Midwest Guest

The "football capital of the world" at Ada, Ohio

Ada, Ohio, may seem like an unlikely place for the "football capital of the world", but don't tell that to workers at Ada's Wilson Football factory who proudly produce leather footballs for every major gridiron contest in the country.

The exterior of the unassuming factory building on a side street in this small, northwestern Ohio town gives little hint about its importance to football, but we discovered that the factory looms large in football legend.

Wilson became the official manufacturer of NFL footballs in 1941. Today the company continues to supply all of the NFL's official game balls, as well as footballs for the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl, the NCAA, many high school associations and other football leagues throughout the nation.

Wilson opened the Ada factory in 1955. The facility continues to produce as many as 4,000 footballs a day, or 700,000 per year, as the world's sole factory dedicated to making leather footballs.

Wilson takes particular pride in the fact that these leather footballs are American-made, although the company does produce its less expensive, synthetic footballs overseas. Football is the only major sports league using balls manufactured in this country (World Series baseballs supposedly come from Costa Rica and basketballs for the NBA finals come from China).

The factory sometimes hosts tours or displays of their vintage footballs during special events or festivals in town, but we were there during a rainy and quiet week in spring, so we didn't get to go inside.

I did get a glimpse of the football manufacturing process and the people behind the footballs via company-produced YouTube videos online.

The Ada factory employs about 120 workers, with many of them working at the plant for 20 years or more.

The process starts with large pieces of cowhide specially tanned and embossed with a proprietary finish bearing the Wilson 'W'.

Workers cut the hide into panels, press logos into the leather, apply black or gold foil to the logos, split the leather to the proper weight and sew the panels together. One fellow, who must be very strong, turns the footballs, which are inside out at this point, right side out so others can insert a rubber bladder in each ball, hand lace them and pump them to a specified air pressure.

Each football approved as an official game ball must be of a uniform weight and size.

Producing footballs used in each year's Super Bowl requires workers in Ada to start work the moment the games determining those teams going to the Super Bowl end. A crew shows up at the factory as the final deciding championship game heads into its second half and sets up production as the game ends.

Each Super Bowl football has the names of the two competing teams stamped into its leather. The Ada crew produced 216 footballs for the most recent Super Bowl game, getting them to their destinations via overnight shipment and couriers.

Each Super Bowl team gets 54 footballs to take to the game with them, as well as a batch of practice footballs. Many of the teams' footballs leave play during the game, destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame or to the teams for display in their own trophy cases.

Game officials also receive a dozen balls to use for kick-offs and place kicks.

Workers also produce 10,000 to 20,000 Super Bowl footballs for retail sale.

Looking for one of Wilson's "official" leather footballs? I found several on Amazon, including a Wilson New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers 2007 AFC Conference Duel Football, an NFL Wilson Duke Leather Super Bowl XLIII Football and a Wilson F1100 Official NFL Game Football.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

My Piece on the Rock

Matt Forster is back today with this story about a kayak trip he and his wife took near Turnip Rock in Michigan's Thumb region.

Lately I’ve been reading a record of the famous Lewis Cass expedition. In the early 1800s, as governor of the Michigan Territory, Cass set out from Detroit with a small flotilla of canoes to learn what he could of the region. The most popular account of the journey, written by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, has the delightfully descriptive title, Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit Northwest through the Great Chain of American Lakes to the Sources of the Mississippi River in the Year 1820.

Reading about the Great Lakes as they were a short two hundred years ago has me pining to do more than just read about the places described, I want to see what they look like now. I want to prop myself up against the rocks where Schoolcraft sat, scribbling away with the wind blowing and sky threatening rain, and see if I can see what he saw. But even that’s not enough to reconstruct Schoolcraft’s perspective, so with that in mind my wife and I set out to the Tip of the Thumb to explore a short portion of the historic trip from the seat of a kayak.

Our day began at Port Austin Kayak in Port Austin. From what looks to be a one-time auto garage, the folks at Port Austin Kayak rent kayaks (single and tandem), “glass”-bottomed boats, bikes, and even quadricycles. We paid their outrageously reasonable rate for our kayaks and then toted the paddles and life jackets down to the water. It’s a laid back affair, kayaks are kept down on the beach. Having kayaked only in the Atlantic, in Massachusetts and Maine, we expected a different kind of boat. These were Old Towns. They were shorter and wider with a larger cockpit than we were used to. There were also no rudders (which is the way we like it) and no spray skirts (which was something we missed about fifteen minutes into the trip).

The plan was to kayak out to Turnip Rock. This unique geological formation (shored up some by concrete to preserve the attraction) is rather unique in the Lower Peninsula. It’s not far from Port Austin, about three miles (our guess) or an hour of paddling from the beach.

Others have made this trip, and the water seemed so placid in their pictures. This was not our experience. Port Austin Harbor is manmade, hemmed in by two breakwaters. Heading out around the westerly edge, the wind-driven waves bounced off the walls and made the water unpredictable and choppy. Once past the breakwater, the waves really picked up, and we fought to stay on course. From where I sat, I saw waves continually lift my wife’s kayak and deposit her fifteen feet closer to shore. I am sure the same was happening tome.

Fortunately, there are several islands that offer some shelter as you go. Not only shelter from the waves, they make a good place to rest. We chose the island furthest out so we could see the Port Austin Reef Light better. From our vantage point we saw a dozen kayaks go by. Most stopped for at least a few minutes on the other islands.

Once you get past the islands and then all the way to Turnip Rock, the water is relatively shallow. This pushes the waves higher, and the waves continually crested. It took some skill to keep the boats from getting swamped. This is where I would have liked a spray skirt, and a bailing sponge for that matter.

My wife, who has been out on the Atlantic more times than I have, said this was the first time she’s ever been scared in a kayak. I was fighting seasickness most of the way back. But the rock was worth the visit even for all that. The continuous waves have eaten away at the base of the cliffs here. Turnip Rock was once part of the shore, but for some reason it stood firm against the onslaught and became a towering island of sorts.

It is clear that the Cass Expedition passed by this way, but from reading the journal and other accounts, there’s no mention of this short stretch of rocky cliff along the shore. From their vantage point a mile out, it’s quite possible they didn’t see it in any detail. At times he describes fear of capsizing and rising waves, so we got that experience anyway.

Port Austin Kayak is one of only a few places that rent kayaks in this area. Another would be marina in Port Sanilac, much farther south. Kayaking has become a popular activity on Lake Huron. The Tip of The Thumb Heritage Water Trail is developing a water trail around the Thumb from just east of Bay City to Lexington. Hopefully we’ll get out again soon and do another stretch in Lake Huron, though this time I will check the watercraft report before we leave home.

Matt Forster is a freelance writer who has written travel guides for Michigan and Colorado. His most recent book was Best Tent Camping Michigan, which came out this summer. You can find out about these and other upcoming projects at www.big-words.net. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattsbigwords

Photos and text © Matt Forster 2011 All rights reserved, used with permission

Where I live: Plymouth Whalers' 2011-2012 season home opener

Looking for high-quality, fast-paced and affordable hockey in metro Detroit? You'll want to check out the Plymouth Whalers as they drop the puck on their home hockey season on Saturday, September 24 against the Erie (Pennsylvania) Otters at Plymouth's Compuware Arena.

Whaler mascot, Shooter, gets revved up for the game

We've long had season tickets to Whalers' games, where we've seen many soon-to-be great NHL players develop during their formative years before going on to play in the Big League.

Tyler Seguin, who raised the Cup as a rookie member of the 2011 Stanley Cup Champions' team, the Boston Bruins, was one of my favorite Whaler players in recent years. I always marveled at his swiftly elegant skating and will miss seeing him play in Plymouth, but it always gives me a unique sense of pride as I follow the careers of players like Seguin who I first watched as Whalers.

The Whalers are part of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), a Junior Major-level team where 16- to 20-year-old athletes often start their professional hockey careers.

Whaler games are particularly family- and wallet-friendly. There are plenty of deals and special packages for groups and families that include the popular $5 Fridays where you can score seats in an end zone during all Friday night home games (the team recommends purchasing these tickets in advance as there are a limited number of $5 seats).

Regular prices for individual tickets range from $12 to $16, and parking is $5. I figure my center-ice season tickets (a 34-game package that includes parking) are a great deal at $425 apiece.

We got a sneak peek at this year's team during pre-season play at Farmington Hills Ice Arena early this month where the Whalers beat cross-river rival, the Windsor (Ontario) Spitfires, 2-1. Both teams let their rookies play, with the Whalers scratching many of their NHL-draft players for the game, so it was a good chance to see some new talent.

The game seemed fast-paced throughout with fewer flubbed passes and missed opportunities due to late-in-the-game-fatigue as I've seen in seasons past. I'm hoping this is a good omen for the Whalers as they head into this season, opening in an away game tonight against the 2011 OHL Champions, the Owen Sound (Ontario) Attack.

Check out the Plymouth Whalers on Facebook, or follow the team on Twitter, where Plymouth's Pete Krupsky (Whalers' Director of Communications and radio broadcaster for Whaler games) often tweets about the on-ice action during games.

Check out The Memorial Cup: Canada's National Junior Hockey Championship by Richard M. Lapp and Alec Macaulay to read about the history of Major Junior hockey and the coveted Memorial Cup awarded in a tournament each year among teams from the Canadian Hockey League. The book is a year-by-year history of the cup contests from the first one in 1919 through 1997, including the story of the 1995 Memorial Cup final between the then-Detroit Junior Red Wings (which became the Whalers soon thereafter) and the Kamloops Blazers. The book, which I bought a while ago for myself, doesn't include more recent years. However, real fans of junior hockey should still find it a fun read with plenty of stats and vintage photos.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Visualizing victory for the Detroit Lions

True Honolulu-blue Detroit Lions' fans are an amazingly loyal and resilient bunch of folks. They have to be. Their football team last won a NFL national championship in 1957!

Today, I'm sharing a little something special that I saved back from our trip earlier this summer to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

The museum has a lot of cool interactive displays that allow football fans to immerse themselves in the football experience, including a kiosk where fans can design their own championship rings.

I spotted this display and immediately knew what I had to do.

I ignored the oh-so-knowing smiles of several folks passing by, I visualized victory for the team, and I created my own version of a Lions' championship ring!

Want to learn more about the Lions and their 1957 NFL championship season? Check out When the Lions Roared: The Story of The Detroit Lions 1957 Championship Season by John A. D'Annunzio.

You can also check out Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Imagination to Create What You Want in Your Life by Shakti Gawain.

Thanks to the Canton-Stark County Convention & Visitors Bureau for their assistance with planning our recent visit to Canton and arranging for comped media passes to the museum.

Photo Friday: Traverse City Beach Bums team mascots

We had a great time watching a recent a Beach Bums baseball game in Traverse City, Michigan. It was a beautiful night, and the home team produced a victory for their fans.

Team mascots like the Bums' bears, Suntan and Sunburn, are always fun to watch, and the minor league team mascots always seem to be especially active and interactive with the fans.

Suntan helps Sunburn with his pre-game stretch



Watching the pre-game warm ups

A little dancing and air guitar!


Watching the game...


...Suntan can't resist a little bit of flirting


Dancing atop the dugout

Check out yesterday's story for more about our night with the Beach Bums.

Thanks to Crystal Mountain Resort, for the ticket vouchers for our return trip to see the Beach Bums play this summer.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Catching a Traverse City Beach Bums baseball game

We caught a Traverse City Beach Bums baseball game during the team's inaugural season in 2006, and it was a lot of fun revisiting the team during a recent trip to northern Michigan earlier this summer.

Wuerfel Park entrance

Attending a game at the team's Wuerfel Park is a fun experience, and it can be an especially budget- and family-friendly outing. Tickets are reasonably priced, as are parking and concession prices (two adult admissions to the chairback sections, two grilled kielbasas, parking, two beverages, two small bags of caramel corn and a game program added up to less than $50 at 2011 prices).

If you plan to have a beer during the game, be sure to stop by the I.D. Check Station and get a wristband near the front entrance as you arrive at the game.

We also liked the fact that the there are two concession stands at opposite corners of the ball park where you can watch as they cook your hot dog or burger on an open grill.

We had great seats in the second row near third base, but the view seemed good from wherever we went in the ball park. We checked out the view from atop the grass berms in the lawn seating section beyond the outfield, a great option for families who want to spread out a picnic blanket and have easy access to the playground near this section.

The Beach Bums are in the Frontier League, a low-level professional league where the pitching can be a little slower, but we were fortunate enough to see a great pitching performance by Bums' pitcher David Deminsky. Deminsky pitched the complete game, and the Beach Bums bested the Normal (Illinois) Cornbelters 7-1.

Want to learn more about life in the Frontier League? Check out Everything Happens in Chillicothe: A Summer in the Frontier League with Max McLeary, the One-Eyed Umpire by Mike Shannon.

Be sure to check back here tomorrow for a photo feature of the Beach Bums' cute, cuddly bear mascots, Suntan and Sunburn.

Thanks to Crystal Mountain Resort, for the ticket vouchers for our return trip to see the Beach Bums play this summer.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Traverse City

Catching a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game

We grabbed the chance to catch a Pirates' baseball game when we recently visited Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a family party.

Pittsburgh's PNC ballpark, opened in 2001, has the open design favored by a lot of the newer ballparks, but it makes particularly good use of the city's skyline and its location on the shore of the Allegheny River. Most fans have a great view of the cityscape and the Roberto Clemente (or Sixth Street) Bridge from their seats, plus the two-deck design means the highest seat in the house is just 88 feet from the ball field.

The PNC ballpark is the fifth home of the Pirates since 1887, when they joined the National League. The team has a long and interesting history, which includes playing in the first World Series in 1903 (when they lost to the Boston Americans 5-3), being coached by current Detroit Tigers' coach Jim Leyland from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, and having legendary players like Honus Wagner (who has the distinction of being pictured on one of the world's rarest baseball cards).

We had a great view of the field and Pittsburgh's downtown from our seats along the third baseline, and the seats were amazingly comfortable for being in the middle of the row.

We had a perfect view of Boston Red Sox Kevin Youkilis' crazy batting stance, too. I'm still puzzling over how the pitchers figure out where to throw the ball to him.

I love checking out the crazy promotions and local eats you find at sporting events. Pittsburgh has its bright-green parrot mascot to whip up enthusiasm for the Bucs (one of the team's nicknames derived from "buccaneer"), a between-innings race between four folks dressed as pierogies, and local delicacies like the massive coleslaw- and fries-topped beef sandwich I got from Primanti Brothers concession stand, along with a Yuengling beer to wash it all down.

We got to the ballpark by riding on the "T" (trolley or train) from the suburbs and taking it right downtown.

The city closes the Roberto Clemente Bridge to vehicular traffic on game days, opening it entirely to pedestrians crossing the river and going to the game. Tim tipped his family off to my affection for bridges, so we got off of the T a stop earlier so I could walk across the Smithfield and the Roberto Clemente Bridges on the way to the game (and, yes, there will be Pittsburgh bridge stories here sometime later this year!).

The Pirates took two games of the three-series they played with Boston that weekend, although they lost the game we saw to Boston 2-4.

Still, bridges, baseball, a sandwich nearly as big as my head, and some Yuengling beer made my day at the ballpark with the Pirates a winner.

Curious about the Pirates, Honus Wagner and Roberto Clemente? Check out The Team That Changed Baseball: Roberto Clemente and the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates by Bruce Markusen, Pittsburgh Pirates by David Finoli, or Honus Wagner: On His Life & Baseball edited by William R. Cobb.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Pittsburgh

Visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio

Visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, is a dream come true for football fans like the duo we followed into the museum during our recent visit there.

"Could you take a picture of Tom and me?," one of them asked me, handing me his camera so I could snap a couple of photos of the two buddies in front of the statue of the legendary Jim Thorpe in the museum's two-story entrance rotunda.

Tom excitedly regaled his companion with football facts, figures and lore as we ran into them several times throughout the museum. It's a scene I saw replayed numerous times as fans came across the jersey of a favorite player, watched video clips of especially memorable plays, browsed at one of the many computer stations with easy-to-navigate touch-screen menus to access information, or just let themselves get happily lost in football's great moments recreated by the museum.

I'm a big hockey fan, so I really do get the appeal of the museum and felt some of the excitement created throughout the museum with its interactive and immersive approach to interpreting and sharing football's history.

Engaging in the football fan experience started at the front door, where you're asked about your favorite football team (yes, I'm such a homer that I answered "Detroit Lions"!).

Canton looms large in early football history, and football is still a huge part of the culture in this part of Ohio.

Jim Thorpe was a 1912 Olympic decathlon champion and the first real name athlete to play pro football. Thorpe was exceptionally talented in several sports, even playing professional baseball for six seasons, but football remained his true passion.

Thorpe signed with the Canton Bulldogs in 1915 at the then-huge salary of $250 per game, leading the team to unofficial world football championships as a player-coach in 1916, 1917 and 1919.

The Bulldogs became one of the founding members of the American Professional Football Association (the predecessor to the NFL) in 1920, and Thorpe became the organization's first president.

It makes sense, then, that Canton became home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

The Hall of Fame and museum opened with 17 inductees in a 19,000-square-foot building with two rooms. The iconic "orange juicer" rotunda gives the building its unique look from the outside, and it makes for a dramatic entrance with its spiral ramp and the dome's colored light lines faintly resembling the stitching on a football.

The museum increased to 34,000 square feet in 1971 as its yearly attendance topped 200,000 for the first time. It expanded to 50,500 square feet in 1978, and again to 83,000 square feet in 1993.

Museum officials recently announced yet another expansion with a plan to bring the museum to a total of 124,000 square feet.

The museum's "Future 50 Project" is a two-year, $23.6 million expansion scheduled for completion in time for its 50th anniversary in 2013. Major components of the project include a 10,800-square-foot research and preservation center, relocation of the main entrance, and retrofitting of the iconic rotunda and outfitting the rest of the building with modern environmental controls to better regulate temperatures and humidity throughout the galleries.

We saw the first evidence of the expansion during our visit there in May as our greeter showed us plans for the new project and construction workers scurried around the parking lot. The museum plans to stay open throughout the expansion with minimal, if any, disruption for visitors.

Even as the museum looks to the future, one of its main missions is to celebrate football's past and the people who played an important part in football's growth as an important part of American culture.

The Hall of Fame gallery is a key part of this mission, honoring 267 individuals (as of 2011) for their contributions to football with an impressive array of bronze busts.

Utah sculptor Blair Buswell is responsible for many of these startlingly life-like sculptures, painstakingly creating nearly 70 likenesses of the Hall of Fame inductees since 1983. Sculptor Jack Worthington created 144 of the busts in earlier years.

The 2011 class of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees are defensive end Richard Dent, running back Marshall Faulk, linebackers Chris Hanburger and Les Richter, cornerback Deion Sanders, tight end Shannon Sharpe, and founder of NFL Films, Ed Sabol.

Canton goes all-out for the inductee enshrinement each year, throwing a festival spanning nearly two weeks and drawing an expected 700,000 visitors with events like fireworks, an international drum corps competition, concerts, parade, rib cook offs, hot-air balloon fest, and enshrinement ceremonies where incoming inductees unveil their bronze likenesses and receive gold Hall of Fame jackets.

The 2011 festival runs from July 28 through August 9. Check the Pro Football Hall of Fame site for schedule and ticket information.

Other museum galleries include an exhibit about African-American football pioneers, a gallery of artifacts from Hall of Fame members, and exhibits about the modern football era and leagues beyond the NFL.

The Superbowl trophy was the star of the Superbowl-oriented displays, drawing awed fans to this symbol of many players' ultimate goal.

And, yes, this hockey fan admits to feeling a little of the same sense of awe seeing the Superbowl trophy that I felt when I've seen the Stanley Cup.

Check out the museum's lower level for interactive computer gaming lounges, the Tailgate Snack bar, and a massive pro shop featuring everything from football jerseys and T-shirts, to bobble-head dolls and nutcrackers, to one-of-a-kind memorabilia from all of the NFL's 32 teams.

There is also a field and small picnic area on the grounds where fans can play catch or unwind with a snack.

Want to learn more about the area's football history? Check out Akron-Canton Football Heritage by Thomas Maroon, Margaret Maroon, and Craig Holbert.

(Note: While an ongoing NFL lockout, as of this writing, may affect the Hall of Fame football game, traditionally played at Fawcett Stadium next to the museum during the festival's final weekend, the rest of the festival and enshrinement activities will go on as scheduled)

Thanks to the Canton-Stark County Convention & Visitors Bureau for their assistance with planning our recent visit to Canton and arranging for comped media passes to the museum.

Things To Do
Canton

National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

I'm excited to be able to share this story by Wisconsin travel writer Julie Henning with Midwest Guest readers today. Thanks, Julie!

In the heart of Chicago’s “Little Italy” neighborhood, the 44,000-square-foot National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame should be on every sport lover’s itinerary—you’ll have a hard time finding Vince Lombardi’s playbook, Mario Andretti’s “Indy Car”, or Mary Lou Retton’s 1984 Olympic regalia anywhere else in the Windy City.

Originally founded in 1977 by George Randazzo as the Italian American Boxing Hall of Fame, the organization has received support from athletes, coaches, business people, and members of the Italian community. Today, the state-of-the art building houses an impressive collection of sports memorabilia from over 200 exceptional U.S. athletes of Italian descent.

“Success in sports allows an ethnic group to have a great sense of pride in their community and a feeling of equality," said Terry Sullivan, owner of Walk Chicago Tours, a privately-owned walking tour company offering personalized tours throughout Chicago's diverse cultural neighborhoods. "The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame showcases Italian-American athletes and their accomplishments. Sports afforded the immigrant class in Chicago a chance to preserve their nationalistic pride while they anxiously underwent their assimilation into new communities like Chicago."

Unlike any other museum of its kind in the nation, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is an experience to be had by anyone who believes in hard work, perseverance, and the American dream. If you enter the building from the main lobby on West Taylor Street, the Tommy and Jo Lasorda Exhibit Gallery holds the majority of the museum artifacts, including a five screen, 25 foot panoramic video tribute to the athletes inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Take the grand spiral staircase to the second floor for more exhibits, including Mary Lou Palermo, five-time Roller Derby All-Star and 1951 league MVP.

In nice weather, leave time to visit the museum’s fourth floor and the Salvatore A. Balsamo Rooftop Terrace. Available for special events, dinner parties, and receptions, the Chicago skyline is the backdrop with catholic churches, schools, parks, and all of Little Italy in birds-eye perspective. Across the street is the equally picturesque Piazza DiMaggio, a gift from the City of Chicago as an effort to revitalize Little Italy's Bishop Street area. A small gift shop featuring sports memorabilia, clothing, books and collector’s items is located on the main floor by the reception desk.

A nonprofit organization, the museum has awarded over $6 million in scholarships to students from all backgrounds for their academic and athletic endeavors through the Second Wind and A Level Playing Field outreach programs. Read more about the local fundraising efforts here.

The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is located at 1431 West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL  60607. Museum hours of operation are Mon-Fri: 9AM-5PM and Sat-Sun: 11AM-4PM.  Admission is $5 (adults), $4 (seniors), $3 (children 12 and under). Free parking is available in the adjacent lot off of Fillmore Street; the museum is handicap accessible. Call 312-226-5566 for more information.

Article © Julie Henning

Photos courtesy of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame

Bio: Julie Henning is the Feed Me and Geocaching editor for Road Trips for Families, a site for families who love the open road. An expert in family-friendly Wisconsin, she has written two iPhone apps, Madison Loves Kids and Milwaukee Loves Kids. A member of the Midwest Travel Writers Association, Julie is a regular contributor to her hometown newspaper in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where she lives with her husband and three young children.

Things To Do
Chicago

Joe Louis, Detroit's "Brown Bomber"

Joe Louis is arguably among the greatest boxers of all time, and the special regard for the soft-spoken fighter many Detroiters feel is apparent with major public art pieces and the naming of the city's NHL hockey arena for the man they remember affectionately as Detroit's "Brown Bomber".

Joe Louis Barrow was born in Alabama in 1914, the seventh of eight children of Munroe and Lillie Barrow. Joe's father, a poor sharecropper, ended up in an asylum when Joe was 2 years old and died when Joe was 4 years old.

When Joe was 7 years old, his mother married Patrick Brooks, a father of eight. The family moved to Detroit during the mid-1920s.

Joe helped his family by working jobs before and after school. He worked at Eastern Market and at an ice company where he said lifting ice blocks weighing as much as 50 pounds helped develop his powerful shoulders and muscles.

Photo courtesy of Tim Marks

Joe soon began training as an amateur boxer at a local gym.

There are several stories about why Joe Louis dropped his last name when he began boxing, including: it was a ruse for Joe to hide his new-found boxing career from his mother, there wasn't enough space on a form Joe filled out early on for all three names, or an early manager advised him to go with the shorter version of his real name. Whatever the reason, the fighter billed himself as "Joe Louis", and the name stuck.

In 1934, Louis went pro and moved to Chicago.

In 1936, Louis fought with German boxer Max Schmeling, who won in the 12th round when the ref counted Louis out for the first time in his career.

Fans were disappointed because it seemed to symbolize an even larger loss in the face of the rising power of Hitler in Germany. There were riots in Harlem, and Louis learned an important lesson about taking opponents seriously.

In 1937, Joe Louis became the world heavyweight champion. He defended his title 24 times, winning 22 of those fights with knock outs.

Louis had his rematch with Schmeling in 1938, knocking Schmeling out during the first round after just 2 minutes and 4 seconds. The fight was a high point of Louis' career.

Louis enlisted in the army in 1942, leaving several years later as a sergeant with a Legion of Merit award.

His post-military career was disappointing, and he retired in 1948 after knocking out Jersey Joe Walcott in the eleventh round of a championship bout.

Louis' fabled generosity, and some unwise investments, caught up with him when his boxing income stopped. He earned more than $4.6 million boxing, but he fell behind paying his taxes until he owed nearly $1.2 million in Federal income taxes and penalties.

Louis tried a comeback, but retired again in 1951 after Rocky Marciano knocked him out in the eighth round of a bout.

Louis continued to struggle financially. An old Army buddy, now an executive at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, gave Louis a job as a celebrity greeter at the casino, and the government forgave Louis' back-tax debt.

Louis' health declined, leaving him in a wheelchair by 1977. He later had a stroke and died at age 66 in 1981. Louis' burial was at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

The most visible evidence of Detroit's love for Joe Louis may be two large public sculptures.

A giant bronze arm and fist, suspended from a pyramidal framework, sits at the foot of Woodward on Jefferson along the Detroit riverfront. Artist Robert Graham created the 8,000-pound piece with a $350,000 commission from Sports Illustrated/ Time Inc.

Photo courtesy of Tim Marks

Graham's tribute to the fighter caused controversy when the 24-foot-long arm-and-fist sculpture appeared at the site in 1986. People questioned whether the disembodied appendage respectfully represented what Louis meant to Detroit, or whether a big fist was an unnecessarily aggressive image.

Graham felt that the fist offered a more nuanced representation of the man than a conventional statue.

Critics looking for a more representational image found more to like with the 14-foot-tall bronze sculpture created by artist Ed Hamilton for the lobby of Detroit's large convention hall, Cobo Center.

Hamilton won a competition to for a commission to create his memorial to Louis. The piece, installed at Cobo in 1987, shows Louis in his familiar fighting stance.

Want to know more about Joe Louis? Check out recent biographies like Joe Louis: Hard Times Man by Randy Roberts or Joe Louis: Black Champion in White America by Chris Mead, or Joe Louis: My Life by Joe Louis, Edna Rust and Art Rust. To find out more about Louis' rematch with Schmeling, check out Ring of Hate: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling, The Fight of the Century by Patrick Myler.

Find out more about the life and work of sculptor Ed Hamilton in The Birth of an Artist: A Journey of Discovery by Ed Hamilton.

© Dominique King 2011 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Detroit