The Joe Louis Story (1953)

Paul Stewart: Tad McGeehan

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Newspaper man : Tad, you missed the greatest fight of the year. This Marciano's another Dempsy. Louis is through for real now. He should've quit while he was ahead. What are you doing here? I thought you were goin' home. Well, Rocky almost knocked him out of the ring. The kid's got a punch like a ten-ton truck! He'll be the next champ for sure. Well, I'd better go write my story.

  Tad McGeehan : Lou... I'll write the story.

  Newspaper man : But you didn't see the fight.

  Tad McGeehan : I'll write the real story.

• [narrating the Lois Vs. Carnera fight] 

  Tad McGeehan : Joe found out what they meant by the saying, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' Primo was big and he was game, but Joe got to him by the sixth and it was all over.

• [last lines] 

  Tad McGeehan : And so tonight I saw the last fight in the career of one of the greatest fighters of all time. There are none among us who will not write finesse to the end of an era; those of us who have come the full road with Joe Louis. From an open faced cabin in an Alabama cotton patch, from the early days in Detroit, through the years when no man by Schmeling ever stood over him for the long count. Those who watched him grow a hesitant boy into a manhood he made rich with his great goodwill and deep humility. Those among us who saw in his rise a bright and permanent hope for all kids who start on backstreets. Those who love him and those who consider him a credit to the human race. Joe lost his wife, lost his title, lost his beloved Chappie. But out of it all, he found himself. And from me who knows him better than most, I can see a beginning, not an end. And from all of us tonight, champ, good luck.