Description
Collector's Note – Why This Issue Matters
September 25, 1978 is one of the most historically specific dates in the history of professional boxing, and this Sports Illustrated issue — with a James Drake cover photograph of Muhammad Ali — documents it at the precise moment of its maximum cultural impact. Ali had defeated Leon Spinks on September 15, 1978, ten days before this issue's publication, to reclaim the WBA heavyweight championship for the third time. The achievement was without precedent: no heavyweight champion had ever won the title three times, and Ali's path to the third title — losing the championship to Spinks in February 1978 in one of the most shocking upsets in boxing history, then immediately demanding and winning the rematch — was itself a demonstration of the specific qualities that had defined his career. He was thirty-six years old. He had been fighting professionally for eighteen years. The conventional wisdom that he was too old, too slow, and too damaged by his long career to compete effectively at the highest level had been definitively refuted by a performance of the tactical precision and ring intelligence that had always been his most important assets. Pat Putnam's "Once More to the Top" cover story, documenting Ali's tactical triumph, was Sports Illustrated at its best — serious boxing journalism about a serious boxing event, produced for a readership that understood the sport and appreciated the specific quality of what they had witnessed. For collectors building an archive of Muhammad Ali magazine covers and features, this September 25, 1978 Sports Illustrated is the definitive primary document of his third heavyweight championship — the last title fight of his peak career, the unprecedented achievement that no subsequent history of boxing has been able to diminish.
The cover photograph by James Drake captures Ali at the specific moment of championship reclamation, and Drake's credit is worth noting as a condition of collector documentation. Drake was one of Sports Illustrated's most accomplished staff photographers through the 1970s and 1980s, and his sports photography from this period constitutes one of the most significant bodies of work in American sports photojournalism. An Ali championship cover photograph by Drake is a primary document of both subjects' working relationship with Sports Illustrated at the publication's creative and editorial peak. The supporting content documented in the listing's table of contents adds multiple layers of secondary sports historical significance that make this issue considerably richer as a primary source than a single-subject boxing cover would typically provide. The "It's Slew, That's Who" feature by William Leggett documents the September 1978 matchup between Seattle Slew and Affirmed — the two living Triple Crown winners — in a race that resolved one of the most discussed horse racing questions of the year. The "Seeing Ain't Believing" Yankees-Red Sox piece by Larry Keith documents the 1978 Boston Massacre and the Yankees' subsequent surge, one of the most dramatic baseball pennant race reversals in American League history, at the precise moment when its full implications were becoming clear. Collectors researching Sports Illustrated issues from the late seventies will find this September 1978 edition a multi-sport primary document of unusual depth and breadth.
The historical significance of Ali's third championship title extends well beyond boxing history into the broader cultural record of the late 1970s. Ali had been one of the most politically and culturally consequential athletes of the twentieth century — his conversion to Islam, his refusal of military induction, his exile from boxing during the Vietnam War era, and his subsequent career had made him a figure whose significance extended far beyond the sporting arena. By September 1978 that significance had been recognized across the full range of American cultural and political life, and his achievement of the unprecedented third title carried a weight that pure athletic documentation could not fully contain. Sports Illustrated's engagement with Ali throughout his career had been one of the publication's most sustained and most serious bodies of sports journalism, and the September 25, 1978 cover story represents that engagement at its most historically precise moment. Collectors researching sports magazines from 1978 will find this issue a primary document of American sports culture at one of its most genuinely significant moments.
About the Publication
Sports Illustrated was founded by Henry Luce and Time Inc. in August 1954 and by September 1978 had been publishing for twenty-four years, having long since established itself as the dominant sports publication in the United States. Its editorial approach combined long-form sports journalism, ambitious photography, and genuine cultural engagement with athletic achievement — and its boxing coverage through the Ali era had been among the most sustained and carefully produced sports journalism in the American press. By 1978 its staff included some of the most accomplished sportswriters in the country, Pat Putnam and Frank Deford among them, and its photographic roster — including James Drake — was producing imagery that defined how American sports looked in its most authoritative mainstream documentation. The September 25, 1978 issue, with its Drake cover and its Putnam Ali story, represents Sports Illustrated at its creative and journalistic peak.
Key Highlights Inside
- "Once More to the Top" by Pat Putnam — a primary document of Sports Illustrated's cover story engagement with Ali's third heavyweight championship, documenting the tactical analysis of his September 15, 1978 victory over Leon Spinks and constituting the most authoritative contemporaneous sports journalism account of the unprecedented achievement of a three-time heavyweight champion at thirty-six years old.
- James Drake cover photograph of Muhammad Ali — a primary visual document from one of Sports Illustrated's most accomplished staff photographers at the precise moment of Ali's most historically significant achievement, representing the specific documentary tradition of long-form sports photography that Drake brought to the publication's most consequential sporting events throughout the 1970s.
- "It's Slew, That's Who" by William Leggett — documentation of the September 1978 race between Seattle Slew and Affirmed, the two living Triple Crown winners, in a matchup that resolved one of the most actively discussed horse racing questions of the year and constitutes a primary source record of one of the most significant thoroughbred racing events of the late seventies.
- "Seeing Ain't Believing" by Larry Keith — coverage of the Yankees' 1978 surge past the Red Sox into first place during one of the most dramatic pennant race reversals in American League history, the Boston Massacre and its aftermath documented at the precise week when the full implications of the Yankees' comeback were first becoming clear to a national sports audience.
- "Penn State States Its Case" by John Underwood and "The U.S. Hits Pay Dirt" by Frank Deford — college football and Davis Cup tennis coverage documenting the full range of American sports activity in the last week of September 1978, with Deford's Davis Cup piece representing the publication's consistent engagement with international tennis competition alongside its domestic sports coverage.
- "If the Le lo Don't Get You..." by Kenny Moore — a science and natural history piece on Hawaiian birdlife and volcanic geography, reflecting Sports Illustrated's consistent editorial range in incorporating natural science and adventure journalism alongside its primary sports coverage, and representing the specific editorial breadth that distinguished the publication from purely game-results focused competitors.
Condition & Rarity
Sports Illustrated issues from September 1978 are approaching their forty-eighth year of existence, and the condition landscape for surviving copies of this specific issue reflects both the general attrition of that age and the specific collecting pressure that a Muhammad Ali championship cover generates across multiple overlapping communities — boxing history collectors, Ali memorabilia enthusiasts, and Sports Illustrated completists all seek this issue with sustained interest. Very Good condition with only minor edge wear is an honest and strong grade for a forty-seven-year-old weekly sports magazine, indicating a copy that displays cleanly, reads completely, and retains the full visual integrity of the James Drake Ali cover photograph without structural damage or significant wear. The absence of a mailing label is a meaningful condition positive for Sports Illustrated specifically, where the magazine's enormous subscription base means that label-free newsstand copies represent a minority of surviving examples — the Drake cover image is preserved in its full, unobstructed form, which is both visually and documentarily significant for a cover photograph of this historical importance. The plastic protective sleeve provides ongoing archival protection. Collectors evaluating surviving examples should prioritize cover surface quality and the Ali image integrity, spine condition, and the completeness of all interior pages including the Putnam cover story as primary condition criteria.
Looking for More Issues Like This?
A Very Good newsstand copy of Sports Illustrated from September 25, 1978 with the James Drake Muhammad Ali third championship cover and the confirmed Pat Putnam cover story is one of the most historically specific and actively sought entries in the Ali sports magazine archive — third championship covers in confirmed strong condition with newsstand provenance surface less frequently than general collector interest in Ali would suggest. If this issue is no longer available, the Muhammad Ali magazine collection at OriginalMagazines.com is the most focused resource for other significant Ali cover appearances and features across publications and years. The full Sports Illustrated collection offers surviving issues from across the publication's history for collectors building a broader archive of its boxing and seventies sports coverage, and the 1978 magazine collection brings together issues from across that year's major sports publications for collectors interested in the full athletic landscape of one of the most historically significant years in American boxing and sports history.