Dr. Harry Edwards is considered the 20th and 21st century’s most outspoken advocate for civil and human rights in sports arenas across America. The jewel in his crown is the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The 200-meter dash was his platform for the demonstration that would stun the world of sports. The trio of sprinters who finished one, two, and three were Tommie Smith (USA), Peter Norman (Australia), and John Carlos (USA).

The two Americans shocked the sports world as they raised their black glove fists on the podium in protest of racism in America! Their lives would never be the same. Dr. Harry Edwards, Tommie Smith, Peter Norman, and John Carlos would be joined together in life and death forever. No prenuptial agreement or divorce was imminent.

In the Washington Post on December 11, 2024, Dr. Edwards revealed he is fighting three terminal cancers–in his bone marrow, prostate, and thyroid. The three are ravaging his body, leaving him in frequent pain and fatigued. Still, he has denied any medical treatment, combating the struggle with an upbeat attitude and the occasional Tylenol.

I have known Dr. Edwards for 50+ years through my radio talk show Inside Sports with our friend the late NFL legend Jim Brown. Those one-hour shows were some of the most educational and enlightening discussions in the DMV on Saturday mornings on W-U-S-T AM Gospel radio. As the host/student, I sat in the “Cat Bird’s Seat.” I soaked in their words of wisdom and enjoyed every minute. The shows are classics in my archives.

DR. EDWARDS SPEAKS OUT ON THE ROLE OF BLACKS IN SPORTS MEDIA

“Harold, congratulations, your archives are valuable and should be given the broadest possible exposure.  Your discs and videos of your programs belong in the new Smithsonian Institution of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).  A wing of the new museum will be dedicated to the struggle in sports and will be titled “Leveling the Playing Field”.  Over the years, your work has been a major force in leveling the playing field, especially in the struggle to define and project “Our Truth!”  Dr. Harry Edwards.

John Carlos’ thoughts on Harold Bell and Inside Sports’ role in trying to level “The Playing Field.”

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uncdyank071nnjnk7ef1v/Dr.-Jonn-Carlos-RAW-10.24.2024-Interview.mov?rlkey=2zrwxb24y4iepq4q8yuyoyxld&e=1&st=jgmkbo4h&dl=0

This was Dr. Harry Edwards’ take on TNT’s Charles Barkley and ESPN’s Michael Wilbon:  “I love Charles Barkley (aka famous last words of Stephen A. Smith when he is getting ready to criticize a pro athlete) as long as he is sitting on the sports desk at TNT trying to explain why the Clippers will never win a championship as long as their toughest, most consistently competitive player is a 6’1″ point guard.  But when he begins to offer jaw-droppingly ignorant and uninformed opinions on issues from Obama’s Syria/ISIS policy to the “criminal” predispositions and proclivities of the Black community, I find something more productive to do like taking out the garbage or cleaning up my lawn.

And the saddest part of it all is that he apparently doesn’t realize that the networks and interviewers are just flat out CLOWNING HIM!!!  It’s “What crazy crap can we prompt Barkley to say. And all the better if it is an attack on Black people. ”The “guess what Charles Barkley said on CNN?” factor is incentive enough for the networks to persist in presenting and promoting this clown show– long past the time when it is not either funny or even remotely engaging. Now both Barkley and Wilbon look like clowns– and justifiably so.”

Mike and I share a laugh during a gathering at Ben’s Chili Bowl in DC.

I have seen James Brown in that same light during his climb to the top in TV sports, at the expense, of Inside Sports, Kids In Trouble, and brothers like Chuck Taylor. The best way to describe James Brown is “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” of Inside Sports! Like Wilbon, Brown talks out of both sides of his mouth-one lie after another!

Sam Jones-James Brown-HBell-Earl Lloyd at a tribute to Black History Month on Bolling Air Fore Base.

For example, for a man who has never kept his word to me, he said; “Harold Bell has always been a voice for people who didn’t 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. James Brown (Inside the NFL/CBS)

During the 80s and 90s Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble were the toast of DC. My talk show was No. 1 and my reach-back endeavors, Christmas toy drives, celebrity fashion shows, and tennis tournaments became the BIBLE of Community Outreach in America, despite the acts of sabotage in the media.

Inside Sports Celebrity Fashion Show Curtain Call: L-R Sonny Hill (NBA) Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing) Ricky Jenning (NFL) HBell (Inside Sports)-(Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe (NBA)

There were police and youth community forums. Pro athletes and celebrities from near and far participated, including non-celebrities like James Brown. The doors to Inside Sports and KIT were open to everyone who was interested enhancing the lives of inner-city children.. Washingtonian Magazine named me “Washingtonian of the Year” making me the first sports media personality honored.

James’ closest encounter with pro sports, he got cut by the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA!

Let the games start, he returns home to work as a sales rep for the Xerox Corporation.

James was like Howard White (Nike) and Glen Harris (WHUR Radio), hanging out at my community events and trying to enhance their careers. James convinced me to let him model in one of my celebrity fashion shows.

CELEBRITY TENNIS: Standing L-R Bob Ferry (NBA)-Fred Scott (NFL)-Bad News Barnes (NBA) TV 4 Weatherman-Donnie Simpson (BET)-Jim Vance (TV 4 Anchor)-Ken Beatrice (WMAL Sports)-Kneeling L-R H Bell-Bob Zuflur (NBA)-George Solomo (Washington Post) and Howard White (University of MD)

My tennis partner, television anchor Jim Vance told me that TV 4 was looking for a weekend sports anchor. I told him I was not interested. He reminded me there was a story in the Washington Post about a lack of black television sportscasters, and I should think about it.

SPEAKING OUT: “BLACK SPORTS CASTERS” LACK OF JOBS IN DC MARKET (1989)

I did the audition and it was a disaster. The producers sat me down at a desk in the newsroom in front of a teleprompter to read an introduction. I had no clue which camera I was to look into. I was glad when it was over.

Several days later I called Jim and said, “Thanks for nothing!” He asked me, if I had alerted James Brown to the audition and I said, ‘No.’

James had somehow found out about the audition and shown up at the TV 4 studio. He also failed!

In the meantime, he became interested in a sports media career, and I thought it was great. Chuck Taylor a black brother had just been hired by the NBA Washington Bullets as a television color analyst. Chuck’s background included teaching and coaching high school basketball in the DMV.

He was knowledgeable and had a great personality. We were all rooting for his success. The next thing I knew, Chuck was gone and James Brown had replaced him. It seemed like everyone thought I knew what had happened. I had no clue!

I called Bullet owner Abe Polin’s right-hand man, Community Advisor, Hymie Perlo. Nothing moved around Capitol Centre without Hymie knowing. When I spoke to Hymie, he asked me to come out to the arena so we could talk about the situation regarding Chuck. I did not like the way he sounded.

I learned that James Brown had gone to Bullet Captain Wes Unseld and asked Wes if he could put in a “Good word for him to Abe about replacing Chuck Taylor.” James Brown showed his true colors early in his career, “Success by any means necessary!”

JB’s NEXT MEDIA STOPS: WETM Sports Talk Radio-WUSA TV 9 weekend sports-BLack American Forum-1995 HBO & REAL SPORTS/INSIDE SPORTS as Bryant Gumbel’s correspondent. He hid in the closet pretending he had no clue. The show won 37 Emmy Awards copying the Inside Sports format. He and Gumbel left footprints that Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could follow.

There are hundreds of Bryant Gumbel photos with guests, and celebrity participants on the show but no photos of him and James Brown! I Googled James Brown and HBO and, found one photo of him and Gumbel. What were they hiding for 29 years? When I asked James why he never invited me on the show his response, “I have nothing to do with the scheduling.” I finally got his message.

Having me as a guest on ‘Real Sports’ would blow their cover caught using my Inside Sports format-awarded 37 Emmys!

I remember in 1974, my colleague Frank Pastor and I were standing at the top of the Washington Bullets Arena waiting for a pause in the action so that we could return to our seats. I said, “Frank do you see what I see downstairs at the press table?” His response was, “What are you talking about Harold Bell?”

The Bullets PR Department had divided the press table at the half-court line of the arena. The white media sat on the left of the line and blacks sat on the right.

We ended the misguided PR Department’s attempt to divide and conquer, without an angry word or a poster reading “Boycott.” Frank and I switched seats at the table. The next home game the table was fully integrated. James Brown would benefit from Frank Pastor and me switching seats at the Bullets press table in 1974.

The late WHUR Radio personality and talk show host Ron Sutton and I sat on the black side of the half-court at a Washington Bullet’s game. The photo is worth a thousand words, look to my left.

REAL SPORTS-‘THE USUAL SUSPECTS

JB & THE NEXT LEVEL: NFL Studio Host FOX Network-NFL Studio Host CBS-Ministry Pimp in the Pulpit-The Great Pretender (Minority owner MLB Washington Nationals)-Community Advocate-AARP Senior Ambassador.

In the 1970s DC homeboy NFL and Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood was an Assistant Coach with the San Diego Chargers’ football team. He exposed drug use among the players. He was blackballed and banished to the Canadian and World Football Leagues to find work in pro football. Ironically, he became the first Black Head Coach in both leagues. Willie Wood was an eight-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro. He played in six NFL Championship games and was a winner in five.

In Willie’s later years, his health began to fail, and his induction into the “NFL’s Pro Football Hall” did not look promising. Time was running out when he asked me for help. I turned to our friend the legendary DC sports columnist, Dick Heller of the Washington Times. I called USA Today’s newspaper NFL Editor, Jarrett Bell for support. His response was, “I am on vacation!” Bell was, also claimed he was on vacation when I called to tell him Willie had died in February 2019. The paper USA Today never covered his death.

Willie Wood is one the greatest safety’s to ever play in the NFL, He was selected to the John Madden 10th Anniversary All-Pro team. He played on five NFL Championship teams. He was named to five All-Pro teams, and nine Pro Bowl teams during his 12-year NFL career, but Jarett Bell was on “Vacation?”

The last call was to NFL Studio Host, James Brown. I got just what I deserved, Brown promised to visit Willie in his Assisted Living facility in NW DC and write him a check to help pay his bills, it never happened.

Comcast Spotlight on Sports Host, George Johnson and media guest talk college football bowl selections L-R HBell-George Johnson-Dave Elfin (Washington Times) and newcomer Jarret Bell. He has successfully been, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” for three decades at U. S.A. Today supporting CRT!

Willie Wood after his 1989 NFL Hall of Fame induction, says thanks to Dick Heller and me for our support.

Despite, James Brown and Jarret Bell’s lies and politics, I held out hope they would eventually use their influence to try to help someone in need beside themselves.

In 1999, Earl Lloyd the first Black to play in the NBA asked me, “If I would start a campaign similar to the Willie Wood campaign for him.” Earl grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, it was a 15-minute drive across the NW 14th Street bridge. I considered him a friend and homeboy.

I was a glutton for punishment, the first call was to James Brown to suggest we have lunch at Union Station with Sam Jones (NBA), Andrew Dyer, and Christie Winters-Scott, (The Round Ball Report), the late radio sports talk show host, Butch McAdams and my wife Hattie. I tried to be a mentor to other young adults interested in sports media and invited them to participate in my community endeavors.

During lunch, I suggested we organize an Earl Lloyd Day during NBA All-Star Weekend. The plan, on Saturday morning there would be a basketball clinic in Earl’s honor at the Charles Houston Rec Center. A tribute would close out the festivities in his honor at the historic jazz club, the Bohemian Caverns on the U Street corridor once known as Black Broadway.

James and Sam agreed to co-host the weekend. As we were leaving the restaurant James asked me, “Harold did you check with Abe Polin?” I took a deep breath, and said, “JB, I don’t work for Abe Polin.” James Brown was a no-show for the weekend.

I contacted Red Auerbach and Congressman John Lewis to join the KIT Team and they accepted.

Congressman Lewis’ congratulations letter to Earl Lloyd

Kids In Trouble youth are on a tour of a statue of Earl Lloyd, now on display at the Charles Houston Rec Center in Alexandria, Virginia, Lloyd’s hometown. West Virginia State University, Lloyd’s alma mater, has a similar statue on display.

In 1978 I was the Nike Shoe rep on the East Coast, I traveled to New York City with Nike NBA rep John Phillips to meet with NBA former player and now head of NBA Personell, Rod Thorn, Chief Counsel, Gary Bettman and Security Chief Horace Broaneck.

The meeting was called to get a better understanding of why the NBA was against a Nike sponsored All-Star Team going to the Nassau Bahammas, the Island home of LA Laker player Myhcal Thompson. The players would articipate in a charity game for the Island. Myhcal and several other NBA players had played in a similar game the year before without incident.

The meeting did not go well, it was ‘Smiling Faces Telling Lies.’ It got heated when Bettman claimed the players would not be allowed to participate because the NBA owned them, all hell broke loose in the room when he said, “Owned the players!”

My response was, “Was the NBA a Plantation”, the room erupted again, and Ron Thorn called a ‘Time Out’ for lunch for cooler heads. We were to meet back in the room at 1:00 pm. The NBA never came back.

The players who were to participate disappeared and changed their numbers. I have been on the NBA’s ‘Hit List’ ever since. John and I figured out the problem, it was all about control, and the NBA had the upper hand.

Note Worthy: Gary Bettman would become Commissioner of the National Hockey League. A post he has held since February 1, 1993. His longevity of 31 years has made him the longest running commissioner of a pro sports franchise in North America.

When I think of Gary Bettman, I think of those words he uttered in that NBA Conference Room in New York City in 1978. “We Owned the Players.” Now that he is the Commissioner of the NHL in 2025, the one thing he has never to worry about is owning the black players in the NHL, he would be bankrupt. Blacks make up only 3% of the league.

Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly sat in the penalty box during a game at Chicago’s United Center in February 2018, he listened as a group of white fans chanted, “Basketball, Basketball, Basketball” in his direction. The Blackhawks fans taunting Smith-Pelly, who is Black, were making their position clear: “Hockey isn’t for everyone, and it’s especially not for Black people.”

Google, this story is a must-read! It is bad enough we have racism like the fans in Chicago, and other places in the U. S., still we have to look over our shoulders for James Brown, Howard White, Jarett Bell, Mike Wilbon, and the beat goes on and on.. The TRUTH-it is not just whites, some blacks are killing us softly.

The Roundball Report a cable TV talk show in Prince George’s County was denied press credentials to attend the Washington Wizards’ home games by various members of their PR Department. Andrew Dyer the Roundball Report producer did not call ‘Ghost Busters’, he called Harold Bell to intervene.

I remember the Roundball Report crew was on the outside looking in at the Wizards game in Washington, DC. before I was asked to be their ‘Trouble Shooter.’ Seated L-R HBell-Monica McNutt-Andrew Dyer and Christie Winters-Scott. Not in the photo Jemel Hill (Emmy Award winner), Scott, and McNutt among others went to the next level, (ESPN and beyond). Like most benefactors of Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble-they forgot!

Dave Aldridge was the exception-he reached back until it hurt!

Congressman John Lewis said, “If you are going to make trouble, make good trouble.” I agree!

This brings me back to James Brown, he was a no-show for the Earl Lloyd tribute. Red Auerbach made the tribute to Earl Lloyd the only event he would attend that weekend.

Lloyd would be inducted into “The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame” in 2003. NBA All-Star Weekend 2001 will be the year Harold Bell crashed the NBA All-Star Game party with the historic tribute to Earl Lloyd in Washington, DC.

THE TRAILBLAZING TALK SHOW HOST WHO REFUSED TO SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE!

BENEFACTORS-Cathy Hughes-James Brown-Bill Rhoden-Mike Wilbon-Dave Aldridge-Kevin Blackistone

THE CITY PAPER / WASHINGTON, DC

HAROLD BELL: BLACK HISTORY MOUTH

This DC sports legend won’t kiss your jackass / Dave McKenna 2010

How the Washington Post discovered INSIDE SPORTS, was similar to how George Washington discovered America. The trailblazing show had been on the airwaves for almost a decade. Still, owners, Catherine and son, Donald Graham decided to just take INSIDE SPORTS. It did not matter sports editor George Solomon and writers Dave Dupree, Michael Wilbon, Byron Rosen, Tom Callahan, and Dave Aldridge were in the W-U-ST studios talking sports and politics.

In 1978 the Grahams arrived in the ‘Big Apple’ to publish their newfound magazine INSIDE SPORTS, only to discover they were in over their heads. Google “The Sunday Long Read” for the Albert and Costello ‘Whose On First’ comedy skit of Inside Sports Magazine in New York City.

In 1980 they returned to DC after losing several million dollars never really figuring out why they failed.

The failure was because their writers and braintrust could not figure out how to put my successful radio sports talk show to pen and paper. They thought they needed only their Ivy League and Harvard degrees, and it was New York here we come! They lacked creativity, common sense, and street sense for print media success, especially in New York City, the Media Capitol of America.

Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns were the cover boys for Inside Sports Magazine for their second fight in Las Vegas in June 1989. Their first fight was in Vegas in 1981 when Sugar had to rally from behind to KO the “Hit Man” in the 14th round to win the Welterweight Championship of the World! Sugar Ray now “The Cash Cow” of boxing avoided Hearns for eight years, the second fight was billed as “The War.”

The irony, the two ducked the most dangerous man in their weight class, Aaron “The Hawk’ Pryor. I watched Aaron beat Thomas in a Golden Glove Championship (on YouTube) in 1976.

After failing in New York City the Washington Post tried covering their tracks unsuccessfully. Bill Rasmussen the founder of ESPN had a better idea. Why not copy the Inside Sports format and make it a television magazine show? ESPN became the worldwide leader in sports reporting.

After decades of success, ESPN’s bottom line was not keeping up with the times and the Inside Sports format. Politicians did not like having their names hollered and screamed out on the morning and evening news. Sports and politics had suddenly become strange bedfellows.

ESPN’s new President, Jimmy Pitaro sent a memo to all broadcasters operating under the ESPN banner, it read, “JUST STICK TO SPORTS.” Freedom of speech will no longer be practiced on the ESPN Network.

The Washington Post hijacked the INSIDE SPORTS tag to New York City in 1978. The magazine failed and the hijackers returned home two years later. The staff with immunity and ‘White Privilege’ as their guilds penned a blog story in THE SUNDAY LONG READ titled, INSIDE SPORTS: THE ORAL HISTORY. Owner Donald Graham wrote me a check asking for ‘Anonymity.’

His note left me not quite understanding his request for anonymity, especially, since he allowed members of his staff to write a blog story, documenting how he and the Washington Post just took my tag Inside Sports and were making a joke out of my career as a trailblazing and pioneering sports talk show host.

The beat will go on according to Dr. Harry Edwards. We will have to wait until women can lead us out of this mess! The one percent will never give up Power or Money to level the Playing Field (remember 40 Acres and a Mule).

Dr. Edwards as we head into the NEW YEAR 2025 I disagree with “NO FINAL VICTORIES.” God is still in charge. There will be more victories long after we both are gone-I am confident, the children will have the FINAL VICTORY & FINAL VOTE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THANK YOU DR. HARRY EDWARDS!

photo credits: Chuck Akins-Don Baker, King Shabazz & Fred Shepard