Becoming Muhammad Ali

Lucky believes that luck contributed to his ability to become a writer, “[b]ecause I was lucky enough to know Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.” (55). Cassius doesn’t like to write, Lucky explains, and he doesn’t do well in school, except for in metalwork. Lucky, on the other hand, enjoys school.

Cassius also doesn’t like to read, but he likes being read to, so Lucky often reads to him and Rudy. Cassius especially enjoys Superman. He recounts how he, Rudy, and Cassius were once walking down the street, only to be stopped by a car full of white men. The men told them that the boys were in the wrong place, pulling out a knife. Cassius challenged him, saying, “You dumb enough to try something with that knife?” (57). Then, the car stopped, and all its doors opened. Cassius urged his brother and Lucky to get going. Lucky knows that Cassius could have easily beaten them home, given how athletic he was, but instead, he kept pace with the two other boys, unwilling to leave them behind.

Everyone on Cassius’s block has a nickname. Rudy’s is Hollywood because he was named after movie star Rudolph Valentino. Cassius’s friend Ronnie is Riney, since that’s how his grandmother summons him home.