Muhammad Ali receives a Liberty Medal in Philadelphia

Muhammad Ali, second from the right, poses with his daughter Laila Ali, left, wife Lonnie Ali, second form the left, and sister-in-law Marilyn Williams, right, after being presented with the 2012 Liberty Medal at the National Constitution Center on Sept. 13, 2012, in Philadelphia.

/ Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

(CBS/AP) Retired boxing champ Muhammad Ali received the Liberty Medal for his longtime role as an advocate for humanitarian causes, civil rights and religious freedom on Thursday in Philadelphia.

Pictures: Muhammad Ali

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.

One of his most famous fights took place in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he battled George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974.

At the ceremony Thursday, Mutombo recalled the impression Ali's visit made on him as an 8-year-old growing up in that country.

"He changed my life," said Mutombo, who also is a trustee of the Constitution Center. "I can never forget how inspired I was to see a black athlete receive such respect and admiration. He changed how the people of Zaire saw themselves, and in turn how the world saw them."

Since ending his boxing career in 1981, Ali has traveled extensively on international charitable missions and devoted his time to social causes.

Ali received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 2005. He also has established the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Research Center in Phoenix and a namesake educational and cultural institute in his hometown, 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 a person who displays courage and conviction while striving to secure freedom for people around the world.

[BWB2020]

"I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong ... They never called me n****r"

The most truthful and valid reasoning ever offered for any "black" person refusing to serve in the US military.

That statement alone made Muhammad Ali an international hero to this day, and forever into the future, for literally billions of people.

There are of course those who will seek to condemn any "black" man who stands on truth, such people will pretend not to understand why the entire planet (except for their small insignificant group) respects, loves, and pays tribute to one of the most influential figures in American sports and social history, and indeed, as Mr. Mutombo bears witness, to world history.

[BWB2020]

@ MilitaryRetiree

Bush and Cheney were draft dodgers, Ali refused of the draft, there is a big difference.

Draft dodgers like Bush and Cheney, (and Romney, while we're at it) try to find pretenses to avoid service, pretenses that mean they suffered no consequences for their act.

That is draft dodging.

Ali, on the other hand, refused to take the oath of service, and his reasons were as valid then as they are now. He also accepted the consequences of his refusal, and accepted them like a man.

That is draft refusal.

Draft refusal is the act of a principled man.

Draft dodging is the act of a coward.

Too bad baggers have the two confused.

[MilitaryRetiree]

Did they give him a medal for being a draft dodger? ? ?

[Blammm1]

Looks like it. The only reasons I can gather from the AP article are his status as a draft dodger and his fight in Zaire. I don't think a pro boxer fighting in a third world nation should merit any consideration for the Liberty Medal. As we saw with Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, these awards committees are more interested in making headlines than recognizing actual accomplishment.