LaFayette Fights Detroit Over The Only Good Thing Either Town Has Ever Produced
Okay. I’m being too harsh on both cities. I’m pretty sure parts of “Mississippi Burning” were filmed in LaFayette (because the entire state of Mississippi was busy that month) and Detroit … I’m pretty sure all of the Pips and 2/3 of Smokey Robinson’s Miracles were from Detroit, right?
At any rate, most people know the legendary heavyweight champion and war hero Joe Louis as a product of Detroit, Michigan. The Detroit pro hockey arena is named after him as is the famous “arm and hammer” sculpture planted in the city’s downtown area since 1986.
The truth is, the Brown Bomber didn’t move to Michigan until he was 10. Before that, he was from LaFayette, Alabama; a city that now has a population of about 3,000 people.
On Saturday the citizens of Louis’ original hometown plan to unveil the $60,000 bronze statue in front of the Chambers County Courthouse.
It brings up a fine point, however. Which hometown has the best claim to Louis? Even the people of LaFayette acknowledge the dearth of people who realize Louis wasn’t born in Alabama and admit that this statue is a way to reclaim a part of him. But is it accurate to do so?
Michael Jordan gained notoriety in Chicago, grew up as a young man in North Carolina and was born in New York City. Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi but became famous in Memphis, Tennessee. Joe Louis hadn’t done anything noteworthy in LaFayette – except of course, begin the most impressionable years of his life there.
Here’s to hoping the fine people of LaFayette created another arm and fist sculpture so that it may be rammed into the one they got parked in Detroit. Then we’ll see who has the right to call Louis a hometown hero.
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Photo courtesy of Flickr
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