Before he became heavyweight champion of the world, Joe Louis’s mother forced him to play the violin. Or so she thought. She handed over a quarter a week for lessons. But he never showed up, choosing to train at the gym nearby instead.
In 1933, Louis entered his first Golden Gloves tournament. After he notched a couple upsets, his best friend’s mother congratulated his mom on her son’s boxing success. She had no idea. “And that was the first fight Joe ever had with his mother,” says a man with almost three-quarters of a century’s worth of sports history in his head.
This man knew Louis, eventually. He is Jerry Izenberg. He is still writing about sports and lives and how both intersect. This would be less impressive if his career was shorter than the lifetime of most professional sports franchises. But it’s not. He believes the history of the world can be told through competitions. Louis is heavy-hitting proof.
