« Learning to fly can be quite painful! | Home | Real Sports »

RIP

This one’s a couple weeks late, but better late than never…

As several of my friends can tell you, I’m a big fan of the Sweet Science. On February 2, 2005, the boxing world lost one of its most beloved legends, as German sports icon Max Schmeling, World’s Heavyweight Champion in the early 1930’s, died in his hometown of Hollenstedt at the ripe old age of 99. Linked for all of time to the late great Joe Louis, Schmeling was one of boxing’s genuine good guys.

An unfortunate victim of the Nazi propaganda machine, Max Schmeling was unfairly promoted by Hitler as a prime example of Nordic superiority following Schmeling’s 1936 knockout of an up-and-coming Louis. Welcomed back to Germany as a national hero, Schmeling reluctantly accepted his newfound popularity. Despite political pressure from a puzzled Nazi leadership, Schmeling refused to join the Party and never fired his Jewish manager.

Following his first round loss in the Louis rematch, Schmeling was essentially abandoned by the Nazis. During the horrific events of Kristallnacht, Schmeling sheltered two children of Jewish friends and eventually helped smuggle them out of the country. Hitler, seeking retribution for Schmeling’s refusal to publicly endorse the Nazis, ordered Schmeling to the front with the intention of making a national martyr out of him. In a fantastic bit of karma, Hitler’s wish was never realized.

After their careers had come to an end, Joe Louis and Max Schmeling became dear friends. A shrewd businessman, Schmeling bought the rights to the German division of Coca-Cola. In a touching display of his true character, Schmeling quietly supported the financially troubled Brown Bomber for the rest of Louis’ life, and actually paid for his funeral in 1981.

Maximillian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling was buried next to Anny, his wife of 54 years.