The Original Cassius Clay

**Tyrsmann** · Posted On: 1/02/2008 2:14am

"When we hear the name Cassius Clay, people today immediately think of the famous boxer who would later become Mohamid Ali. It is a name which brings up memories of great fights in the ring like "The Thrilla' in Manilla" and "The Rumble in the Jungle", and the great human personality which "the champ" radiates.

It is not a name normally associated with Bowie knives and pistol duels…or with the six-foot, three-inch, two-hundred and thirty pound "dead white guy" who helped found the Republican party, obtained Alaska for the United States, and forged a now-forgotten alliance with Russia that saved the Union in the darkest days of the American Civil War!

That was the original Cassius Clay.

He was born in Madison County, Kentucky in 1810. Like the boxer who would later bear his name, Cassius was a pugnastic boy and quick to engage in fights with anyone who crossed him or offended his sense of right and wrong. He would go on in his lifetime to become famous as an abolitionist, politician, publisher, knife fighter, ambassador, duelist, and lady's man."

http://ahfaa.org/clay.htm

Not to downgrade the champ, but seeing as how this Cassius Clay was a master of badassery long before Muhammad Ali would knock the **** out of Joe Fraisier I figure this guy deserved a mention atleast once on this site.

**h_sh_m** · Posted On: 1/03/2008 1:33am

Thanks for posting the link. Interesting story.

Here I thought you were gonna reference the Roman Cassius, but this dude was definetly no joke. I think Phrost does a feature called something like Badass of the Month somewhere on this site. You should nominate Clay, since that would be a more appropriate place to display his story and would be more likely to generate conversation.

While the story was great I haven't heard of the organization before. These guys sound like they're doing good work. Primarily historical preservation and sport.