BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER: STENY HOYER AND MY FRIEND THE LATE JOHN LEWIS WALKING HAND IN HAND.

My 50+ years working with at-risk youth and my trailblazing sports talk radio and television careers, allowed me to cross the aisle. I learned there were some politicians regardless of their political party or the color of their skin never talked out of both sides of their mouths-meet Steny Hoyer and John Lewis.

If they gave you their word you could take it to the bank!

I met Congressman John Lewis at a Congressional Black Caucus Weekend in 1989. I was introduced by my friend Congressman Lou Stokes (D-Ohio). Congressman Stokes became the first politician to enter my name into the Congressional Record on the House Floor in December 1974. He cited my work with youth gangs and at-risk children in the inner city. Walter Fauntroy, Bob Dole, and Eleanor Holmes Norton also submitted my name.

When NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd was blackballed by the NBA, he asked me to campaign for his induction. Richard Evans contacted his friend John Lewis and set up a meeting. Lloyd was inducted in 2003.

This is the letter Congressman Lewis wrote to Lloyd advising him he was a part of the Kids In Trouble team campaigning for his NBA Hall of Fame induction.

I am giving KIT youth a history tour of NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd’s statue at the Charles Houston Rec Center in Alexandria, Virginia. There is also a statue of Lloyd at his West Virginia State College, thanks to my team of John Lewis, Red Auerbach, and Washington Times sports columnist Dick Heller.

I moved to Prince Georges’ County in the 70s shortly after Steny Hoyer became the Congressman for the 5th District of Maryland.

I met Congressman Hoyer in the late 1970s. My mentor, Senator Decatur Trotter, introduced us at the State House in Annapolis. Trotter and I were going to lunch when he spotted the Congressman walking off the elevator. He took me over and introduced the two of us. I remember Trotter saying, “The Silver Fox is a good brother, a good man to know.” The good brother stuck with me!

Trotter and I grew up in the same NE community. He was a great athlete at Armstrong High School in DC, and the young guys in the neighborhood looked up to him.

Boxing Champion Jamal Hilton receives the “KIT Man of the Year Award” for his Reach-Back efforts in the inner city, Senator Trotter makes the presentation.

Thanks to Trotter, in 1975, I was the first independent minority radio personality awarded a Maryland Lottery contract. The contract made me the highest-paid minority media personality in DC, bar none.

My Monday through Friday radio work hours were two five-minute morning and evening drive-time shows and a one-hour talk show on Saturdays-two-hours a week.

Trahan-Burden and Charles were the marketing arm for the Maryland State Lottery. Lottery checks were payable to HB Sports and Marketing.

In that same trailblazing era, I was named the first East Coast marketing and promotions Rep for Nike Shoes. Anheuser Busch asked me to write my job description to represent them in the DC market and NFL legend Jim Brown convinced Coca-Cola to sponsor Inside Sports. My sponsors were Corporate America.

The Neilson Ratings did not apply to me. They controlled how sponsors spent advertising dollars on black-oriented radio stations in the DC market and elsewhere nationwide. Inside Sports was off the charts (untouchable). The show changed how we talked and reported sports in the DC market, and beyond. I paid the radio stations, not vice versa (unheard of)

The youth associated with my non-profit Kids In Trouble, Inc. traveled around the East Coast, to basketball camps such as The John Chaney/Sonny Hill, Spencer Haywood, and Bighouse Gaines/Earl Monroe camps in Philadephia, New Jersey, and Winston-Salem, NC.

There were tickets for Redskins (NFL), Bullets (NBA) and Washington Nationals (MLB) games at my expense. The Kids In Trouble participants included Cathy Hughes’ baby boy, Alfred Liggins. My money went back into the community, NO REGRETS.

Senator Trotter’s health started to fail him in the early 2000s, he died in 2004. Suddenly, my sponsors reneged on written contracts. I was pushed off the airwaves.

The next two decades would be difficult but I managed to survive because I never forgot who I was and where I came from. More important, I never forgot Senator Trotter saying, “The Silver Fox is a good brother, and a good man to know.”

When things got rough I turned to Congressman Steny Hoyer. He answered my calls. Congressman Hoyer introduced me to his Constituent Service Representative, Daryl Pennington. She became my guardian Angel, and dozens of seniors felt the same way!

We were having a problem with the Social Security Administration, Landlord, and later a problem with a local bank.

First, Congressman Hoyer made an inquiry by letter to Social Security (problem solved). Daryl, called the local bank ( problem solved). What made Daryl so special to me was sometimes weeks would go by and you would think she had forgotten and she would call and say, “Mr. Bell, I am on top of it.” I can imagine her caseload was off the charts, but she always found time to reach out and reach back.

It took me 45 years to edit an exclusive one on one exclusive 1974 interview (Rumble in the Jungle) with the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali.

I finally arranged to debut the documentary/interview on the big screen at the Miracle Theatre on Capitol Hill in NE Washington, DC, I invited Gloria Gaddy and Daryl to my coming out party with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.

In the meantime, Daryl brought my Ali project to the attention of Congressman Hoyer. On Sunday, November 24, 2019, she read a proclamation from the stage of the theatre from the Congressman congratulating Hattie and me on our historical accomplishment.

Daryl reads a tribute to Muhammad Ali from Congressman Steny Hoyer at the Miracle Theater on November 24, 2019, marking the 45th Anniversary of the Rumble in the Junge. Hattie and I look on.

Congressman Steny Hoyer went to the House floor on Wednesday September 16, 2020, to disclose his friend and trusted community advocate for Prince Georges County’s 5th District, Daryl Pennington was called home to be with the Lord. Washington DC, Prince Georges County and the country lost a true public servant.

Press Secretary, Meg Spencer for Congressman Hoyer was the next Team Member up for Kids In Trouble. It has been 5 years since Daryl went home to be with the Lord. Thanks to Meg the true spirit of Constituent Service is alive and well in the 5th Congressional District of Prince Georges County.

In February of 2024, Kids In Trouble celebrated Black History Month at the Miracle Theater on Capitol Hill. The day of the celebration, Meg took the subway from her Capitol Hill office and brought a Proclamation from Congressman Steny Hoyer to the theater. The Reach Out and Reach Back continues.

2024 marked 45 years of politics for Congressman Steny Hoyer, hopefully we have him back in 2025 to continue to be the true Godfather of politicians in Prince Georges County.

If Congressman Hoyer decides to step away from the bumps and grind of political life, I would not blame him. Hopefully, he will remain only a telephone call away from Maryland’s new Senator Angela Alsobrooks. She will need a veteran like Hoyer to help usher her through the first year on Capitol Hill. She could not ask for a better political mentor. Congressman Steny Hoyer will be a tough act to follow.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR