Joe Gould (manager)

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Braddock (left) and Gould (center), training as officers at the Atlantic Coast Transportation Corps Officers Training School in Fort Slocum, New York

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.

Joe Gould passed away from Leukemia on April 21, 1950.^[1]