Question of the Day - 18 November 2025

The Joe Louis statue, titled “The Immortal Joe Louis,” is located near the entrance to the Caesars Palace sports book. It's carved from Carrara marble, from the same ancient Italian quarry as the sculptures for the Pantheon and Michelanglo's David, and is believed to be from a single piece of stone. It's seven-and-a-half feet tall, weighs about a ton and a half, and depicts Lewis in a classic boxer's pose, leading with a huge left fist. 

We found conflicting reports about its origins. One claimed that the statue was a gift to the casino from Sports Illustrated and was dedicated in October 1986. Another didn't mention SI and reported its dedication in 1979. Other sources we checked insisted that there's no record of who the sculptor was, who paid for it, or when it showed up at Caesars. Take your pick. 

Joe Louis was one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions in history, earning the nickname the "Brown Bomber." He held the world heavyweight title from 1937 to 1949 and defended it successfully 25 times. Louis served in the U.S. Army during World War II and boxed in many exhibition bouts to raise the morale of his military brethren. While he was serving, Louis was befriended by Irving “Ash” Resnick who, a couple of decades later, became a vice president at Caesars Palace. 

After his boxing career, Lewis fell into financial trouble, primarily due to his managers and accountants, who not only mismanaged his money, but stole from him and didn't pay his taxes. He also had a gambling problem and that didn't help his money management.

Ash Resnick invited Louis to move to Vegas in 1971 to be a greeter and casino host at Caesars. Everyone who knew him in Vegas described him as gracious, classy, always smiling, and fun to be around. But Louis began to suffer from what's believed to be dementia pugilistica, not uncommon after a career of repeated head trauma. 

Louis died On April 11, 1981, right after attending a heavyweight title bout between Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick at -- where else? -- Caesars Palace. Only a few hours after Holmes defended his WBC Heavyweight title in a unanimous decision, Louis died from sudden cardiac arrest. He was 66. 

Louis was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.