Background
Joe Louis was born on May 13, 1914 in LaFayette, Alabama, United States. He was the second-to-last child of eight kids in a family of Munroe Barrow and Lillie Barrow, an Alabama sharecropper.
1934
Chicago, Illinois, United States
The Chicago Golden Gloves Team. (From left to right) Patsy Urso, Johnny Brown, Troy Bellini, Alfred Nettlow, Phil Kenneally, Danny Farrar, Freddie Caserio, Joe Louis, and Otis Thomas.
1935
1 E 161 St, The Bronx, NY 10451, United States
Joe Louis (left) looks to deliver a right jab on his opponent Max Baer during their bout at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York City. Photo by The Stanley Weston Archive.
1935
Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, United States
Joe Louis is pitting his punch against the heavy punching bag while training for the Max Baer fight at his training camp. Photo by The Stanley Weston Archive.
1936
Joe Louis at his victory in the 3rd round knockout over Jack Sharkey. Photo by Imagno.
1937
Joe Louis walking down the street with his wife, Marva Trotter, the year before he won the World Championship. Photo by Keystone.
1937
Joe Louis pictured during training for his upcoming fight with Tommy Farr in New York City. Photo by Popperfoto.
1938
Joe Louis. Photo by Popperfoto.
1938
Joe reads some highly interesting literature, a day after his second fight with Max Schmeling of Germany. Photo by NY Daily News Archive.
1938
1 E 161 St, The Bronx, NY 10451, United States
Joe Louis (left) stands over Max Schmeling after knocking him out during the fight at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York City. Photo by The Ring Magazine.
1942
Joe Louis trains for his forthcoming fight with Abe Simon at the Fort Dix United States Army camp. Photo by Keystone.
1944
Joe Louis fighting in an outdoor exhibition contest while in London with the United States Army. Photo by Express.
1944
Joe Louis (right) in London during his service in the United States Army. Photo by Express.
1945
Port Hamilton, South Korea
Joe Louis (right) is presented with the Legion of Merit medal by Major-General Clarence H. Kells during a ceremony at Port Hamilton. Photo by Keystone.
1946
Joe Louis in training. Photo by Keystone.
1946
Joe Louis. Photo by Central Press.
1946
Joe Louis. Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone.
1946
Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, United States
Joe Louis in training before his world title defence against Billy Conn, Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. Photo by FPG/Archive Photos.
1948
37 Rue François 1er, 75008 Paris, France
Joe Louis hugging three of the contestants in the Miss Paris beauty contest at the Claridge Hotel, Paris. Photo by Keystone.
1950
1 E 161 St, The Bronx, NY 10451, United States
Joe Louis (left) and Ezzard Charles during their world heavyweight championship fight at Yankee Stadium, New York City. Photo by Keystone.
1973
Longford TW6, London, United Kingdom
Joe Louis with his son Joe, Jr., at Heathrow Airport, London. Photo by Popperfoto.
1976
New York City, New York, United States
Joe Louis portrayed during an interview at his home in New York City. Photo by The Ring Magazine.
Joe Louis in the army
Joe Louis (left) with German boxing legend Max Schmeling at a dinner function, about the 1970s. Photo by Martin Mills.
Joe Louis climbs into his car outside the 20th Century Sporting Club, carrying a suitcase and boxing gloves. Photo by Keystone.
Joe Louis (left, foreground) hitting punching bag. Photo by Frank Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Joe Louis signing autographs during a tour of Fort Devons. Photo by Hart Preston/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Joe Louis sitting in his Harlem apartment. Photo by Herbert Gehr/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Noble Art Gymnasium, London, United Kingdom
Joe Louis at the Noble Art Gymnasium in London, where he met Joe Bugner. Photo by Central Press.
Joe Louis shakes hands with Max Schmeling of Germany while being weighed in before one of their fights, about 1938. Photo by Hulton Archive.
Joe Louis with his manager, John Roxborough. Photo by Gjon Mili/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Earls Court, London, United Kingdom
Joe Louis at the Health and Holidays Exhibition at Earls Court, London. Photo by Topical Press Agency.
Joe Louis being interviewed about the boxing monopoly legislation. Photo by Allan Grant/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Joe Louis preparing for an exhibition bout during a tour of Fort Devons. Photo by Hart Preston/The LIFE Picture Collection.
1 E 161 St, The Bronx, NY 10451, United States
Joe Louis sways to avoid a right swing from Ezzard Charles (right) during their world heavyweight championship fight at Yankee Stadium, New York City. Louis has a badly swollen left eye. Photo by Keystone.
Joe Louis (3rd from left) training at Fort Dix. Photo by Frank Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection.
Joe Louis stands in a gymnasium boxing ring as if ready for a match.
Joe Louis standing in his trophy room in his house. Photo by Joseph Scherschel/The LIFE Picture Collection.
5th Avenue at, Central Park S, New York, NY 10022, United States
Muhammad Ali (left) and Joe Lewis during 50th Annual Boxing Writers Association Dinner at Plaza Hotel in New York City. Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection.
Polo Grounds, New York City, New York, United States
The Pullman Porters at Grand Central station are giving three rousing cheers for Joe Louis as he arrives from Detroit to meet Primo Carnera at the Polo Grounds.
Joe Louis with sports columnist Hugh Bradley (left) at ringside during Patterson-Johansson fight. Photo by Leonard Mccombe/The LIFE Picture Collection.
On August 26, 1982, Louis was posthumously approved for the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award given to civilians by the United States legislative branch.
(In words, diagrams, and action photographs, Joe Louis, wh...)
In words, diagrams, and action photographs, Joe Louis, who was named the greatest heavyweight champ of all time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2005, explains the techniques he successfully used in his boxing career.
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1948
Joe Louis was born on May 13, 1914 in LaFayette, Alabama, United States. He was the second-to-last child of eight kids in a family of Munroe Barrow and Lillie Barrow, an Alabama sharecropper.
Joe Louis' birth father was placed into a mental hospital in 1916. Two years later, Louis' mother received information about his death, and, considering herself a widow, remarried a construction contractor Patrick Brooks, a widower with five kids of his own, in 1921. In truth, Joe's biological dad lived on till 1938 and knew nothing about the growing reputation of his son.
Seeking for better job opportunities because of the crisis after the First World War, the family of Joe Louis relocated to Detroit. Louis was placed in classes with much younger, smaller children because of his underachievement. Embarrassed by the situation, he became withdrawn and developed a stammer. He set himself apart and talked little for many years. After Louis' parents were reassured by his teachers that he would have to make a living with his hands, Joe was enrolled at the Bronson Trade School to study carpentry.
When Joe Louis' stepfather lost his work because of the Great Depression, Joe helped support the family by doing odd jobs, like hauling of ice blocks for an ice-wagon driver. He began hanging around with a rough crowd and discovered a vocation that would lead him far in his further career. He used the money received from his mother for violin lessons to attend the Brewster Recreation Center, where he took up boxing.
Joe Louis dropped out of school at the age of 17 and took a job at the Briggs Automobile Factory where he pushed truck bodies for a dollar per day. He didn't stop to hone his boxing skills however. To keep his hobby a secret from his mother, Joe dropped out his middle name and began boxing with neighborhood kids as Joe Louis. While he showed great promise, an exhausting, full-time job at an auto-body plant left him little time or energy for training.
The start of Joe Louis' career in boxing can be counted from 1932 when he debuted at his amateur match against Johnny Miller, a member of that year's Olympic boxing team. Being knocked down seven times in the first two rounds, Louis left boxing immediately but was encouraged by his mother to return as she believed that box was an opportunity for him to achieve something through doing what he liked.
Joe Louis's boxing talent developed rapidly and made him a winner in 50 of 59 amateur bouts, with 43 knockouts. In 1933, he earned the National light-heavyweight Golden Gloves crown followed by the victory at the Amateur Athletic Union 175-pound championship. Louis turned professional the next year when his first professional fight was held on July 4. Jack Blackburn, Louis' trainer, taught his disciple the flat-footed shuffle that became a trademark of Louis.
Fight promoter Mike Jacobs put the national spotlight on Louis by arranging a bout for him against former champion Primo Camera at Yankee Stadium. Louis sent Camera to the floor in the sixth round in 1934, then dropped former champion Max Baer in 1935. A series of 22 wins without a loss during his first year as a pro cemented Louis the Brown Bomber nickname. He became the most famous African-American in the United States.
One of the best known fights in boxing history was Louis' first bout against Max Schmeling of Germany in 1936. Although the Brown Bomber was a favorite before the battle, Schmeling knocked him out. Frustrated by the defeat, Louis cleaned himself up and won seven bouts over the next eight months. What's more, on June 22, 1937, he became the new world heavyweight champion by knocking out the previous one, James J. Braddock.
Meanwhile, a second bout with Schmeling was scheduled for the next year. Louis knocked out his former winner in the first round that pushed his fame to increase throughout the 1930s and made him an important figure for the black struggle against white injustice. Louis fought boxers like Billy Conn, Tony Galento, Rocky Marciano, and "Jersey Joe" Walcott. He won 19 other title fights. That was a pinnacle of his athletic career.
In 1942, Joe Louis joined the United States Army where he served in a segregated unit with Jackie Robinson, the future first African-American to compete in major league baseball. Louis wasn't much involved in combat but fought in 96 exhibition matches before about two million troops.
After the war he was less active and announced his retirement from sport on March 1, 1949. While still winning in the ring before the army, Louis had accumulated heavy tax burden resulted from many victories in a short period. Although nearly $5 million were to his credit as a fighter, he had spent or given away nearly all of it. The financial state that worsened after his discharge brought Louis back into the ring in an attempt to pay off his debts but age took over. The losses to Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano in 1950 and 1951 definitively ended up his career.
After retiring, Louis then tried himself as a professional wrestler and got involved in several sports and commercial promotions. In 1969, he established the Joe Louis Food Franchise Corporation with his former ring adversary Billy Conn. Louis was also a celebrity greeter at the Caesar's Palace Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Despite failing health and drugs problems, he appeared at major boxing events as well. Besides, the boxer was featured in several full-length and short movies during his athletic career, such as the 1938 boxing movie Spirit of Youth and the 1943 musical comedy This is the Army by Michael Curtiz.
(In words, diagrams, and action photographs, Joe Louis, wh...)
1948Joe Louis supported Republican Wendell Willkie as a candidate for presidency in 1940.
Joe Louis contributed generously to the fight for equality for people of color. While serving in the army, he helped integrate football and baseball teams in army camps and refused to travel by segregated camp buses. He also donated more than $100,000 to Army and Navy assistance funds. A lifelong fan of golf, Louis provided financial assistance to many African-American professional golfers, including Bill Spiller, Ted Rhodes, Howard Wheeler, James Black, Clyde Martin and Charlie Sifford.
When Joe Louis was asked about his decision to enter the racially segregated United States Army, his explanation was the following: "Lots of things wrong with America, but Hitler ain't going to fix them."
Quotations:
"I did the best I could with what I had."
"He can run, but he can't hide"
"Everyone has a plan until they've been hit."
"Every man's got to figure to get beat sometime."
"You need a lot of different types of people to make the world better."
"A champion doesn't become a champion in the ring, he's merely recognized in the ring. His "becoming" happens during his daily routine."
"You have to be tough and stick it out, or you wind up being nothing."
"There is no such thing as a natural boxer. A natural dancer has to practice hard. A natural painter has to paint all the time. Even a natural fool has to work at it."
"Every man got a right to his own mistakes. Ain't no man that ain't made any."
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."
There were lots of speculations in the media about Joe Louis as a typical "darkie" whose favorite pastime was to sleep and eat a lot, read the comics, and play baseball and golf. All that generalizations were certainly far from the truth. Louis didn't show cruelty in the ring and outside it. Usually modest and generous in ordinary life, he never attacked his rivals or showed pleasure at their pain if they were hurt. Louis wasn't a lazy person, he trained hard. However, the boxer wasn't stranger to the night life and romantic liaisons but, discreet in these activities, he received no bad publicity.
Physical Characteristics: Joe Louis was 1.93 meters tall.
Quotes from others about the person
Langston Hughes, author, poet and columnist: "Each time Joe Louis won a fight in those depression years, even before he became champion, thousands of black Americans on relief or W. P. A., and poor, would throng out into the streets all across the land to march and cheer and yell and cry because of Joe's one-man triumphs. No one else in the United States has ever had such an effect on Negro emotions – or on mine. I marched and cheered and yelled and cried, too."
Joe Louis Jr., Louis' son: "My aunts and uncles told me they were absolutely flabbergasted when he [Joe Louis] became a boxer because he was so quiet and peaceful. He was the most tranquil kid on the block."
Chris Mead, author: "To downtrodden blacks, Louis came to be a hero of fierce revolutionary proportions – a black man who trounced white men in hand-to-hand combat before a national audience."
Arthur Ashe, tennis player: "Much of the goodwill for black athletes generated in the dozen years leading to the end of the war was due to the positive image that Louis had created."
Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States: "Joe Louis was more than a sports legend – his career was an indictment of racial bigotry and a source of pride and inspiration to millions of white and black people around the world."
Joe Louis was married four times. Marva Trotter became his first wife in 1935. They divorced ten years later, then remarried in 1946, and finally broke up again in 1949. The family produced two children, Jacqueline and Joseph Louis Barrow Jr.
Louis' marriage to a Harlem businesswoman Rose Morgan was annulled three years later after the ceremony, in 1958. The following year, Louis formed a family with Martha Jefferson, a lawyer. Martha bore him two sons, Joseph Louis Barrow Jr., John Louis Barrow, and two daughters, Joyce Louis Barrow and Janet Louis Barrow. The second Joe Louis Barrow Jr. followed in his father's footsteps and got involved in boxing. Louis also had relationships with Lena Horne and Edna Mae Harris.