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Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad urged boxer Cassius Clay to change his name to Muhammad Ali in 1964, but newspapers were slow to comply. The New York Times used “Cassius Clay” in over 1,000 stories from 1964 to 1968, and it wasn’t until 1970 that U.S. newspapers began to use “Muhammad Ali.” Other newspapers, such as the Chicago Defender and Baltimore’s Afro-American, made the change later. When basketball player Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971, most newspapers made the switch the following year.
At the urging of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, heavyweight boxer Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali in March 1964. In a radio address, Muhammad said that Clay was the fighter’s slave name and that he would have the new name until ” he believes in Allah and follows me.’ But newspapers of the time were slow to make the change and, as New York Times editor Abe Rosenthal explained at the time, they would use “Cassius Clay until he changed his name in a court of law.” In 1970, when the Associated Press changed its stylebook from Clay to Ali, U.S. newspapers finally began to comply.
Clay in the sixties, Ali in the seventies:
From 1964 to 1968, The New York Times used the name Cassius Clay in more than 1,000 stories and Muhammad Ali in about 150, according to a 2016 poll by Victor Mather.
The Chicago Defender and Baltimore’s Afro-American were quicker to make the change, but still used “Clay” until the late 1960s.
When UCLA basketball player Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971, most newspapers made the switch the following year.
