CLEVELAND — To kick off the Cleveland Browns season opener, members of the team joined owner Jimmy Haslam Friday outside the stadium for the dedication of the latest historical marker on the Cleveland Civil Rights Trail marking the Ali Summit.
On June 4, 1967, Former and current Cleveland Browns players—Jim Brown, John Wooten, Curtis McClinton, Sidney Williams, Bobby Mitchell, Jim Shorter, Willie Davis, and Walter Beach III—then-attorney Carl Stokes joined basketball stars Bill Russell and Lew Alcindor for a press conference to support boxer Muhammad Ali’s stance on his refusal to be inducted into the army to fight the war in Vietnam.
Prior to the two-and-a-half-hour meeting, the group met privately for six to seven hours to understand why Ali refused to serve. Initially, the men sought to persuade Ali to accept a deal to perform exhibition fights for troops rather than pick up a weapon. Some of the men were veterans, thus they understood the value of military service. But Ali held his steadfast position. Despite the unpopularity of Ali’s position, the men decided to support him on principle. At his trial, the court found Ali guilty of draft evasion. He was released on bail pending an appeal but had his passport confiscated. Boxing commissions refused to grant him a license to fight, thus, he took a hiatus from boxing. Three years later, the Supreme Court threw out Ali’s conviction.
Wooten was on hand for the dedication and spoke of Jim Brown giving him the task of placing the calls to the participants. A tough sell it wasn't.
"The Curtis McClintons, the Willie Davis, the Bobby Mitchells, Bill Russell. To call those guys and tell them we need them here, and not one of them said, 'Oh, I'm not sure,' or 'Maybe we shouldn't.' 'What time and where,'" he said was their response.
At Muhammad Ali's funeral in 2016, Jim Brown recalled how it was a step they were all taking at great personal peril.
"At that time, you were risking everything because you were challenging the Federal Government," Brown recalled. "And the government did not want us to be able to prevail and have Ali become a legitimate conscientious objector."
On hand for the dedication were Brown's widow Monique and their son Aris who said it was a special moment.
"This is a huge, huge part of his life, and it's great that a lot of people are going to get to learn about the history and all of the great pioneers of Cleveland that helped shape a lot of American history," Brown said.
Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Brown's commitment to social justice should serve as an inspiration to the next generation.
"All too often today, there's too much complaining and bickering and, if you pardon the expression, bitching and not enough people involved trying to make a difference and trying to solve problems, and Jim certainly did a great job of that."
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