PHILADELPHIA
(AP) -- Retired boxing great Muhammad Ali will visit Philadelphia to
receive the Liberty Medal, an award recognizing his longtime role as a
fighter outside the ring for humanitarian causes, civil rights and
religious freedom.
The honor will be presented
on Thursday during a ceremony at the National Constitution Center by
the champ's daughter, who is also a boxer, and two U.S. Olympic
athletes. It comes with a $100,000 cash prize.
"Ali
embodies the spirit of the Liberty Medal by embracing the ideals of the
Constitution - freedom, self-governance, equality and empowerment - and
helping to spread them across the globe," former President Bill
Clinton, the center's chairman, said in a statement.
Since
hanging up his gloves in 1981, Ali has traveled extensively on
international charitable missions and devoted his time to philanthropy
and social causes.
His wife Lonnie is slated
to speak on his behalf at the ceremony. A 30-year battle with
Parkinson's disease has devastated the once-chiseled physique that made
Ali an Olympic champion and three-time heavyweight title holder.
Other
scheduled attendees include Joe Louis Barrow II, son of boxer Joe
Louis; actor Terrence Howard, who played Ali in an ABC-TV biography;
singer Roberta Flack, who will perform; and former basketball star
Dikembe Mutombo, a Constitution Center board member and Congo native who
said he was inspired by Ali's 1974 visit to that country for the famous
"Rumble in the Jungle."
Ali's daughter Laila
will join Claressa Shields and Susan Francia in bestowing the Liberty
Medal. Last month, the 17-year-old Shields became the first U.S. woman
to win Olympic gold in boxing. Francia is a two-time rowing gold
medalist from nearby Abington, Pa.
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; he
regained the boxing title in 1974 and again 1978.
Ali
received the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation's highest
civilian honor - in 2005. He has also established the Muhammad Ali
Parkinson Research Center in Phoenix and a namesake educational and
cultural institute in his hometown of Louisville, Ky.
The
National Constitution Center, which opened in 2003, is dedicated to
increasing public understanding of the Constitution and the ideas and
values it represents. It awards the Liberty Medal annually to an
individual who displays courage and conviction while striving to secure
freedom for people around the world.
Previous
recipients include rock singer and human rights activist Bono, former
South African President Nelson Mandela and former President Jimmy
Carter. Six winners later received the Nobel Peace Prize.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
