50 years ago this week Muhammad Ali refused the draft in Houston

In this April 28, 1967 file photo, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is escorted from the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station in Houston by Lt. Col. J. Edwin McKee, commandant of the station, after Ali refused Army induction. Ali says he was a conscientious objector who would not serve in the Army of a country that treated members of his race as second-class citizens. less In this April 28, 1967 file photo, heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali is escorted from the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station in Houston by Lt. Col. J. Edwin McKee, commandant of the station, ... more Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 131 Caption Close 50 years ago this week Muhammad Ali refused the draft in Houston 1 / 131 Back to Gallery

On April 28, 1967, Muhammad Ali made headlines for refusing to be drafted into the U.S. Army on the grounds of being a conscientious objector, and it all happened here in Houston.

It would set off a chain of events that wouldn't cease until a 1971 Supreme Court decision reversed his conviction.

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Ali went before military induction officials inside Houston's Military Entrance Processing Station building off San Jacinto and refused to step forward for induction when his name was called. He was later arrested. This came after Ali had made three separate appeals to have his draft status changed because of what he called his non-violent Muslim faith and membership in the Nation of Islam.



Ali's boxing career spiraled out of control after his arrest, with the New York State Athletic Commission suspending his boxing license and the World Boxing Association stripping him of his world heavyweight title. This banned him from boxing in the United States.

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Ali had long been an opponent of the Vietnam War, and had fought being eligible for the military draft for some time. He spelled out his reasoning in a terse public statement. A week before the incident in Houston, he told reporters in Louisville, Kentucky., that he planned to not accept induction in military service.



"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?" Ali asked.



"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong," went his famous quote.

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On June 20, 1967, Ali was tried, convicted and sentenced in a Houston court to five years in prison for refusing to serve in the military and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for draft evasion. His lawyers then appealed the court's decision, which was denied in May 1968. He returned to boxing in 1970 while his case was on appeal.



The case found its way to the Supreme Court in June 1971, where his conviction was overturned. The high court stated that it was not possible to decide which of the three basic tests for conscientious objector status were used and relied on by the draft board in Ali's case to deny his objecting status.

When Ali died in June 2016 at the age of 74, the case was again on the minds of everyone as they sorted through his long and lengthy career in the spotlight. It was a reminder that he was as fierce in the ring as he was outside of it.