Former MLB Manager Lou Piniella was once asked by one of his players, “What are the qualifications to be a sports reporter” Lou’s response was classic, ‘In America you just need a driver’s license.’ Meet Mark Gray!

His qualification to be a sports reporter is as follows according to his profile on Face book; He went to Walbrook High School(no city listed), lives in Baltimore, he is followed by 246 people and his parents integrated the Greensboro, NC public school system. I tried to GOOGLE him and could not find any history on him or anything that qualifies him to be a sports reporter.

I went to Google images and found his photo among dozens of others named “Mark Gray”. There was no information relating to his prowess as a Little League, play ground, elementary, middle, high school or college athlete! His only claim to fame is that his parents integrated the school system in Greensboro and his photo is among dozens of other Mark Grays when you Goggle Mark Gray. This leads me to believe he is an impostor as a sports reporter who uses his driver’s license to get into sports locker rooms. And this also makes me suspicious of him laying claim to his parents’ fame.

How often have we read stories about folks with a fetish to be photographed with celebrities, they show up on where there are Red Carpet celebrity events and can be seen in photos with celebrities—meet Mark Gray?

When he recently challenged Colin Kaepernick’s motives on Face Book for sitting out the National Anthem during an NFL exhibition game, it raised my antenna. When I responded to his motives for questioning Kaepernick’s motives and I called him “A so-called brother”, his response was like most guilty brothers when you catch them with their pants down and their asses showing, they get defensive.

He called me an angry black man who disses and calls out other brothers who forget who they are and where they come from! He was right I am guilty on all accounts, but his higher than me attitude begged the question, “Who and the hell is Mark Gray” to question me as it relates to my family, community and sports media history?

I will never forget while watching a segment of the television news magazine show 60 Minutes, the late Morley Safer the host was interviewing the great Arthur Mitchell the founder of the Dance Theater. The discussion centered around blacks with the financial means never reaching back to help their own. Mr. Mitchell’s response relating to the inquiry was highly emotional. Mr. Safer, asked Mr. Mitchell, “Are you angry that blacks fail to reach back to help their own?”

Mr. Mitchell never missed a beat with his response, he said, “You show me a black man or woman who is not angry as it relates to black folks in America, and I will show you a man and woman who need to see a psychiatrist!”

Unlike Mark Gray you can GOOGLE Harold K. Bell and Inside Sports and find a wealth of information relating to my march as it relates to Civil Rights, community and sports history.

My high school coach Dave Brown once heard me apologizing for tooting my own horn on Inside Sports. My next encounter with him, he reminded me to never apologize for tooting my own horn. He said, “For one to toot his own horn, he must first have a horn to toot.”

This toot goes out to Mark Gray. You are nothing but a wannabe and an impostor pretending to be something you are not. You are in over in your head. My first question is how many athletes have come through your sports talk show before their 15 minutes of fame and went on to the NBA and how many did you help to make an NFL roster before they could spell NFL?

Let me start my count, NBA: Dave Bing, Oden Polynice, Adrian Dantley, Adrian Branch, Grant Hill, John Thompson and Fatty Taylor. NFL: Bobby Gardner, Tim Baylor, Tony Paige, Cecil Turner, and Lamont Jordan.

How many media personalities before their 15 minutes of fame came through your radio show? Let me start my count, James Brown, Omar Tyree, Michael Wilbon, Kevin Tatum, Cathy Hughes, Donnie Simpson, Dave Aldridge, Kevin Blackistone, Larry Fitzgerald, Sr., Bill Rhoden, Butch Mcadams, Glen Harris, Michelle Wright and the first black female Bishop, Vasti McKenzie.

How many pioneering athletes came through your radio show before they became FIRST in their field of play? Let me start my count, John Thompson (GT), Doug Williams (NFL/MVP), Earl Lloyd (NBA), Darryl Hill (ACC and Naval Academy) and Olympic gymnast Jair Lynch.

How many boxing champions? Let me start with Sugar Ray Leonard. I remember when he didn’t have two-pennies to rub together before I became his mentor and made him a co-host on Inside Sports on Saturday afternoons. He went on to become not only a champion, but the first pro boxer to earn 100 million despite his agent Mike Trainor stealing millions. Mark ‘Too Sharp’ Johnson and Aaron Pryor are also on that list of champions who came through Inside Sports.

How many pro athletes are you responsible for being inducted into their sports hall of fame? Let me start my count, Willie Wood (NFL) and Earl Lloyd (NBA).

How many athletes have you been responsible for having their jail sentences reduced? Let me start with the Greatest, Jim Brown (NFL) out of privacy and respect I won’t reveal the others (see Jim Brown link below).

How many poems have been written about you as it relates to the black community? Let me count (3).

How many Christmas Toy Parties have you hosted for needy children? Let me count my parties (45) from 1968-2013 in the DMV befitting thousands of children.

How many children have you rescued off of the tracks with a subway train bearing down on them? In 2007 I saved a 15 year-old autistic girl at Potomac Ave. in NE DC.

How many times have you been honored at the White House for your work with inner-city children (1) and how many times have you been cited in the Congressional Record for work with at-risk children (4).

How many times has your sports talk show been picked the best in the DMV by the Washington Post, Washington Star, Washington Times, and Washingtonian Magazine.

I was the first sports talk show host (W-O-O-K Radio) to call the play by play for the DC Public High School Championship football game at RFK Stadium. My color man for the game was Dunbar High School All-American and the first black Ohio State QB, Cornelius Greene. I also served as the WR Coach for Head Coach Bob Headen, West vs East All-Star game.

I gave coach John Thompson, Jr. his first opportunity to promote Georgetown basketball on Inside Sports aired on W-O-O-K Radio every Monday his first year at the school. He went on to become the First black basketball coach to win a NCAA championship.

How many times has a sports columnist called you “The God Father of sports talk, the good kind” (the late Dick Heller of the Washington Times).

How many times have you been named Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine? In fact, I was the First sports media personality so honored.

I was the first sports and marketing rep for Nike Shoes and Anheuser Busch beer in the Nation’s Capitol.

Your claim on Face Book of your parents integrating the Greensboro, North Carolina public school system also looks like a lie. I was in Greensboro on the weekend of August 31, 2016. I checked and found no evidence of anyone with the last name of Gray accomplishing such a feat!

My Family Tree shows the Tyler/Bells settled in DC in the early 1800s. My great-grandfather Alfred Johnson Tyler laid the first brick to build Mt. Airy Baptist Church in 1893. The church is located in the shadows of the Capitol at North Capitol and L Streets, NW. The Tyler House a senior citizen complex located two-blocks north of the church is named after my great-uncle, the Rev. Earl Tyler.

Mark Gray, I cannot wait to see what is in “Your Wallet” from my advantage point your life story looks like a bunch of lies.

Remember, a lie will change a thousand times but the truth never changes. For example; Your new updated information on Face Book proves you are trying to cover your tracks–too late!

You are just like so many of these so-called envy and jealous Negroes who don’t have a history and don’t want anyone else to have a history. We are always talking about what the white man is doing to us, we need to check out what we are doing to ourselves as a people.

I can honestly say, the white man has not done something to me that was not expected, but these dysfunction wanna-be somebody Negroes who think because they have two-dollars more than the beggar who stands outside of their door everyday begging for a dollar to eat, makes them smarter. I got news for them!

I am still in the trenches in the war-zones of our community fighting for our children against the enemy whom is not always the white man. I will never forget the wake-up call I got from my partner the great Jim Brown. We were sitting around one day just chilling out when the discussion moved to my dedication to our children. He said, “Harold remember children don’t vote.” His statement left me with an empty feeling that I have never forgotten. But it didn’t deter me from my mission of reaching back to help our children because there were those who reached back to help me when others had counted me out!

Mark Gray, one day you will learn, respect is earned and not given. You are a wannabe who will never be. You are the prototype of today’s ‘Player Hater.’

Those sports talk shows you are talking about hosting, I pioneered the formats. Every sports talk show seen and heard around the world is a COPY of The Original Inside Sports hosted by yours truly.

The Original Inside Sports was “Outta Compton” long before NWA. Note Worthy: I am the most popular and read blogger on blackmeninamerica.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfKQOH5_iiw / intro to black sports history 101 Jim Brown and others on Harold Bell