Leonard Reed

Highlights with Joe Louis

Pictures, courtesy of Leonard Reed

Leonard Reed and Joe Louis traveled together and staged shows. This is a poster from one of those shows. Leonard has a lot of stories about practical jokes Joe Louis played on him. Here is an audio story from 1948 or 1949 in New Orleans. Joe and Leonard were scheduled to play a golf tournament and Joe was scheduled to put on a short exhibition fight. There were problems about who could stay in which hotel and who could ride in cabs together - because of skin color. This is a funny story as Leonard tells us. It also reminds us about the times:

A Few Audio Tracks: New Orleans: 28kb - Finally got you in the back of the bus - AUDIO - RealMedia (334 kb file size) 56kb - The Roosevelt Hotel - AUDIO - RealMedia: (170kb file size) Manila, Phillipines: 28kb, 56kb - Dates in Manila - AUDIO - RealMedia:

 

Joe and Leonard, both in the air.

Golf: That's Leonard in front with the club and Joe Louis just behind with his club in the lifted in a line-of-sight.

These were some of Joe's friends at his funeral.