Joe Louis

Dates: May 13, 1914 - April 12, 1981

Occupation: boxer

Also known as: The Brown Bomber

Joe Louis’ Early Career

Joseph Louis Barrow was born on May 13, 1914, in Lafayette, Alabama. His family resided there until they moved to Detroit in 1926. After the move, Louis became interested in boxing. Without his family’s knowledge, he secretly hired a trainer and began boxing. Like other boxers who wanted to hide their identity from their families, Louis dropped the Barrow from his name.

As a light-heavyweight boxer at nineteen, out of fifty fights, Louis won forty-three by knockout. Louis’ potential was recognized immediately. His manager, John Roxborough, and his trainer, Jack Blackburn, set out to carve a safe public image for Louis. Determined not to replicate the mistakes of Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight whose marriages to white women created a negative public image, Louis’ management made sure that he had a clean image. Although the modest and quiet Louis did have relationships with women of all races, he did so discreetly.

Joe Louis’ Professional Career

Louis’ first professional fight was against Jack Kracken on July 4, 1934. Louis knocked Kracken out within the first two minutes of the fight. In 1936, he fought former German heavyweight champion, Max Schmeling. Louis lost the fight. A year later on June 22, 1937, Louis fought the heavyweight champion Lou Braddock and won.

Now that he was the world heavyweight champion, Louis was scheduled to fight Schmeling again on June 22, 1938. The match was viewed in a political context with Schmeling representing Nazi Germany and Louis representing the United States. The rematch resulted in a victory for Louis and America. The win made Louis a hero to the white and black American public at a time when segregation and discrimination were still prevalent.

Despite his success in the ring, Louis had incurred heavy debts. To payoff these debts he fought every month. He remained undefeated. During the war, he joined the army. While serving he fought in close to one hundred exhibition matches. He served from 1942 to 1945.

Joe Louis’ Retirement

In 1949, he retired but he was forced to return to the ring a year later in order to pay back taxes that totaled more than a million dollars. He fought his last fight in 1951. Overall, he had 68 wins and 3 losses. In retirement, debt continued to plague his life, so he worked as a professional wrestler from 1956 to 1957. In the 1970s, he was paid to greet guest at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Louis died of a heart attack on April 12, 1981.