that reflected his faith, says the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville on its website. Meanwhile, the top of the draft card reads: “(ALSO KNOWN AS) Muhammad Ali”. The Ali Center presents exhibits that pay tribute to Ali’s immense boxing skills. But its main mission, it says, is to preserve his humanitarian legacy and promote his six core principles: spirituality, generosity, conviction, confidence, respect, and dedication. Now, an artifact reflecting how Ali personified some of those principles will be auctioned.

This is the first time that collectors will be able to acquire a vital and intimate document related to one of the most important figures of the last century.

Klarnet