Open Letter to Alvin Attles and similar Player-Haters who hide behind the cloak of anonymity and he say, she say!

When I coined the phrase for my radio talk show Inside Sports in 1970 “Every black face you see is not your brother and every white face you see is not your enemy” it was black men like you I had in mind.

Racism in America will always be here because some white folks don’t really understand racism.  The reason, they never had to walk in our shoes.  But black men like you should know better!

Alvin Attles, white folks don’t have a patent on racism, that patent often extends to the black community and reaches out and touches black men like you.

My friend Mike Cooper was a former outstanding Michigan State running back and a Philadelphia sports legend.  He forewarned me about you over a decade ago.  I value Mike’s friendship because he has been a stand-up brother since I first met him with his best friend NFL legend, the late great Johnny Sample here in DC.

Mike was the last player cut by then Redskin coach Bill McPeak in the 60s.   Johnny thought there were politics involved in the cut and confronted the coach.  McPeak promised to bring Mike back to the “Taxi-square” but he never did.  I was impressed because Johnny went to bat for his friend without thinking about the consequences (job security and being labeled a trouble-maker).  The Redskins during that time were just fresh out of the woods of being the last team in the NFL to play and hire a black player.

It would be decades later that Johnny, Mike, and I would leave the funeral of Wilt Chamberlain to look for a restaurant to get something to eat.  It was during this sit down the subject was broached about how many players Wilt had carried during his NBA playing career and to my surprise your name was the first name that came out of Mike’s mouth.

Memorial service for The Big Dipper, the great Wilt Chamberlain in his hometown of Philadelphia,  the city of brotherly love.

He said, “That ass-kissing Uncle Tom Al Attles should be at the top of the list.  I don’t know why that nigger thinks he deserves to be in the NBA Hall of Fame.  He could not play dead, he is lucky he played with Wilt.  He could not shoot so he became a defensive specialist with Wilt covering his ass.  He then sucked the owner’s dick to get a piece of the team” Johnny broke out laughing.

This reminded me of the interview I once had with NBA legend and Boston Celtic great Sam Jones.  He said, “Wilt easily could have been just as great or greater a defensive player as Bill Russell but he didn’t have the supporting cast.”

Alvin Attles, I had heard the stories of how you had lobbied Wilt, Wayne Emery and others to help get you inducted into the hall and your growing up in the mean streets of Newark was bullshit.  You attended Catholic School and your parents were middle-class and you never missed a meal.  It sounds like you and John Thompson have similar stories and backgrounds.  His growing up in the “Mean Streets of DC” is another lie.

But I never take what someone tells me about another person as the gospel, but what impressed me about Mike’s character assassination, he said, “When and if you see or talk to that MF you can use my name.”

The other thing that struck me odd during the discussion Johnny never tried to defend you and it looked like (by body language only) he was in total agreement.  I sit there in silence.  I could not defend you because everyone at the table knew you better than me.

Unlike too many of us when we talk negative about each other in the black community the first thing we say is, “I want to remain anonymous.”  Mike didn’t take that option, so I made a mental note.

The thing I loved about Johnny Sample, if he wanted to say something about you, he said it to your face and not behind your back.  He was a man’s man in every sense of the word on and off the field of play.  Johnny and Mike—were birds of a feather who flocked together.

I remember when Johnny was finally inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame (Central Inter-Collegian Athletic Association) it was long overdue delayed only by envy and jealousy.  During his introduction he asked me stand up.  He introduced me as The Original Inside Sports and how I had encouraged him to go into sports talk radio.  You could have heard a mouse piss on cotton.

When Johnny died I was in Philadelphia for his home going services.  I was named an Honorary Pall Bearer.   Mike and I connected again; we talked about the loyalty and honesty of Johnny Sample as a true friend.  He said, “What you saw was what you got with ‘Reds.”  My response, ‘he was not perfect, but I could always carry his word to the bank.”  How well a man keeps his word has always been important to me.

Johnny ‘Red Ball’ Sample is the only player in pro football history to win two Super Bowls in two different leagues (NFL Baltimore Colts and AFL NY Jets).

During the Warriors run for the 2015 NBA Championship Mike brought your name up again in one of our telephone conversations.  He asked, “Is your boy going to get you an interview with the Coach Kerr or Stephan Curry for your radio show?”  My response, ‘he won’t even return my calls or answer the phone.’ 

I didn’t have a clue to what your problem was because I have always treated you and your wife with nothing but love and respect since we first met in 1959.  I remember being introduced to you by my Winston-Salem State teammate and roommate, the late Arnold McKnight on the campus of North Carolina A & T.  Decades later he would also tell me of how he helped you get your Masters Degree while he was teaching in San Francisco.  You never attended a class, but again I reminded Mac that is what friends are for.  He saw sides of you I had not seen and you would cut corners like anyone else to get ahead by any means necessary—it is the America way!

The warning signs were all there, birds of a feather flock together.  In 1996 the ‘Fast Eddie’ of the NBA Bernie Bickerstaff was hired as the head coach of the Washington Bullets.  This was after he had sold out his friend and mentor K. C. Jones.  Bernie was telling folks he was the one really coaching the Bullets.  KC Jones was a laid back head coach and there was nothing insecure about him. He allowed Bernie to take over the huddle during time-outs only after they had agreed on the next move or strategy together.  But Bernie took advantage and began spreading the word among NBA official and that would eventually lead to KC’s demised and dismissal from the Bullets.

KC Jones and ‘Fast Eddie’ Bernie Bickerstaff visit Inside Sports at WOL Radio 

Thanks to the loyalty of his former coach and NBA icon Red Auerbach, KC was able to bounce back.  Red hired him to coach the Boston Celtics where he won an NBA Championship, proving God does not like ugly.     

Bernie moved on up the NBA ladder stepping on anyone in his way.  One of Bickerstaff’s first hires was your main man, former teammate and player Cliff Ray.  I had met Cliff through you during his playing days with the Warriors.  He and I became friends/associate once he arrived in DC.  Shortly after his arrival the Bullets traded for Portland Trail Blazer’s guard, Ron Strickland.

My introduction to Ron came by another member of your flock, Nike rep John Phillips.  He asked to keep and eye on Ron whom he thought to be a great ball player and decent young man, but he had a serious drinking problem.  It didn’t take Ron long to locate the bright lights in the big city of DC. The dubious characters came with the bright lights.  It was “A party over here and a party over there”after every home game.

I was driving on the U Street corridor one evening during the NBA season when this white cop car put on his sirens and  flashing lights and pulled me over, I am thinking this stop must be for a DWB “Driving While Black”.  I get an attitude right away, but I notice a young black cop getting out of the passenger side of the car and approach my car, it didn’t make feel any better until the officer said “Mr. Bell, my name is Tony Mac and every thing is cool!”

He explained he was a season ticket holder for the Bullets and had seen me talking with Ron Strickland after a game and he wanted to give me a heads up on him.  He said, “I hang out in the clubs around the city and I often bump into the Bullet players.  It is rumored that your boy has a serious drinking problem.  I was an eye witness late one night while leaving a club I watched as several of his buddies wrestled his keys from him to keep him from driving home.  Someone needs to have a serious talk with him and get him some help before he kills himself or someone else.”

My next question, “Who could I trust in the Bullets’ organization to handle this very delicate problem?”  My main man and friend the late native Washingtonian Hymie Perlo was the Bullets’ Community out-reach liason person.  But he was known to keep a bottle or two in his office to start and close his day.  I reached out to him anyway.  We decided that since I had a decent and talking relationship with Cliff Ray I should start there.

Cliff and I met out in the parking lot after practice one evening after practice and discussed Ron’s problem, we both agreed that he needed to handle this confidentially.  My name was not to be used under any circumstances.  We shook hands and he said “I got it!”

 

The next home game I headed to the locker room to interview the players.  I look up and see Ron making a bee line straight toward me yelling and cussing me out.  He called me a snitch and an informant.  I discovered Cliff Ray had taken the information and given it to Bernie Bickerstaff and he gave me up to Ron.  Since I am from the streets the last thing I wanted to be called was a snitch or informant.  The next time I saw Cliff all he could say was, “I didn’t know Bernie was going to give you up.”  I should not have been surprised, Bernie had his own drug abuse problems.

Hand and hand, Birds of a feather flocking together, player Cliff Ray and Coach Al Attles

Alvin Attles, I recall recently bumping into you at one of Wizards’ games when the Warriors were in town and I thought it strange you had not called just to say hello.  We talked at least several times a year and we always shared a Christmas card or call during the holidays.  But then I notice another strange vibe coming from your wife when I called you on the telephone.   It was puzzling because your wife didn’t really know me.  It finally dawned on me whatever bad vibes she was getting about me was evidently coming from you.  I had heard the whispers about your back stabbing buddies in the NBA but I never thought you were one of them.  Mike was right on the ONE!

I remember one Sunday morning (October 1978); I was sitting in the home of Coach Clarence Bighouse Gaines.  I was having breakfast during homecoming weekend with several other former players.  Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe and his main man and homeboy Steven Smith (affectionately known as Smithy) came into the kitchen laughingly saying, “Harold Bell your ears must be burning , the NBA Big Shots are talking about you in the league offices in New York City.”

Coach Bighouse Gaines once heard me bitching and complaining about what a terrible world this was, he looked at me and said, “son there is nothing wrong with the world, its the people in it!” A wake up call for me.

NBA legends Dave Bing and The Pearl go one on one

The discussion had to be about my recent meeting with NBA Head Counselor Gary Bettman (now NHL Commissioner), NBA Head of Security Horace Balmer (known as the Spook that Sit by the Door) and a NBA VP Ron Thorne.

NBA Nike Sports & Marketing rep John Phillips had been summoned to New York by the NBA Commissioner to discuss NBA players playing in a Charity All-Star Game scheduled to be played in the Virgil Islands that summer.  The Island was the home of LA Lakers’ star Michael Thompson.  Michael is now the Lakers radio color analyst; he was one of the organizers.  His son Klay presently plays for NBA Champions Golden State Warriors.

Sam Jones and I had just been hired by John to represent Nike in the DC market.  John asked me and Sam to attend the meeting with him in New York, Sam got scared and called in sick.

The meeting was a joke with Bettman being the clown in charge.  His only interest was to prevent the game from being played.  He wanted Nike and the players to get permission from the league office first.

During that time there were no guild-lines written into the player’s contract preventing them from playing in Summer League games or Charity All-Star games.  The NBA Player’s union that now represents the players was none-existent.

Bettman operating from The NBA Bully Pulpit became irritated with John who kept asking him to explain why the players could not play and why they could not as grown men make their own decisions?  Bettman blurted out “You guys can’t do this, we own the players!”

I could not believe my ears.  First, I had lived through and experienced up close and personal, Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), lunch counter sit-in in Greensboro, NC (1959), Rev. ML King’s march on Washington (1963), and the 1968 riots in DC after the assassination of Dr. King.  Here it is 1978 and I am in a meeting in New York City with NBA administrators telling us, the NBA owns the players!  That was not music to my ears.

My Spingarn high school basketball teammate Spotswood Bolling was the lead plaintiff in Bolling vs DC Board of Education in 1954 (piggybacking on the landmark Brown vs Board of Education).

I would guess my response was not music to Bettman’s ears, I said, “Now you are telling us that the NBA owns the players, when did the NBA become the new plantation?”  Once again you could hear a mouse piss on cotton, the silence was deafening.   Bettman waved his hand in the air walking out of the room with Thorne and Balmer closely following, saying, ‘This meeting is over and we will reschedule.’  We never heard from him again.

Like any good plantation owner they threaten and intimidated the players.  Michael Thompson called John to apologize but his hands were tied and we understood.  Magic Johnson who had participated the first year disappeared without a trace and changed his number.  Today I am thankful to Earl Monroe and Smithy for passing the NBA alert on to me.  They made the picture much clearer why you and your cohorts were in imperfect harmony as the unofficial Gate Keepers for the NBA.

Alvin Attles, you are really a disappointment because I treated you like a brother with much respect.   The thing that I don’t understand is why you so-called brothers wait until you are deep into your 70s before you start playing these childish player-hating elementary games.  The best way to describe this BS is Elementary.  Remember how little kids played “Tattle Tale” in elementary?  They would tell lie after lie on each other?  This is the same game but now played by old black men.

I also remember during the NBA All-Star Game played here in DC in 2000 how you took a step back when your boy and Nike rep John Phillips ripped me and my Kids In Trouble program off for our share of the Frito Lays sponsorship money.

One of your guys working for Frito Lays was responsible for us receiving the $33,000 sponsorship monies for the weekend festivities to honor Earl Lloyd.  The money was supposed to have been evenly divided between John’s non-profit and my non-profit KIT to take care of our expenses.  But for some reason he made the decision to spend the money on flying family and friends in from California.  To add insult to injury he made accommodations for them up in a 4 Star Hotel with tickets to the NBA All-Star Game all done without my knowledge.

I was blindsided and then I had to fight off the NBA who was also trying to sabotage my weekend plans to honor Earl Lloyd.  It didn’t help that Earl was trying to jump ship to another NBA sponsored event.  John’s fraud left me scrambling on how to meet my financial obligations for the NBA weekend festivities and how to keep Earl on board.

NBA legend Elvin Hayes has Nike rep John Phillips and my undivided attention as he thanks the fans and Nike for their support during NBA title run in 1978
NBA Godfather the late Red Auerbach pays tribute to NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd during KIT Black History Month in DC

Enter, my friend Red Auerbach, he saved the day when I had him call Earl to say “I will see you tonight.”  The tribute at the Bohemian Caverns Club was the only NBA weekend activity the great Red participated in and all the stars came out including you.  No one wanted to cross the great Red Auerbach.

You and Sonny Hill’s intervention probably saved John Phillips from me doing something stupid that I would have later regretted.  There is one thing I hate is for someone to take something from me or disrespect me.  The act always take me back to the streets and what I had to do to survive those homeless nights of sleeping in my aunt’s car in high school.  But those hard times provided the foundation and education for who I am today.

No matter how bad things got I never thought of selling drugs or becoming a stick-up artist—I could have easily become one or the other or both.  All the glory goes to God and my heroes, my grandmother and mother.   I thrived and survived because they instilled in me to believed in me.

When black folks like you talk behind other people’s backs they are usually cowards.  The black community is overrun with cowards.  I know “First Hand” because I have been from the Outhouse to the White House and your kind is everywhere.  The problem in our community we honor liars and thieves and the truth is often frown upon.

Let me list alphabetically some of your associates and friends who were benefactors and came through Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble before their 15 Minutes of Fame;

*Dave Aldridge (mentor)/ in a blog on NBA.com trying to support me, he screwed it up in one paragraph when he said, “For four decades, Harold Bell has told the truth as he saw it, on the airwaves or in print in Washington, D.C., he was the first African-American sports radio talk show host in DC. More recently, he’s been a no-holds barred internet columnist who regularly TRASHES sacred cows who forgot who they are and where they came from.  He honors those in the black community who often don’t get recognition—both sports figures and regular folks.  

My questions to Dave, who made these sell-out Negroes SACRED COWS and when did telling the truth become TRASH?  This was a wrong analogy if he was trying to show support for me. This was the same kind of BS City Paper columnist Dave McKenna had written several years before as it related to so-called SACRED COWS player-haters and their relationship with me.  He never interviewed one of them, he relied on he say she say!

http://bleacherreport.com/users/121596-harold-bell/archives/newest?rel=nofollow”a no-holds barred Internet columnist

Then there was Washington Post columnist Mike Wise inviting me on his sports talk radio show. He wanted me to justify my Bleacher Report (CBS affiliate) blog on SACRED COW John Thompson. The blog had 35,000 hits in three days a major debate in sports media ensued.  People wanted to know who was the REAL John Thompson and who was Harold Bell and why was I criticizing a sacred cow?  The Mike Wise show was heard on WJFK 106.7 FM radio (CBS affiliate) in DC.  Mike and his clown sidekick co-hosting the show tried to ambush me about the blog.  I think Mike got me mixed up with Glenn, Mike,Stephen A, Jayson or some other brother who regularly kissed John’s ring when he didn’t feel up to pulling his pants down.  It’s the likes of McKenna, Wise, John Fiestein, Leonard Sharpiro, Buzz Bissinger, Norman Chad, Dave Kindred, Tony Korhiser,etc. who should get down on their knees several times a day and thank God that they were not born Black (they probably do).  John’s “Cry Baby” act after recently receiving the Dean Smith Award was Oscar worthy.

David Aldridge is really a decent human being but he just got caught up in the BS of sports media and sacred cows and lost his way.  Whomever said getting your name in the paper was always a good thing and that It was better than no publicity at all as long as they spelled your name right.  I beg to differ, because that is one of the reasons why our history is being written incorrectly and why it is losing its important historical value for generations to come.  I am sorry to say there was also a similar situation with Charles Hall of the Minnesota-Spokesman (stay tuned).

QB Peyton Manning described the sports media best when he said recently in a press conference, “You just don’t know and you never will.”  Listen-up Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon.

 *Jim Brown / when members of the media made him the Cover Boy for domestic abuse in sports after a run-in with his new wife.  He turned to me to secure his early release from jail in 2007.  He is another one of the sacred cows I had to call out.  He recently admitted that racism today across the board is at its worst.

The Great One NFL legend Jim Brown participates in Kids Day at the Grand Hyatt

*James Brown (mentor) / he followed my lead for an audition for a weekend sports anchor job at NBC affiliate WRC-TV 4 and the rest is sports media history.  He was a guest on Inside Sports and modeled in my Celebrity Fashion Shows long before CBS and Inside the NFL.

Sam Jones, James Brown, and Earl Lloyd celebrate Black History Month at Bolling Air Force Base

*Dave Bing before his NBA Hall of Fame/Detroit Mayor careers I was his mentor in the game called life.  He was the first NBA player to reach back into the community via KIT.  He credits me for help preparing him for the NBA.  But he didn’t listen when I told him running for Mayor in Detroit was a Dead End Street.

Dave Bing was the first pro athlete to come back home to the inner-city and give something back

*Tim Baylor (NFL) mentor and Godfather of his first child / franchise owner of several McDonalds in Minn.  He forgot!

*Kevin Blackistone / first heard on Inside Sports Media Roundtable long before ESPN, new token at the Washington Post.

*Adrian Branch mentor (NBA-ESPN) He tried to save Len Bias’ life and later became a Pimp in the Pulpit.  

*Adrian Dantley (NBA) mentor / I exposed his agent David Falk as an embezzler.  An audit shown Falk had taken millions of dollars out of his account.  As of this date Adrian has yet to say “thank you.”

NBA Hall of Fame player Adrian Dantley receives Kids In Trouble Man of the Year Award from TV 7 news anchor Fred Thomas at Foxtrappe

*Larry Fitzgerald Sr. (Minn. Sports Media) / before ESPN his first sports media Round Table was Inside Sports. I remember his son NFL WR and future hall of famer, Larry Jr. answering my early morning phone calls saying, “Dad its Harold Bell in DC.” 

*Bobby Gardner (NFL) mentor / I recommended him to Winston-Salem State Coach Bighouse Gaines for an athletic scholarship

*Glenn Harris (WHUR Radio/TV Channel 8/ followed my path to a trail I had cleared for minorities like him in sports media

*Darryl Hill mentor / I help him grow up from being a mommy’s boy and cry baby to a confident young adult. His early childhood encounters with me helped him to become the first black to play football at the Naval Academy and in the ACC.

*Grant Hill (NBA) / before Duke, NBA and ESPN he was heard on inside Sports talking HS basketball in Virginia

*Jo Jo Hunter (NBA & Playground legend)/ instrumental in getting him an early release from prison after serving 18 years

*Cathy Hughes (owner of Radio & TV One) / she didn’t know her ass from a hole in the ground while working as a receptionist for WHUR radio.  She asked me to be a Big Brother to her only son Alfred. I introduced her to Larry Brown and Earl Monroe.

Radio and TV One owners Alfred Liggins and Cathy Hughes. The duo from hell!

*Dave Jacobs (Boxing) / when Sugar Ray Leonard and Janks Morton fired him, I encouraged them to give him his job back.  When the strings
were finally cut with Ray, I called Don King to ask him to hire him as a trainer for Mike Tyson and he did.

Sugar Ray and Janks Morton are not happy campers as we discuss the firing of Dave Jacobs

*Don King (Boxing) / when major media was calling him a murder and a thief I was seen on national television debating Geraldo and Bert Sugar defending the greatest boxing promoter in the history of the sport.  His right to a second chance in the Game Called Life—the American way.  In the final analyst, Geraldo and Bert were right about DK.

Inside Sports Boxing Round Table, Sugar Ray, DK and Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes

*Jair Lynch (Olympic Gymnast) / he and his father spend so much uninvited time on Inside Sports promoting his gymnastic career —I made them honorary co-host.

*Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing) / when he did not have a bucket to piss in and a window to throw it out. I was there for him.  He became the first pro boxer to earn 100 million dollars.  He was heard on WYCB radio saying, “Harold I am the welterweight champion today, because you were there when no one else was.” 

Sugar Ray Leonard before drugs and two-dollars more made him smarter then everyone else

Tony Paige (NFL/Sports agent) / He became a regular on Inside Sports when his mother and father ask me to help promote his high school athletic endeavors and dreams of the NFL.  I asked for a donation to KIT he immediately changed his number.

 Olden Polyniece (NBA) / when he was kicked out of college he found his way to Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble (via Adrian Branch) for moral support.  He played 18 years in the NBA and never reached back.

Earl Lloyd (NBA) / when the NBA and others had forgotten his pioneering efforts I asked my friend and mentor, NBA Godfather Red Auerbach to support my efforts to get him inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame—mission accomplish. He forgot!

Butch McAdams (Radio One) mentor / after he was hired to host his first sports talk show, GM Tony Washington tried to convince me to take the position. I said “No” it had something to do with my integrity and being a mentor.

*Vasti McKenzie / the first Africa-American woman to be named Bishop of the AME Church.  She was the gospel voice of WYCB Radio and my sidekick on Inside Sports in the late 70s.

*Aaron Pryor (Boxing) / when he was in DC to train to become one of the best ever, I gave him a place to live.  He forgot!

 *Bill Rhoden (NY Times) / before he appeared on ESPN Sports Reporters he was on the Inside Sports Roundtable

 *Chris Thomas (Comedian/BET) / before Black Entertainment Television he used Inside Sports as his platform to comedy success.

 *John Thompson (Georgetown) / before he became the first black coach to win a NCAA basketball championship, I gave him 5 minutes on Inside Sports to promote Georgetown basketball when others in media would not give him the time of day.

 *Omar Tyree (Author: Fly Girls & Mayor for Life) / I was his mentor while he was a student at Howard U and writer for the Capitol Spotlight community newspaper.  He became a millionaire and never reached back. He lost everything trying to go Hollywood, on comeback trail.  He asked me for a loan (unbelievable).

 *Cecil Turner (NFL/FBI) / mentor, I watched him follow me from our Parkside housing project to Spingarn HS, it was here he became a better WR then I had ever been, but more important he became a great human being who never forgot who he was and where he came from.

Chicago Bear WR and kick-returner Cecil Turner at Lorton Reformatory conducting pass catching clinic for the inmates

 Michael Wilbon (Washington Post)/ I was his mentor and shoulder to cry on before ESPN.  He has since become an expert on everything black in America, including the okay use of the N word by family & friends.  Michael at the moment is just a lost soul without a clue.  I thought his heart attack would be a wake up call, but he went back to sleep.

ESPN Broadcast partners Michael Wilbon and Stephen A. Smith, the blind leading the blind

 Willie Wood (NFL) / life time friend who I lobbied for to be inducted into the NFL Hall of fame.  Shortly after his induction, he made a guest appearance on Inside Sports to say “Thank you.” Willie is a rarity.

The late great sports columnist Dick Heller and the equally great NFL Hall of Fame player Willie Wood saying thanks

Doug Williams (NFL) / My friend and his mentor was the late Bob Piper.  When Bob discovered Doug was coming to play for the Redskins, he told him to look me up.  He said, “Harold will help you to ID the frauds in the DC community.” Doug became the first black QB to win a Super Bowl and he was also named MVP.  A decent human being and country boy that got caught up in the bright lights and big city.
Doug was a KIT Santa’s Helper following in the footsteps of the late LB Harold McLinton and Hall of Fame inductee Dave Robinson as a real life Santa Claus for inner-city kids.

Santa’s Helpers, Dave Robinson, Judge Luke C. Moore, Harold McLinton and Roy Jefferson

The list goes on and on but I thought this list of names you would be more familiar with and would make you feel at home.

During the past five decades I have made an impact not only in the community but also as a sports media pioneer, meaning I went first.  I went where there was no path in the community or in sports talk radio and I left a trail for others to follow.  Hattie and I hosted 45 years of Christmas toy parties for needy elementary school children without grants or loans (1968-2013). Inside Sports changed the way people talk sports in America and we encouraged pro athletes to give back to their community. Pro sports franchises community “I Care” programs all started here in DC with Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports.  My question, ‘Where is the beef?’

First KIT toy party for inner-city kids (1968) / first ever NFL films community promo, Redskin’s RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton teach water safety to inner-city kids at KIT Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program (1971).  Fatty Taylor, Larry Brown and Petey Greene hanging out at the Hillcrest Saturday Program.

 Alvin Attles, at least 1/3 of the KIT and Inside Sports benefactors were drug abusers, drugs use can make you paranoid.  I am convinced that was their problem, but there was no hint that you were on drugs.  Evidently, you were just an undercover Player-Hater—you give Under Cover Boss a bad name.

In the meantime, if you can find anyone of the above benefactors (include yourself) to go on The Record saying, “Harold Bell hindered my initial efforts to be all that I could be”, I will meet you in Lafayette Square Park, the park directly in front of the White House in the light of day and I will kiss your black ass.

I am truly blessed, because God blessed me with street sense, common sense, and book sense.  But one of the most important lessons I learned was taught by my grandmother.  She told me to always tell the truth.  She said, “A lie will change a thousand times but the truth never changes.”  Telling the truth didn’t make me the most popular media personality but it brought me peace of mind, which is not for sale.

The hate found on the campus on Missouri U and other campuses like it around the country, you can rest assured that none of these kids came out of their mother’s womb strapped with an AK47, wearing a KKK robe, using MF and the N word, this kind of hate was taught by adults.  I think ESPN analyst and former NFL player/coach Herman Edwards described black men like you best.  He was discussing the racism on the Missouri U campus on ESPN when he cited the teachings of his father.  He said my father once told me, “As long as you know who the racist are you can deal with them, but it is the hidden racist that you will find the most difficult to deal with.  And when you find them you have to expose them and put them in the spotlight.” 

 Alvin Attles, you and black men like you are the hidden racist in the black community Mr. Edwards was talking about and I am following his advice and putting you in the social media spotlight where you belong.

If I had to walk down a dark dangerous alley in the mean streets of DC, I would feel more at ease with men like Red Auerbach, Richard Nixon, Strom Thurmond, Charles Kenny, Bert Sugar, Angelo Dundee, or a Hymie Perlo.  It was the above men who where the inspiration behind me coining the phrase “Every Black Face I see is not my brother and every White Face I see is not my enemy.”   The R & B singing group The O’Jays described you best in their classic rendition “Back Stabbers.”

I am tired of hearing black folks blame white folks for all the ills found in our community and I am tired of white folks telling us to get over it (slavery).  The finger pointing and Player-Hating has to come to an end for a better and stronger America.  I have done my part by understanding “That every black face I see is not my brother and every white face is not my enemy!”  Where is your beef?

In closing, if there is a problem with anything I have written in this open letter, my phone number has not changed.  You have my permission to give my number to anyone of your player-hating friends in the NBA, or others on my benefactor’s list.  I return all calls.  Enjoy the rest of your life.

 

Truly,

Harold Bell

See Open Letter World Wide internet@ theoriginalinsidesports.com/theoriginalinsidesportsmlb.com/blackmeninamerica.com/Inside Washington heard on WCLM Radio 1450 Richmond, Virginia (Mondays 5:00 pm)