THE CHIEF ANDRE JORDAN

AUNT JUNE RUSS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT JUNE (MARCH 21, 2026)

When I received the email from Gerald Dendy aka “The Town Crier” on Sunday morning regarding the passing of my friend and little brother, Andre Jordan. I hollered, “On No” and my wife Hattie came to the computer room and asked, “What wrong?” I took a deep breath and said, “Andre is gone.”

Totally, unexpected, I had just spoken to him on Thursday, I had not been out of the building all day, and the weather was looking great. I promised our friend Harry Horton I would stop by the cleaners, and pick up his pants. He had been under the weather also.

I called Andre to let him know I was going out, and did he need anything? His response, “Man, I am good, my daughter is here and we are covered.”

I knew someone would be close by, he had his devoted wife Pinky, his children, and an army of grandchildren on call 24/7. I lived just 5 minutes away, I was calling to check-in. He sounded great, saying he had to take a couple of more test. I ended the call saying, “Andre what ever it is, if anyone can beat it you can.”

Andre, was a tough brother, he had recently spent 26 hours in a Emergency Room in a DC hospital. I cannot imagine how I would have survived a similar situation. I dropped off Harry’s pants, and told him I had spoken to Andre, and he sounded great.

My next stop was to pick up a few groceries at the Giant, and I headed home to get ready to travel to Fort Washington to celebrate my Aunt June’s 102nd birthday on Saturday. She was in a nursing home off of 210, one of the most dangerous highways in Prince Georges County. It was like playing Russian Roulette to drive from one end to the other. Cops are scared to patrol it after dark.

There must have been about 15 of us attending the party, including her son Tommy ‘Red’ and grandson Keith, Cuz Brenda, Cuz Ronnie, and her daughter Stephanie, and Granddaughter Monica. My other cousins, I am learning as we go along (I am the matriarch) WOW! I never thought, I would utter those words in my life time.

My Aunt June was a jewel while I was growing up. She worked at the Pentagon an had a “Top Secret Clearance.” I lived with Grandma Ma Bell in the 40s, my uncles, and aunts were whispering about a Big Job she had back then. I had no clue what they were whispering about until I got older.

My mom, Mattie affectionally know as “Mommy B” had a nervous break down my junior year at Spingarn. My brother, Earl and I were trying to go to hell in a hurry. We left Grandma Bell’s house around the ages of 8 and 10. Mommy B had a rough time trying to raise two knuckleheads like Earl, and I as a single parent. Grandma Bell kept Bobby with her easing the burden of Mommy B. My younger brother William Bell, was an unexpected surprise birth which added to Mommy B’s burden.

Thanks to Grandma Bell, and her daughters, Aunt June, Helen and Sara. We learned not to roll our eyes, to say thank you, and no thank you, yes mam and no mam! They had lethal backhands like Serena and Venus Williams, and they never picked up a tennis racket.

THE MATRIARCH-AMY TYLER BELL AKA GRANDMA BELL

I remember, Earl getting to the dinner table a little late one evening, and Aunt Sara ‘The Enforcer’, asked him what was his problem, he muttered something sacastic, and Aunt Sara hit with one of those backhands, and knocked him into the living room. When he got up, and made it back to the table, he was in his right mind. She was good with either hand from any side of the table.

Grandma Bell was the mother of my father, Alfred Robert Bell. Every time I hear, “Poppa Was a Rolling Stone”, the classic by the Temptations, I think of my father at his worst.

I thank God every day, I never believed the saying that it would it take a black man to raise a black male child. My heroes were black women, they could not throw a football 60 yards in the air, shoot a jump shot, or hit a baseball out of the stadium. Still, they were Super-Stars in “The Game Called Life!” Their names were, Grandma Bell, and Mommy B.

SATURDAY MARCH 21, 2026 WE ARE FAMILY CELEBRATING AUNT JUNE’S 102nd BIRTHDAY

PHOTO ONE: AUNT HELEN-COUSIN DENISE-HB-COUSIN RONNIE-MY MOTHER ‘MOMMY B’ AND AUNT JUNE

PHOTO TWO: AUNT JUNE SINGING HAPPY 75th BIRTHDAY TO HER FRIEND, WWE PIONEER AND MY MENTOR, JAMES DUDLEY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XArYPncS5g

PHOTO THREE: CUZ TOMMY WITH HIS MOTHER AUNT JUNE-HATTIE T AND HB

Leaving your home today is like going out into “The Wild-Wild West”, not knowing what to expect around the corner or at the next stop light.

After arriving home from celebrating Aunt June’s birthday on Saturday, I had a snack, and went to my Dog Pound (computer room), and finally got in bed around 6:30 am. I slept through church. I got up, and had my cheerios, and returned to the computer to read my emails, and Gerald’s was the first one.

I hollowed “NO” as I read Gerald’s email saying Andre had gone home to be with the Lord on Saturday. My wife Hattie looked in and asked, “What is wrong?” I had to take a deep breath and I said, “Andre is gone!” we are really going to miss him!

ANDRE & AUNT JUNE ARE A PART OF THE HAROLD BELL LEGACY

It is remarkable to see how a young black man that dropped out of college to chase his NFL dreams only to be cut after catching every passed thrown to him. He realized this was not his dream after all. It was the dream of a slow white guy lined up behind him who could not catch a cold naked in the dead of winter. I returned home to DC to find a better way. I discovered Saturday morning sessions in the late 1960s working as a ‘Neighborhood Trouble Shooter’ for the self help-group, the United Panning Organization.

My assignment was in the U Street NW corridor with young people who might be in trouble in school or with the law. I had no clue this job would blossom into a national blueprint for youth advocacy. My story is based on the history I shared in a journey of how I went from a one-room shack, and an outhouse in NE DC to become the “Godfather of Sports Talk Radio.” It was always intertwined with my commitment to the community through Kids In Trouble. In 1972 Inside Sports would change the way we talk and report sports in America. Sports talk is now a billion-dollar industry.

It was the arrival of a yellow school bus with a group of all white youth from the Seventh-day Adventist High School in Takoma Park, Maryland, it would mark a pivotal moment in 1969. I had tried in vain to find some black tutors for my Kids In Trouble Program. First, I went to Howard University, and DC Teachers colleges, both schools were located in walking distance of the Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program, the home of Kids In Trouble. What began as a local tutoring and athletic program evolved into a platform that provided:

• Academic Advancement: Helping students earn necessary credits on their transcripts to qualify for college nation wide.
• Career Pipelines: Creating bridges to employment opportunities for athletes and inner-city youth after graduation.
• Professional Mentorship: Bell used his influence to encourage pro athletes, judges, and politicians to “reach back” and enhance the lives of inner city children.
• For example Lonnie Taylor’s Journey and Impact: His rise from a D.C. inner-city youth to a senior power player on Capitol Hill is a testament to the “reach back” philosophy Bell championed. Taylor began his career as an intern for Senator Jacob Javits while still in high school and eventually reached the highest levels of legislative and corporate leadership.
  • Pioneering Role: His appointment as Chief of Staff broke a significant racial barrier in congressional staffing, where such roles were (and often still are) overwhelmingly white.
  • Kids In Trouble Connection: As a benefactor and product of the community environment Bell fostered, Taylor represented the “success stories” that Harold Bell often cited to prove that inner-city youth could excel in the highest halls of power given the right opportunity.
  • Broad Legacy: Beyond Capitol Hill, Taylor became a high-ranking executive, serving as Senior Vice President for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and later as a Vice President at Sprint Nextel.
• The “Yellow School Bus” Result The tutoring platforms and the “Yellow School Bus” mentioned in Bell’s previous query were exactly the types of initiatives that prepared young men like Taylor for elite academic and professional environments. Taylor eventually earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, fulfilling the vision that community-based support could lead to lifelong professional achievement. Sadly, Lonnie P. Taylor passed away in June 2023, leaving behind a legacy that is still celebrated in the D.C. community and by Harold Bell himself as a prime example of “Black Excellence” nurtured by local advocacy.

A Legacy of “Firsts”

Bell’s work with Kids In Trouble (founded in 1968) actually predated and influenced how major sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB approached community relations. While he is often celebrated for his 1974 exclusive interview with Muhammad Ali—making him the first Black media personality to secure a one-on-one interview with a Heavyweight Champion—Bell himself often emphasizes that his work with at-risk youth is his most enduring legacy.

Harold Bell, remains a “one of one” pioneer who integrated sports, politics, and social activism long before it became a standard media format. He had plenty of help a long the journey.

His success would not have been possible with out three brothers living in the Langston Terrace neighborhood across the river from his Parkside Housing Project.

THE LANGSTON TERRACE PLAY GROUND CREW:

*ANDREW JOHNSON

Andrew lived in Langston Terrace, one of the earliest DC housing projects funded by the federal government. We met playing 12 and under baseball, Bell said. I was living in Parkside a housing project on the north side of the Potomac River. We had to walk through the River Terrace Community a middle class housing community with manicured lawns and two parents to each home to get to the Langston Terrace playground. We would later become high school basketball teammates. Later we became teammates in the mean streets of DC, he would join the DC Police Department, and I became a Roving Leader for the Department of Recreation & Parks working with at-risk children and youth gangs in the same 5th District U Street corridor. Andrew’s law enforcement career would take him around the world as a DEA Agent he retired as a supervisor. One of our proudest moments as former student/athletes, we became the first to honor our Spingarn Principal Dr. Purvis Williams, his entire staff and team to a Thank You tribute luncheon at Mingles Restaurant in downtown DC. Andrew and I are two of the founding members of the Original Spingarn Alumni Association. We kept it moving.

L-R COACH WILLIAM ROUNDTREE-OFFICER RAY DIXON–HB–BING-PRINCIPAL PURVIS WILLIAMS

*JOHN EDWARDS

John and first met at Brown Middle School one of four educational institutions on “The Hill’, the most unique public school plot of land in America. The four schools, Spingarn was located at the bottom of 24th Benning Road, by Charles Young Elementary, Phelps Vocational High School was hidden behind Charles Young and at the end of the road was Brown Middle School under the rule of William B. Stinson. We had a crew that the music teacher, Mr. Logan named us “The Knuckle Heads of Brown.” The Knuckle Head crew included, Mickey Freeman, Hobo, Rhoma Battle, Jimmy Reid, Teddy Archerson, and John Edwards. Mr. Logan predicted none of us would live to get out of high school. We batted 500 three out of six ain’t bad, Teddy became a sales rep for Forth Lincoln Cemetery. He sold Hattie and me our plots over two decades ago, Rhoma became a DC cop, and John Edwards would become a DJ on W-O-OK Radio. It did not take him long to become a household name and one of the most listened to DJ’s in the DMV. His nick name, “Terrible Turk.” In 1972 he encouraged me to move from W-O-L Radio and the legendary Petey Greene to W-O-O-K Radio, and the rest is sports talk radio and community history. John would switch titles, he decided to “Let Go and Let God.” He turned his life over to The Lord, and he became the Rev. John Edwards.

*ANDRE JORDAN

Andre’s parents got him out of the ‘Hood’ in time when the family moved off of H street NE, and Benning Road to far NE off of South Dakota Avenue. His brother Fred graduated from Spingarn in the class of ’55’ and Andre graduated from McKinley Tech in 1962, he became a star basketball player on those great tech basketball teams. He joined the ranks of the Park Police in June 1969, and retired as an Assistant Chief in January 1997. I have no clue when he became a walk-on for Kids In Trouble. He just showed up and kept coming back for what ever I was doing. His wise counsel and contributions to Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports are too many to try to pen.

A long with Andrew Johnson, John Edwards, and my Parkside housing crew of, Rabbit Bradshaw, Harry Horton and Bobby Thompson, all have been the backbone of Kids In Trouble, and Inside Sports, second only to my wife, Hattie T.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH LAW & ORDER: HERE COME THE JUDGES!

L-R: When the new Sheriff in town (PG County) JD Carr wanted 100 Black Men to volunteer as mentors to help teach black boys to read, Andre and I decided to volunteer.  In 1993 he was there for my 1993 Kids In Trouble Youth Forum at the Grand Hyatt in downtown DC. He crossed the isle with me to meet with members of Congress for their support to help enhance the lives of inner-city children.  He joined DC Superior Court Judges, Luke C. Moore, and Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton for a Kids In Trouble celebration of Black History Month.  When I decided the 43 year prison sentence for armed robbery by former playground basketball legend, and the University of Maryland player, Jo Jo Hunter was too harsh. I started a letter writing campaign to the Parole Board asking for Hunter’s early release. Andre jumped on board right away. He not only wrote a letter, he called parole board member, former DC Chief of Police Ike Fullwood personally. Andre, never forgot who he was, and where he came from (Langston Terrace Community in NE DC).

When my brother Sgt. Earl “Bull” Bell encountered the THIN BLUE LINE & THE CODE OF SILENCE as a DC cop, Andre was there for him. Two DC cops, one black and the other white with nothing better to do but brutalize black prisoners on the weekends in lock-up in SW DC. This act was taking place on Bull’s watch. He warned them to back off. They did not take his warning seriously, and kept up the assaults on blacks prisoners. My advice, alert the brothers in ‘White Shirts’ we grew up with in NE DC. He did, and everyone of them went into hiding. They wanted no part of ratting-out their colleagues. Bull and I met with Andrew, and Andre to talk it out, and we all agreed that he should take the case to the U. S. Attorney’s office and have both cops charged. We made sure Bull understood the repercussions, he did and moved forward without hesitation. The black officer Muskgrove was convicted and served jail time, the white officer disappeared without a trace.

When Hattie and I went to the Jordan home on Sunday (the day after) to visit with his wife Pinky, family members and friends, it was very emotional for me.  The first one I saw was Pinky when I walked in. We hugged, and I all most broke down then and there. She had to comfort me. I was embarrassed, when Maurice Culbreath took me, and Hattie to the next room to meet other family members. I sat down next to Aaron Jordan, the youngest. I had not seen him since high school. He started to talk about how the family had someone at the hospital 24/7, and during his tour, he said, “Dad, Out of the blue, he started to talk about you and Bull.” I knew Andre loved Bull like a brother, and they had great respect for each other. Aaron, when on to say, “He didn’t remember you had me on your Inside Sports talk show.” I had to excuse myself, Aaron had just taken the wind out of me. I kissed Pinky, and I heard her asking me as I went out the door, “Did you meet Andre?” said, “I will be back!”

I have been blessed to have come along when a MAN’s WORD and his hand shake you could carry to the bank–no longer true!

THANK YOU ANDRE JORDAN AND AUNT JUNE-WE NEVER COULD HAVE MADE IT WITHOUT YOU.

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To Whom It May Concern:

I thank you, and I appreciate all you think you have done for me.  I am blaming your head, and not your heart for this breakdown in communications.  

I was disappointed, and embarrassed by how little you knew of my historic sports media journey and ground breaking community endeavors.  In a recent telephone conversation, you were telling me about a star in track, and field you were trying to convince to appear on my NEW Invitation Only Podcast.

You described my program as a ‘LITTLE PODCAST’ out of Washington DC. You sounded like I was new to the game of sports talk, and you would appreciate it if she would appear on my show???? 

My friend, if this is how you have been promoting Harold Bell/Kids In Trouble/ and Inside Sports describing who I am, this sounds like the Washington Post, ESPN and HBO with Bryant Gumble and James Brown.  I am known around the globe despite their roadblocks–I am one of one!

I was embarrassed only because, you have been up close, and personal for at least four decades when it comes to participating in my pioneering radio sports talk show, and community endeavors. Pro athletes, DC judges, politicians, law enforcement and media personalities were a part of my team.

My historic journey in sports media, and as a youth/community advocate has been like no other in my generation in the past 100 years.  No one even close!

Harold,

CONGRATULATIONS!  Your archives are valuable and should be given the broadest exposure. Have you thought about offering discs of your programs to the new Smithsonian Institution NATL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE (NMAAHC).  A wing of the NMAAHC WILL BE DEDICATED TO THE STRUGGLE IN SPORTS AND WILL BE TITLED “LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD”,  Your work was a major force over the years in leveling the playing field, especially, in terms of the struggle to define and project “our truth”. I will send you a contact involved in putting the NMAAHC together. Great job over the years,  great timing in reprising that legacy now. The best wishes of me and my family to your wife-she is in our thoughts and prayers.

Dr. Harry Edwards

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 30, 2014 at 3:05 PM

I remember, NBA and Philadelphia Playground basketball legend Sonny Hill saying, “Harold you can forget your own folks showing any appreciation for your reach back efforts.  They will be the last to show you any love.”

I said to myself, “What Does Love Have To Do With It?”

Watching the Washington Post closely in Connecticut was Bill Rasmussen and his son Scott Rasmussen.  The father and son watched the Grahams fumble the ball with Inside Sports the magazine, and they decided to create a television talk format similar to Inside Sports.

The idea was conceived in 1978 leading to the creation of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN).  They created a 24-hour cable network which was launched in Bristol, Connecticut.

Good Morning America Anchor, Bryant Gumble retired from NBC, and FOUND”Real Sports” on HBO in 1995. 

He found REAL SPORTS much like Christopher Columbus discovered America, the Native Americans living on the land.

Gumble, hired native Washingtonian, James Brown.  I was Brown’s mentor, he  came through Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports as a salesman for Xerox Corporation.  The duo teamed up to win 37 Emmy Awards (copycats)!

The footprints I left in the sand regarding sports talk radio and television, can only be copied-never duplicated!

My friend, if you believed my Podcast was a “Small Podcast in DC”, you also believe, Mayor Muriel Bowser, would like to name you her next Chief of Police! 

Today’s sports talk radio, and television formats were creative by me.  Inside Sports changed the way we talk, and report sports in America, and around the World.

The show was first heard on W-O-O-K Radio in February of 1972 in Washington, DC.  Sports talk has never been the same.

When ESPN named James Pitaro President in 2020, he banned political discussions from all platforms.  He could not stand the heat from Capitol Hill.  The feedback interfered with ESPN’s bottom line-the dollar bill.

The Inside Sports format has been copied, but never duplicated!

The ESPN on air talent discovered, ‘Freedom of Speech Was Not Free.’  Podcast, here they come!

Today, sports talk shows are a billion dollar industry.  Every radio, television, Podcast talk show in America, and beyond copied my INSIDE SPORTS format.

Inside Sports Blazes a Path 1980: Radio and TV Columnist William Taaffe Washington Star. Taaffe would move on to become the Radio and TV Columnist for Sports Illustrated Magazine.

The first to steal my tag Inside Sports was the Washington Post owners, Katherine and son Donald Graham in 1978.  They caught a midnight train to New York City and published, Inside Sports Magazine. They stopped at the Copy Right Office, and copied righted Inside Sports, making my tag their very own.

Sports Editor, George Solomon, writers, Dave Dupree, Michael Wilbon, Byron Rosen, Donald Huff, Dave Kindred, Dave Aldridge all were in and out of my studio talking sports as the plot was being hatched to steal my Inside Sports tag by the Grahams. They were 10 minutes from my WYCB Radio studio in the National Press Building.  This is a sad commentary because I knew Donald Graham when was a rookie cop on the streets of NE DC. His mother Catherine, made give him give up his badge and gun–for pencil and paper.

The writers that went on that failed mission to New York City were so arrogant that they wrote a tell all blog in The Sunday Long Read #SundayLR several years later. The blog magnified the incompetence of the Grahams, Editor John Walsh, Tony Kornheiser, and Tom Boswell. They were the worst writers in the crew when it came to sports. They were spectators on the sidelines!

They went to the Big Apple without a game plan in the Media Capitol of the World. John Walsh was the editor in the Style section of the paper, and knew absolutely nothing about sports, he should have felt right at home with Boswell and Kornheiser as a part of the team.

TheWashington Post failed writers were so arrogant, several years later, they wrote how Inside Sports the magazine failed in a blog titled, ‘The Sunday Long Read.’ They paper lost between two and three million dollars. They caught that same Midnight Train back to DC with their tails between their legs.

KATHERINE GRAHAM THE BRAINCHILD OF INSIDE SPORTS?

The writers that followed Katherine and Donald Graham to New York City had no idea what they were getting into. They were trying to get as far away from Harold Bell, and Inside Sports as they could get.

In the spring of 1979, the writers for the Washington Post realized they were going nowhere fast. Sports lllustrated, and Sports Magazine were dominating the New York sports media landscape.

The Washington Post had a small editorial staff of eight working out of the “New Ventures” department on the 17th floor of the Newsweek building at 444 Madison Avenue. The magazine still needed a name: Grandstand, Spectator Sports, Box Seat, were all floated; then, during a meeting with Katharine Graham, Walsh explained his vision and she said, “I see what you’re doing. You’re trying to get inside sports.”  That was it. She’d nailed it.

What a bunch of liars, claiming Katharine Graham coined the phrase Inside Sports. The First Lady of Inside Sports, is my wife Hattie T. Bell. She coined the phrase at the dinner table the evening be before my radio debut in 1972.

https://sundaylongread.com/2018/01/28/inside-inside-sports-the-oral-history

Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Hearns poster boys for Inside Sports Magazine

Watching the Washington Post fumble the ball in New York City was Bill Rasmussen, and his son Scott in Connecticut.  While the Grahams were trying to figure out where they had gone wrong. The Rasmussens, decided to create a 24-hour television talk format similar to Inside Sports.

The idea was conceived in 1978 leading to the creation of the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN).  The cable TV network was launched in Bristol, Connecticut.

Years later Donald Graham writes a letter asking for anonymity sending me a check when I was losing my home because of their greed and selfishness.

The Copy Cats, Good Morning America Anchor, Bryant Gumble. He retired from NBC, and FOUND”Real Sports” on HBO in 1995. 

Twenty-nine years after the debut of Inside Sports he and James Brown found REAL SPORTS it was much like how Christopher Columbus discovered America, the Native Americans living on the land.

Brown. joined Gumble’s HBO Real Sports/Fake Sports team as an UNDERCOVER co-host/producer.   I was Brown’s mentor in DC. He  came through Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports as a salesman for Xerox Corporation.  The duo teamed up to win 37 Emmy Awards (Real Sports/Fake Sports).

NBA pioneer, Earl Lloyd ask me to help him campaign for his induction into the NBA Hall Fame. My first contacts were the legendary Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics, and Congressman John Lewis, both said, “Count me in“.

Congressman Lewis, took it to the next level, he put his commitment in writing.

I called Boston Celtics legend, and HOF player, Sam Jones, Sonny Hill (NBA & Philadelphia Playground Legend), and radio sports talk show host, James Brown.

I with met with Sam, James, and I invited The Roundball Report participants (PG County TV), Butch McAdams, Andrew Dwyer, Christie Winters-Scott, and my wife, Hattie. I have always included, the young, aspiring sports reporters in my community endeavors (spread and share the knowledge). There is always someone in the group that bears watching–say hello to James Brown.

I knew going in James could not be trusted, he had stabbed Chuck Taylor in the back for his job as the Washington Bullets TV color analyst. He got the job after going directly to Bullets’ superstar, Wes Unseld. He asked Wes to put in a good word with team owner Abe Polin. The next thing we knew, Chuck was on the outside looking in.

We met at Union Station for lunch to discuss the plans of how to pay tribute to Earl Lloyd during the 2000 NBA All-Star Weekend in Washington, DC. James, and Sam agreed to co-host the tribute, but I got a bad feeling as we were leaving Union Station.

James, asked me, if I had checked with Bullets owner Abe Polin? My response, “JB I don’t work for Abe Polin.” JB was a no-show. The show must go on, and it did!

There would be a basketball clinic at the Charles Houston Rec Center in Lloyd’s hometown of Alexandria, Virginia on Saturday morning with Sonny Hill, Bob Lanier, Al Attles, KC and Sam Jones as facilitators. There were 100s of young people in attendance.

We would closed out the day with a tribute in Lloyd’s honor at the historic home of jazz, the Bohemian Caverns on the U Street NW corridor known as “Black Broadway.” Jazz legend, the late Roy Ayres would provide the music, and comedian Mark Curry would provide the comic relief. Red Auerbach would be our special guest. It was a great outing despite the NBA’s attempt to sabotage our efforts. Earl Lloyd was inducted into the NBA HOF in 2003.

CROSSING THE ISLE WITHOUT DOUBLE CROSSING THE COMMUNITY.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH TRIBUTE: SAM JONES-JAMES BROWN-HB AND EARL LLOYD

GREED & THE DOUBLE CROSS-BRYANT GUMBLE-JAMES BROWN SCAM: HBO REAL SPORTS/COPYCATS

• Bryant Gumbel: Host who led the show from its inception in 1995 to 2023 (won 37 Emmys for fake sports)
• Mary Carillo: Longtime correspondent known for her in-depth interviews and features.
• Jon Frankel: Correspondent known for hard-hitting investigative reports on topics like the gun industry and the IOC.
• Andrea Kremer: Award-winning journalist with extensive experience in sports broadcasting, including work with NFL Films and NBC.
• Soledad O’Brien: Journalist who joined as a correspondent to provide in-depth reports.
• Bernard Goldberg: Correspondent known for his detailed, often critical, investigative segments.
• David Scott: Correspondent who contributed to the show’s investigative journalism. IMDb +6
• James Brown: co-host (undercover)

Famous last words, “Harold Bell has been a voice for those who had no voice. He has been an inspiration for me and other black broadcasters.” James Brown (CBS/NFL)

My friend, if you believed my Podcast was a “Small Podcast in DC”, you also believe, Mayor Muriel Bowser, would like to name you her next Chief of Police! 

How many sports talk show host do you know can say, “The President, and ‘The Greatest’, were my friends?” 

They are two of the most controversial personalities in America history (Nixon will be second by the time Trump leaves office).

How many sports talk show host, and community advocates do you know have been cited on the House Floor in the Congressional Record on four different occasions for their work with at-risk children and youth gangs?

The Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley, signed a Proclamation proclaiming, Kids In Trouble Day in the State of Maryland, February 2008. 

Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-5 District)  is retiring after close to five decades on ‘The Hill’ looking out out for the residents in Prince Georges County. 

While some local officials have been playing ‘Hide & Seek’ with the cash flow designated for education, day care, meals, physical, and mental health care, the key aids, and components to help our children to become healthy, wealthy and wise. Steny, was always finding ways to give back! 

My mentor, Senator Decatur Trotter (D-24 District) introduced me to Congressman Hoyer at the Annapolis State House in February 1980. Trotter, introduced us and said, “Harold was just named Washingtonian of the Year, and has his own sports talk radio show, Steny, I need you to help me keep him out of trouble.”  

We all laughed, and went our separate ways.  Trotter, during lunch, reminded me to keep an eye on Steny saying, “He was going to do good things in Prince Georges County.”  Like Trotter, Steny was heads and shoulders above the rest.

Trotter, had my back for over two decades.  He died in 2004 (RIP). 

Hattie T-HB-Senator Trotter, and wife Greta at a tribute for Doug Williams

STENY HOYER AND JOHN LEWIS-BROTHERS IN THE STRUGGLE!

Thanks to Steny’s Constituent Service Rep, Daryl Pendington, he was there for me when I needed him.  You could carry his WORD to the bank!

In 2019, at the Miracle Theater on Capitol Hill, Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble paid tribute to Muhammad Ali.  It was the 45th Anniversary of the Rumble In the Jungle. Daryl was there to read the Proclamation. One year later, she went home to be with the Lord. She was family to the residents in the 5th District.

Meg Spencer stepped into Daryl’s shoes, and she has been a great fit.  In February 2024, Meg walked nine city blocks to the Miracle Theater to make sure I had the Black History Proclamation from Congressman Hoyer paying tribute to Muhammad Ali and Kids In Trouble. We will definitely miss Steny, and his one of a kind staff.

GUEST PANELIST ON MPT TO PREVIEW PBS KEN BURNS “ALI.”

THE VOICE ON SHOWTIME TV DOCUMENTARY “4 KINGS”

Kamal and Virginia Ali are the recipients of the Kids In Trouble Humanitarian Award

I was hanging out on the U Street corridor aka Black Broadway, I was a senior in high school when Ben, and Virginia Ali open what is now the World Famous Ben’s Chili Bowl. I spend six years as the Historian for the Chili Bowl. I told the great history of Black Broadway, and the legend of hotdogs, and half-smokes heaven-Bens Chili Bowl.

It was John Snipes’ idea to take white visitors on tours of the U Street corridor, and teach them the hidden gems of Black Broadway. He encouraged the visitors to eat in the backroom of the Chili Bowl where continued to hold court. He helped me coach, the Harrison Elementary Schoo/ Hillcrest Saturday Programs football and basketball teams. He was more than just a businessman on the U Street corridor, he was a friend, and neighbor.

When I became the historian at the Chili Bowl, the visitors, teachers, and hundreds of students came from around the World came to hear me tell the stories that will live forever in the Nation’s Capitol. Despite the obstacles being place in our paths to suppress Black History-Black will not crack.

Monday February 23, 2026, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities teamed up with Ben’s Next Door, the Multi-Media Training Institute Team, led by producer/writer, Lyn Dyson to honor and pay tribute to the life of James Baldwin.

This production resonates with the most difficult times Black Americans have faced in my life time as a 4th Generation Washingtonian. James Baldwin in his own words, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced!” Let us face up, stand up for our children, and make REAL change. If you are scare go, and hide under the bed!!

VIRGINIA ALI-HATTIE T-HB AND VIDA HANGING OUT IN BENS NEXT DOOR.

Sonny Hill (NBA and Philadelphia Playground Legend) earlier in this blog said, “Harold don’t expect any appreciation for your good works in the community from family and friends. They will be the last to show you any love!”

On Monday February 23, 2026, my wife Hattie and I where in Ben;s Next Door waiting for the tribute to James Baldwin at the Lincoln Theater to start. Hattie was sitting at a long table with Ben’s Chili Bowl founder, Virginia Ali. Virginia was sitting at one end of the table and Hattie was at the other end.

I motion to Hattie to go, and take a picture with Virginia. In the meantime, Vida, the daughter in-law comes over to me and says, “Ma wants to take a picture with you and Hattie.”

As I move around to get in a position for Hattie to be on her right, and me on left, Virginia, looks up at me and says, “This is the man that help save my business.” Hattie, looked at me, and I looked around to see if Bill Cosby was standing behind me!

When I arrived home that night, the first thing I did was to text Sonny Hill, and say, the owner and founder of the World Famous Ben’s Chili Bowl, Virginia Ali said, “I Helped save her business. There is someone who appreciated my good works.”

MAYOR WILSON GOODE-SONNY HILL AND HB TOUR HOTSPOT PLAYGROUNDS IN PHILLY.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS: Today I find myself thinking back to October 17, 2019, when Congressman Elijah Cummings during an Oversight Committee Hearing with former Attorney Michael Cohen over his corrupt relationship with President Donald Trump. Congressman Cummings said, “When we are dancing with the angels, the question we will be asked, what did we do to make sure we kept our democracy intact? Did we stand on the sidelines and say and do nothing?” That is exactly the same question our children will be asking us, what did we do to keep our democracy intact in 2026? Did we sit on the fence waiting for someone to rescue us, or did we go and hide under the bed and say, ‘This too shall pass?”

James Wright, Jr. was a writer for the Afro-American newspaper, the Washington Post, and several other small community newspapers. James died at the age of 62–he is gone too soon.

I was a former freelance writer for the Washington Afro-American, Washington Post, and New York Amsterdam newspapers. During our media careers James, and I were like ships passing in the night, honking our horns here and there.

I was the No. 1 writer for the Bleacher Report in the Early 2000s. The Bleacher Report was launched in 2005 all the writers were volunteers. I had mentioned to James about writing a blog for the Bleacher Report, I heard rumors that they were going to start paying the top writers. For what ever reason, he never followed up, and he was right.

All my blogs averaged 1,000+ readers. The blogs that got the most reads were the sins of Georgetown Coach, John Thompson, and boxing “Cash Cow”, Sugar Ray Leonard. Each blog had 5,000+ readers. I knew the closet, where all their skeletons were hiding. Their closets was so crowded, skeletons had to RSVP.

The Bleacher Report dropped me like a “HOT PATATO” as soon as they started to pay the white writers.

I always smile when I hear white folks claim “Blacks always play the Race Card”, when they invented The Race Card!

When I challenged, a man named America’s No. 1 sportscaster, Dallas, Texas’ No.1 Dale Hansen for copying my sports talk show format via telephone. He confessed in a return call message saying, “Harold, this is Dale Hansen returning your call, I misplaced your number, but I finally found it. Everything you have done makes my little bit look like the peeling off of the cover of ‘White Privilege’ as you say, seems rather insignificant, but I hope you get this message, thank you.”

In August 2012, TNT and Ted Turner brought the Bleacher Report for $175,000 million dollars. They have headquarters in New York City, London and a CNN Sports Report!

My last face to face conversation with James Wright was on a DC bus on the NW 14th street corridor one summer day in July. He has always been the quiet private type, at least to me. I walked to the back of the bus, nodding at James as I walked on by. Suddenly, I turned around to go back, and sit beside him.

We exchanged small talk before he asked, “What is your latest project?” I told him I was still working on my Muhammad Ali documentary. He looked at me, and said, “Dam Harold, it has been a long time coming.” He got up to get off at the next stop, his last words, “Is your telephone number still the same?” My response, “Yea man, it is the same”, and he was gone.

The next time I heard from James Wright was in late August 2014. He wanted to know if I was having my annual Christmas Toy Party? I said, “I don’t think so, my wife wants me to give it up, forty plus years is enough!” He said, “Okay, let’s do Muhammad Ali. I am shooting for the Front ‘Page’, that is where your story belongs.” I said ok, James sounded like he had already written the story.

Sure enough, with very little conversation from me, on October 11, 2014: On the front page of THE WASHINGTON AFRO AMERICAN-with a photo of me, and THE GREATEST-MUHAMMAD ALI:

“SPORTSCASTER HAROLD BELL PLANS ALI DOCUMENTARY.”

He, John Hollins, and Dave Aldridge, are the only Blacks in media who spotlighted my history making exclusive one-on- one interview with ‘The Greatest.’ The interview made me the first black media personality in boxing history, to interview an undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World one-on-one.

James Wright was an excellent writer, what really stood out to me was his honesty and integrity. I have never read one his stories that had not been throughly researched. He never needed pom poms, and a short skirt to get to the truth. He was no body’s cheerleader!

When I was honored with The National Associations of Black Journalists ‘Sam Lacey 2020 Pioneer Award’, (Thanks to Dave Aldridge, another honest, and quiet media giant with integrity). James, left a message on my cell phone saying, “Congratulations, long over due.”

Today, we are surrounded by cowards, and bullies in our schools, churches and so-called politicians (if the shoe fits-wear it). James Wright Jr, had more balls than most media personalities I have ever met. He knew how to help others quietly, and effectively.

We all are running against the wind in America. With much respect, admiration and love. Gone Too Soon, my brother (RIP).

NOTEWORTHY: God bless, the Dell Computer Family. Making children really ‘First’. They put their money (6 Billion dollars) where their mouths are!

Freddy Lewis takes Kentucky Colonels’ star Dan Issel to the hoop.

In 1971, my homeboy, and friend Marvin Gaye, hit it out of the park with ‘Whats Going On’, heard on Saturday mornings on W-O-O-K Radio.

In February of 1972, I found my pioneering radio sports talk show, Inside Sports. In the summer of 1972, the unforgettable Black film movie classic “Super Fly” was a run away best seller in Black movie theaters around the country. The music was produced and written by super-rapper, Curtis Mayfield. The theme song was about the life of a drug hustler who went by the the name of Freddy. He was found dead of a drug overdose.

The sounds of Marvin Gaye, and Curtis Mayfield were the highlights of my music breaks on Inside Sports. There were no other sports talk shows like it in the country. I would open up the show with Whats Going On, and close the show with, Freddy Is Dead.

By the way, Freddy Lewis is alive, and well, living in Washington, DC enhancing the lives of our youth.

Freddy Lewis is surrounded by ABA legend Colis Jones, and DC playground basketball legends, John ‘Bay-Bay’ Duren, and Stacy Robinson. The occasion, the screening of the documentary, “The Waiting Game.” The story of the basketball wars between the NBA and ABA in the 60s and 70s.

This story is about about a “Super Star” basketball player, Freddy Lewis, and how the NBA wrote him, and 24 other living players out their pensions that they deserved. The numbers would be dozens of other players, but they have since passed on.

The documentary tells the story of how the upstart American Basketball Association was more than just a copy of the NBA.

It had its own ID, they played with a basketball with the colors of America, red, white and blue. Freddy is the only player to start his career in the NBA, and play all nine seasons in the ABA with the Indiana Pacers. He is not in the NBA Hall of Fame, nor does his jersey hang from the rafters with George McGinnis and Reggie Miller’s in the home arena of the NBA Indiana Pacers.

The Heart and Soul of the ABA: Legends, Connie Hawkins, Marvin Barnes, Dr. J-Charlie Scott, and George Gervin.

There are a few important things to consider if you ever watch “The Waiting Game,” the 2024 film that documents the fight for aging players of the defunct American Basketball Association to receive financial recognition from the NBA. For starters, just know that James Jones, a six-time ABA all-star, is still driving an Uber in Las Vegas, and 23 other living players are still waiting for their pensions stolen by the NBA.

Also, understand that Darnell “Dr. Dunk” Hillman, an NBA slam dunk contest winner and two-time ABA champion, hasn’t received a pension for his five years of work in the ABA. And that Sam Smith — another former ABA champ whose sas photo on his death bed sparked a measure of empathy from the NBA, the Board of Governors and the Players Association — relied on health insurance obtained through a job at a Ford plant after his playing days but not from his four years as a professional athlete.

And yet, there’s an even more striking takeaway after watching this documentary that features a handful of former players, giants who appear broken down through rough years after the NBA absorbed four of the ABA’s teams and that red, white and blue ball stopped bouncing. Primarily, these are older Black men, and if you can connect the dots, they are the Afro’d pioneers who committed their bodies as well as mortgaged their futures to help lay the foundation for the next generations of entertainers in basketball shorts.

They dunked before “Air” breathed new life into the NBA, and they popularized the three-point shot several decades before Stephen Curry and his followers by bombing away from deep. And still, these men largely have been forgotten — and some have been intentionally locked out from receiving benefits from the NBA.

The biggest takeaway from the documentary isn’t even in the documentary. It’s that a year after the release of “The Waiting Game,” the thriving and rainmaking NBA has been infused with a $76 billion media rights deal, and the ABA players are dying poor and abandoned. Candace Parker/Washington Post (10-31-2025)

The Waiting Game is a powerful documentary that reveals an incredible battle between the NBA and a tiny not for profit working men trying to gain full recognition for the men of the ABA — a colorful, exciting, rival league that arguably invented the modern game of basketball. It’s a fight for benefits the players of the ABA felt were promised, but never delivered. While following an investigation of the legal trail of the ABA-NBA merger, key impact journalism, and the advocacy for justice, the film reveals the lines that can stand between the greed of Big Business 1% interest and basic human dignity.

I lived this charade by the NBA up close and personal.  I had friends who I broke bread with, and were contributors to my pioneering radio sports talk show, Inside Sports. I remember the players clearly, and their forgotten history.

They included: Dr. J-Spencer Haywood-George Gervin-Connie Hawkins-Jimmy Jones-Gene Littles-George McGinnis, and Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor all played a role in making Inside Sports must hear radio.

Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor had the unique experience of leading the fast break, with Dr. J in the fast lane on his left and the Ice Man cometh on his right.

Fatty, joins Larry Brown (NFL), Petey Greene, and me for a community outing at the Hillcrest Children’s Center in NW DC (old Turner’s Arena).

Spencer Haywood, Jim Brown, Sonny Hill, and Sam Jones (not shown) joins the non-profit Kids In Trouble organization for a Youth Violence Forum in Washington, DC.

The NBA owners pocket BILLIONS, and tip the ABA players 25 MILLION DOLLARS for their pension fund. They should be ashamed of themselves, and the NBA Players Association was compliant in this conspiracy.

Dr. J and George McGinnis, George Gervin and Fatty Taylor all played important roles in making Inside Sports, the No. 1 in sports talk radio and television.

This is an excellent documentary, and fans of the NBA and ABA should put this on their Bucket List —this history-making story needs to be seen on the big screen.

The unsung heroes in this documentary are not all basketball players!

THE UNSUNG HEROES AND BRAINTRUST OF “THE WAITING GAME.”

SCOTT TARTER-JOHN SHUFORD AND CHRISTOPHER SMITH

THE DOCUMENTARY IS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE / http://www.TheWaitingGameMovie.com ($10)

Dale Hansen is a rare bird in sports broadcasting (honest). He got my attention when he was honored in Washington, DC several years ago as “The Television Sportscaster of the Year.” 

I googled him and discovered to no surprise, he was using the unheard of Original Inside Sports format (Sports & Politics) that I start airing in 1972.

I called his office in Dallas and left a message congratulating him and reminded him, he was using my sports talk format from 1972. I emailed him some background proof (videos). His response I could not believe. He called and left this message, “Harold, this is Dale Hansen in Dallas.  I lost your telephone number when you called the other day.  I finally had to track through your notes and I finally found it.  I am sorry I didn’t get back to you.  Your stuff is fantastic to read about.  Everything you have done makes my little bit a peeling off of White Privilege and rather insignificant, but I thank you for sharing this with me.  I hope you get this message, Thank you, sir, thank you very much.” 

The more things change the more they remain the same for example, Dallas sportscaster Dale Hansen (ret) and Senator Stephanie Flowers (D-Pine Bluff Ark) in color and black and white.

Major League baseball finds itself in the same league, out of 30 teams there were only two black managers at the of the 2023 season. 

This is the sport that Jackie Robinson kicked the door down in 1947 dreaming more black Americans would be given the opportunity to play in America’s pastime. 

In 2023 there were less than 10% black Afro-American players on tMajor Leaugue Baseball rosters, and there are no black owners, but still on April 15th every major league baseball player’s uniform will have the number 42 stitched on the back of it celebrating Jackie Robinson Day.

The GREAT Jackie Robinson-‘He Never Played the Game.’  He was a man’s man on and off the field!

If Major League Baseball was really honest only the players who are Afro-American would be wearing No. 42.  Then you would see they are perpetrating a fraud.

The NBA is making some progress when it comes to hiring black coaches.  They are now the standard bearers when it comes Black Head coaches.   Makes sense players of color make up 75% of the players on the court. 

The NBA has one token black owner–Michael Jordan. These celebrations are especially disturbing to me during these fake black history month celebrations.  The celebrations should be called exactly what they really are–’56 years after the murder of our Prince of Peace and our No. 1 theme is still “We Shall Overcome.”

I have been asking the same question since 1972 why are pro sports franchises and white folks pretending to celebrate ML King day every year-keep hope alive?

The charade continues you add on to this lack of progress to the recent FBI discovery that several elite hollywood actresses and CEOs have been paying brides to get their dumb ass kids admitted to some of the elite colleges in the country by scaming the SAT and ACT admission exams.

There is some good news, thanks to White Privilege so far there were no Negroes, coloreds, coons, jigger boos, Afro-Americans or Ns found in the wood pile—this scam  was for whites only .

The scammers and master-minds in-charge was a CEO by the name of Rick Singer and a tennis player and graduate of Havard University by the name of Mark Riddell.  The FBI seized a non-profit bank account own by Singer and found 52 million dollars in the account.  This scam is the biggest ever in college academic history.  To no surprise the biggest college scammer were the NCAA.

The arm of college sports—the coaches were being paid millions of dollars in salaries and the slave mentality athletes were paid next to nothing. 

That has changed several years ago a group of college athletes sued the NCAA.  They had their day in court.  The NCAA skirted around the courts again when Judge Claudia Wilken criticize and berated the organization and then ruled in favor of the players, but gave the NCAA permission to continue the status quo and continue business as usual?   

On this confusing ruling I think I am going to have let Dale Hansen explain exactly what happen because I don’t have a clue. He understands White Privilege better than I.

Without a doubt the athletes are in a better place in 2024 with endorsement opportunities (some have obtained millionaire status) and the transfer portal.  The portal allows them to seek employment else where without penalty.

But I do have some understanding of racism and what State Senator Stephanie Flowers went through in Arkansas as it relates to a “Stand Your Ground” law on the books in Arkansas.  In February 1957 The Little Rock 8 arrived at the door of Central High School as a result of Brown vs Board of Education.  It was the first day of school but they were prevented from entering the school.

The Arkansas National Guard under the orders of Governor Oval Faubus blocked their path.

Let us Fast forward to Little Rock March 2019 sixty-two years later.  State Senator Stephanie Flowers a black lawmaker refused to have her path blocked and refused to retreat when her white, male colleagues moved to cut off debate on a bill that would let Arkansas residents use lethal force as the first line of self-defense if they felt threatened (White Privilege). 

This bill was law in 31 other states in the United States of America.  I just learned thanks to Senator Flowers that out of the 50 states in the United States of America, 31 states have Stand Your Ground Laws—are you kidding me? 

That stat has since been updated to 38 states with Stand Your Ground laws.

The Stand Your Ground law has replaced the rope and you can now be lynched by a gun and bullet as law-enforcement has proven around the country.

After her deeply personal tirade against so-called, “stand your ground” propositions, the bill was defeated.  The video of the comments, which allude to racial tensions simmering far beyond Little Rock, had gone viral. 

Senator Flowers tells her white colleagues, “I’m the only person here of color, OK.  I am a mother, too, and I have a son, and I care as much for my son as you care for yours, but my son doesn’t walk the same path as yours does (White Privilege),”  Flowers, a Democrat said, Wednesday during debate “So, this debate deserves more time.” 

“For a long time since I’ve been back here in Arkansas, I have feared for my son’s life,” she said, according to the meeting notes.

“Now, he’s 27 and he’s out of Arkansas, and I thank God he is when you’re bringing up crap like this. It offends me.  And then you want to limit the debate, too. This is crazy.”

Flowers, the panel’s vice chair, demanded the floor after some senators tried to curb her debate time that would ditch the “duty to retreat” clause in state law.  It obligates people who feel threatened to try to escape the situation before using force.

The critical change, which some politicians in Arkansas oppose, would align with “stand your ground” laws in at least 31 states where there is no duty to retreat an attacker in any place someone has a legal right to be.

 She reminded them, “You can’t silence me!’

Such measures have come under scrutiny nationwide, particularly after a July shooting in Florida.  A sheriff there said “stand your ground” laws prevented him from arresting the shooter who was white, after he fatally shot Markeis McGlockton, who was black, over a parking spot. The local prosecutor later charged the shooter with manslaughter; the shooter has said he shot McGlockton in self-defense.

“It doesn’t take much to look at the local news every night and see how many black kids, black boys, and black men are being killed with these ‘stand your ground’ defenses that these people raise, and substantial racial disparities exist in the application of “stand your ground” laws, experts have found. 

Defendants in Florida were nearly twice as likely to be convicted in a case involving white victims than in cases with victims of color, according to a 2015 study in Social Science & Medicine.  Nationwide, the rate of justifiable homicide was 34% in cases in which the shooter was white and the victim was black, compared with only 3% in cases with a black shooter and a white victim, the Urban Institute found in 2012. they get off,” Flowers told her fellow lawmakers Wednesday.  As Flowers spoke, Republican state Sen. Alan Clark, the committee’s chairman, at one point interrupted her, saying, “Senator, you need to stop.”

“No, I don’t,” Flowers responded.

“Yes, you do,” Clark insisted.

“No, I don’t. What the hell you going to do, shoot me?” she asked, adding moments later, “Do what the hell you want to do, go ahead, but you can’t silence me.”

“Sen. Flowers, if anybody hasn’t tried to silence you, it’s me,” Clark replied.  She then got up and left the debate on “Lynching by gun!”

After public testimony on the matter, the bill — this is what I find rather ironic, the bill was opposed by state police, the Arkansas Sheriff’s Association and Arkansas Moms Demand — The bill failed by one vote, though its sponsor hopes to bring it back up Monday March 11th.

The controversial Stand Your Ground bill passed the Arkansas Senate, but was voted down in the House Committee, effectively keeping the bill from becoming law.

Senator Flowers was the only black on this committee with white men.  My question is, “Where are all the black men?”  I salute, kneel down and take my hat off to State Senator Stephanie Flowers a woman of COURAGE, which is also lacking in the black community in 2024.  Especially, found lacking by black men in pro football during the Colin Kapernick kneel-in.  

Senator Flowers refused to be bullied by a bunch of cowards who have hidden behind a rope for over 400 years and now they wanted to hide behind White Privilege and a gun.

I have spend the past 50+ years working in the war zones of the inner-city and I have seen black on black gun violence up close.  I lost two brothers who decided to make law-enforcement their career choices and left here much “Too soon” because of of their efforts to fight crime in their community and in their work places. 

My older brother was a U. S. Marshall for 20 years and my younger brother Earl was a DC cop for 14 years.  When they didn’t go along to get along, they both were confronted with “The Thin Blue Line and Code of Silence.” 

COPS IN THE FAMILY: EARL AND BOBBY WITH HATTIE T AND MOMMY B

EARL WITH DC’S FIRST BLACK POLICE CHIEF-BURTELL JEFFERSON

This blue wall still exist in police departments around this country who already operate under the premise of “Stand Your Ground” when it comes to black America.

I find it rather ironic when I hear cops who are paid to protect and serve cry “Its us against them!”  They forget that this is a job that they volunteered for–they where not drafted. 

If it is too hot in the kitchen get the hell out and find a job working from your home behind a computer than behind a shield, gun and oath that you took to protect and serve.

The Stand Your Ground law is another form of “White Privilege” as are bankruptcy laws, white collar crime, Red lining, grand juries, justice & just-us judicial system and a list of other hidden agendas they keep hidden to make sure we stay in our lane!  No one is “Playing Fair and there will never be an Even Playing Field” as long as there is White Privilege.   Hats off to Dale Hansen and Senator Stephanie Flowers.

Muhammad Ali, won a gold medal in the light-heavyweight division at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. He is welcomed home by his brother Rahaman, and the city of Louisville, Kentucky. He discovered he could not out box the racism in his hometown, he threw the medal into the Ohio River.  In 1996, he was presented with a replacement medal and famously lit the Olympic flame for the Atlanta Games.

In Atlanta, Georgia, suffering with Parkinson’s disease, Ali carried the 1996 ceremonial Olympic Torch into the Olympic Stadium. He was the definition of courage throughout his pro boxing career.

Rahaman Ali had his brother’s back, and front during their journey in the seedy cut-throat world of professional boxing.

When Keith Winstead called to tell me that Rahaman Ali had been admitted to hospice in Louisville, Kentucky, we knew that he soon would be in a better place.

When Rahaman died, he was confined to a wheelchair. He could no longer walk or talk. He suffered three strokes. August 1, 2025, not knowing where his next meal was coming from, he went home to be with the Lord. The family that his brother left behind to look over him, had gone their separate ways.

When his older brother died in 2016, Rahaman said, “My bother was a really sweet, kind, loving, giving, affectionate, wonderful person.” Those same characteristics, he inherited from his brother.

Rahaman, fell on hard times trying to survive after his brother died in 2016; His family was nowhere to be found, sisters-in-laws, children, nieces, nephews, and keepers of the Ali estate (Museum). They never reached out to the younger brother, who was like Ali’s shadow his entire boxing career.

Ali sold the rights to his name, likeness, and images for 50 million-dollars, plus 20% of the advertising to a group out of New York City in 2006.

The deal was made with CKX, Inc., an entertainment company that also controlled the rights to Elvis Presley’s name and image.  CKX later renamed itself Core Media Group and eventually sold the Ali business to Authentic Brands Group, sold after they made billions of dollars using Ali’s name and likeness in advertising ads around the world. 

I never knew or heard whether the champ had left a will that included his only brother.

The Ali family home in Louisville was sold, and again Rahaman never received any compensation. I often wondered where his so-called extended family was when he needed them.

I often wondered what happened to the 50-million-dollars cash, and the 20% of the advertising dollars Ali received to relinquish the rights to his name and likeness to a marketing group in New York City in 2006?

There are many lies on social media describing the homegoing of Rahaman Ali, the brother of The Greatest, Muhammad Ali. One popular YouTube video had Rahaman’s services being held the day after he died.

The video described how Iron Mike Tyson had delivered a tribute that rocked the foundation of the church. The daughter of Muhammad Ali, Laila, was in attendance and paid tribute to her uncle. None of the stories are true.

Laila Ali fought Erin Toughill in Washington, D.C. on June 11, 2005 at the MCI Center, winning by TKO in the third round to claim the vacant WBC female super middleweight title. The fight was part of a Mike Tyson undercard event.  

The Greatest did not want Laila to follow him into the ring, it was all hugs and kisses in DC.

Mike Tyson, now 58, retired from professional boxing two decades ago. In his last official bout in 2005, Tyson opted to quit on his stool before the seventh round against Kevin McBride

Even though Tyson quit on his stool, he went out like a champion. After the fight he came out of the dressing room, and sat on the steps at ringside. He answered questions from the media for almost an hour. He made no excuses for his defeat. I have never forgot that moment with Iron Mike!

Thanks to Rahaman, I got a chance to spend a few moments with the Champion as he walked to his limo. He was like the Piped Piper, hundreds of fans were following him. The scene reminded me of when we first met on the Howard University campus in 1967. As we walked together down the Georgia Avenue NW corridor, only to see hundreds of students were following us.

Gene Kilroy was Ali’s business manager throughout much of the champion’s career. He traveled the world with Ali, and Rahaman. Kilroy told friends he was going to be at Rahaman’s service, but he was a no-show. I was not surprised!

Kilroy, had plenty of company; no one from the museum was in attendance at the Memorial Service, and city leaders all called in sick.

Minister Louis Farrakhan prayed over Rahaman during his hospital stay and made sure the Nation was represented at the service. Muhammad Ali’s second wife, Khalilah, was there with her four children.

Louisville City leaders, Ali Museum staff and CEO, family and friends were far, few, and nowhere to be found at the Memorial Service on Saturday, August 16, 2025, in Louisville, Kentucky. Lonnie Ali, Laila Ali, and the so-called family members should be ashamed of themselves.

Lonnie Ali and the museum administrators never encouraged Rahaman to be a part of the museum family that bore his brother’s name and honored him worldwide.

Rahaman, never benefited from the family name in Louisville. A family friend once suggested to the CEO and President of the Museum to add Rahaman to the staff as a ‘Greeter’, but the suggestion fell on deaf ears.

The museum will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary of its opening, and 9th anniversary of the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award this year. Name one person, who deserved to receive the award more than Rahaman-he should have been the first. They swept him under the rug like a piece of dirt!

They are all living off the blood, sweat, tears, and the name of Muhammad Ali, blood brother of Rahaman!

Keith Winstead the cousin of Muhammad Ali lives in Louisville. He is also the historian for the Ali family. He and Glenn Singleton of New Orleans made every effort to support Rahaman as much as possible.

Muhammad Ali, met Glenn in New Orleans when he fought Leon Spinks for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 1978. He tagged Glenn as his “Best Fan.”

Keith, and Glenn were there for Rahman when his brother went home to be with the Lord in 2016.

Rahaman, took his brother’s death rather hard right up until his own death.

In a recent annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Ceremony at the Ali Museum, Glenn and Keith teamed up to buy Rahaman a suit for the tribute for his brother, only to discover Rahaman and Carolyne had not been invited.

Long before, pretty women, the Olympic Gold Medal, scam promoters, and insiders took his personal belongings, jewelry, robes, shoes, and gloves to sell to the highest bidder, Rahaman, was trying to do the right thing.

Ali, ignored the thieves, and looked the other way. He truly cared less about material things.

As a professional boxer, Rahaman won 14 bouts, lost 3, and had one draw. In his career, he knocked out seven opponents and was himself knocked out once. He retired from professional boxing after back-to-back losses, he was knocked out by future Superman film series actor Jack O’Halloran in what was his only knockout defeat. 

The brothers pose together after a sparring session.

After his career ended, Rahaman would travel, and also train, with his brother.  He would later appear as himself in his brother’s 1977 biopic “The Greatest.” 

In 2014, Ali released his autobiography, That’s Muhammad Ali’s Brother! My Life on the Undercard, which was co-authored by H. Ron Brashear.

In 2019, Rahaman released his second book titled My Brother, Muhammad Ali – Biography. It was co-authored by Fiaz Rafiq, with the foreword written by NFL legend Jim Brown.  

In 2021, he appeared in the documentary Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali.  The same year, he appeared in three episodes of his brother’s documentary miniseries Muhammad Ali. 

I met Rahaman in 1972, five years after I met his brother on the campus of Howard University in 1967.  

In 1972 I found Inside Sports my pioneering and trailblazing radio sports talk show, in Washington, DC. The one of a kind sports talk show revolutionize sports talk, and included politics with no cut card.

J. D. Bethea, was a sports columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper and Harry Barnett was a local attorney, one day I heard them planning a road trip to Cleveland at Billy Edwards’ Boxing Gym in NW DC.

The occasion, Muhammad Ali was participating in a charity boxing exhibition to raise money for a failing Children’s Hospital. I asked if I could ride with them to see ‘The Greatest’ in action. They said, “No problem.”

When we arrived at the hotel, Ali was doing what he did best, entertaining a group of reporters who were hanging on and laughing at his every word. The scene reminded me of when I first saw him entertaining the students on the campus of Howard University. Someone once said, “Ali could have been a great comedian.” He kept us laughing, when we should have been crying.

We tried to walk around the throne of fans and reporters to get to the front desk to register for our rooms. Suddenly, Ali’s voice boomed, “Harold Bell what are you doing this far away from home?” I almost fell to the hotel lobby floor. I felt like, I was caught playing hooky from school. I regained my composure and waved a hello, “Hi Champ.”

Rahman, would later find me in the hotel lobby, and take me to the Champ’s suite. Ali would introduce me to everyone. I would meet Lloyd Price, Don King, Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown, Pat Patterson, and “The Usual Suspects.”

Later that year, Rahaman called to invite me to the Ali Deer Lake Training Camp in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. I would drive to the camp once, and sometimes twice, weekly. I became a regular face.

In 1974, I became, “The Chosen One.” I will never forget the day Rahaman came to me, and whispered, “The Champ wants you to sit next to him.” There were around a dozen media reporters in the camp that day; I was the only brother. There I sat on a rock on the mountain top with ‘The Greatest’!

SITTING ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP WITH MUHAMMAD ALI

After the press conference, Rahaman, invited me to have lunch with Ali and a few members of the training staff in the log cabin. The chef was their mom, Odessa. The menu was hot dogs and beans. I had two helpings, mom offered me a second helping saying, “Harold, you look like you have not eaten in a couple of days.” Everyone laughed, as I gladly excepted the second helping.

The Champ and family: Rahaman-Mom, Odessa and Dad, Marcellus. The champ was, ‘Mommy’s baby, daddy’s maybe.’

MEMORIES: BIRDS/BROTHERS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER-MUHAMMAD & RAHAMAN ALI!

“I remember a dinner at the Alladin Hotel in Vegas. They were honoring all the living heavyweight champions with a presentation of a diamond ring. They were beautiful rings full of stones. Ali got his and was walking off of stage he passed a little girl sitting in a wheel chair. The girl’s mother asked if Ali could pose for a picture, without batting an eyelash, Ali hugged the little girl, kissed her and put the ring in her hand. That ring was worth thousands of dollars, but it didn’t mean a thing to him compared to the pleasure he got from giving the ring to a little child.” Chuck Bodak (Boxing cut man)

“Ali was such a generous person, he made sure everyone got paid for their services. If someone took a suitcase out of his car, Ali always tipped them right, he never left a restaurant without making sure the waitress got a good tip. He understood these people had bills to pay, buy clothes and food and a place to live. He never felt he was using his money right if he spent it on himself instead of helping other people out. One time we were in Haiti driving to the airport and Ali all of a sudden said, “Stop the car!” There was an old Haitian woman sitting by the road, and Ali got out of the car, walked over to her and handed her a handful of bills. The woman could not believe it. Ali did things like that all the time, money and possessions never mattered to Ali. He spent it on everybody but himself. I’m telling you if someone cut Ali open, they’d find his heart was made of pure gold.” Lloyd Wells (Ali confidant)

I was just a phone call away when “The Greatest” landed in New York City by a private jet from Zaire, Africa in 1974. His companions were his brother Rahaman Ali, wife Kalilah, the other woman, Veronica Porche and a briefcase with a million dollars. He made sure, this was one million Don King would not get an opportunity to steal.

“Harold, Ali had all these plans, in the locker room before fights, he be waiting and wondering like you do sometimes. And out of nowhere, Ali would ask a question, what could he do to help the poor? And believe me, as you well know, you could walk into any locker room in professional sports-baseball, football, basketball; I don’t care what sport you are talking about, and those brothers are not thinking about helping poor people. But that was the way my brother was, he wanted to help poor people.” Rahaman Ali

Rahaman, was right on the money when he summarized the mindset of today’s pro athletes. In my exclusive one one-on-one interview in 1974 with Ali regarding the meaning of Friendship, Helping others, the thought-provoking interview still helps me, not to forget who I am and where I came from.

My deepest sympathy went out to his Rahaman’s wife, Carolyne, who was by his side for 14 years she endured the naysayers, heartache, pain, and suffering of this sweet human being. During his illness, she slept in a chair in the hospital for two weeks. They both deserved better.

Boxing history has proven that the sport has been engulfed by thieves, liars, and cowards. The brothers, Muhammad and Rahaman Ali’s names, will not be embedded in that history.

Despite the racism they experienced in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, Ali and Rahaman, lived by these words. I was a witness. RIP my brothers from another mother!

I am a native Washingtonian, my life began in Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York in 1938. My mother Mattie would need several years to find her way back home to Washington, DC where all the drama started. She followed my dead beat father Alfred Bell to New York City six months pregnant.

My Aunt Ertis in the Bronx took us in while my mother waited to see if he would do the right thing. The Temptations best described my father in their classic vocal, “Popa Was A Rolling Stone, where he laid his head was truly his home.”

We moved back to DC my mother found a place to live in a neighborhood near the Lily Ponds called Kenilworth Gardens. My first home was a one-room shack and an outhouse at the end of Douglas Street NE.

My Aunt Sara (The Enforcer) told me, “Mama told ‘Brother’, he was not going to keep showing up to make babies and leave them with her to raise.” Despite Grandma Bell’s shoutout, my father was in and out of our lives like a revolving door.

My heroes have always been Black women, my aunts, Sara, Helen, and June on my father’s side of the family. My mother’s side of the family was her cousins, Doretha, and Evelyn aka Ms. B. They were like her sisters. My Aunt Ertis in New York City was like my Godmother. During our brief stay in New York City, my mother and I lived with her in the Bronx before heading back to DC.

One cold January morning my mother quietly left the shack for the corner store to pick up milk and bread. Thinking I was sound to sleep, she left me and my dog Billy with a kerosene lamp burning to keep us warm. The shack caught fire and burned to the ground.

My mother returned home to find fire trucks in front of the burning shack, and me sitting on the ground crying. My dog Billy was standing over me. She thanked the firemen for getting me out of the burning shack. Once she calmed down they explained that was how they found me and the dog sitting on the ground. I went from a one-room shack and an outhouse in NE DC to Grandma Bell’s House to Dean Wood minutes away in NE DC.

It took my grandmother’s wrath to make him do the right thing by my mother and marry her. Amy Tyler Bell did not play when it came to family.

In 2025 I still have no clue how I got out of that burning shack. My dog Billy never said a word. Instead of following the Yellow Brick Road to Grandma Bell’s house, we followed a dirt road and never looked back.

The neighborhood later became Kenilworth Courts a housing project ruled by Kimi Gray, Mayor for Life, Marion Barry, and Secretary of HUD former NFL QB Jack Kemp.

“HAROLD BELL-I NEVER PLAYED THE GAME” AMAZON 5 STARS REVIEW

Harold Bell is more than a journalist-he is a pioneer who revolutionized sports talk media.  He changed the way we talk and report sports in America and created opportunities for inner-city children, and black sports reporters alike.     

In defiance of Critical Race Theory (CRT)-though more accurately, American History.  This legendary sports journalist and civil rights trailblazer will unveil his highly anticipated second book, “For Whom The Bells Toll” in November. 

Harold Bell went from an outhouse and a one-room shack in NE DC to a White House in NW DC.  He has been called, “The Godfather of Sports Talk.” 

His groundbreaking work offers a firsthand account of his extraordinary and at times, improbable relationships with two of the 20th-century’s most celebrated and controversial figures: President Richard Nixon and Muhammad Ali.  

As the creator of Inside Sports and founder of Kids In Trouble, Bell broke barriers in sports journalism, launching a platform centered on Black athletes’ voices long before the Washington Post (Inside Sports Magazine), ESPN (The World Wide Leader in sports reporting) and Bryant Gumble’s, HBO Real Sports (37 Emmys). 

All copied his talk format. The Washington Post now own the copyrights to Inside Sports.   

His talking sports, and politics went where others dared to go.  Inside Sports changed the way we talk and report sports in America. His bold approach and no-cut card were unheard of in sports talk media. 

Today every radio and television sports talk format seen and heard is a copy of the ORIGINAL INSIDE SPORTS.  He paved the way for all who followed in his footsteps at great personal cost. 

Media copy-cats, co-opted his vision, stripping him of the credit and financial rewards he deserved.  Yet, Bell never wavered in his commitment to truth and integrity. 

Bell’s groundbreaking work has been recognized across the globe.  As he famously closed out his Inside Sports talk show with: “Every Black face he saw was not his brother, and every White face he saw was not his enemy.”

The quote shut down critics who sought to label him, reinforcing his belief that truth and integrity in journalism must come before racial divisions and a dollar bill.

Many of today’s most revered sports media journalists got their start because of Bell’s sacrifices—mentored by him, influenced by his work, and standing on the foundation he built.

Leading the pack are, Cathy Hughes (TV ONE), James Brown (CBS/NFL), Dave Aldridge (ESPN), Mike Wilbon (ESPN), Bill Rhoden (NY Times), Larry Fitzgerald, Sr. (ESPN), Kevin Blackistone (ESPN), Sugar Ray Leonard (ESPN), John Thompson (ESPN), Lavonia Perryman (iHeart Radio), Christie Winters-Scott, and Monica McNutt (ESPN). 

Long before their 15 Minutes of Fame, they all came through Inside Sports and Harold Bell.

After Ali’s historic KO of George Foreman in the 8th round in Zaire, Africa, his first call for an exclusive interview was to Harold Bell. 

It was a move that defied Ali’s strict personal rule of avoiding interviews while still visibly bruised.  The heavyweight champion sat down with Bell for a candid, and raw conversation with a never seen before black eye.

Bell’s history-making 1974 interview with Ali made him the first black media personality to secure a one-on-one exclusive interview with a Heavyweight Champion of the World. 

The interview 50 years later, remains copyrighted under Bell’s ownership.  It is part of a larger, invaluable archive of rare footage that only Bell controls.  Some of his material has never been seen or heard by the public and will be central to an upcoming documentary accompanying his next book, “For Whom The Bells Toll.”

Bell reflects on Ali today, saying, “Ali was a prophet in every sense of the word.” The very issues Ali spoke about in our historic, one-on-one interview remain at the forefront of today’s political upheaval and cultural landscape.

His words resonate now more than ever, proving why Harold Bell remains defiant when he says sports and politics are strange bed-fellas, but are American as Apple pie. 

Ali’s perspective on race and social conditioning was profound. As Bell recalls:

“Ali reminded me babies did not come out of their mother’s womb with an AK-47, selling drugs, wearing a KKK robe, or using the ‘N’ word. This is taught behavior.”

This Legacy was built with his wife of 57 years, Hattie.  They found Kids In Trouble in 1968 shortly after the riots almost destroyed his hometown of Washington, DC.  The tag Inside Sports for his groundbreaking sports talk in 1974 was the brainchild of Hattie. 

The NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB all followed Kids In Trouble into the community.  He encouraged professional athletes, judges, and politicians to reach-back and enhance the lives of inner-city children using Kids In Trouble as their vehicle.   

With “For Whom the Bells Toll”, Bell is reclaiming his life story, revealing the untold truths of his relationships with Ali and Nixon, and cementing his legacy as a guardian of Black American History.

A documentary companion to “For Whom the Bells Toll” will feature Bell’s exclusive, copyrighted archival footage of Muhammad Ali, as well as rare insights into his unparalleled conversations with Ali, Richard Nixon, Jim Brown, Harry Edwards, Red Auerbach, Emanuel Steward, Marvin Gaye, Bert Randolph Sugar, Don King, George Foreman, Thomas Hearns, Angelo Dundee, Lloyd Price, Sugar Ray Leonard, John Thompson (GT), Dave Bing (NBA) and the list goes on and on.

The National Association of Black Journalist honored him with its Sam Lacy 2020 Pioneer Award. 

When Maryland Public Television needed someone to preview the cut/paste PBS Ali Documentary by Ken Burns, they called Harold Bell.  He sat on a panel that included Burn’s daughter Sara, and son-in-law, David.  Bell made their commentary look obsolete. 

When Showtime needed a voice to help narrate their boxing special “The Kings” , Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, Roberto Duran and ‘The Cash Cow’, Sugar Ray Leonard in 2022, they called Harold Bell. 

This unique journey into sports talk and a life beyond the rim will be a ride you will need to have your seat belts firmly buckled. 

THE RELENTLESS ENGINE OF ATLANTA: HOW JOHN WESLEY HOLLINS Jr. BUILT A LEGACY ON MENTORSHIP, MARKETING, AND THE MOUND-RDC MAGAZINE.

At RDC Magazine, we pride ourselves on highlighting individuals whose lives are powered by purpose and legacy. Few embody that spirit more than John Wesley Hollins, Jr., a man whose unwavering commitment to community, youth empowerment, and business excellence makes him nothing short of a force in the city of Atlanta.

When John Wesley Hollins, Jr. walks into a room, he doesn’t just bring a presence; he brings decades of impact, stitched into every stride like the seams of a well-worn baseball glove.

For more than 30 years, Hollins has operated as one of Atlanta’s quiet powerhouses, bridging boardrooms, baseball diamonds, and underserved communities with one resolute mission: uplift, mentor, and transform. To attempt to define him by a single title is to miss the point. He’s an executive, a father, a former Division I baseball phenom, a youth mentor, a philanthropist, a hospital board member, and the founder of a sports program that has funneled millions into scholarships. But perhaps above all, he’s a community architect who has spent his life pouring concrete foundations beneath dreams that might have otherwise crumbled.

At WANF-TV / Gray Media (also known as Atlanta News First), Hollins holds court as a Senior Account Executive. In this role, he has not only elevated the station’s profile, but also helped shepherd major advertising campaigns for the city’s top law firms, ad agencies, and growing businesses. His eye for opportunity is sharp, his client list elite, but it’s the small businesses that have felt his greatest touch. Through strategic media and marketing, Hollins has helped develop countless local enterprises, guiding them into Atlanta’s fast lane with the poise of someone who has mastered both the game and the grind.

But Hollins’s success in the corporate world is only one part of the story.

His legacy is arguably most profound off-screen, where he has spent his life mentoring underserved youth and building bridges to opportunity with tireless devotion. The roots of this work stretch back to Eastlake Meadows, the housing project once nicknamed “Little Vietnam” for its violence and hardship. It was there that his father, John Sr., planted seeds of change by launching the first organized football program in the community. He did it with a belief so radical and so simple: that all children were created equal and that sport could unify where society divided. His first recruit was his own son.

That moment didn’t just shape Hollins’s path. It ignited it.

As the Executive Director and founder of ATL Metro RBI, Inc., Hollins has taken that same ethos and scaled it. The youth baseball program he built from the ground up doesn’t just teach kids how to hit curveballs. It teaches them how to handle life’s curveballs. It’s about leadership, health and wellness, mentorship, and perhaps most importantly, access. To date, ATL Metro RBI has secured over $2 million in scholarship funding for students attending top universities across the country, from Georgia State to Stanford, Morehouse to NYU.

More than 700 young men have gone on to play college and professional baseball through the affordable training and support provided by Hollins’s program. Major League Baseball and the Atlanta Braves have backed him. Mizuno Sports and Better Baseball have partnered with him. In 2019, that work crossed international borders with over $100,000 in sports equipment delivered to Puerto Rico and Curaçao. ATL Metro RBI expanded into the Caribbean. That same year, the Mayor of Puerto Rico awarded Hollins the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, an emblem of sports-driven service rarely handed to non-islanders.

Yet Hollins is no sideline cheerleader. He is a former star athlete himself. At Georgia State University, he lettered in baseball for four years, received academic and athletic honors, and was nearly named Conference Player of the Year. In 1986, he was invited as an unrestricted free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates following the MLB draft. His approach to mentorship now is rooted in experience that is equal parts discipline and empathy. He knows the sacrifices. He knows the spotlight. And he knows that young people need more than inspiration. They need infrastructure.

His accolades are as numerous as they are impressive. In 2016, he received the Barack Obama Honoree Award for Lifetime Achievement in Community Service. His name is now forever enshrined in the 44th President’s Library. He has been a proud member of 100 Black Men of America since 2008, and from 2015 to 2018, he served as President of the DeKalb County chapter. In this role, he and fellow leaders mentored young men and women, opening doors to scholarships, global travel, and life-changing opportunities that many had never imagined possible.

Hollins is currently an Executive Board Member of Grady Memorial Hospital, where his leadership helps shape the healthcare systems that serve Atlanta’s most vulnerable. His capacity for service seems boundless. It’s the kind of work ethic that feels increasingly rare, almost sacred. The kind passed down by fathers like John Sr. and magnified by sons like John Jr.

Speaking of sons, Hollins’s legacy is perhaps most vivid in his own children. His eldest, John W. Hollins III, is now an attorney for Atlanta’s Public Defender’s Office. His youngest, Jordan, is a two-time national champion and professional MLB hitting instructor in the Appalachian League. Both, like their father, are stewards of community, navigating their own paths with the same principled compass.

Through it all, there is Tekki T. Hollins, his college sweetheart and wife of nearly 40 years. Together since 1987, their marriage is a portrait of stability, love, and partnership that has weathered the tides of time with grace and grit.

It’s easy to say a person is the heart of a city. But in John Wesley Hollins, Jr.’s case, it’s not a metaphor. He is the pulse behind so many of Atlanta’s progress stories, the kind of leader who doesn’t need headlines because his work speaks for itself. In an era where community is too often a marketing ploy, Hollins reminds us what true service looks like: quiet, consistent, and deeply personal.

That’s why RDC Magazine is honored to feature him—to spotlight a man whose story doesn’t just reflect excellence, but redefines it for generations to come.

In that way, he is not just a man of the moment. He is a man of the mission, living proof that legacy is not about fame or flash, but about the lives you lift along the way.

ATLANTA METRO RBI-THE HOME OF FUTURE MAJOR LEAGUERS–CAN WE PLAY BALL NOW?

NBC SPORTS brings the NBA back to NBC after two decades. MJ will give NBA basketball balance sports reporting for the first time in decades. Watch how quiet the experts will get with the return of MJ. Especially, those he kicked under the bus.

Michael Jordan is joining NBC Sports as a special contributor for its NBA coverage, for the 2025 season. His role will include appearing in a series called “Insight into Excellence,” features will include interviews with host Mike Tirico. Jordan will provide commentary during the network’s broadcasts of NBA games.  

Oscar Robertson’s “All-Time NBA Team” included Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Stephen Curry (he was being diplomatic). My official team consists of Wilt, MJ, Elgin, West, and Oscar. They are my All-Time “GOATES” of the NBA. MJ and Oscar are the only two living GOATES!

My second team would be comprised of Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Gus Johnson, Magic Johnson, and, Earl ‘The Pear’ Monroe (He revolutionized guard play). Pistol Pete Mavarich was great, but he followed Earl’s dazzling act of now you see me and now you don’t! My coach, Red Auerbach.

Red, and I discuss the NBA with Earl Lloyd, Pop Gates and Bighouse Gaines via telephone.

I watched ‘Showtime’ originate in Baltimore in the late 60s, with Wes Unsel, Gus, and Earl, leading the fast break. ‘Dancing’ Harry moved to his own beat on the sidelines. In 1971, the Bullets traded Earl Monroe to the New York Knicks after they refused his salary demands.

My media credential became official in 1972, when I debuted with my pioneering “Inside Sports” talk show in Washington, DC on W-O-O-K Radio.

Earl would lead the Knicks to an NBA championship in 1973. The Washington Bullets/Wizards would not win their first and only NBA Championship until 1978. With the present day charade taking place in DC , it is possible the Wizards won’t see another NBA title until 2078.

WHUR Radio talk show host Ron Sutton, and I share a laugh at the segregated Washington Bullets press table before they moved to Washington, DC. They dropped the Bullets and became the Washington Wizards.

In 1984, when MJ made his rookie debut, he wowed the league. He averaged 28 points a game, and his best was yet to come. He would become a household name, winning 6 NBA Championships.

In 2010, MJ became the first NBA player to own a team, the Charlotte Hornets. He brought the team from the first black majority owner, Bob Johnson. In 2023, he sold his stake in the team.

MJ is joining NBC Sports, just in time for the NBA 2025-26 season. He will be part of the network’s coverage which is returning to NBC after a long absence. While the specifics of his role haven’t been fully detailed, it’s been described as a “special contributor” role. 

He is definitely the NEW SHERIFF in the NBA broadcasting booth. He will shut down all talk of GOAT pretenders, and the hollering of screaming of ESPN’s biggest frauds, Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon.

Remember John Feinstein, Wilbon’s colleague at the Washington Post said, “Michael Wilbon is the biggest ass kisser in sports media.” Wilbon, is the author of two books written on the NBA journey of NBA Hall of Fame player, Charles Barkley. Despite Wilbon’s kissing up , MJ kept his distant.

This isn’t the first time Wilbon has been called out for “sucking up” to athletes (he has written books with Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan). Michael Leahy of the Post beautifully deconstructed Jordan in When Nothing Else Matters: Michael Jordan’s Last Comeback, and in the process took a shot at Wilbon.

“All along, I thought that Wilbon’s treatment of Jordan highlighted the basic danger in getting too cozy with a subject,” Mr. Leahy writes. The access that Mr. Wilbon prized, Mr. Leahy argues, came at the cost of never being able to write something critical about his celebrity subject.

What they don’t do well is take criticism from colleagues. They’ll definitely make the thin-skinned sports media member list (This paragraph is an understatement). The best objective way to describe Wilbon and Korhisner, “They have no balls or integrity!”

I missed the initial viewing of ESPN’s Out Side the Lines aired on Sunday February 23rd. The show hosted by Bob Levy examined the use of the N word. I heard from several different sources that Michael Wilbon lost a lot of credibility when he justified his use of the N word as a term of endearment.

Since I had not seen or heard the show, I held back judgment and waited until it re-aired on Sunday March 2nd.

It is rather ironic that Wilbon, and I had a recent conversation about the use of the N word. The conversation took place in the pressroom before a Wizard’s game at the Verizon Center. He told me ESPN wanted to have a conversation on the use of the N word on Outside the Lines.

The show would be hosted by Bob Levy. Wilbon said, “I am not comfortable doing the show with Levy.” Wilbon cited that he had no problem with Levy as a journalist but he had “No horse in the race” and he refused to participate.” I agreed with Wilbon, why would ESPN assign Levy to host a sensitive topic like using the N word to white guy? Those words out of Wilbon’s mouth got my undivided attention.

I have questioned Wilbon’s mindset on different topics on several occasions as I have questioned others in media. It has never been anything personal it is a price we all pay for writing or voicing our opinions in public forums.

He said folks had asked him about our relationship, and he said “I told them everything is cool with me and Harold Bell we have talked.” It is difficult to believe anything that Wilbon and James Brown say out of their mouths. The two are pathetic liars! What Feinstein said about Wilbon sounded real personal.

Feinstein, died March 13, 2025. Wilbon, said all the right things about their relationship, “What a great friend he was, how much they loved each other, and junior could be tough sometimes.”

Stephen A, and Wilbon never played in the NBA. To a man, NBA players claim neither one of the ESPN experts, could not play ‘Dead.’

In a 2007 tribute to our Winston-Salem State University basketball coach, the legendary Clarence ‘Bighouse Gaines, in Chicago, those were his exact same words when asked about Stephen A’s basketball ability on the Winston-Salem State University basketball team, “He Could Not Play Dead.”

In 2007, in a tribute to Bighouse, I received the first Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines Community Service Award.

Congratulations to Bighouse induction into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

I am No. 54 on the 1962 Rams basketball team

In an interview with Bobby Burkard on his Outkick Podcast, Wilbon was quoted saying, he and PTI partner, Tony Korhisner were responsible for the success of ESPN programing. He claimed the shows copied off of he and Korhisner’s PTI programing! He forgot, he came through Harold Bell and Inside Sports. My talk format is copied by every radio and television sports talk show in America.

Wilbon and I share a laugh during a tribute Gary Mays aka One Arm Bandit at Bens Chili Bowl in DC.

Stephan A. has the University on a monthly stipend to keep his college sports history hush-hush. The “Real Deal”, he has no college sports history to talk about! I don’t blame the university for taking his money.

There is on-going bad blood between MJ and Charles Barkley. Barkley claims, MJ was like a brother before he publicly discussed MJ’s poor performance as owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. According to MJ, too much information!

Stephen A. Smith and his 100 million dollar ESPN salary will be muted when it comes to all things NBA. There will be two NBA Hall of Fame Players that despise him, one is a millionaire and the other is a billionaire.

Charles Barkley will be in the ESPN studio and the NEW SHERIFF in town will be in the studios of NBC-let the games begin!

A NOTE TO COMMISSIONER ADAM SILVER–NBA OUT OF BOUNDS:

Hi Adam, the small town of Kerrville in Texas lost hundreds of lives in the early morning hours on the 4th of July weekend due to a horrific flood. Without warning, many of the town’s children were in camps on the river banks of the Guadalupe when the flood erupted their sleep without warning.

As of July 9th across six counties in Kerrville, Texas, 120 lives have been lost and at last count 170 are missing.

The three Texas NBA teams — the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs — along with the NBA and the NBA Players Association, issued a joint statement on Instagram announcing that they had donated $2 million to relief efforts. How CHEAP can you get?

The NBA is made up of 30 BILLIONAIRE OWNERS and 450 millionaire players on 30 teams, the average salary of each player is five-million dollars+, and that includes the 10 players sitting on the bench. Combine with the Mavericks, Rockets and San Antonio, they could only raise two-million dollars? There are 27 players earning 40 million dollars annually. I find it difficult to believe, THE NBA CARES!

There are a group of players in the NBA who bet millions of dollars on NBA, MLB, NHL games and pro tennis matches. The money that they bet during the NFL season is off the charts.

Adam, you have 30 BILLIONAIRE OWNERS and 450 plus players and hundreds of front office employees under lock and key, and you embarrass yourself and the league donating a measly 2 million dollars to Kerrville-a National Disaster!

If I was the Commissioner and the President of the NBA Players Association, I would be ashamed to let anyone know I was a part of the rallying cry of, THE NBA CARES!

If NBA Players Cared about our children, they would have followed the lead of NBA 2025 first team All-Pro Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers. When he was a member of the Utah Jazz in 2020, he pledged a $12 million donation to Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut.  It is the middle school, his sister and he attended, and where his mother was a teacher.

The donation supports student scholarships, the construction of a new athletic center, and a faculty recognition program. This gift is the largest single donation in the school’s history.  It is also, the largest single donation ever given by an NBA player to a non-profit organization in one lump sum.

Hopefully, there are other pro athletes donating to the Kerrville disaster. The donation by NBA Commissioner and President of the NBA Players Association could best be described as pennies on a dollar donation pledged to people in the city of Kerrville.

Families have lost their homes along with their children and friends, this is a national disaster. The lost children will not get the opportunity to grow up to be healthy, wealthy and wise. What about the children left behind?

NEW NBA SLOGAN: THE NBA CARES–SHOULD BE CHANGED TO “THE NBA COULD CARELESS?”

(NBA) DAVE BING-RED AUERBACH-SAM JONES-JIM ‘BAD NEWS’ BARNES-KC JONES-LEE JONES-JIM BROWN-WILLIE WOOD-JOHNNY SAMPLE-LENNY MOORE-LARRY BROWN-HAROLD McLINTON-AND DOUG WILLIAMS (SANTA CLAUS).

Bing and Wood, are native Washingtonians. In 1967, Bing was “The Rookie of the Year”, with the NBA Detroit Pistons, and Willie Wood was a veteran All-Pro Safety and Punt Returner for the NFL Super Bowl Champions, Green Bay Packers.

In the 60s and 70s they were the first pro athletes to reach back into the community to enhance the lives of inner city youth under the umbrella of my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble, Inc. The NBA, NFL, MLB, and the NHL all followed my lead.

The 1967 NBA All-Star Game was being played in Baltimore when shots were fired after a basketball game at Spingarn High School in Washington, DC our alma mater. A McKinley Tech High School student shot a Spingarn student during an augment after the hotly contested game won by McKinley Tech.

I was working as a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force) for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks.

It was a Friday evening, and I was headed home to NE DC, when I received a pager/beeper signal from my Director, Stan Anderson. He requested that I stop by Spingarn on the way home to see if I could be of some assistance.

I parked my car on 24th & Benning Road and walked across the street to the school. The school was crawling with cops, and there were students hanging out in front of the building. I did not see any familiar faces. There was a loud mouth in the crowd yelling, “Revenge!” to anyone who would listen.

The young man who suffered the gun shot wound was going to survive. I let the cops deal with the loud mouth. I walked back to Sport’s a carry out across the street and ordered a hot dog and RC Cola.

I sat out in front of Sports’ at the bus stop enjoying my hot dog. A couple of young brothers waiting for the bus, mentioned that the NBA All-Star Game was being played in Baltimore on Sunday.

A light bulb appeared in my head–Dave Bing. He was playing in his first All-Star Game in Baltimore. The next morning, I drove to the Baltimore Civic Center where the game would be played.

I arrived around 11 am, and discovered from a friendly security guard the entry of the players. It was 12 noon when Dave arrived with his Detroit teammate, BIG Bob Lanier. He was surprised to see me, his first words, “Harold Bell, what in the hell are you doing over here!”

We both laughed, and he introduced me to Bob as his mentor in the hood. I explained, I needed a minute. He told Bob to go in and he would be right behind him.

I told him about the shooting of a Spingarn student on Friday evening, and there was talk of revenge. I would verify the talk only as gossip, but I would rather be safe than sorry. He agreed to come to the school on Monday after the game. I called our Coach William Roundtree, and told him to alert the Principal, Dr. Purvis Williams.

When Dave walked into the Spingarn Auditorium on Monday morning, thanks to the All-Star Game on National Television, the students gave him a standing ovation. I don’t know how he felt, but I felt like a proud ‘Big Brother!’ He squashed the talks of revenge, with a few words about The Game Called Life!

Dave, was named the Rookie of the Year, he was the first point guard to lead the NBA in scoring, honored as one the 50 Greatest NBA Players, inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, and last, but not lease a forgettable tenure as the Mayor of Detroit.

I look on as NFL HOF player and Green Bay Packer great, Willie Wood honors DC legendary sportswriter, Dick Heller with the Kids In Trouble Community Service Award.

NBA COACH CHAUNCEY BILLUPS CAUGHT IN GAMBLING STING!

REACH OUT AND TOUCH SOMEONE-WHEN YOU HELP OTHERS YOU HELP YOURSELF/ ALI

For verification type this link on youtube MICHAEL WILBON BLASTS STEPHEN A. SMITH IN INTERVIEW via BOBBY BURACK’S OUTKICK PODCAST. This interview confirms what his late colleague and friend, John Feistein said, “Michael Wilbon is the biggest ass kisser in sports media.”

I am convinced that Michael Wilbon never cared whether Jayson Whitlock made public his complaints on his behalf regarding his thoughts on Stephen A. Smith and his bosses at ESPN. Whitlock was summarizing Wilbon’s interview with Bobby Burack on his OUTKICK PODCAST.

Regardless, it is an interview full of holes and B. S. from Michael Wilbon and this blog will help clear the record on ‘The Real Michael Wilbon’. Wilbon, thanks for the opportunity.

THE FRAUDS OF ESPN: STEPHEN A. SMITH & MIKE WILBON

Michael, I have known you, up close and personal from your first days at the Washington Post in 1978 but since your 15 minutes of fame, you are now talking out of both sides of your mouth when it suits you.

I ran into your father-in-law Ben Watkins at the Langston Golf Course in NE DC one weekend in 1995. I knew him from hanging out at the in-crowd Faces’ Restaurant on Georgia Avenue NW in DC.

He proudly told me you had married his daughter, Sheryl, and I said, “Good luck” and kept it moving. That was not nice, and I liked Ben, but you had turned into a piece of do-do. Your word has meant absolutely nothing.

You seem to have forgotten I knew you when you were just an intern at the Washington Post in the late 70s. You arrived when Catherine Graham and her son Donald decided to take my radio tag INSIDE SPORTS to New York City and make it their very own. That was an unforgivable moment for me!

Your PTI partner, Tony Corhisner was a part of the writing crew on the midnight train to New York City to publish, INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE.

You were hired in 1980 out of Northwestern University. I was introduced to you by the czar of the sports department, George Solomon. You followed his lead, and became a regular on INSIDE SPORTS.

In 1980, I was named Washingtonian of the Year, for what ever that was worth!  I did not get stuck on stupid, and kept moving.  What goes around comes around!

I became, “The Spook Who Sat By The Door” when I visited the Washington Post. First, I knew the owner, Donald Graham. We met when he was a DC rookie cop on the streets, and I was working as a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force) for the now DC Department of Recreation & Parks.

We would sit and eat 10 cents hamburgers at the Little Tavern on H Street NE, and we talk about our being native Washingtonians and our work on the streets of DC. He was an officer and a gentleman.

I had no idea he was the son of Catherine Graham owner of the Washington Post until he was gone from the neighborhood. I was told his mother had demanded, he turn in his gun and badge for a suit and tie.

Columnist Bill Raspberry (Pulitzer Prize), Petey Greene (Emmy Award), and I use to hangout together for lunch at Faces’ Restaurant for the great fish on Fridays.

The Mayor of U Street, John Snipes, Petey Greene, and Bill Raspberry participate in a Community Day at the Kids In Trouble Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program in NW DC.

I would visit the Washington Post newsroom as a guest of Raspberry. I would work my way around to the sports department on the same floor. There I would meet writers, Byron Rosen, Donald Huff, Tom Callahan, Dave Dupree, the legendary, Shirley Povich and sports editor, George Solomon.

One day, I encountered Donald Graham getting off the elevator on the 5th floor. I was talking to Raspberry as we waited for the elevator. He surprised me, when he greeted me with “Hello Harold Bell, what are you doing here”? I introduced him to Raspberry whom he already knew.

He gave me his business card and told me to call him the next time I was in the building. Raspberry, seem to be in shock that I knew Donald. He asked me where did I know him from, I told him we use to double date. I never revealed to anyone at the newspaper how Donald and I met.

I called him several weeks later inquiring about a job at the paper for one of my young men. He hired him at the front entrance as a greeter for signed in visitors.

I worked my way into the confidence of George Solomon and became a freelanced writer in the sports department. George helped me to write my first column, “Racism and the Boston Celtics”. The column helped give Inside Sports big exposure in the DMV.

Sports writer Donald Huff, would later write a lionizing column titled, “Bell Gets His Ratings Off The Streets”.

In 1989 the paper highlighted the shortcomings and lack of black sports broadcasters as anchors on local television. I was the leading voice for the story titled, “Local Anchors: A Shutout”.

In 2004 Editorial Columnist, Coby King, allowed me to write a column on the Editorial Page spotlighting my community involvement, ‘Close To Home’ titled, “Breaking The Faith-Betrayed by our Preachers & Politicians” (Glen Ivey & Granger Browning).

When the Washington Post established their first ever television sports talk show on Comcast Television, George Solomon would have me act as a host when he could not be there for showtime.

Donald Graham/George Solomon, deserve a thank you for their support for putting a spotlight on my trailblazing, but difficult media journey. The support, never erased the memory of the Midnight Train to New York City in 1976.

Wilbon, it was George Solomon who asked me to introduce you to the high school coaches in the city. I became your mentor. I kept you out of harm’s way.

There were several high school coaches who were making bogus claims of making children first. They were just going through the motions and taking the money and running.

When you became a columnist, I let you hang out with my NFL and NBA friends that included Roy Jefferson and Sam Jones. I remember one evening, we were the guest on the Kojo Nnamdi TV Show on the Howard University campus (FRAUD). We were sitting in the Green Room waiting to go on the show.

You pulled me out of the room and confessed with tears in your eyes (aka Sugar Ray), you were having problems with sports editor George Solomon. You claimed, George was looking over your shoulder and changing your stories.

You were under the impression that being a columnist you were free to write your own columns without interference from Solomon-it was welcome to ‘George’s World’.

I suggested, “How would you like to try being a columnist at the Afro-American or Chicago Defender newspapers”? You were easily intimidated, but you got my drift, and thankfully made the adjustment!

Unaware, you gave me the opportunity for my first national television exposure. You were invited to be a guest panelist on the Geraldo Rivera television show.

When I got your telephone call, you were talking so fast, you sounded scare. I thought someone was chasing you.

The next thing out of your mouth was, “Harold can you be on a television show for me tonight. Geraldo Rivera is doing a show on boxing promoter Don King, and you know him better than I do”. The topic, “Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King”! That was enough to scare you.

I said, “No problem”, what television station and what time? You said, ‘Channel 9, the show airs at 7:00 pm”. You gave me the contact person and the rest was my national television sports debut.

It was three against one, the host, Geraldo Rivera, boxing historian, Bert Sugar, and author Jack Newfield of “Only in America: The Life and Crimes of Don King”.

I still have the video in my archives, it was one of my finest hours on national television with the one exception, in a dumb effort to support ‘A so-called brother’. I defended King’s right to steal from his fighters!!

You, left the Washington Post in 2010 after 30 years and became one of the biggest frauds in sports media, running a close second to Tony Corhisner. He was lucky, Donald Graham had his back-no talent.

You wrote two books on NBA legend Charles Barkley. Your first book was titled, “I may Be Wrong, But I Doubt It”.

I remember, I was going in the Washington Post building one evening, and you were leaving. I was late for a meeting with columnist, the late Bill Raspberry, you stopped me in my tracks.

You had a copy of your first book, and you could not wait to show it to me. I congratulated you, and you promised to get me a copy, and leave it with George Solomon. I watched you skip down the street. It was like you just had your first child. I was happy for you.

I never received the book. It was your first lie, and you have been lying to me ever since. You are second only to James Brown.

Your, esteem Washington Post colleague and close friend, the late John Feinstein said,  “Michael Wilbon is the biggest ass kisser in sports media”.  I really don’t think that is all your fault.

It has a lot to do with the egos you surround yourself with. For example, the egos of Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Stephen A. Smith are different from the egos of Muhammad Ali, Red Auerbach, Jim Brown, Dick Gregory and Richard Nixon. I was not required to kiss their ring or ass when I entered their space.

Dave McKenna of the City Paper wrote a column in 2000 titled, ‘Black History Mouth’, This is One DC Sports Legend That Will Not Kiss Your Ass”! He learned the hard way. I would jump over 100 Michael Wilbons to get to ONE Dave McKenna. Wilbon, has no integrity!

MY FRIENDS TO THE END-FOUR OF THE BIGGEST EGOS KNOWN TO MAN!

Whitlock claims that you are mad with your partner in crime, Stephen A. Smith. The problem, he is making 100 million annually, only because he was able to kiss more asses and rings than you-am I missing something?

Stephen A is now the face of the ESPN the WORLD WIDE LEADER in sports, and you want to know if that makes you “Chop Liver”?   No, it makes you a Player-Hater, a common trait among media personalities in America.

No Michael, you are not Chop Liver, but you, and your no-talented partner, Tony Corhisner, the host of Pardon The Interruption are COPYCATS with the rest of the sports talk media in America and beyond. 

You are using my INSIDE SPORTS radio talk show format, that your former bosses at the Washington Post kidnapped in the late 70s. I was in the studio interviewing, Byron Rosen, Dave Dupree, Tom Callahan, David Aldridge, Leonard Shapiro, and sports editor George Solomon. We were talking sports and politics. The INSIDE SPORTS format was one of a kind in the 70s, it was unheard of.

Corhisner was a part of a group of thieves/writers that Catherine and son Donald Graham boarded a midnight train to New York City in 1976 to publish, INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE. 

Washington Post INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE Flipped & Flopped in NY City

Washington Post owner Donald Graham’s conscious was not his guild when he and his mother decided to hijack my INSIDE SPORTS tag to New York City. After the fact he sends me a check and asked for ANONYMITY!

The INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE failed, because Cornheiser and the rest of the Washington Post merry men, had no clue how to transfer my successful talk show into print media.

In the meantime, after losing several million dollars, Catherine Graham, ordered everyone back to DC.  She stayed in New York long enough to COPYRIGHT my tag “INSIDE SPORTS”, now owned by NEWSWEEK (Washington Post).  

Bill Rasmussen and his son, watched the Washington Post charade from the sidelines in Connecticut. They came up with the bright idea of taking the INSIDE SPORTS talk format and making it a television talk format.  ESPN was found in 1979. The program hit the ground running and never looked back.

ESPN copied my format, but could never duplicate it. I was the first sports talk show host with a format that dared to talk sports and politics. ESPN tried but could not stand the heat coming from the Capitol Hill politicians. The political topics threaten their bottom-line, the ESPN boss said, “No Mas”.

In March 2018, the Washington Post published a Page One story in the sports section with the new President James Pitra of ESPN asking, “Can ESPN Just Stick To Sports.” Stephen A thought there was Freedom of Speech in the work place, he left the building looking for a Podcast.

In 1995, James Brown before NFL/FOX, he teamed up with retired television morning news anchor Byrant Gumble and they discovered “REAL SPORTS/INSIDE SPORTS”. This was much like when Christopher Columbus discovering America. The Native Americans already occupied the land.

Thanks to James Brown, Byrant Gumble, REAL SPORTS won 33 Emmys and a Life Time Achievement Award for sports journalism using the INSIDE SPORTS format-another big fraud and liar!

Sports journalism and the internet are overrun with frauds and liars. The Shirley Povichs, Wendell Smiths, Byron Rosens, and the Sam Laceys are no longer among us. Dave Aldridge is exceptional!

Wilbon and I enjoy a laugh during a tribute to ‘The One Arm Bandit’ Gary Mays at Bens Chili Bowl

It is often said, curiosity killed the cat, meet Harold Bell. Thanks to my cell phone where “BIG BROTHER” has a pipeline to our every conversation, I asked Sirius several important questions regarding Wilbon.

One of those questions, “Did Wilbon ever write a book on Michael Jordan”? Sirius could never give me a straight answer. I revisited Wilbon’s friend and colleague John Fiestien saying, Wilbon was one of the biggest ass kisser’s in sports media. I thought for sure Wilbon had kissed MJ’s ass for a book deal!

I lost Wilbon’s cell number years ago, I could no longer call him directly. It has long been said, “Harold Bell is too confrontational”. I found it better than talking behind the person’s back!

I badgered Sirius enough, she contacted Wilbon, and posed the MJ question. It was about an hour later, I noticed a text on my phone asking, “Who is this, and no I did not”. Lord behold, it was Michael Wilbon.

You would have thought I had just won the Pulitzer Prize. I could not believe, ‘Mr. Wonderful’ had responded to my inquiry!

I have never been fishing, but evidently, I had used the right bait to get you to bite. My next text to you read, “Did you give the go ahead for Jayson Whitlock to call out Stephen A, Smith and ESPN on your behalf”? In Whitlock’s summary you claimed PTI’s impact is responsible for the success of ESPN’s affiliates and their talk shows aired on the network”. If you said those words in the OUTKICK interview, you are delusional.

“You, for one are aware that you and Corhisner copied the talk format of your mentor, Harold Bell and Inside Sports.

During your tenure at the Washington Post you were a regular on INSIDE SPORTS and my media roundtable with George Solomon, Bill Rhoden (NY Times), Larry Fitzgerald Sr. (Minnesota Spokesman), Kevin Blackistone (Dallas Morning News) and Ron Sutton (WHUR Radio). They were all contributors in the 1970s.

There were discussions regarding sports and politics. Your successful reign at the newspaper was due to your association with a man you once called your mentor, Harold Bell. You leaned on me for advice.” If this is a lie you can reach me at 240-304-1000. I never expected you to call-too much heat.

Your response to my text, “I don’t talk to Whitlock, haven’t in many years and I don’t get involved in back and forth b. s. over who said what when the shit may not be accurate anyway…and that’s that…”

In response to your “I don’t get involved in back and forth b. s. over who said what when the shit may not be accurate anyway…and that’s that…”

You never responded to my contribution to your career success. You are pretending that you and Tony Corhisner created the format that is use by every radio and television sports talk show in America and beyond, the format was created by HAROLD BELL and INSIDE SPORTS in Washington, DC in 1972.

When James Brown was quoted saying, “Harold has always been a voice for people who did not have a voice. He has always called it as he saw it. He has been an inspiration and motivation for me and a lot of other black broadcasters”. Michael Wilbon, even though James was talking out of both sides of his mouth, he was talking about you and the rest of the frauds in sports media.

Dr. Harry Edwards got it right when he said,

Harold,

CONGRATULATIONS!  Your archives are valuable and should be given the broadest exposure. Have you thought about offering discs of your programs to the new Smithsonian Institution NATL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE (NMAAHC). A wing of the NMAAHC WILL BE DEDICATED TO THE STRUGGLE IN SPORTS AND WILL BE TITLED “LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD”,  Your work was a major force over the years in leveling the playing field, especially, in terms of the struggle to define and project “our truth”.

I will send you a contact involved in putting the NMAAHC together.

Great job over the years,  great timing in reprising that legacy now.

The best wishes of me and my family to your wife-she is in our thoughts and prayers.

Dr. Harry Edwards

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 30, 2014 at 3:05 PM

Wilbon, you have become such a pathetic liar, you are beginning to believe your own lies. You can run but you cannot hide.

Wilbon, your son will be 18 years old next year, and he will read this blog one day or one of his friends will confront him and asked, “Why did Harold Bell write all these bad things about your father”? I would love to be a fly on the wall when you have to respond to him–I am sure, it be another lie!