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Joe Gould was
the American manager and good friend of
boxer
James J. Braddock,
who in 1935 upset
Max Baer
to take the world heavyweight championship. Later, Gould,
who was of
Jewish
descent, played a role in having Braddock fight
Joe Louis
rather than
Max Schmeling,
in order to prevent a
propaganda
victory by the
Nazi
regime. Gould, it could be
argued, pulled off one of the most astute deals in sport
business
history. As Braddock's manager he negotiated as part of the
deal for Louis's title shot 10% of Louis's future purses.
Mike Jacobs
who represented Louis believed he would be able to talk his
way out of the contract at a later date, but it is a
little-known fact that Braddock and Gould became relatively
rich men even after Braddock lost the title because of this
astonishing deal. With his future Louis earnings, Braddock
donated more than two million dollars to the
University of Notre Dame,
establishing the Thomas W. Merrigan Chair of Philosophy in
1956.
Gould enlisted in the
U.S. Army
in 1942, and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant,
accidentally shooting Sergeant John Bender during a photo op
in which he and Braddock did rifle calesthenics. In the
2005 film
Cinderella Man,
Gould is portrayed by actor
Paul Giamatti.
The role earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best
Supporting Actor.
Joe Gould died from Leukemia on
April 21, 1950. |
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