MUHAMMAD ALI RECEIVES LIBERTY MEDAL

Retired boxing champ Muhammad Ali was known as ‘‘The Greatest’’ inside the ring. But some say the moniker has been even more fitting in the years since he hung up his gloves.

Ali came to Philadelphia on Thursday to receive the Liberty Medal for his longtime role as a heavyweight for humanitarian causes, civil rights and religious freedom. Among those celebrating his latest honor at the National Constitution Center were former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo and Joe Louis Barrow II, the son of boxer Joe Louis.

‘‘Knowing you since I was a little boy has given me a ringside seat to history,’’ an emotional Barrow said. ‘‘But it’s your character outside the ring that speaks to the hope of the least and lost among us.’’

The 70-year-old Ali, hobbled by a 30-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, did not speak. But he stood with assistance to receive the medal from his daughter Laila Ali.

He looked down at his medal for several moments and then waved to the crowd. The award comes with a $100,000 cash prize.

Ali was born Cassius Clay but changed his name after converting to Islam in the 1960s. He refused to serve in the Vietnam War because of his religious beliefs and was stripped of his heavyweight crown in 1967. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling later cleared him of a draft evasion conviction, and he regained the boxing title in 1974 and again 1978.

To read the complete article, see: For Muhammad Ali, a Liberty Medal in Philly (www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/2012/09/14/for-muhammad-ali
-liberty-medal-philly/SEDQ14kE6jDvjyabn82BBN/story.html)

To read the complete article, see: constitutioncenter.org/libertymedal/

Wayne Homren, Editor

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