THE WAY WE MADE CHILDREN FIRST 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BELLS–HATTIE T & HB (photo Fred Sheppard)

Re-visited 12-16-2022–Courtland Milloy the Washington Post 1998

Washington Redskin LB, the late Harold McLinton is Santa for the annual KIT toy party at the Marriot Twin Bridges Hotel in Arlington, Virginia (1970).

In 1968, Harold Bell was a “roving leader” for the D.C. Department of Recreation, working with troubled youths, while also playing wide receiver for the Virginia Sailors, a farm team for the Washington Redskins.

Harold and his teammate WR Ed Bitner share a photo with young fan after winning the minor league football championship in Mobile, Alabama. 

When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis that year, Bell drew on his knowledge of the streets as well as his contacts with professional athletes to help quell the riots that rocked Washington. One of his most enduring achievements: was to establish a Christmas toy drive for children who lived in riot-torn areas.

Next week, Bell and his wife, Hattie, will put on their 30th Christmas toy party for needy children. The Bells met in 1967 when Hattie was a swimming coach at Cardozo High School in Northwest Washington and Harold was volunteering as a wide receiver coach with the school’s football team. They celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on November 30.

“I just lucked out with her,” Harold said. “Hattie is someone who enjoys working with young people as much as I do, and she’s never complained about the challenges that we have faced. She’s the real Santa; I’m just her helper.”

Hattie said the same thing about Harold, adding, “It’s all a bout seeing children smile. As Harold says to professional athletes all the time, No one is too tall to stoop to help a child.’ “

Hattie T and her Cardozo High School MerimaIds swimming team.

Mayor Wilson Goode, Sonny Hill, and Harold are in the hood in Philly.

Bell started a nonprofit organization, Kids In Trouble Inc., or KIT, soon after the riots. Former football great Jim Brown currently serves as the chairman. Its aim is to expand recreational opportunities for youngsters and encourage them to go to college. During the summer Sonny Hill/John Chaney basketball camp invites KIT participants to their camp in Philly.  And sports personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Dave Bing, and Spencer Haywood have shared with the children stories of success and how they overcame obstacles. 

Bell started a nonprofit organization, Kids In Trouble Inc., or KIT, soon after the riots. Former football great Jim Brown currently serves as the chairman. Its aim is to expand recreational opportunities for youngsters and encourage them to go to college. During the summer Sonny Hill/John Chaney basketball camp invites KIT participants to their camp in Philly.  And sports personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Dave Bing, and Spencer Haywood have shared with the children stories of success and how they overcame obstacles. 

NFL legend Jim Brown host KIT toy party at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC

At the first toy party, in 1968, his Virginia Sailors’ teammate, the late George Kelly, played Santa Claus and he managed to collect enough toys for about 50 children,” Bell recalled. “We held it at the old Hillcrest Children’s Center at 14th and W streets NW. It was so beautiful that I had to go into a room by myself, lock the door, and cry. That’s how much it filled me up, and I’ve just had to do it every year since.”

In 1970, Bell persuaded Redskins linebacker Harold McLinton to play Santa for the party, and he showed up with wide receiver Roy Jefferson. running back Larry Brown and defensive back Ted Vactor as his helpers. The children loved it, and the Redskins became Christmas party regulars.  

The late NBA great Sam Jones later signed on as a helper.  He became an integral part of the toy drive with Al Attles, KC Jones, and Roy Jefferson.

“Harold, Roy, Larry, Ted, and Sam are some of the most unselfish men I know,” Bell said. “Roy would always show up with a sack of toys and food. He’d dare me to spend my own money. Sam was a stalwart. He’s the kind of guy who’s always there when you need him.”

Former players (R-L) the late Byron Kirkley and Harold Bell are Santa’s Helpers for their former HS basketball coach, the late Rev. William Rountree, and his youth center kids.

When Larry Brown was named the NFL’s most valuable player in 1972, Gillette Razor Blade Co. presented him a check for $5,000 on a Bob Hope TV special. Brown donated the entire amount to the Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program for Kids, which Bell was running at the time.

In 1971 Redskin RB and MVP Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton give inner-city children swimming lessons during first ever NFL Films promo for national television. The lesson were given at the KIT Hillcrest Saturday Program in Washington, DC

Such generosity stands in stark contrast to the actions of some athletes these days, especially in the lockout-plagued NBA, where millionaire players see themselves — not poor children — as charity cases.

Bell attended Spingarn High. In the late 50s before graduating from Fairmont Height HS in Prince Georges County in 1959. He served briefly as a golf caddy for Vice President Richard M. Nixon at the all-male, all-white Burning Tree Club in Bethesda. In 1969, Bell ran into President Nixon, who was touring the riot-scarred Shaw neighborhood. Two weeks later, Nixon invited Harold and Hattie Bell to a White House dinner with Secretary of State William Rogers.

Nixon then appointed Harold Bell to head the Domestic Actions Program (DOD) making him the first civilian to coordinate the use of athletic facilities on military bases for children in the community.  It was on Bolling he found the first ever Half-Way House for at-risk boys on a military installation. And for several years after that, Bell hosted a radio sports talk show, Inside Sports.

“This city has changed a lot in 30 years, but the problems that come from growing up poor remain the same,” said Bell, who is 59. “The children, especially, need a lot of help, and I just believe that those of us who have made it have an obligation to reach back. I’ve been through tough times, so I know what it’s like and I know how important a helping hand can be.”

This year’s Christmas party is scheduled for Dec. 22. Plans are underway to hold it at the J.W. Marriott Hotel, which has supported Bell in years past. Anyone wanting to donate new toys or make a financial contribution to help about 300 needy elementary school children can do so at Ebenezer AME Church, 7707 Allentown Rd., Fort Washington; Ben’s Chili Bowl, 13th and U streets NW; D.C.

This year, Santa’s helpers include sports legends Sam Jones of the National Basketball Association and Roy Jefferson, Willie Wood, George Nock, and Rick “Doc” Walker of the National Football League. 

But the main attraction will be the hundreds of children who have been looking forward to the party for weeks now. As Hattie Bell put it, “Just the sight of their collective smiles, brought on not just because they received new toys but because they could see that somebody cares, is a blessing all by itself.”

CAPTION: Harold and Hattie Bell have been finding ways to be Santa’s helpers for the DMV’s school children each Christmas since they married, 54 years ago. 

A PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEY WITH KIDS IN TROUBLE, INC FROM BOYS TO MEN TO A LADY WHO BECAME A CHAMP!

 

Miles Clarke–Pee Wee Bowl–Bowie HS (No. 52)–Bowie State-Big Man on campus.

Makale Thompson on left in a dance-off during a KIT fundraiser at Giant Food Store at the age of 10. Makale at the age of 17 senior WR/Safety for McNamara HS in PG County. Hattie and I are presenting Makale a KIT check for a school fundraiser.

Antonio Logan-El was 3 years-old when he became the poster boy for Kids In Trouble, Inc. He is seen sitting on a Grand Piano at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC. He is surrounded by KIT Life Time Achievement Award winners; L-R: the late Dr. George Logan-El-Montgomery County first black police Chief, Clarence Edwards-HBell-Federal Judge Alex Williams and Boxing Historian, the late Bert Sugar. At the age of 12 he was reaching back as a server for the KIT toy party and at the age of 17 he was a 300 pounder All-American football player for Forestville HS. He is a grad of Towson State University. He owes his success to his grandfather, Dr. George Logan-El (Piano photo by Don Baker)

Robert Glenn was age 10 when I took him to the hoop with his own ball. He is a grad of Morehouse University.

Sugar Ray Leonard was a kid in trouble. He is seen at the top with his Gold Medal around his neck on Inside Sports interacting with several elementary school children. This was after his Olympic Gold Medal win in the 1976 Olympic Games in Mexico City. He came home expecting a parade. Instead, the media attacked him for having a baby out of wedlock. He did not have a pocket to pee in or a window to throw the pee out. He went in his house and hid out. Harold Bell to the rescue–the rest is boxing history!

Hattie and I met Robin Sugar Williams at the age of 10 at an elementary school on Alabama Avenue in SE Washington, DC. We watched her grow from a child and become a lady–this lady became a mom and a Champ. She has sung at the White House and traveled the world as a renowed gospel singer. Robin and Fonzie the clown were the backbone of KIT.