Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. (November 11, 1912 – February 8, 1990) was the father of American three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali and Rudolph Valentino Clay, who is now named Rahman Ali, and also was the grandfather of Muhammad's daughter Laila Ali. He married Odessa Grady Clay in the 1930s and worked as a painter and a musician. He was described as "a handsome, mercurial, noisy, combative failed dreamer" and a "hard-drinking, skir...
more
Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr. (November 11, 1912 – February 8, 1990) was the father of American three-time World Heavyweight Champion Muhammad Ali and Rudolph Valentino Clay, who is now named Rahman Ali, and also was the grandfather of Muhammad's daughter Laila Ali. He married Odessa Grady Clay in the 1930s and worked as a painter and a musician. He was described as "a handsome, mercurial, noisy, combative failed dreamer" and a "hard-drinking, skirt-chasing dandy of a daddy". His son, Muhammad Ali, described him as "the fanciest dancer in Louisville."
Clay was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, the son of Herman H. Clay and Edith E. Greathouse. He had a sister and four brothers, including Nathaniel Clay. His paternal grandparents were John Clay and Sallie Anne Clay. Cassius Clay, Sr., probably had English ancestry because, according to the Clay ancestry, Muhammad Ali's 9th great-grandfather, Francis Taliaferro, was born in London, England. Taliaferro emigrated to the United States in...
less
