Is Muhammad Ali Really Related To General Robert E. Lee? A Quiz to Test Your Knowledge

Answer a series of forehead-slapping anecdotal factoids. It's up to you to weigh each fact in each anecdotal factoid. They're tricky. One might seem like total B.S. until it's revealed to be strangely and disturbingly "True." Another anecdotal factoid might seem to contain all solid and verifiable facts until it's revealed to be yet one more big fat garden variety "Bald-Faced Lie." And here's the trickiest part: an anecdotal factoid might even be "Half-True"; in other words, a mishmosh of truths and bald-faced lies, where you don't know where one ends and the other begins, much like the usual slop served by Madison Avenue, Washington D.C., and the Internet in its entirety.

Category: He is the Greatest! Quiz

Decide for yourself, and mark "T" for "Truth", "F" for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" for "Half-Truth" in the blank slot next to each factoid.

1) __ As a boy in 1950s Louisville, Kentucky, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) would see wrestling's greatest villain, Gorgeous George, in action. Ali has acknowledged that his motor-mouth narcissistic persona was inspired by the wrestling villain. He said, "I saw fifteen thousand people coming to see this man get beat, and his talking did it (for me)."

2) __ In 1962, Muhammad Ali (known as Cassius Clay) took a mental aptitude test for the U.S. Selective Service, and he flunked. His Louisville draft board classified him as 1-Y (unfit for service). When the Selective Service lowered their testing standards during the Vietnam War draft, the boxer's low score on his exam was no longer considered low, and he was re-classified as 1-A (fit for service).

3) __ In the 1960 Olympics, Muhammed Ali (then Clay) won a boxing gold medal. When a Soviet reporter asked him how he coped with being denied service, he responded, "Russian, we got qualified men working on that problem. America is the greatest country in the world."

When he went back to his Louisville hometown, he was triumphant, but they still refused to serve him in a local diner because he was black. Downhearted and angry, he threw his Olympic gold medal into the Ohio River.

4) __ Muhammad Ali is related through his great-grandfather to Generals Robert E. Lee and George Patton, President Zachary Scott, actor Lee Marvin, and television journalist Katie Couric.

5) __ In 1978, DC Comics released a special comic book titled "Superman versus Muhammad Ali." Before publication, the comic book story had to be approved by Nation of Islam leader, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

In the comic book, Ali beat Superman to death in the second round of a boxing match. In the climax, it was revealed that "Ali" was really Superman disguised as Ali and "Superman" was really arch-villain Lex Luthor fueled by a super-steroid and disguised as Superman. (I apologize for the spoiler)

6) __ In 1969, during Ali's legal troubles over his draft status, he was so strapped for money that he took the role as boxer Jack Johnson in the acclaimed Broadway play "The Great White Hope. Actress Mia Farrow played his wife.

After devastating reviews on his acting from the New York newspaper critics, the producers fired Ali after only three performances. They then hired actor James Earl Jones to replace him in the role.

7) __ Also because of legal and financial troubles, Muhammad Ali boarded a plane to Tokyo for a superstar wrestling match with Antonio Inoki, Japan's greatest professional wrestler. The match was known as the "Martial Wrestling Championship of the World."

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Here are the answers for He is the Greatest! Quiz.

A reminder: "T" is for "Truth", "F" is for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" is for "Half-Truth".

1) T: It's true that, as a boy, Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) was inspired by wrestling villain Gorgeous George's motor-mouth narcissistic persona.

A side note: He has also said that he was inspired by Little Richard.

2) T: It's true that Ali (then Clay) flunked his mental aptitude test for the draft, but was then re-classified as 1-A (fit for service) when the Selective Service lowered their testing standards during the Vietnam War draft.

3) T: Ali's interchange with the Soviet reporter was true. It's also true that Ali (then Clay) won a boxing gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. As for throwing the gold medal into the River, I give this factoid a tentative "true" even though there have been some friends and boxing history pundits who have claimed that the Champ actually misplaced and lost the gold medal. It's the telling of the tale in his ghost-written autobiography that has given the story its authority. After all, Ali is the Man!

4) T: It's true that Muhammad Ali is related through his great-grandfather to Generals Robert E. Lee and George Patton, President Zachary Scott, actor Lee Marvin, and television journalist Katie Couric.

5) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that DC Comics had released a special comic book titled "Superman versus Muhammad Ali" and that the comic book story had to first meet the approval of Nation of Islam leader, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

It's false that Ali killed Superman in the comic book. However, he did knock out the Man of Steel in the second round, but this was only due to Superman's powers being diminished because he turned them off in a visit to the Fortress of Solitude. (I apologize for the real spoiler)

Note that Superman has died one and only one time. This was in the 1993 bestselling graphic novel, "The Death of Superman."

6) F: It's false that Ali once starred as heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson in the acclaimed Broadway play "The Great White Hope.

In 1969, however, he really did star in the Broadway musical, "Big Time Buck White", and sang four songs including "It's All Over Now, Mighty Whitey."

7) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that, because of his legal and financial troubles, Muhammad Ali had a match with Antonio Inoki, Japan's greatest professional wrestler. It's false that this was a wrestling match.

In the ring, Ali boxed and Inoki wrestled. They fought to a draw. The mixed fighting style event was billed as the "Martial Arts Championship of the World."

SOURCES:

http://www.gale.com/free_resources/bhm/bio/ali_m.htm

"He'll always be the Greatest", Dave Kindred, The Sporting News, URL: (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-18527364.html)

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/aug05/

"Superman's greatest opponent: Muhammad Ali", Aaron Tallent, The Sweet Science, URL: (http://www.ali.com/news/default.asp?newsId=17)

"Remembering Oscar", Michael Slate, The Artists Network, URL: (http://www.artistsnetwork.org/artists/oscarbrown.html)

"Muhammad Ali", George Plimpton, Time, URL: (http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/ali01.html)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000738/bio

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0409248/bio

"Muhammad Ali from A to Z", Eric Neel, ESPN, URL: (http://proxy.espn.go.com/page2/s/neel/011221.html)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/1/newsid_4074000/4074712.stm