1. The NSA wiretapped Ali's phone

 

Declassified¹ documents revealed in 2013 that the National Security Agency tapped overseas communications of Vietnam War critics, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Ali, The Washington Post reported at the time.

 

A brief of those government documents suggests that Ali was surveilled during his efforts to avoid the draft. During 1966 and 1967, the heavyweight boxer² appealed his draft status, saying, "I can fight in wars declared only by Allah himself." He was sentenced to five years in prison, though the Supreme³ Court ruled in 1971 that he was entitled to conscientious⁴ objector status.

 

2. He starred in a Broadway musical

 

In 1969, during his suspension from boxing over his refusal to go to Vietnam, Ali was reportedly drowning in debt and still appealing his conviction. He made pocket change by touring colleges to discuss the war, and, as Playbill points out, he starred in the Broadway musical, "Buck⁵ White."

 

Ali sang nearly every song in the musical, playing a militant⁶ black lecturer addressing a meeting organized by a black political group. But he would never return to the stage after his conviction was overturned.

 

3. He started training in boxing to beat up the kid who stole his bike

 

Cassius Clay (Ali) was just 12 years old in 1954 when he got ready to "whup" the boy who stole his bicycle in his hometown of Louisville, Ky.

 

But a local cop warned him that he'd need to learn to box first.

 

At just 89 pounds, Clay had his first fight -- and his first win -- just weeks later, according to Bleacher Report. By 1964, he was the heavyweight champion of the world, after upsetting Sonny Liston.

 

No word on whether he got his bike back.

 

4. Rumor⁷ has it that his Olympic gold medal is sitting at the bottom of a river

 

In 1960, the 18-year-old fighter traveled to Rome and won the light heavyweight gold medal in the Summer Olympics.

 

The story goes that Clay(Ali) hurled⁸ his gold medal into the Ohio River. But Clay gave different accounts of that act, and according to Thomas Hauser, author of the oral history "Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times," Clay had simply lost the medal.

 

Luckily, he got a replacement⁹ medal -- and ongoing¹⁰ support from his community -- in 1996.

 

5. He secured the release of 15 US prisoners in Iraq

 

In November 1990, Ali met with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in Baghdad on a "goodwill¹¹ tour" in an attempt to negotiate the release of 15 Americans held hostage in Iraq and Kuwait.

 

Ali was instantly criticized, taking flak from the likes of then-President George H.W. Bush and The New York Times, both of whom expressed concerns that he was fueling a propaganda machine.

 

Despite running out of medication for his crippling disease and waiting more than a week to talk to Hussein, Ali was able to bring all 15 of a group of captive American soldiers home.

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