Joe Louis "The Brown Bomber"Joe Louis was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. Although he lived in many places throughout his life including Las Vegas and Chicago, he always considered Detroit his home. Officially Joe Louis Barrow, Joe was born in the Alabama foothills to his mother Lillie and father Muroe Barrow on May 13, 1914. Munroe was a sharecropper, but was committed to an asylum when Joe was only two and died when he was four . His mother later found work as a washing machine to support her eight children, but eventually married Patrick Brooks when Joe was seven. Their large family, Lillie's eight children and Patrick's eight children, moved into an eight-room house on Macomb Street in Detroit in 1926. Here Joe began going to school first in Duffield and then in Bronson, two schools professional, up to the age of seventeen. went to school, Joe also worked two jobs, one before class and one after. Before school he worked at Eastern Market in Detroit, and then at Pickman and Dean, an ice company. Joe attributed much of his upper body strength and muscularity to this work, stating that carrying blocks of ice (up to fifty pounds a piece) developed him. When he was sixteen, his mother gave him money for violin lessons, which he paid back. and use it to rent a locker at an amateur boxing club. Although she wasn't happy when she found out what he had put his violin lesson money towards, Lillie simply encouraged Joe to do his best. His shortened name of Joe Louis began when he filled out his first set of paperwork to fight and didn't have enough room for Barrow. Thus, Joe Louis became a legend instead of Joe Louis Barrow. After being defeated early in his career, Joe got a job at Ford, but soon quit as his amateur boxing career took off. After training for a while, his coaches encouraged him to pair up with a more experienced and connected coach, so Joe found George Slayton who was manager of the Detroit Athletic Club. Under his direction, Joe made it to the Gloves competition Detroit gold in 1933, but was defeated by Max Merak, a Notre Dam football star. Three months after earning his next breakthrough victory, the AAU national lightweight championship in St. Louis, Joe turned pro. In his 54 amateur fights, Joe had won forty-three by knockout, seven by decision and lost four by decision..