He was born Joe Louis Barrow on May 13, 1914 in Lafayette, Alabama. His father, Monroe Barrow was a sharecropper who died when Joe was only four years old. When he was seven his mother, Lillie, married Patrick Brooks, unifying a family of sixteen children. In 1926 they moved to Detroit, Michigan.

In the 1920's Detroit was highly segregated and the Blacks were forced to live in a small area know as Black Bottom. The Black population in Detroit had grown from about 5,000 at the turn of the century to about 90,000. Most had come up from the South to work in the booming auto plants. And Joe's family was no exception.

Joe attended vocational schools until he was seventeen and even took violin lessons. But it was the lure of boxing, the most popular sport at the time, that caught his interest. When he left trade school, he went to work for the Ford Motor Company and took boxing lessons at Brewsters Recreational Center in the evenings.

Joe had a lackluster beginning. But Jack Blackburn, a former Black lightweight and master boxing trainer, saw his potential and took him under his wings. Joe began to make dramatic improvements under the tutelage of Blackburn. Joe Louis, as he now referred to himself (supposedly because including the name Barrow would be too long to fit on his trunks), went on to become a finalist in the 1933 Golden Glove's in Boston and win the 1934 National AAU light heavyweight championship in St. Louis. He finished his amateur career 50 & 4 without ever being knocked out.

When Louis made his professional debut fighting Jack Kracken, he made only $50. He went on to become so popular, however, that he earned $300,000 in his first year and a half. Joe's friends had advised him against turning professional suggesting it would be better to stay with the certainty of a steady job at the plant and warning him of the perils of professional boxers, citing Jack Johnson and others. But Joe followed his own star. He married Marva Trotter and shortly thereafter knocked out Max Baer in September of 1935.

Louis had a stellar professional career. He won 69 of 72 fights: 54 by knockout 13 by decision, and 1 disqualification. He earned the nickname "Brown Bomber" because of his quick devastating punches.

Max Schmeling, a German heavyweight, had studied Louis' style and noticed that he kept his left hand high after jabbing and his left hand low after throwing a hook. Using this information he was able to defeat Louis in their June 1936 fight.

Adolph Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany, not only used this outcome as evidence of Aryan supremacy, but also as evidence of the German supremacy over Americans as well. Thus, Louis' defeat was a let down for the United States and for African Americans in particular. Joe Louis had now become a symbol for something much bigger than himself.

Joe Louis won the championship by knocking out James Braddock in the 8th round on June 22, 1937. This set the stage for a rematch with Schmeling. And this time Louis had something to prove. Schmeling didn't know what hit him. Louis knocked out him out in 2 minutes and 4 seconds in the first round. (It has been said that it was the only fight he entered mad.)

Louis had several other double engagements. The most notable were those with Billy Conn. Conn was a large light heavyweight with outstanding boxing skills. In their 1941 fight (discussed in The Ring magazine shown above) Conn was winning for 13 rounds. But had became cocky and decided to try and knock Louis out. "Pride cometh before the fall." He tried to trade blows with Louis, whom he thought had been worn out. His miscalculation cost him the title. Louis knocked him out in the 13th round.

In January of 1942, Louis was sworn into the United States Army. He worked his way from a private to Athletic Instructor. He traveled to various camps and was given the honor to go to Europe. His tremendously entertaining boxing exhibitions for over 14 months enabled him to attain "The Legion of Merit."

Louis also did a lot to help African Americans by helping them get into officer candidate school, including the legendary Jackie Robinson.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he gave his entire purse from a fight to the Navy Relief Fund. In less than three months later he repeated this feat giving this time to the Army Relief Fund.

Louis was discharged on October 1, 1945 and began his professional boxing career the following year. He would fight Billy Conn the second time. This time he finished him off in eight rounds. After defeating "Jersey" Joe Walcott twice, Louis retired as heavyweight champion of the world in 1945. Throughout his 12 year reign he successfully defended his crown 25 times, 22 by knockout.

Louis had been a generous champion. He lived simply and gave much of his money away to a variety of charities. He helped family and friends. He voluntarily paid back the government the welfare payment that his stepfather had received during the Great Depression; bought a house for an elderly Indian; bought needed uniforms for a group of Black Army Officers.

But when his professional career was over, things fell apart. His wife, Marva, divorced him, and he found out that he owed the government a whole lot of money. The tax laws had only been in place one year when he was born and had gone through lots of changes when he had begun to earn big purses. The tax rate Louis found himself in was such that he had to pay 90% of his earnings. So that when he decided to return to the ring to try to earn enough money to pay off his debts, he found himself only getting deeper in debt. (It was during this period that he lost the fights to Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano.) The government would not even let him deduct the money he had given to the Army and Navy or the $3,000 he spent on tickets for soldiers to see his fights.