Last Updated on March 19, 2008 by Paulette Brown-Hinds
RIVERSIDE
By Leland Stein III
There isn’t a sports crown held in higher esteem than being the heavyweight champion of the world.
Although track athletes who win Olympic medals are feted every four years as the best in the world, a fighter boxes against the entire world two or three times a year.
Before Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens and Marion Motley, there was Joe Louis Barrow Jr. – one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all-time, if not the best.
At the time Louis began boxing, Black prizefighters were unable to compete for the heavyweight world title, because Jack Johnson, the first Black fighter to capture the heavyweight title, had stirred up social and civil unrest with his various antics and made matters worst by marrying a White woman. With Johnson’s knockout win over Jim Jeffries in 1910, riots by Whites erupted across the country.
HBO’s documentary “Joe Louis: America’s Hero Betrayed,” is an intriguing special about the life and times of Louis, known as the “Brown Bomber.”
The documentary reaffirms the fact Louis became America’s first crossover superstar athlete. He gained that status by knocking out German boxer Max Schmeling in the first round of their rematch, before more than 80,000 fans at Yankee Stadium on June 22, 1938.
I remember my dad, Leland Jr. and his consorts, telling me stories about Louis as I sung the praises of Muhammad Ali. He explained how important Detroit raised Louis was to my grandfather and many other Black people during that time.
Blacks danced and celebrated into the wee hours of the night following any Louis win.
I guess for a race of people that had been stepped on and stepped over by the iron fist of segregation and racism, Louis was like a beacon of glowing light that showed White Americans that Blacks could be disciplined, humble, tenacious, while implementing the sports’ code of fair play.
Blacks illuminated their very dim lights of hope that America could be fair and less violent on Louis’ mega-glow that burst out like a bright burning sun throughout every Black community in America when he beat a White opponent in the ring.
“When Joe Louis fought it was better than Christmas,” Dick Gregory said in the HBO Special, “because you never knew if you would get anything. But when Joe fought it was our day.”
Added promoter Don King: “He (Joe) gave voice to things we could not afford to say. He stood up in the race for a better America.”
Concurred Motown founder Berry Gordy: “When Joe won it was phenomenal to be Black, because he was a hero to all the people. His title win and the victory over Schmeling was a defining moment in Black history.”
While Black America rejoiced, most in White America simmered and stewed. The all White journalists of the day portrayed Louis in the stereotypical method they did to Blacks in movies – shuffling and ignorant.
However, once Nazi Germany and Hitler began its aggression throughout the European theater, for the first time in segregated America, many White Americans actually rooted for a Black man – Louis – to beat another White man, Schmeling.
What Louis’ crossover appeal revealed in the end, is that it really did not knock down the hard core separatist that ruled the day in America.
The fight continued for equal liberties and rights through the ’60’s and is still in contention to this day.
Louis joined the military during World War II – some say he was naive – to show his support and love for his country. He visited over 5 million soldiers during his tenure in the military and he even donated money from his fight purses to the war effort.
Louis was a patriotic, humble and giving human being – to a fault. He even fought for the rights of Black soldiers and golfers. He was instrumental in the inclusion of the first Black golfers to play in a PGA sponsored event. He listened to the Black soldiers in America’s segregated military and their concerns about being treated as second-class citizens while fighting for their country.
No matter the positive spirit of Louis and his philanthropic efforts to the United States Government, in the end he became public enemy No. 1 for being a successful Black man. He was betrayed by a government that he gave his heart, money and soul to.
All know that Louis did not do his own taxes or any of his financial business. The boxing promoters, tax accountants and financial managers were all White men.
The disturbing part of the HBO special was the level at which the IRS dogged Louis, and it took every penny he earned after and at the end of his boxing days. They left an American hero whom we all know was not a scholar broke, downtrodden and confused.
Former Black Voice News Sports Editor, Leland Stein can be heard on WGPR radio (107.5) every Sunday from 11 p.m. to midnight. He can be reached at lelstein3@aol.com.