With Joe Louis
The Champ
Prize Fighter, entertainer, golfer
Copyright 2024 Mike Strong - kcdance.com, artfulDancer.com, See Also: http://www.artfulDancer.com and http://www.kcdance.com/
 
 
 

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 those times:
Audio:

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.