Joe Louis, The Greatest, Brown Bomber, and Original "Native Son"

Although since the 1960’s Muhammad Ali will be forever first associated with the title "The Greatest", he was not the first black man to be dubbed so.  Back in the 1930’s a man named Joe Louis "The Brown Bomber" was classified as “Invincible” and “The Greatest” by many sports announcers, trainers, and boxing gurus decades before Ali was even born. Currently Louis was canonized into the ranks of Boxing Saints and Legends by men whose names include Bert Sugar, Angelino Dundee, and Lou Duva to name a few on the show ESPN Classic Ringside.   Louis’ life as a Black man living in the American spotlight has been held by many as the archetype of how a world recognized African American sports figure ought to behave, because essentially, Joe Louis’ was a real life Clark Kent, mild-mannered, soft-spoken, and meek. In one instance Louis was described by friend, and opponent Billy Conn, in this way, “He was a gentleman, but not very gentle,” on account that during their fights Conn would slip and Louis would help him up and then resume beating him to a pulp. Like Roosevelt and other West African’s before him, Louis choose to “speak softly but carry a big stick” in the form of two fists and a good chin that would help him hold the world heavyweight championship for an impossible 12 years through 24 bouts, giving him the best record ever of any heavyweight Champion past and present. Such a feat as this combined with his clean, humble, down home image would make many consider him as the greatest for centuries to come and the model African American Boxing Champ and professional athlete, period.

But when it came to being an all around model of fame and good fortune, Louis’ life veers away sharply outside of the ring. In his beginning, Louis’ father was admitted to a mental asylum when Joe was only two years old. Next, Louis' family flees a segregated Alabama, as a result of the violence perpetuated by the KKK, local “law enforcement”, as well as other lynch mobs and moved to Detroit. During this time, he picked up boxing, which his Southern Conservative-Christian mother at first disapproved of, but she consented under the condition that he always remember that he is “from a Christian family, and always act that way." This as previously stated accounted for his personality and soft-spoken nature, despite his brutal profession.

So, after being given his mother’s blessing and accepting her one condition, Joe Louis began his juggernaut march to the pinnacle of the boxing world. He won the Michigan Golden Gloves and turned professional at age 20, winning the Heavyweight Championship just four short years after his professional debut. His rise to the top of the boxing world would best be described as a quick elevator ride due to his extreme power and good heavyweight hand speed. It was now that the term “Invincible” was introduced and Louis 'smelt himself' as the old folks say.

Of course during this time period Hitler’s Germany had come to power and the Third Reich’s doctrine of the Aryan as being the perfect race was to be put to the test in the form of the German Aryan, Max Schmeling vs. the American Negro, Joe Louis. The Allied media had a field day of setting up this shoe-in victory as a testimony to the Ally’s righteous cause, the validity of world’s “acceptance” of other races, and an opportunity to discredit the superiority of the Aryan super-race. This fight was beyond Germany vs. America and White vs. Black, this was Good vs. Evil. With an undefeated and “Invincible” Joe Louis waiting in the States, the German’s made little fuss over the fight expecting a loss.

AS A NOTE OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE, Max Schmeling himself was not a Nazi, nor did he believe in the Nazi’s racist doctrine, he just lived there; Schmeling’s manager and tailor were Jewish for Christ’s sake. However, the world would not give any mercy to this man who happened to be born in the “wrong place at the wrong time” and Schmeling was branded a Nazi. Upon arriving in America, Schmeling was met with all kinds of vicious protesting and anti-Nazi hatred.

As previously stated, Louis’ dominance was never checked and confidence gave way to arrogance as Louis made the critical mistake of underestimating Schmeling, taking up golf before the fight, instead of a rigorous training regimen. Additionally, Schmeling, during his research and preparation for the fight, made a mental note of Louis’ unfortunate habit of dropping his left guard after throwing his trademark jab. In the 12^th round of their first fight, Schmeling made use of this weakness and knocked-out Joe Louis for his first loss. The Allied morale also fell with Joe, and the world was no longer the same. The Germans, not only had a win, but the Nazi propaganda machine took the opportunity to make widespread use of Schmeling’s strategy, all fighters have a strategy of exploiting an opponent's weakness, but the PR campaign expounded upon this to promote the Aryan’s innate intelligence. Aryan mental superiority allowed Schmeling to expertly and cunningly exploit “a flaw in the Negro’s nature” and defeat THE Invincible “American”.

Upon returning, Schmeling was later forced by his Hitler himself to represent the ultimate Aryan specimen and fire his Jewish friend and manager Joe Jacobs. Schmeling, unlike Louis, was strong-armed into being the poster boy for the benefit of his country’s war propaganda, whereas Joe Louis was pleased to do his part for the US by

• donating several large fight purses to the US Army,
• complying with the draft, and
• fighting numerous exhibition matches, which entertained some 3 million troops in multiple continents, with the USO Tour.

Louis even allowed the US to use his likeness to encourage troop morale further as seen in the above picture that reads “Private Louis says, ‘We’re going to do our part… and we’ll win because we’re on God’s side.’” Just like he promised, Joe Louis continued to keep his word to his mother and was an excellent reflection upon his family and Christian roots.

For the next three years of the war Louis did what he could for the war effort despite the personal losses and did so gladly and courteously as always. During his tour in the Army, Louis not only raised the troops’ morale, but also revived his own and rallied to regain the Heavyweight crown. Despite the impressive comeback, Louis adamantly stated that he could not be the real champion until he beat Max Schmeling. For this monumental rematch, the world paused. Hitler, unlike the first time, was supremely confident in the Nazi’s Aryan hero and had the rematch broadcast live in Germany. BIG MISTAKE! Seconds into the rematch it was clear this would not be a repeat of the first fight and Hitler wisely and quickly gave the order to cut the feed as Louis won in stellar fashion, knocking out Schmeling in the first round.

After the loss Schmeling was ridiculed by Germany as an utter embarrassment, and he later moved to the Swiss countryside, away from German influence and power. Joe Louis was conversely uplifted as a national hero, winning not only the pride that he had lost, but the hearts and support of whites everywhere, simply unheard of for an African American in those times; he was a Negro National Treasure.

Such exploits made Joe Louis be canonized and knighted as “Invincible” and “The Greatest”, but this glory and eminence was not to be long lived, for there had been a most grievous error committed by Louis’ new management team. During the war a novice accountant listed Louis’ donated purses as “earnings” and Louis was audited by the IRS and accused of tax fraud. This surprising accusation, when looked at from a historical context, slavery, Native Americans, Irish, etc. would soon become yet another item in a long list of the incomprehensible treachery and trickery of US treatment of non-whites.

The same Joe Louis that had donated hundreds of thousands of dollars (millions in modern money), entertained millions of troops, and emboldened a nation was now being handed over to the IRS wolves because of someone else's mistake. Unfortunately neither Louis’ camp nor the IRS corrected the accounting error and as many fighters since, Louis was forced to come out of retirement and fight past his prime to pay off his debts. Joe Louis, the great American hero, Uncle Sam's Golden Boy, who served his country better than anyone could ever ask or imagine, was now reduced to being a bum and a “penniless champ”. Oddly enough, Max Schmeling, who just years ago been branded by America as a Nazi, was hired by American Coca-Cola to lead the franchising effort in postwar Germany. Schmeling, thanks to his new career, faired much better than Joe did. After the war, he rehired his former Jewish manager Jacobs and is hailed as one of the greatest German philanthropists in history.

But back to Joe Louis, he was also a great humanitarian and philanthropist. He would literally give out $20 bills as though they were candy to whoever asked and funded education, housing, and transportation expenses for many of his family members. FURTHERMORE, when Jackie Robinson, the first Black Major League Baseball player, was undergoing court-martial proceedings for refusing to give up his seat on a bus, Louis stepped in and used his pull with the Army to get Robinson off the hook. As always he was a man of his word to his mother and to us.

Historically, Joe Louis was the most famous Heavyweight champion in the world, noted for his defeat of the Max Schmeling at the height of World War II, his impeccable professional record of 69-3 with two losses coming after he was forced out of retirement by the IRS, and for his unprecedented generosity and giving spirit; that is until Muhammad Ali. Although both were considered to be “The Greatest”, the two men could have not been more dissimilar in mannerism. The soft-spoken Louis was the original model and set the mold for a Black Boxing Champion as a down-to-earth, humble, considerate, and most importantly a Christian willing to do his part when his country needed him. The boisterous, trash-talking, Muslim, draft-dodging Muhammad Ali was his antithesis.

Ali would later call Louis an Uncle Tom citing his “passive” political stance, but comparing most anyone to Ali would make them appear to be passive. Ali also leveled other emaciating and emasculating terms against others boxers such as George Patterson, who followed the Christian path that Louis had blazed, and Joe Frazier, whom he later exonerated by saying “Joe Louis brings the best out of me. Lawdy Lawdy he’s one hell of a man. God bless him.” The contempt Ali felt towards Louis was in no doubt out of ignorance of Louis’ true contributions to the African American struggle and the spin of hatred and prejudice towards whites and non-militant Blacks that plagued early American-Islam. But, considering what happened to Louis, the once proud American hero turned impoverished IRS target, is it no wonder that Muhammad Ali refused to be inducted into the military saying, “No Viet-Cong ever called me Nigger”? No, ladies and gentleman; logically or ideologically, no one can hold one word against Ali when it comes to Vietnam.

Joe Louis originally “The Greatest” had blazed a trail that most White-Americans assumed all others Blacks would follow. It is no wonder that in comparison to the soft-spoken, meek, gentlemanly, appeasing, and most importantly Christian Joe Louis, that America was so thoroughly startled by Muhammad Ali’s vehement distaste for the American war effort in Vietnam and the rampant culture of hypocrisy that defines the African's experience in America. Joe Louis went from being the proud poster boy of the US to a broken man suffering from Parkinson’s in poverty, and Ali had the historical sense to know that he wanted no part of that. The United State’s betrayal left Louis nothing but debt and hardship for the rest of his life, and Ali would refuse to go that same route. Can you blame him?

Such was the legacy of the man we know as Joe Louis, the Invincible Brown Bomber, who gave all he could to a country that turned its back on him after using him up, transforming him into Richard Wright’s “Native Son” in just a matter of years. Thanks to Joe Louis’ troubled relationship with the United States, people throughout history, like Ali, are given tangible meaning to the phrase “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.” Nearly 100 years later, Louis’ dominating boxing career, outstanding generosity, and positive contributions to the African American struggle and the US, which all occurred during a time when Black’s were still being lynched and utterly demoralized, naturally incites use of the title “The Greatest”. We should always recognize that Joe Louis was originally “The Greatest” Heavyweight Boxing Champion and the greatest epic American hero, the world will ever see.

WORKS CITED

___________. BoxRec. http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=009027

___________. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org

Goodman, Barrack. PBS. “The Fight”, American Experience. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/fight/peopleevents/p_louis.html Sept., 2004.

Horwitz, Jason. WGA. Joe and Max. Sony Pictures. 2002. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281938/

Kenny, Brian. ESPN. “Ringside: Joe Louis”, ESPN Classic Ringside. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/classic/news/story?id=2449294 May, 2006

Pilgrim, Dr. David. Ferris State University. “The Tom Caricature”, The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia. http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/tom/ Dec., 2000.