Joe Louis meets the Alperts
In “Son of Newark looks back on fabled sports reporting career” (March 16), boxer Joe Louis was mentioned. I thought I would pass on some unusual information about the Louis vs. Schmeling fight of 1936.
It was decided that Louis would train in Lakewood. The Hotel Stanley allowed a huge tent to be set up on their property for his training; however, none of the hotels would allow Louis and his staff to stay because they didn’t allow “colored” people. Upon hearing this, my maternal grandparents, Yetta and Abe Alpert, moved in with relatives and rented their lovely Madison Avenue house to Mr. Louis, who referred to it as “The Alpert Mansion,” according to a book, “Fight of the Century: Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling” by Patrick Myler.
My grandfather stopped by often to kibbitz with the trainers and found them very upset that Joe Louis had learned golf while in Lakewood and was spending more time golfing than training.
Perhaps this is why he lost that fight.
Ellen Colman Hefter
West Orange
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