Posted on 02/04/2005 3:50:48 AM PST by Witch-king of Angmar
People sometimes remember him as a symbol of Nazism, but he truly was one of the good guys. I'll bet him and Joe are sparing right now.
The guy beat one of the greatest fighters of all time while Louis was still in his PRIME and he was slightly over the hill at THAT TIME!!!!
A heck of an athlete and a decent man. Too bad he had to live his athletic career during those times. G-d Nazis were in everything.
1. He made an incredibly wise decision to become get a Coca-Cola bottling franchise in (then) West Germany after World War II. (He probably took over one of the many Coca-Cola bottling plants the Americans set up in Europe near the end of World War II as the US Army moved across Europe--the story of how this happened is a very interesting one indeed.) As such, as Coca-Cola became very popular in Europe after the war, Schmeling became very wealthy but still stayed a humble man.
2. Schmeling earned a huge amount of respect for sending over US$1,000 to help defray the cost of Joe Louis' funeral, because Schmeling and Louis became friends after World War II. At the time of Louis' passing, Louis was a "greeter" at Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas, NV, put there by a member of upper management at that casino who had pity on Louis' sorry financial and physical state and gave Louis a home to live in the Las Vegas area in return for being a "greeter" at the resort. I've read that Louis' funeral was very heavily attended, too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.