It was a belated birthday gift of sorts for perhaps the greatest athlete ever to come out of the East Alabama area.
This week, an 18-inch scale model of what will one day be an eight-foot statue in the likeness of Joe Louis, a native of LaFayette, that will adorn the entrance of the Chambers County Courthouse was unveiled.
Louis’ 95th birthday was May 13.
Monday’s unveiling of the clay, scale model of the late pugilist affectionately referred to as the “Brown Bomber,” was the culmination of several years of effort on the part of both community leaders and citizens. Mobile sculptor Casey Downing Jr. is responsible for the model of the boxer that, once approved by Louis’ son, will be cast into a full-size model by Diversified Metalsmiths Inc., an Opelika-based company.
Chambers County District Judge Calvin Milford recalls hearing stories about Louis’ fights on the radio in his youth.
“A Joe Louis fight was one event in LaFayette that drew people from all cultures, all races and all genders together,” said Milford, who is also a member of the Joe Louis Statue Committee, a group that has worked to help raise funds for a Joe Louis Memorial Statue along with the Chambers County Commission. “He (Louis) was truly a unifying force in Chambers County.”
The cost of erecting a Louis statue is about $50,000, about $10,000 of which community leaders were short of until Monday when Charter Foundation Board member Bill Gladden presented the statue committee with a $10,000 check.
While some folks will only see the statue once it’s erected in front of the courthouse, Mattie Johnson hopes it will serve as both a historical monument to the past and an inspiration to future generations.
“Joe Louis accomplished what he set out to do and that was to become one of the greatest boxers of all time,” said Johnson, a relative of Louis and native of LaFayette now residing in Tuskegee. “This statue will also be a reminder to our youth that their dreams can become a reality.”
The full-size statue of Louis will hopefully be completed by this fall, according to Milford.
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