“He can run, but he can’t hide”, a famous line said by champion boxer Joe Louis before his match against Billy Conn. Joe Louis held his boxing championship for 12 years and would have continued if not for his retirement in 1945.
On June 22, 1937, Louis earned the title after knocking out James J. Braddock and would go on to defend it 25 times. In his career, he was a hero to Americans and “the Brown Bomber” to his competition.
Born on May 13, 1914, Joseph Louis Burrow was born to sharecroppers. His family traveled to Detroit in his youth. This was where he owned his very first pair of boxing gloves. Before that, he was on the career path to become a violinist, as per his mother’s wishes.
Instead, he would hide his gloves in his violin case and head to the Brewster Recreation Center for boxing lessons. As a child, he never knew he would go on to make history. Not once but multiple times.
What most don’t know is that, besides boxing, Louis was one of the first black professional golfers. His fixation on golfing and neglect of boxing led him to have his first knockout loss to Max Schmeling. Louis, unwilling to admit defeat, decided on a rematch.
When the world was on the brink of World War II, Louis was preparing for a rematch against German boxer Max Schmeling. Louis won the match in 124 seconds, providing hope and becoming a symbol of strength to America. He later befriended Max Schlemming along with Frank Sinatra.
Despite the glory of his sports career, Louis was suffering from the crushing weight of debt and poverty. As a rare boxer of color at the time, he also felt the effects of racism. Not only having to eat segregated, but also going without announcement for his matches.
He was not allowed by the IRS to use donations from his career, which stacked up his debt. He would later die without a penny to his name, spending his last years working as a Las Vegas greeter.
Schlemming and Sinatra were so close to him that when Louis passed, the two held the funeral processions together with Sinatra as the pallbearer. In his time, he was an American hero and a pioneer in sports against racism, but unfortunately, the times did not allow him to prosper.