MAX SCHMELING - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH 2/1975 - HFSID 67905

MAX SCHMELING
Black and white photograph of a young Max Schmeling waving to the crowd at the door of an Eastern Air Lines plane.
Photograph signed: "with all good wishes/from/Max Schmeling/Feb. 1975". B/w, 6½x8½. In this vintage photograph imprinted "International News Photos" on verso, a young Max Schmeling (1905-2005) is waving to the crowd at the door of an Eastern Air Lines plane, possibly leaving Germany for one of his bouts in the United States. Schmeling became World Heavyweight Champion in 1930, when he defeated Jack Sharkey in New York for the title vacated by Gene Tunney in 1928. In 1932, Sharkey won the title in New York in a 15-round decision over Schmeling. In 1936, also in New York, Schmeling scored a twelfth round knockout of the previously undefeated Joe Louis in a non-title bout. In a rematch at Yankee Stadium in 1938, now World Heavyweight Champion Joe Louis knocked out Schmeling in the first round. Despite Nazi efforts to promote him as a symbol of Aryan supremacy, Schmeling refused Hitler's personal request to join the Nazi party and secretly protected German Jews at great risk to himself. A Coca Cola executive after World War II, Schmeling became a close friend of Joe Louis and served as a pallbearer at Louis' funeral (1981). This photograph had been inscribed by Schmeling but the inscription has been rubbed out, resulting in minor smudging of the words "with" and "good". Minor spotting and creases at edges. Verso bears paper remnant of previously affixed caption which is not present. Overall, fine condition.