The Mayor of Dolton, Illinois, Tiffany Henyard, is currently under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for alleged misuse of her authority.

My friend and mentor, Luke Moore and I are hanging out with his homeboy, Chief Judge Gene Hamilton.

Luke and I are at the Foxtrappe Club in DC hanging out with Roy Jefferson (NFL), Judges, Ted Newman and Henry Kennedy at one of my annual Christmas toy parties for elementary school children.

Many Americans are familiar with the now iconic images of James Meredith, the black student who desegregated the University of Mississippi in October 1962, surrounded by white U.S. marshals assigned to protect him and ensure that a U.S. Supreme Court desegregation order be enforced.  Few of us are aware of the critical role that U.S. Marshal Luke Moore and other black Deputy U.S. Marshals played in that episode.  The first-time historian, author, and former U.S. Marshal, Robert Moore discusses the role of the black marshals in his new book, The Presidents’ Men: Black U.S. Marshals.  Robert Moore (no relation to Luke Moore) describes that role below.

When James Meredith sought to legally become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), the duty of upholding the federal law, that would allow him to do so, fell upon the shoulders of United States marshals and deputy U.S. marshals who risked their lives to make his dream a reality.  Meredith, a U.S. Army veteran and native of Mississippi, had been dissatisfied with race relations in the South and in a calculated move, applied for admission to Ole Miss.  The university, repeatedly citing administrative technicalities, refused his application numerous times over a twenty-one-month period between January 1961 and October 1, 1962.

The continued rejection of his application prompted Meredith to write to Thurgood Marshall, then head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund.  Impressed by Meredith’s determination to integrate Ole Miss, Marshall and the Legal Defense Fund attorneys, filed a lawsuit on his behalf on May 31, 1961.  The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court which decided on Monday, September 10, 1962, that he should be admitted.  

Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, an ardent segregationist, vowed to block his admission despite the Supreme Court ruling, and in a statewide television broadcast, called that effort “our greatest crisis since the War Between the States.”  He then added, “Schools will not be integrated while I am your governor.”  Attorney General Robert Kennedy would later call the confrontation the last battle of the Civil War.”  

Barnett’s defiant stand now set up a major challenge to President John F. Kennedy who was required to uphold the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.  The President sent deputy U.S. marshals to Oxford, Mississippi, the locale of Ole Miss, to ensure that Meredith was safely enrolled and protected until he graduated.  After three attempts by Chief U.S. Marshal J.P. McShane, who led a small contingent of marshals to enroll Meredith, were blocked by Mississippi politicians and state troopers, President Kennedy ordered a much larger group of deputy U.S. marshals, a 127-man contingent, to carry out the court order and to protect Meredith. 

These U. S. Marshalls are seen escorting James Meredith to class at the University of Mississippi

After Meredith successfully enrolled on October 1, this larger contingent was supervised by U.S. Marshal Luke Moore.

Luke Charles Moore was born in Collinsville, Illinois on February 25, 1924, but resided in Memphis, Tennessee where he attended local public schools and entered Lemoyne College in 1942.  His college career was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943.  Moore was assigned to the 92nd Infantry (Buffalo) Division and saw combat in Italy in 1944 and 1945.  After his discharge from the Army in 1946, Moore enrolled in Howard University and graduated with honors in 1949.  In 1950 he entered Georgetown University Law School and graduated near the top of his class in 1954.

Moore was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1955 and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Cobb, Howard & Hayes where he remained until 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Moore Chief United States Marshal for the District of Columbia.   With that appointment, Moore became the first African American to serve as Chief Marshal in any Federal District since President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877.  Moore’s appointment came just months before the Ole Miss Crisis.

Under orders from President Kennedy, over 300 U.S. Border Patrol agents were made special deputies, bringing the total number of federal law enforcement officials to 538.  They were soon tested.  On October 1, ten days after his admission was first blocked by Mississippi officials, Meredith finally became a student at Ole Miss.  Later that day rioting broke out on the Ole Miss campus.  The marshals and federal troops were called up to restore order.  By the time the violence ended two men were killed including a French journalist and 28 deputy marshals were wounded by gunfire.  

Following the initial confrontation, Marshal Luke Moore worked directly under Chief Marshal McShane and U, S Attorney General Robert Kennedy, supervising, coordinating, and monitoring the U.S. Marshal’s activity in Oxford.  In his supervisory capacity, Moore traveled to Oxford on numerous occasions although few knew of his role and his visits at the time.  

Moore was not the only African American Marshal involved in the Ole Miss integration.  Black deputy U.S. marshals were not allowed to participate in the initial integration confrontation but soon afterward they became a regular part of the Meredith security detail.  The Kennedy Administration did not send these marshals in September and October 1962, fearing that their presence would further inflame the crowds opposed to the integration of Ole Miss.  In this regard, the Kennedy Administration was following a precedent established by President Eisenhower during the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when he called out the 101st Airborne to the city to enforce a desegregation order and protect the nine black high school students designated to integrate the school.   Eisenhower ordered that only white soldiers of the unit be sent to Little Rock.

Once Meredith was enrolled, however, African American marshals were assigned to his security detail at Ole Miss.  Eight of these marshals, Richard Kirk Bowden, James Palmer, Howard Riley, Oscar Spearman, Joseph Robinson, Cleveland Braxton, Frank Lamondue, and Braxton Harris, all rotated in and out of Oxford and Jackson along with a much larger contingent of white U.S. deputy marshals in October, November, and December 1962.  Initially, even these federal law enforcement officers were subject to Mississippi segregation.  When they were in Oxford, they were housed by local black beauticians Thelma Boone Price and Cecilia Nelson, who were active in the civil rights movement. By Christmas, 1962, they were accommodated, along with white deputy marshals at the Oxford Holiday Inn.

Luke Moore remained Chief U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia after President Kennedy’s assassination and through the administration of his successor, President Lyndon Baines Johnson.  In 1969 Moore was reappointed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.  Three years later President Richard Nixon appointed Moore Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Judge Moore remained on the bench until his retirement in 1987.  

Judge Luke Charles Moore died in Atlanta, Georgia on December 18, 1994.  He was 70.

THE GREENSBORO 4-IMMORTALIZED ON THE CAMPUS OF NORTH CAROLINA A & T (1960). TWO SURVIVORS.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE STUDENTS BRUTALLY MURDERED BY STATE TROOPERS (1968)

GEORGE McGINNIS-NBA / FIRST PRO ATHLETE TO PROMO INSIDE SPORTS ON THE RADIO.

MELVIN LINDSEY “THE ORIGINAL QUIET STORM” AND TV 4 ANCHOR JIM VANCE CO-HOST A KIDS IN TROUBLE TOY PARTY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN AT THE GRAND HYATT IN DOWNTOWN DC.

EMANUEL STEWARD-BOXING TRAINER OF CHAMPIONS-A PRINCE AMONG THEIVES.

CORA “PEACHES” BROWN

HAROLD BURKE-NATIVE WASHINGTONIAN / PRODUCER & PR FOR KIT-GONE TOO SOON.

DR FRANCES CRESS WELSING-CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST AND GRADUATE OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY. EXPERT ON RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA.

MENTOR-SENATOR DECATUR TROTTER (MD-5th DISTRICT). HE KNEW HOW TO REACH BACK.

DARYI PENNINGTON-CONSTITUENT SERVICES REP FOR CONGRESSMAN STENY HOYER (D-MD)

ROYAL HEIGHT DC NATIVE / DOP WOP AND GOSPEL LEGEND. HE GAVE MORE THAN HE RECEIVED.

DAVE HARRIS (SCORED WINNG TD IN 1954 FIRST DC HIGH SCHOOL INTEGRATED ALL-STAR GAME)

WILLIAM WALKER NATIVE WASHINGTONIAN-KIT YOUTH ADVOCATE-PRODUCER “THE CHOSEN ONE”

DICK HELLER-WASHINGTON TIMES LEGENDARY SPORTS COLUMNIST-TRULY COLOR BLIND.

JOHN CHANEY-TEMPLE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL COACH

MENTOR-JAMES DUDLEY-WAS A CATCHER IN THE NEGROE BASEBALL LEAGUE. HE WAS A PIONEER. FIRST BLACK PROMOTER FOR A MAJOR ARENA IN THE U. S.-TURNERS ARENA HOME OF WWE IN DC.

NBA JIM “BAD NEWS” BARNES AND THE GREAT NFL ALL-PRO CORNERBACK JOHNNY SAMPLE.

WAYNE DAVIS-FBI PIONEER. FIRST BLACK DIRECTOR IN-CHARGE OF THE DETROIT OFFICE OF THE FBI.

THE CHIEF-NFL

RICHARD JONES-AVIATION PIONEER. ONE OF THE FIRST BLACK AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

EARL TILDON-EDUCATOR-FRIEND-POET

MAURY WILLS- MLB / “THE ART OF THE STEAL” HE REVOLUTIONIZED THE GAME IN THE 60s & 70s.

DOTIE & RED AUERBACH-FRIENDS & MENTORS

K. C. JONES-NBA / ONE OF THE NICEST AND KINDEST BROTHERS I HAVE EVER KNOWN.

SAM JONES-NBA / A LOYAL FRIEND AND MAN OF HIS WORD.

DC SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE LUKE C. MOORE / FIRST MODERN DAY U. S. MARSHALL-IN-CHARGE

WILLIE WOOD-NFL / HOMEBOY AND FRIEND. HE KNEW HOW TO SAY “THANK YOU.”

EARL LLOYD-NBA PIONEER. ”THANK YOU” WAS NOT IN HIS VOCUBULARY.

RED AUERBACH & BOSTON CELTICS’ OWNER WALTER BROWN. THE ARCHITECTS OF NBA EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ACROSS THE BOARD.

JIM BROWN-NFL / THE GREATEST PLAYER IN PRO FOOTBALL HISTORY.

DC ELGIN BAYLOR-NBA / IN MY TOP 5 GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME. 

GRAMBLING COACH EDDIE ROBINSON. HE WAS A CLASS ACT-AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN.

MY COACH CLARENCE GAINES-AT WINSTON-SALEM STATE THEY CALLED HIM “BIGHOUSE”

HANK AARON-MLB HOMERUN KING. HE WAS A QUIET MAN BUT CARRIED A BIG STICK. HE CALLED A SPADE A SPADE.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN-NBA / I HAVE SEEN ALL THE GREATS SINCE THE 50s. THE ORIGINAL G-O-A-T.

“THE GREATEST”

DAVE HARRIS-KANSAS UNIVERSITY RUNNING BACK

He grew up in NW DC and attended Cardozo High School. Dave, excelled in football, and track. All-Met in both sports. His coach and mentor was the great, Sal Hall.

In 1954 he was named to the first integrated high school All-Star Football Team to be played at the iconic Griffith Stadium, the home of the Washington Senators baseball team and the Negro Baseball League.

This was a big game in my Parkside NE housing project. My neighbor, Thomas ‘Shorty’ Sumlin was playing in the game. Shorty lived directly across the alley from me. I lived on Kenilworth Terrace and he lived on Kenilworth Avenue in NE.

Shorty was a senior at Phelps Vocation High School and I was attending Brown Middle School located on the same 24th street corridor. There were many mornings we would ride the bus together to 24th and Benning Road NE. He was the Law and Order guy when things got out of hand on the bus. Shorty was like my big brother. 

The stretch of 24th and Benning Road NE would begin with Langston Golf Course, Spingarn High School, Charles Young Elementary, Phelps Vocation High School, and last but not lease, Brown Middle School.

Brown was located at the very end of the 24th street corridor. It was the best kept secret in the country and the most unique parcel of education landscape in the United States. We called it, “Education Hill.” Gentrification has since made ‘The Hill’ almost a ghost town. 

Those schools in the near future will eventually become town homes, the golf course will become a country club and the Anacostia River will house the boats and yachts of the rich and powerful. 

The river will be use for their nights out to the MGM Casino to gamble, have dinner in Prince Georges County, Maryland and back home via the Anacostia River to the Golf Course to park their boats.

All the schools are in a 5 minute walk of each other. My friends and teammates living in Langston Terrace, like Andrew Johnson, Irving Brown John ‘Turk’ Edwards, and Teddy Atcherson never had to leave the neighborhood to complete their education until college.

Some evenings after school I would watch the Phelps football team practice and other evenings, I was watching Spingarn two minutes away.  I loved football and I was caught in middle of the two schools. 

My pick was usually the Spingarn practice. My hero was Spingarn running back, George Carlos Williams. He use to let me carry his helmet back to the school after practice.

He was selected to play in the high school All-Star Game along with teammate, Olin Robinson. Shorty and Peasy Jordan of Phelps were also named. 

THE LEGENDS OF THE INTER-HIGH / STANDING TALL THIRD FROM THE LEFT-DAVE HARRIS.

Shorty and Peasy were were offensive linemen and George was one of the great running backs selected along with Dan Droze from Anacostia High School. Dave Harris was selected, he had speed to burn.

I could not wait to see this game between the Catholic Schools and the DC Public Schools. It was the talk of the town and it was history making. 

What made this game so special, it was all an all white undefeated St. John’s High School against a diverse group of black and white All-Stars from the DC Public Schools. The DC Public School team was the underdogs (no surprise).

I remember sitting on the doorssteps of the elders in Parkside late in the evenings and listening to them describe the trials and tribulations of the great black athletes including, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson. 

To me this game was similar to the trials and tribulations of those black athletes. Especially, Heavyweight Champion, Joe Louis and his two encounters with Germany’s Max Schmeling.

To my surprise my mother benched me for the game. The reason, I was late getting home to watch my little brothers. I made her miss her hair appointment. I held that against my brothers Billy, and Earl for years. I missed the game of the ages.

The DC All-Stars upset the undefeated Catholic All-Stars 12-7. Cardozo’s All-Met end, Dave Harris caught the winning touchdown pass from Anacostia’s tailback, Dan Droze-never to be heard from again.

Dan returned to the white side of Anacostia and Dave returned to the black side of Cardozo–business as usual.

I would meet Dave several years later at the Florida Avenue Grill. The grill was a popular soul food restaurant, located at corner of 11th street and Florida Avenue NW, across the street from his alma mater.  

He was coming out of the restaurant with his former All-Star teammate, Willie Wood attended Armstrong High School. I was with my older brother Bobby. He was Willie’s baseball teammate at Armstrong.

Bobby introduced me to Willie and Dave. Dave had already enrolled at Kansas and Willie had decided to go the junior college route in California.  My brother was now a student/athlete at Maryland State in Princess Ann, Maryland.

In 1957 I was in my junior year at Spingarn and making a name for myself as an all-around athlete. 

I look back now and I say, “What a coincident”, in 1955 Spingarn would meet Armstrong at Cardozo Stadium for the DC Public High School East Division Championship. The Armstrong quarterback, was the great Willie Wood.

If you think the DC Public High School All-Stars beating the undefeated St. John’s team 12-7 was an upset–I have some news for you. 

In 1955 Spingarn was the underdog big time, all because of the great Willie Wood. He was considered to be the best high school football player in the city. 

Spingarn upset Armstrong 13-7, almost the identical score of the first ever integrated high school All-Star game played in Griffith Stadium in 1954.

I remember going into the 4th quarter, we were trailing Armstrong 7-6 in the closing minutes. All hell broke loose when Willie turned to pitch out to his running back moving to his left. Our outside linebacker, Maurice ‘Smack’ Lucas picked off the ball and went the other way for the winning touchdown 13-7. 

Almost the identical score of the All-Star Game. This was one game I did not miss. I had a front row seat on the Spingarn bench. 

I was about 5’6 inches end weighting about 140 pounds with bricks under my shoulder pads. I never got off the bench–still it was the defining game of my high school football career.

This is ironic, guess who would be our opponent for the championship of the DC Public Schools–would you believe Cardozo at Griffith Stadium?

We had talent galore–it was a defensive struggle. The game ended in a 0-0 tie. Cardozo won the right to meet guess who-St. John’s in the city championship game.

There was a ruling on the books that stated, “If a play-off game ends in a tie, the Penetration Rule is used to determine the winner. The team that crosses the others’ 50 yard line more times than its opponent is declared the winner.” Cardozo won 2-1.

Willie Wood and I became great friends later, I never reminded him I was on that Spingarn team. I heard him in an interview with TV 9 sportscaster, Warner Wolf, he asked Willie about his high school playing days in DC, his response, “That Spingarn game still hurts.”

In 1957 I was pissing teammates and coaches off with my selfish, “Give me the ball attitude.” I wanted the ball when the game was on the line. I never thought of it as selfish-I just hated losing.

The Spingarn quarterback for that big win over Armstrong was, Donald ‘Duck’ Wills. We became the TD combination in 1957 despite my, “Give me the ball attitude.”

Willie Wood was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989 after an outstanding 12 year NFL career. As a player he won several Super Bowls. He was named to the All-Pro team 9 times and played for the great Vince Lombardi. 

Lombardi said, “Willie Wood was my coach on the field.” Willie died in February 2021 in his hometown of Washington, DC.

Maurice ‘Smack’ Lucas died in Hawaii in 2023. It was his home for the past several decades.

It has often been said, “Death takes no holidays.” On Tuesday morning I received a call from my long time friend, Lester Lewis with some sad news, my friend and hero, Dave Harris had died.

Dave and Dan would make football sports history that will never be forgotten.

Dave Harris and Dan Droze meet face to face for the first time since the Griffith Stadium All-Star Game in 1954. The occasion-Inside Sports Black History Month. They are truly an important part of American History.

DC All-Star, Dan Droze and I would become friends and teammates on the Virginia Sailors, a minor league football team for the Washington Redskins. 

The Virginia Sailors: We are celebrating “We are the Champions” in Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Dan Droze is on the back wall center. He is the guy that looks like he has no hair.

The late Senator Decatur Trotter (D-MD 5th District) honor young men of distinction during a Kids In Trouble tribute. In the background are my support team, the sons of Dave and Teresa Harris.

The interview with Dave opens with McKenna a writer for the Grantland.com blog describes Wilt Chamberlain’s new car, a blood red Oldsmobile convertible on the campus of Kansas University:

“Chamberlain had just gotten the flashy car, at the finish of his sophomore year at Kansas and his first as a varsity basketball player — the NCAA didn’t allow Division One freshmen to play at the time.

Chamberlain pulled into D.C over Memorial Day weekend in 1957 behind the wheel of a red-and-white Oldsmobile convertible with his roommate and DC native Dave Harris with the top down.

NOT TRUE: DAVE HARRIS DID ALL THE DRIVING IN DC–WILT WOULD HAVE NEVER GIVEN ME THE KEYS TO PARK THE CAR-THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME MEETING WILT.

“Dave Harris, grew up in D.C. and was a revered athlete back home. He’d been a football star at all-black Cardozo High School, and had gotten attention for being on the receiving end of the first integrated touchdown pass in the history of D.C. high school football. That came at Griffith Stadium on December 5, 1954, in the waning minutes of a game matching an all-star team made up of players from the city’s all-white or all-black public high schools against the all-white powerhouse squad from St. John’s College High School, a private prep. Along with its historical significance, Harris’s touchdown catch, on a pass thrown by quarterback Danny Droze of all-white Anacostia High, gave the integrated squad a 12-7 upset win over the previously undefeated Johnnies.

Harris earned a football scholarship to Kansas, and met Chamberlain during their freshman year in Carruth-O’Leary Hall, a dorm where a lot of Jayhawks athletes resided. They also lived together as sophomores in the Kappa Alpha Si house. Harris made the trip to Kansas City to cheer on his frat brother during the KU-UNC title matchup, and saw the emotional funk the loss put Chamberlain in. After his last exam for the spring semester, Chamberlain told Harris he didn’t want to leave his fancy car on campus over the summer so he’d be driving back to Philly and could use a companion.

Harris went along for the ride.

We all now take the Interstate Highway System for granted, but the ribbon cutting to open up the very first stretch of federal pavement, a section of I-70 in Kansas, had been held in November 1956. With the new thoroughfare, Chamberlain and Harris planned on making the 1,115-mile trip to D.C. straight through.

Funny noises started coming from under the hood just outside Indianapolis, on the weekend the town was hosting the Indy 500.

“So we coasted into this gas station in Indianapolis, and Wilt gets out of the car,” recalls Harris, now 75 and living in D.C. “A guy comes out of the garage and says, ‘Goddamn! Wilt the stilt!’ And he’s yelling at people in the shop, ‘Get Wilt’s car right up on the rack!’ And they fixed it right there, something with the carburetor, and the guy says, ‘Wilt, this is on us! Keep on going!’ I said, ‘Wilt, they know you everywhere you go!’ Wilt hated being called ‘Wilt the Stilt.’ Hated it. But he liked being taken care of like that.”

When they got back on the road, and started talking about their plans for the summer, Chamberlain confessed he had some downtime. Harris suggested Chamberlain stay a few weeks in D.C. at his family’s home. And he made Chamberlain an offer he knew his buddy couldn’t refuse.

“I said, ‘You know, Elgin Baylor’s going to be around,’” Harris says.

Wilt didn’t know Baylor personally. Baylor now recalls only meeting Chamberlain once before their playground matchup, at a brief gathering of top college players in New York put together by Look magazine for the March 24, 1957, broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show.

But Chamberlain, like all serious ballplayers, knew a lot about Baylor by then. Baylor had just finished his redshirt sophomore season playing for Seattle University, and was the only player in the country to put up better overall numbers than Chamberlain. Baylor finished fourth in the NCAA scoring race, with 29.7 points per game to Wilt’s 29.6. And Baylor led the nation in rebounding percentage, regarded as a major basketball stat at the time, hauling in .235 of the total rebounds taken by both teams in all his games; Chamberlain’s .227 was good for fourth place.

Baylor’s college season, like Chamberlain’s, ended with March sadness. Seattle, which was viewed to be as much a one-man gang as Kansas, was ranked fifth in the country at the end of the regular season, but bypassed the NCAA tournament to accept a bid from the then-esteemed National Invitation Tournament. In the days leading up to the New York–based event, Baylor got more coverage from the mainstream press than he’d ever gotten. Bob Feerick, coach of Santa Clara, told the New York Daily News that Baylor was “absolutely the greatest, the best I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve seen Chamberlain and [Columbia All-American Chet] Forte and [West Virginia All-American Rod] Hundley and most of the other hot shots,” Feerick said in the NIT preview piece. “Wrap ’em all up in one, and I’ll still take Baylor.”

But despite being the top seed in the NIT and getting a first-round bye, the Chieftains got blown out in their first game by St. Bonaventure.

Harris, being a football guy, only knew Baylor by reputation. But, especially after the NIT loss, he had a hunch where Baylor could be found: On the courts at Kelly Miller Junior High in Northeast D.C., which at the time was the hottest spot for basketball players in the city.

“I told Wilt we could set up some games,” Harris says.

Wilt agreed to stay. Baylor was the draw. Chamberlain wouldn’t go home to Philadelphia until two weeks later, Harris says. He came back to D.C. after a few days at home and spent “about 10 more days” as Harris’s guest, playing Baylor on the playgrounds day after day.

To that point in basketball history, there were only two cities with pickup basketball scenes with any reputation: Philadelphia, which stocked the historically robust Fab Five college programs, and New York, which produced talent for colleges across the country — all five starters on the North Carolina team that had just beat Kansas came off New York’s courts.

Chamberlain’s decision to forego Philly and Haddington Rec Center to spend so much of his break lacing up his Converse high-tops on D.C. playgrounds was a huge stamp of approval for the ball being played in the nation’s capital. And for Baylor.

“In the summer of 1957, Wilt Chamberlain came to Washington, D.C., on the promise he’d get to play Elgin Baylor on the playground.

A few hours after Dave Harris and Chamberlain hit D.C., the shiny Olds, with its top down, pulled over on 49th Street NE, beneath the fenced-in court on the hill at Kelly Miller playground. Baylor was already there.

KELLY MILLER DID NOT SIT ON A HILL / IT SAT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS 49TH STREET!

And they played. Over several weeks, Chamberlain, a Philadelphia kid and the first 7-footer who mattered, scrimmaged Baylor on his home blacktop, just as the local phenom was introducing playground flair to the hoops realm. Chamberlain would return to D.C. a year later for an encore of their pickup games, shortly after which both he and Baylor would turn pro and put up numbers that will be drooled over for as long as the game is played — 61,798 points, 41,024 rebounds, and 24 NBA All-Star Game appearances between them.

But, before any of that, there was this street ball series for the ages.

Chamberlain and Baylor went at it in five-on-five encounters on various D.C. playgrounds around town. The city’s top young black ballplayers played alongside the headliners, making for an ungodly assemblage of future NBA first-round picks, NCAA tournament MVPs, and Hall of Famers. Flash mobs created entirely via analog social media appeared wherever Chamberlain and Baylor played.

NOT TRUE: THERE WAS NO STREET BALL SERIES AND THE ONLY PRO SPORTS HOPEFULS AND POTENTIAL HALL OF FAME PLAYERS ON THE BASKETBALL COURT THAT DAY WAS WILLIE JONES AND WILLIE WOOD. THERE WAS NOTHING RESEMBLING A FLASH MOB!

“It was people hanging on the fences, on the rooftops, everybody there to watch Elgin and Wilt,” says Ernie Dunston, who in 1957 was a sophomore at Spingarn High School, and who would later follow fellow Spingarn alum Baylor to Seattle University.

TRUE: ERNIE DUNSTON WAS A SOPHOMORE AT SPINGARN AND PLAYED ON THE JAY-VEE TEAM. SPINGARN VARSITY BASKETBALL AND KELLY MILLER PLAYGROUND WERE MY DOMAINS. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO CLAIM THEY WERE IN ATTENDANCE AND HUNDREDS CLAIM THEY PLAYED IN THE GAME-I WAS ON THE SIDELINE WHERE I BELONGED! 

No newspapers reported on these Eisenhower-era faceoffs. No movies or photos of the action are known to exist, and, obviously, no box scores of their pickup games were ever kept.

Baylor was as careless a caretaker of his legend as he’s ever been. What should be a fantastical chapter of basketball lore has never gotten any attention from anybody other than the now sixty- and seventy somethings who had a hand in it. And, if left up to Baylor, the games would remain in obscurity.

THE TRUTH BE TOLD ELGIN AND WILT WOULD HAVE PREFERRED PLAYING IN A GYM WITH DAVE AS THE ONLY SPECTATOR.

THE REAL NB G-O-A-T-S

DAVE HARRIS, ELGIN BAYLOR-WILT CHAMBERLAIN-WILLIE WOOD AND MAURY WILLS TOGETHER AGAIN-THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!

Before he became Big Man On Campus–there was Sandy Freeman and Bob Grier.

Sandy Freeman is a native Washingtonian and one the greatest all-around athletes ever produced in the DC Public Schools. When we talk about 3 lettermen in high school our thoughts go too, football, baseball and basketball, Sandy excelled in all three.

The reason he was not a 4 letterman, boxing was not considered a high school sport. Sandy was one of the most respected athletes to ever play on a DC playground basketball court. There were few if any fights on the Brown basketball courts.

I remember when I banished Big John Thompson to go sit on the hill outside the Brown basketball court. I had chosen him to be on my FIVE. He stood in the neighborhood of 6’10 and I needed a rebounder–I was the shooter! The rules–you lose you sit on the hill and watch. I was not ready to lose.

For some odd reason Big John thought he was playground basketball legend “Willie Jones”, and started to take jump shots! I called time-out and banished him to sit on the hill and wait his turn. His bodyguards, Sandy and Bob ‘Batman’ Grier were nowhere in sight!

When Sandy and Batman finally arrived he was allowed back on the court. Big John selected them on his team and our winning streak ended. Free, never said a Word to me regarding Big John, but I got his message loud and clear. I was tired anyway!!!

Free did save me one Sunday from a good ass kicking. My housing project hero and later my Minor League football teammate and coach, the great Earl Richards ran me into the pole. I was about to score the winning basket in a one on one. Free had to jump between us before he had to call an ambulance for me (I was smelling myself).

The Champions Virginia Sailors: Earl Richards standing behind N0. 22–No. 82 HBell

Free never even pretended he knew anything about the boxing ring, but everyone else seem to know! I don’t ever remember Free getting in an argument on the court and I spent a lot of time on his domains, Blow and Brown basketball courts.

During the TRIBUTE OF HONOR & LOVE for Free at the mass of Christian Burial Saint Thomas Moore Catholic Church in Washington, DC, the home going service was one like none I have ever witness.

After the WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE: The Reverend Raymond Moore made a move like I have never seen made in the Catholic Church–it would have made Free proud.

After words of Remembrace from Ollie Johnson-Stacy Robinson-Monk Wilkins and nephew Roland Johnson, Reverend Moore send a shoutout to family and friends in attendance. He asked if there were any more words of Remembrance? The rush to the mic was as if Reverend Moore had said, FREE MONEY!

Reverend Moore gave the speakers a no-time limit–unheard of at any church in the DMV. He waited patiently for each speaker to finish their desertation. I think he was enjoying the words of remembrance as much as we were.

My life long friend, Andrew Johnson, and I sat and smiled. We realized the words of remembrance was coming from a different generation of Sandy Free admirers.

Andy and I have been friends since 12 & under (Parkside vs Langston Terrace), and high school teammates at Spingarn. He was a cop on the beat in the U Street corridor, and Harrison Playground. They were my domains as a youth gang task force member of the DC Department Recreation & Park’s elite Roving leader program.

He retired as a DEA supervisor. He has had my back and others like me in the community and around the World for 50+ years.

We left the church amazed by the great stories told by Ollie, Stacy, Monk and nephew Roland Johnson. The bonus round of remembrance was off the charts delivered by playground legend DeLonte Taylor, and Stanley Carter.

The most hilarious story was delivered by DeLonte. His story: Free threaten to knock out coach George Gibbs of the Old Timers. On a road trip to New York City, Gibbs was ignoring his words of advice.

He kept advising Gibbs to put the hot shooting duo of JoJo Hunter and DeLonte back in the game to protect their lead. Gibbs kept pretending not to hear a word Free was saying. Finally, Free said, “If I come down there and knock you out–you will hear me then.” Those words brought the house down!

Andrew and I left the church realizing that Free had another basketball life after the Blow and Brown basketball courts, Bradbury Heights and the DC Old-Timers–he was still shooting the ball at age 70.

It was a beautiful bright sun shiny day for a homegoing for a true legend. Friends and family gathered out in front of the church for over an hour reminising. We were serenaded by the songs outside of the church by Luther Vandross (A Dance With My Father) and Smokey Robinson (We Are Going to Miss You). Free was listening closely by in a ride fit for a legend.

Horton’s Funeral Director and owner Reds Horton provided the ride that took Free to his final resting place in style.

Before he became “Big Man on Campus” John Thompson is seen talking to a group of kids at one of my annual KIT Toy Parties. Look closely and you will see his son Ronnie under his right elbow.

Big John sits in audience as Dave Bing returns home to honor inner city elementary school basketball team.

Dave Bing and Hillcrest Saturday Program Elementary School Champions.

Sandy Freeman’s Honor Guards

Monk-Keith-Thurmond-Stanley-HB-Andrew-Ollie & Wine / kneeling Maurice

Spingarn High School All-American-San Francisco University All-American and No. 1 draft choice of the Boston Celtics. Ollie was a protege of Sandy Freeman.

Playground basketball legend Stacy Robinson made his basketball bones at Harrison Playground, and at the Hillcrest Saturday Program. This was long before Sandy, Bradbury Heights and the DC Old Timers.

Top Tier: Michael ‘Tank’Peters & Stacy Robinson / L-R Michael Gee-Johnny Robinson & Tyrone Shorter

Dunbar High School All-Met No. 12 Stacy Robinson

Sandy was truly the GODFATHER of playground basketball and I was an eyewitness. RIP my brother.

Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit OCTOBER 24, 2023

‘FOOL, THIS IS THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD’

David Aldridge/The Athletic October 29, 2021

D. C. broadcaster Harold Bell’s memorable interview with Muhammad Ali

ALI & FOREMAN: THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE ZAIRE, AFRICA SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 1974

Harold Bell, in his eighth decade, continues to lead a unique life. The longtime DC broadcaster and community leader, who was the first black to host and produce a daily sports talk show in the city in the early 70s, and who was on air in town for decades, still does a weekly show on YouTube that runs the gamut from sports to politics. He still gives honest, unvarnished opinions on the people and issues of the day. Bell’s Kids In Trouble campaign raised money and had annual Christmas toy drives for thousands of needy youth in the DMV (1968-2013) without grants or loans. And, this month, he’s part of the retrospective surrounding the Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the late, great Muhammad Ali.

Ken Burns’ daughter Sara and son-in-law, David participate in panel discussion with MPT moderator Charles Robinson and guest Harold Bell.

Bell not only knew Ali well, but wound up getting one of the most converted interviews with the champ, immediately after Ali’s iconic defeat of George Foreman-the “Rumble in the Jungle”-in Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1974. Saturday marks the 47th anniversary of that upset, which ended with an eighth-round knockout of the previously undefeated champion by then -32-year-old Ali, a prohibitive underdog going into the fight. But Ali got Foreman to punch himself out with his infamous “Rope-a-Dope” strategy, leaving the exhausted Foreman unable to get up after an Ali flurry in the last 30 seconds of the eighth round put him on the cavas.

Bell, met Ali in 1967 on the campus of Howard University, he was working as a Roving Leader for the Department of Recreation and Parks. Ali gave him his first post-fight interview after returning stateside from Zaire to Bell- which became a half-hour special on NBC affiliate in town, WRC-TV 4. It was the first prime-time sports special in history produced and hosted by a Black man.

Ali befriended many writers and broadcasters over the years, of all races, most notably Howard Cosell of ABC Sports, whose public defense of Ali’s refusal to serve in the U. S. military because of his religious beliefs as a practicing Muslim was controversial and vital at the time. Bell’s friendship with Ali took him all over the country as Ali trained for his fights. “I never heard him say a discouraging word about a white person,” Bell says of Ali today. “He has never talked about hating white people. He protected Angelo Dundee, Gene Kilroy and he loved Bert Sugar.” He was flawed, but he was still one of the most unique and caring human beings I have ever met. I am just privileged and honored he chose me as a friend.

Bell has held onto the interview for the last four-decades, rebuffing efforts from the likes of HBO, Burns, Daymond John from the TV show “Shark Tank”, CAA (Creative Artist Agency) and Don King.

The fast talking and known scammer King mailed him a $10,000 check, saying, “Promises made, promises kept.” He waited for King to come to DC for a boxing promotion and gave the check back to him. King, had hired Bell’s younger brother William as his photographer, he took the photo of the transfer of the check.

Bell, received a Pioneer Award from the National Association of Black Journalists’ Sports Task Force in 2020. He is looking into making the interview available via other platforms. “I am getting calls from all over the world about this one of a kind interview,” he says.

Nation Association of Black Journalist 2020 pioneer honorees, Lee Elder (Golf)-Ozzie Newsome (NFL)-Harold Bell (Sports Media) and Kristi Toliver (WNBA). Narrators: Dave Aldridge-Ray Richardson and Ron Thomas.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST MEET ALI?

I left Winston Salem State before graduation (Bighouse Gaines and the school saved his life). He decided to chase his NFL dreams instead of a college degree. Bell ended up in Charleston, West Virginia playing minor-league football for the Charleston Rockets. He got cut without dropping a pass. He remembered there were several passes thrown over his head and behind him. He said, “I guess they thought I should have caught those passes too.” Disappointed, he took the bus home to D. C.

He returned home and connected with old friends, Petey Greene and Marvin Gaye. They met in front of the landmark Howard Theater one weekend night. Petey had gone to jail instead of college and Marvin joined the Air Force. The three of them stood on the corner trying to figure out their next move in their hometown without a degree that has been mistaken for opening the doors to success in Black America.

Bell remembers Marvin, making up his mind fast and in a hurry. He said, “I am getting out of DC.” Bell and Petey both looked at him and asked the same question, “Where are you going man?” His response, “I don’t know, but I am getting the hell out of this town!” The three of them shook hands, hugged and Marvin was gone.

Petey and Bell hung out for a little while longer and called it a night. Petey asked Bell if he was really looking for work-he said, “Hell yes!” Petey, told Bell to meet him at 10th and U Streets Monday morning at 8:00 am at the United Planning Organization (UPO). There might be some work for him.

Monday morning Bell met Petey at UPO, he was introduced to the CEO Mr. Jim Banks. He was hired as a Neighborhood Worker, two days later H. Rap Brown was hired to join him and Petey. They were the trouble-shooters for the Cardozo/Shaw Community. Their domains would be the schools, playgrounds and DC Superior Court.

In 1967 Bell would join the D. C. Department of Recreation and Parks, elite Roving Leader Program. The jobs were similar, with the exception the Roving Leaders were assigned to work with youth gangs and at-risk children throughout the city.

After he joined the D. C. Recreation Department (1967). Bell and Petey stayed in touch and would meet at Ben’s Chili Bowl regularly for lunch. One day Petey came in and told Bell that Muhammad Ali was on the campus of Howard University. Bell said, “Lets go what are we waiting for?” Petey said, “I have a meeting with Mr. Banks, I cannot hangout.” Bell said, “See you later.”

When Bell arrived on campus, he saw folks hanging out around the Administration Building. As he got closer, there was Muhammad Ali surrounded by what seem like hundreds of students laughing and giggling. Ali had their undivided attention. He was talking about racism and why he was not going to join the U. S. Army, mainly because, “Them Vietcong ain’t never called me nigger.”

Bell eased his way up through the crowd until he was almost nose to nose with the champ. Ali paid him no attention–he had the students begging for more.

It was a beautiful day to be hanging out, finally after about 30 more minutes of American racial history, Ali called it a day. He made a request for someone to show him around the campus, hopefully a pretty coed.

Before one of the pretty little girls could respond, Bell grabbed him by his hand and said, “follow me.” The next thing Bell knew, he had Ali by his arm leading him off campus to the Georgia Avenue corridor.

Ali did not complain, because the pretty little girls were following them. When they got further down the avenue and walking by the Wonder Bread Company, Bell turned to look behind them and it looked like a Ali was leading a parade. Folks were blowing their horns and women were stopping their cars in the middle of the street and getting out to run over for a hug or touch–it was crazy. Ali loved his people.

Bell said, when he got down to 7th and T streets he was taking him to Sam K’s Record Shop to introduce him to Sam, but before he could get him there, Harvey Cooper aka “Oldest Teenager” jumps in front of Ali and starts to throw phantom punches at the champ. The champ accommodates him for about 60 seconds-everybody laughs. Sam K comes over and Bell introduce the two legends. Bell says, “I will never forget that day, it will always be etched in my mind. The day, I first met Ali on the campus of Howard University.”

WHEN DID YOU SEE HIM NEXT?

I did not see the champ again-until 1972. That was a great year, I became the first Black to host and produce my own radio sports talk show in Washington, D. C.

The Inside Sports tag was given to me by my wife Hattie at the dinner table the evening, it wasthe day before his radio debut. Inside Sports changed the way we talk and report sports in America. Bell, left Petey Greene and Bobby “The Burner” Bennett talk shows at WOL and found a new home at W-O-O-K Radio 1450 on the AM dial, thanks to his childhood friend, the legendary DJ, John Edwards aka “Terrible Turk.”

Ali and Bell would meet again in Cleveland in 1972 thanks to JD Beathea a sports columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper. I heard he and Harry Barnett a white attorney and a graduate of the Howard University Law School. Barnett, also represented George Foreman.

Their favorite place to hangout was “Billy Edwards Boxing Gym” located on the corner of 9th and S streets, NW. One evening Barnett and Beathea were talking about driving to Cleveland for a charitable boxing exhibition featuring Muhammad Ali. That was all I had to hear was the name, Muhammad Ali. I hitched a ride with them after clearing it with my wife.

Bell, remembers arriving in Cleveland, walking into the hotel lobby and there was Muhammad Ali holding court again, but this time it was not with a group of college students, it was with a group of reporters hanging on his every word.

They tried to ease their way around the group heading to the front desk to register for their rooms, but Ali spots Bell, and yells, “Harold Bell what are you doing this far away from home?” Bell says, “I almost fell to the floor. I had not seen him in 5 years and he makes me, The Chosen One.”

It was there in Cleveland Bell would meet Ali Boxing Royalty, the champ’s brother, Rahman Ali, R & B legend, Lloyd Price, Boxing Historian, Bert Sugar and the man who called himself “King”, Don King!”

Against everyone’s wishes, Ali crowded King, the first Black promoter in the history of the sports’ flawed history. King would be right at home. He was an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY THIEF-he stole from everybody!

Ali was in Washington, DC in 1975, he was in town to be honored by the DC Chamber of Commerce as its “ATHLETE OF THE CENTURY!” Bell was his caretaker for the weekend.

After he picked up the champion and his side-girlfriend Veronica at National Airport. He got them settled in separate rooms at the Sheraton Hotel. Bell, spend several quiet hours with the champ in his room. He questioned why he was was carrying a briefcase of cash around with him. How did Bell know about the cash in the brief case? He said, “It was the same briefcase Ali had when he arrived in New York City from Zaire. The same briefcase he went to get a one-hundred dollar bill out for him in 1974 after their interview in New York City.”

Ali, opened the briefcase in the hotel room and said, “I brought the cash with me from Zaire, because I did not want King to steal it. I give the money to folks who need it.”

Ali, later accused King, publicly of stealing one-million dollars of his 5 million dollar purse. The champ told Bell, “King was the biggest mistake I ever made in boxing. Lloyd Price would echo the same cry!”

This is the email I received from R & B legend Lloyd Price on New Year’s Day in 2021 telling me to stay away from Don King. King reneged on a promised partnership with Lloyd. King’s net worth 300 million. Lloyd Price died May 2021.

This charade with King reminds me of something Ali’s business manager Gene Kilroy once said to me. He said, “Harold Bell, if you played the game, you would be a millionaire and they would have been calling Howard Cosell the black Harold Bell!” My response, ‘Ali never told me I had to play the game.‘

The next morning after the exhibition fight in Cleveland, JD Beathea decided to write a story on the first black boxing promoter, Don King. I was invited to breakfast by JD to sit in for an introduction to King (it was called networking). King shown up with Connie Harper. It was here King said, “Harold Bell stick with me baby, we are going places!”

King, never fooled me, when he came to New York City to set up office space for Don King Productions, he brought his right hand lady with him, the late Connie Harper. She knew his DNA and shared it with me.

It was the summer of 1973 when I called Don at his new office in the Big Apple. Connie answered the phone. I told her I would like to make an appointment to meet with DK aka Don King when his busy schedule allowed. She said no problem and that she remembered meeting me at breakfast in Cleveland.

Several days later I took a train to New York City to meet with the man who called himself, King!

I arrived by cab to his office for a 3:00 pm meeting. He was nowhere to be found. Connie said he was not answering his phone. It would 5:00 pm when he came through the door apologizing for his tardiness.

No problem, the two hours I spend with Connie were the best two-hours of my sports media career. The 411 and 101 lessons she taught me regarding DK can never be measured.

The most important lesson she taught me, was not to take any money from DK I did not earn, if I did he was going to treat me like a HOE! She was right on time and on the money!

I learn one lesson on my own–not to laugh at some of his dumb ass jokes. But still I supported him on Inside Sports, and the columns I wrote in the Afro-American and New Amsterdam newspapers.

There was very little choice, on the other side of the boxing landscape, there was Bob Arum, Lou Duvall, or Mike Trainer. I was left with playing the “Race Card” with a bigger racist than all of them–Don King. Connie, taught me when to hold them and when to fold them!

Playing fair was not in Don King’s extensive vocabulary, but I decided to rolled the dice with him. Going in I knew “The House always won.”

Being in the corner of DK was like playing Russian Roulette, but there I was on national television on the Geraldo Rivera talk show defending DK’s right to steal from his fighters. The opposition was, Rivera, the late Bert Sugar and award winning journalist, the late Jack Newfield. Newfield was the author of the 1995 journalistic masterpiece “The Life and Crimes of Don King–The Shame of Boxing in America.

THE MAN WHO COULD HAVE BEEN KING–BOXING PROMOTER DON KING CHOSE TO BE A THIEF.

Who ever said, crime does not pay, never met Don King. As they say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

First, In 1972 I was there for the Children’s Hospital benefit scam in Cleveland when King convinced his friend Lloyd Price to introduce him to Muhammad Ali. Lloyd help convince Ali to come to Cleveland to fight in an exhibition to save a hospital for sick children. The hospital was in the process of declaring bankruptcy-DK was the promoter. His scheme was to make Ali his meal ticket to fame and fortune.

When the exhibition was over and the smoke had cleared. It was reported the boxing exhibition raised in the neighborhood of $80,000, DK gave the hospital $15,000!

The champion boxers who have been victimized by King reads like a Who’s Who; Tim Whiterspoon, Larry Holmes, Terry Norris, Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Muhammad Ali, and on and on. He settled most law suites out of court.

The million he stole from Ali, King send a friend of the champ’s to a hospital with $50,000 in cash. Ali was lying in a hospital bed dead broke, and with the cash the friend brought a message from King. He told Ali if he did not take the cash, he would have him in court forever and a day. Ali, took the $50,000.

Mike Tyson claimed, King and his homeboys stole $100 million from him. Tyson and King settled out of court for a reported $14 million dollars. After each transaction, Don King cried out, “Only in America.” Don King has no shame!

I could see he was becoming suspicious of me, I never accepted the meal tickets, hotel rooms, the perks he passed out to the media who kissed his jackass. In Las Vegas, Bert Sugar and Howie Evans (sports editor for the New York Amsterdam newspaper) let me share their room.

Access to press credentials for Don King fights became a hassle for me to obtain. His all white PR team would claim they never received my credential request. Fight time, he would hide out in a different hotel or trailer. His son Carl or friend Aaron Snowell would tell me where he was hiding out. I would confront him and he would lie saying, “Harold baby, I have nothing to do with the distribution of press credentials!” I would then be approved for credentials in the nose bleed section in the arena.

He had the nerve to not approve me for press credentials in DC my hometown. PR man in-charge Charlie Brotman apologized to me–I knew almost everyone taking tickets at the door at the DC Armory. The look on his face when I appeared on press row shaking hands with Lloyd Price and Kenny Gamble (Philly Sound). I gave him a ‘Thumps up,’ and hollered “Only in America Baby.” Priceless!

THE MEDIA LEGENDS OF BOXING AND THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR.

WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT IN THE INTERVIEW?

We talked about the state of Black America and racism unlike anything in our life time. The state of young people and the crime and gun violence in our community. He talk about the definition of friendship and how important it was for us to speak truth to power. He talked about how important Black women are in our lives. We talked about the influence of our parents, and how at the end of his career he wanted to be a minister in the Nation of Islam and travel all over the world to bring peace. All the things we talked about are still relevant today as we head into 2024. It’s only two minutes of the interview where he talks about the difference between a fighter and a boxer. 

The interview was one of a kind and it was very inspiring. This was the first interview ever in his boxing career, he allowed anyone to interview him with marks on his pretty face (black eye). This was the first exclusive interview in the history of the sport an undisputed heavyweight champion allowed a black journalist to interview him one on one. Ali has done thousands of interviews around the world, he has never promoted an on air radio or television personality, the exception-Harold Bell and Inside Sports.

DID YOU SEE ALI AGAIN AFTER THE INTERVIEW?

The D.C. Chamber of Commerce names him the Athlete of the Century (in November, 1975). James Denson was the (executive vice president) of the Chamber of Commerce. So James Denson calls me and says ‘Harold, your man is coming to town; we’re honoring him. I’d like you to pick him up at the airport. You can take my car.’ I say okay. So I take the car, go out to the airport. And I can’t find this fool. And so I see Veronica (Porche’, who would become Ali’s third wife). I had never met her, but I knew who she was from the newspapers. And I introduced myself to her and said ‘where is he?’ She points over to the baggage area. He’s over there doing magic tricks, signing autographs. I stand up on a chair and say ‘hey, Champ, this is Harold Bell; come on, man, we’ve gotta go.’ He ain’t even look at me. He said ‘Harold Bell, cool it – I’ll get there when I get there.’ So I sit there with Veronica, and we wait about another half hour.

I took them to the Sheraton Hotel, took Veronica to one room, took Ali to another room. He’s still married (to his second wife at the time, Belinda), but I don’t know what that’s all about. … we must have spent three hours together. I said ‘Champ, I’ve got to go get Hattie, man, so she can get dressed and we can come back for the tribute.’ He said okay. So I went and got Hattie and came back, and we sat at the table with my mother-in-law, Veronica, Happy Myles and his wife Barbra. Mayor (Walter) Washington is presenting Ali with a big plaque, as Athlete of the Century. He stops Mayor Washington in mid-sentence. He says ‘hold it, hold it, Mr. Mayor. Do you know Harold Bell?’ Hattie started looking at me. I said ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’

Ali says again, ‘do you know Harold Bell? Harold, stand up.’ I stood up. And the Mayor’s looking out, trying to find me. He finds me. And he says ‘yeah, I know Harold Bell; who don’t know Harold Bell?’ And he said ‘let me tell you something, Mr. Mayor. That man is my friend. And I don’t want anything to happen to Harold Bell on your watch. Because if anything happens to Harold Bell, you’re going to have to pay.’ He said ‘do you understand, Mr. Mayor?’ The Mayor said ‘yeah, Champ, I understand.’ He said, ‘you know what? You’re not as dumb as you look.’ And the crowd fell out laughing. Hattie said she felt like crawling under the table. I was standing clapping. Only Muhammad Ali could get away with something like that.

I would see Mayor Washington the following summer at the Bannecker Playground located directly across the street from Howard University. We would take a photo with some youth on the playground. As he was leaving, he turned to me and said, “Tell my main man Ali, the next time he is in town to give me a call.” We both laughed.

All forgiven-Mayor Washington and me hanging on the playground out with some youth in DC.

If you ever met Ali, there was one great thing about him, he could make you smile and laugh!

COMMENTS FROM THE ATHLETIC:Mike L Oct 29, 2021 WOW / Charles S Oct 29, 2021 Great article and great read. / Eric F Oct 29, 2023 This is the content I subscribed for. Great read. The World could sure use Ali around. Man I sure miss that guy. / Jim J Nov 8, 2021 Dave, of all the amazing articles of yours I’ve read this is hands down the best. / Nelson B Oct 30 Says a lot about the man when he gave Harold Bell the first interview just like he promised. / Tom M Oct 30, 2021 Love the story. Ali was so much fun. You can’t make this stuff up.

Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit SEPTEMBER 30, 2023

EYE WITNESS NEWS: IN 2023 AMERICA IS SEPARATE AND STILL UNEQUAL!

70 YEARS (1954) AFTER BROWN VERSUS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION WAS HEARD IN THE SUPREME COURT AND SEGREGATED SCHOOLS WERE OUTLAWED IN AMERICA–POLITICIANS HAVE SINCE SUCCESSFULLY TURNED BACK THE CLOCK—WITH THE HELP OF A FEW SPOOKS THAT ARE SITTING BEHIND THE DOOR. THIS IS PERSONAL WITH ME, SERVERAL OF MY FRIENDS AND MENTORS WERE INVOLVED IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR AN EQUAL EDUCATION-THEY WERE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!

Hattie and I visit President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in 1969

My friend and Spingarn High School basketball teammate Spotswood Bolling was a plaintiff in the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling. Spotswood is seen celebrating with his mother at their home in SE DC. In 1954 he was a student attending Sousa Middle School at the time of the ruling.  He was later invited to the White House to meet with Vice-President Richard Nixon.

I remember we were in high school during basketball practice when I told him I had met Vice-President Richard Nixon and I had become his caddy on the weekends. Spotswood dribbled around me and said, (paraphasing), “Been there and done that!”

This leads me back to segregated schools, Roe vs Wade, voting rights for Black America being attacked by politicians nation wide (redistricting), and Critical Race Theory.

Spotswood, US Marshall/Judge, Luke C. Moore and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall must be turning over in their graves, to know that politicians have successfully turned back the clock when it comes to the quiet return of segregated schools in America. 

It all comes down to, “Who Can You Trust on Capitol Hill” and you can also add, “Who can you trust on the Supreme Court?” Trump has made Black Americans, “Damage Goods” with his recent appointments!

As I write this blog the politicians are 24 hours away from shutting down the government. As they shut down the government, millions of American citizens will be out of work, including military personel around the world. But guess who won’t be missing a meal or a paycheck? The working stiffs on Capitol Hill! They will ride, or fly away to their villars in the suburbs and have no problem leaving everyone else behind (strike was averted in last minute).

Let us not forget their history during difficult times, especially, their colleague like former Congressman William Jeffereson (D-Louisanna). It was on August 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson’s home in Northeast Washington as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office. The FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food.

Next door in Prince Georges County former County Executive Jack Johnson was also arrested for taking brides. In a raid on his home no money was found hidden in his freezer, but thousands of dollars were found hidden in his wife Lesley”s bloomers ($76,600)! May 17, 2011, Johnson pleaded guilty to extortion and witness-and evidence-tampering. He served most of his seven-year and three-month sentence at the Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution. His wife Lesley served one-year in jail for witness and evidence tampering. Proving crime does pay–she ran for office on the PG City County and won in 2010.

Recently, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey took accepting brides to a new level, when the FBI raided his home and found gold bars and a stash of cash ($500,00) hidden in his suit pockets. Menendez explained, the money was drawn from his personal bank account in case of a family emergency. The gold bars and brand new Mercedes Benz in his driveway, he never explained.

In the meantime, the American Black Farmers were once promised 40 Acres and a Mule, are now being held hostage by Tom Vilsack and the Agriculture Department. Vilsack refuses to allocate over 5.1 billion dollars or funds necessary under the America Rescue Plan Act, approved by President Joe Biden to help Black Farmers to save their farms. Something is wrong with this picture!

In 1954 Thurgood Marshall was the lead attorney who argued the case of segregated schools in the Supreme Court and won. 

My friend and mentor Luke C. Moore was the US Marshall-In Charge during that turbulent period in American History.  This is the same history that Governors, DeSantis in Florida and Youngum in Virginia do not want Black and White children to learn as they lead the charge by implementing Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our schools across America. 

Thurgood Marshall would go on to become a giant for the civil rights and human rights of all Americans. He was appointed Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court in 1967-1991. He died in 1993.

In a interview with Judge Moore on “Inside Sports” he explained what losingThurgood meant to everyone, no matter black or white! He was a champion for all the people. https://studio.youtube.com/video/Fkafk63frbg/edit?o=U

Luke with homeboy, Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton and me.

 Luke was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1955 and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Cobb, Howard & Hayes where he remained until 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Luke Chief United States Marshal for the District of Columbia.   With that appointment Luke became the first African American to serve as Chief Marshal in any Federal District since President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877.  His appointment came just months before the Ole Miss crisis with James Meredith.

In 1967 Luke was assigned by President John F. Kennedy to go to Mississippi to lead a larger contingent of US Marshall, after three attempts by Chief U.S. Marshal J.P. McShane, who led a small contingent of marshals to enroll Meredith, but were blocked by Mississippi politicians and state troopers.

President Kennedy ordered a much larger group of deputy U.S. marshals, a 127 man contingent, to carry out the court order and to protect Meredith.  After Meredith successfully enrolled on October 1, this larger contingent was supervised by U.S. Marshal Luke Moore.

Under orders from President Kennedy, over 300 U.S. Border Patrol agents were made special deputies, bring the total number of federal law enforcement officials to 538.  They were soon tested. 

On October 1, ten days after his admission was first blocked by Mississippi officials, Meredith finally became a student at Ole Miss.  Later that day rioting broke out on the Ole Miss campus.  The marshals and federal troops were called up to restore order.  By the time the violence ended two men were killed including a French journalist and 28 deputy marshals were wounded by gunfire.

Following the initial confrontation, US Marshall Luke Moore was assigned to work directly under Chief Marshal McShane and U, S Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Luke, supervised, coordinated and monitored the U.S. Marshal’s activity in Oxford.  In his supervisory capacity Luke traveled to Oxford on numerous occasions although few knew of his role and his visits at the time.

Luke was not the only African American Marshal involved in the Ole Miss integration.  Black deputy U.S marshals were not allowed to participate in the initial integration confrontation but soon afterwards they became a regular part of the Meredith security detail.  The Kennedy Administration did not send those same US Marshals in September and October, 1962, he feared that their presence would further inflame the racist crowds opposed to the integration of Ole Miss. 

In this regard the Kennedy Administration was following a precedent established by President Eisenhower during the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when he called out the 101st Airborne to the city to enforce a desegregation order and protect the nine black high school students designated to integrate the school.   Eisenhower ordered that only white soldiers of the unit be sent to Little Rock.

Once Meredith was enrolled, however, African American marshals were assigned to his security detail at Ole Miss.  Eight of these marshals, Richard Kirk Bowden, James Palmer, Howard Riley, Oscar Spearman, Joseph Robinson, Cleveland Braxton, Frank Lamondue, and Braxton Harris, all rotated in and out of Oxford and Jackson along with a much larger contingent of white U.S. deputy marshals in October, November, and December 1962. 

Initially even these federal law enforcement officers were subject to Mississippi segregation.  When they were in Oxford, they were housed by local black beauticians Thelma Boone Price and Cecilia Nelson, who were active in the civil rights movement. By Christmas, 1962, they were accommodated, along with white deputy marshals at the Oxford Holiday Inn.

Luke, remained Chief U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia after President Kennedy’s assassination and through the administration of his successor, President Lyndon Baines Johnson. 

April 4, 1968 will be etched in my memory forever. I remember I was tstanding on the corner of 9th & U Streets NW on a beautiful bright sunshiny day. Standing with me was my co-worker, NFL great, Willie Wood. We were both working for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks’ Roving Leader Program.

During the off-season, Willie would return home and work in the DC Public Schools as a teacher or with the Roving Leader Program. 1968, he chose the Roving Leader Program.

WILLIE WOOD INDUCTION INTO THE NFL HALL OF FAME 1989.

We had just had lunch at the Che Maurice Restaurant and were standing on the corner watching the girls/ladies walk by. Suddenly, a car drove by with a brother they called, “DC’s Oldest Teenager” Harvey Cooper. He yelled, “They just shot Dr. King in Memphis”, before we could comprehend what he had just said, they drove off.

Willie and I were left standing there trying to figure what Harvey had just said! People started to come out of the stores and restaurants, screaming, “Dr. King had been shot in Memphis”, no one knew his condition. Willie suggested we call the Roving Leader Office for further instructions.

As we started to walk down the U Street corridor, Luke Moore joined us and we walked shoulder to shoulder until we got to Ben’s Chili Bowl. There we spotted Ben, Carlton Snipes, Duke and several other businessmen standingout front. Luke, left Willie and I to see what was going.

He returned and said, “President Nixon has ordered all businesses to shutdown.” This was according to DC Mayor Walter Washington.

I called Stanley Anderson, the Director of the Roving Leader Program and was told, Assisstant Chief of the DC police Department, Tighman O’Bryant wanted to see me at the 4th District Police HQ. O’Bryant was the highest ranking black on the department in1968.

When I arrived at the V Street NW HQ I was directed to rollcall downstairs. I walked in and O’Bryant called me over and introduced me to the officers all standing at attention. He pulled out a police badge and swore me in–no gun! The badge would allow me to bypass the police and military barricades.

The next three days and three nights were a living hell, until I met FBI undercover agent Wayne Davis. Wayne would later become one of the FBI’s earliest and most respected Black executives. During his career he led the FBI Detroit Office and several other field offices. We hit it off right away. He was a New Jersey guy from Newark. He was an outstanding college basketball player at the University of Connecticut.

We became great friends and after he retired, he made several guest apperances on Inside Sports.

If DC Mayor Barry had left his ego in Facess Restaurant the night I warned him the FBI was coming after him, “The Bitch Would Have Never Set Him Up.” Wayne, told me to warn him.

FBI Director Wayne Davis and me at the Detroit FBI HQ.

We attended the Thomas Hearns vs Pipino Cuevas title fight on August 2, 1980 at the Joe Louis Arena. The HIT MAN won his first world title with a vicious knockout of Mexican power puncher Cuevas. Wayne died at age of 81 in 2020–a brother truly gone too soon.

In 1969 Luke was reappointed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.  Three years later President Richard Nixon appointed him to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Luke, remained on the bench until his retirement in 1987.

During his tenure on the bench EQUAL JUSTICE was not just a ralling cry it was found in DC Superior Courtrooms. There was Chief Judge Harold Greene, judges, Harry T. Alexander, Ted Newman, Henry Kennedy, Jr. and Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton. In Maryland, William Missouri (Upper Marlboro), and Alex Williams, (Md, Federal Judge) were the Gatekeepers. All followed Luke in support of my non-profit Kids In Trouble, Inc. endeavors. Luke died at the age of 70–another brother gone to soon!

Luke introduces KIT Santa’s Helpers, Roy Jefferson (NFL), Ted Newman and Henry Kennedy, Jr. at the Foxtrappe Annual Christmas toy party. Henry met his wife Altomise at one of the parties.

Thurgood Marshall-Luke Moore-Spotswood Bolling-Willie Wood-Wayne Davis-Eddie Slaughter all warriors in the struggle for a piece of the American Pie!

FOOTNOTE: IN MEMORY OF EDDIE SLAUGHTER

Black Farmer, Eddie Slaughter died suddenly on Wednesday after decades of fighting for the Black Farmer. I met Eddie through my high school teammate and Black Farmer spokesperson, Lawrence Lucas via podcast and occassional telephone conversations where he would explain the plight of the Black Farmer. He was a humble and gracious black man. Eddie was 72 years old. Join Corey Lea, Michael Stovall and other black farmers in Atlanta on December 9th. Show up and show out in memory of Eddie.

This outing will not be read in the Washington Post, or heard on the Joe Madison Sirious XM or Roland Martin Podcasts. Eddie Slaughter, longtime advocate for Black farmers, dies – Center for Public Integrity

harold bell is a pioneer in sports talk radio. His Inside Sports talk show format changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond. He can be reached at 240-705-3447Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

40 ACRES AND A MULE: THE BLACK FARMER AND COLBY KING!

Corey Lea-The Black Farmer

Michael Stovall-The Black Farmer

Colby King Black spokesperson for Joe Biden via Washingon Post

The phrase “40 acres and a mule” has come to symbolize the broken promise that America’s policies offer economic justice for African Americans. Full reparations for Black America will never happen.

The 1% will never give up Power or Money. For example, paid in full to the ancestors of the slave trade, today’s fair market price for Forty-Acres and a Mule, 6.4 trillion-dollars!

‎I met Colby King in the 1990s after he joined the Washington Post commentary staff after leaving Riggs Bank where he was a vice-president. He was later named deputy-editor of the editorial page. He was a mentor and once wrote a $5,000 check for my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble.

During my career in sports media I have had some great mentors when it comes to the written word, to include, Ms. Frances Murphy (Afro-American), George Solomon (Washington Post), Bert Sugar (Boxing Historian), Jim Vance (WRC TV 4), Howie Evans (NY Amsterdam) and Bill Raspberry (Washington Post).

I have wrtten several freelance sports and commentary columns for the Washington Post. Thanks to George Solomon and Colby King. I met Washington Post owner Donald Graham when he was a young cop on the streets of DC. We broke bread a couple of times.

King is a native Washingtonian, a graduate of Dunbar High School and Howard University. According to his introduction for the Pulitzer Prize, he was known for his against-the-grain columns that spoke to people in power with ferocity and wisdom!

On Thursday September 14th I received an email from Corey Lea, it was an update on his latest legal Merry-Go-Round with the America’s court system on behalf of the Black Farmer. The American Courts are well known for Justice & Just-Us system of law when it comes to Black America!

In the email Corey described how the Biden White House-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack administration conspired with private banks to take Black farmers land.

Right away Colby King came to mind, his background in banking and his commentaries on Saturdays in the Washington Post might help shed a little light on this charade and fraud of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Man, I dialed a wrong number when I referred Corey to Colby!

Somewhere in the 2,000s after winning The Pulitzer Prize, it sounds like King got lost in the shuffle according to his commentary on President Joe Biden on Saturday September 16, 2023.

King’s commentary two days after I referred Corey to him sadden and disappointed me to no end.

Corey, Michael Stovall, Wayman Hinson, and I have had conversations relating to the Black Farmer down through the years. I met them through spokesperson, Washington, DC native, and my Spingarn high school teammate, Lawrence Lucas. We all have been in the struggle for decades.

Lawrence Lucas spokesperson for the Black Farmer and member of the Spingarn football team in 1967. He is standing on the left in the back row. I am standing on the right back row.

During those conversations as it related to the White House and the Black Farmer, I have never heard them call out Joe Biden for being too old to be President–NEVER! Biden is younger than Lucas and I.

Colby King’s commentary was based on Biden being too old to be President! Not once did he mention the plight of the Black Farmer. I would hate to think King is practicing Critical Race Theory.

Corey Lea invited King to give him a call if he needs clarification–I told Corey not to hold his breath.

In the meantime, there seems to be a divide between Corey Lea and Michael Stovall. They are now in two different camps. Corey is fighting the battle of the Black Farmer through the court system where he has received alledged Debt Relief but no monetary award from the Department of Agriculture to the tune of $250,000. Michael Stovall has received two settlements from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for $250,000 for a total of $500.000. When settlements like Stovall’s are refused by Vilsack, he passes them on to the DOJ.

Vilsack refuses to provide administrated hearings to contest alledged debts of black farmers. However, he pays the USDA for accrued interest on the inflation reduction act.

The accrued interest is prohibited until the administrative complaints are resolved pursuant to the 2008 farm bill and Pigford Settlement agreement is settled.

Stovall has teamed up Lawrence Lucas and they have taken their fight for the Black Farmer to social media, and to the streets with marches and boycotts.

This looks like the “Old Divide & Conquer” used by our enemies and develops into, “He says and she says!” There is no love–and hate becomes the bottom line.

Since I am a eyewitness to this struggle there has been a revolving door. It has become difficult to know who is on First?

The Stovall Team was once, Congressmen Corey Booker, Rafel Warnock, Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren–have all flown the coop!

I watched a recent Podcast narrated by Lawrence Lucas, it looks and sounds like their latest savior is Presidential candidate, Dr. Cornell West. He is running on the GREEN PARTY TICKET and could very well be a thorn in the side of the Biden campaign. The thing only that can save Biden, no one wants Trump.

Biden’s support of Vilsack denying the Black Farmer Debt Relief could bite him in his jackass.

Bill Raspberry was from Mississippi when he landed his teletypist job with the Washington Post in 1962. His first beat assignment was “The Potomac Watch.” He would rise through the ranks according to the Washington Post for his “Fiercely independent views illuminated conflicts related to race and poverty.” Raspberry won a Pulitzer Prize.

King and Raspberry had nothing in common except they both were columnist for the Washington Post and Pulitzer Prize winners. Bill was down to earth and King was a snob.

King knew absolutely nothing about the streets and the poor side of town (Simple City, Potomac Gardens, Barry Farms, Anacostia, Mayfair/Parkside, Langston Terrace, etc). Raspberry followed my lead in the inner-city.

I met Raspberry in 1966 at the favorite hangout of the in-crowd in Washington, DC, Faces Restaurant located on the upper NW corridor of Georgia Avenue.

Legendary radio personality Petey Greene and I were working for the self-help group, the United Planning Organization. We were hired as Neighborhood Workers in 1965.

Petey and I would meet for lunch on Fridays at Face’s for the best fried fish and chicken in the city. On this particular Friday I was running a little late. I found Petey sitting at the bar. He had already ordered my fish lunch and he had my favorite ice tea sitting there waiting for me.

One of the hot topics during that Friday was the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins were heading to Dallas for their usual showdown. Petey pretended to hate the Redskins for the sake of an augument. He gave the Redskins no chance of winning and I disagreed.

There was a guy sitting three or four seats to our right we had never seen in Faces before. Petey, looked at him and asked, “My man who do you like?”

The brother didn’t miss a beat, his response, “I am from Mississippi and I have no clude!” Petey, looked at me and said, “Harold Bell, hit the bama with the hammer.” The guy just smiled, but Petey gave him the blues for not being aware of the rivary beween the Redskins and the Cowboys.

He finally introduced himself as Bill Raspberry and he worked for the Washington Post. Petey, looked at him and asked, “Doing what?” His next question, “What paper route do you serve?”

Let the show began. Petey, had the Raspberry laughing so hard, he had to excuse himself and go to the bathroom.

He came back to the bar and introduced himself as a writer for the Washington Post. He later told me me, Petey almost made him pee on himself. This was the beginning of a great friendship. On Fridays, Raspberry would join us for fish or chicken at Faces.

I would start hanging out at the Washington Post with Raspberry. He would introduce me to sports editor, George Solomon and sports writer, Dave Dupree. George, would later become my mentor.

Petey, had a talk show on Sundays on W-O-L Radio, “Petey Greene’s Washington.” He was the talk of the town. He gave me 5 minutes to talk sports every Sunday. After he had done his homework, I had Raspberry call in one Sunday to talk Redskin football.

He would become a supporter of all my community endeavors, Kids In Trouble Christmas Toy Parties, Thanksgiving baskets, community day outings, celebrity fashion shows, tennis tournaments, etc.

SGT. EARL K. BELL WENT FROM A MILITARY COP TO DC COP-THE PLANTATION MENTALITY REMAINED THE SAME!

My younger brother Earl K. Bell aka Bull Bell decided he had enough of racism in the U. S. Army after two tours. He decided to bring his two children and wife back home to the U. S. to escape the blatant racism found in Mannheim, Germany.

He had an unblemish service record. He was a Staff Sergeant on the base Military Police, starting fullback on the base football team, Heavyweight Boxing Champion, table Tennis champion and volunteered as a softball umpire.

When racism raised its ugly head in downtown Mannheim at off-base night clubs, black soldiers turned to him for advice. He led them downtown to a nightclub that had policies of “No Blacks allowed”! 

He was confronted by his co-workers U. S. Army MPs who were sent there to enforce the peace. His actions did not sit well with U. S. Army brass. He was all set to sign for a third tour, but decided to separate from a racist Army and return home to DC.

Some how Jet Magazine got hold of our stories, Earl confronting racism in Germany and his big brother having lunch with an alledged racist President at the White House, Richard Nixon. I kept it moving.

Earl once home applied for the DC Police Department and discovered racism was just not confined to Mannheim, Germany. He passed the physical and scored high on the written exam, but he received a letter from black Assistant Chief Maurice Turner a hometown boy, the letter said, he was ineligible because of his previous juvenile record.

There were laws on the books stating that a juvenile’s record could not be held against him in a Civil Service appointment.

I called Raspberry and explained to him there was a problem in the DC Police Department personnel office relating to my brother’s employment. His response, “I will check it out and get back to you!”

Ollie Johnson in background with ball while Dewey Hughes, Bill Raspberry, and I look for a ball of our own. The ocassion a celebrity basketball outing against the Washington Redskins at the Georgetown University Gym.

Three days later my brother received a letter from Turner saying, “We apologize Mr. Bell it was all a mistake”. Thirteen years as a DC cop–the Thin Blue Line and Code of Silence ended his career in 1984.

Sgt. Bell was disciplined after an abusive Lieutenant stepped on his foot while wearing shower shows in the 7th District Station. The Lieutenant was knocked out with one punch. When the air had cleared Sgt. Bell was lett hanging despite several officers willing to testify on his behalf. Several months later he was was taken off the streets and assigned to the Police & Fire Clinic in SE DC.

The first morning of his new assignment he met a 16 wheeler on a icy Southern Avenue and Suitland Parkway overpass-the 16 wheeler won.

Washington Post columnist Dorothy Gilliam picked up the baton and kept the legacy of Sgt. Earl K. Bell alive. Cops were wall to wall in the reception room of the hospital. They came in all colors, shapes and forms to show their respect for the MAN they called “Sgt. Bull Bell!”

Raspberry joins Fatty Taylor (NBA)-Larry Brown (NFL)-Petey Greene and HB for Community Day at the Kids In Trouble Hillcrest Saturday Program.

DC Recreation Department Director, Joe Cole-Bill Raspberry and Carlton Snipes (U Street Mayor) thank everyone for their participation.

Washington Post columnist, Bill Raspberry expose police union for breaking the truce between youth and Officer Friendly cops in the inner-city. A peace that had taken years to cultivate.

Officer Friendly, Charles Robinson and I have a friendly encounter in “The Hood” with Ricky Dargin and Kirby Burkes.

This brings me full circle back to Black Farm Leader Corey Lea and Washington Post Editorial columnist, Colby King.

On September 12, 2023 I received an email from Corey Lea regarding the Biden White House and Agriculture Secretary,Tom Vilsack who was trying to destroy the Black Farmer. Along with Vilsack, BlacK leadership has kicked the Black Farmer so far to the back of the bus there is an overload. Rosa Parks can’t find a seat.

Politicians, Corey Booker (D-NJ) once a Presidential candidate and Rafel Warnock (D-Ga.) a benefactor of the black vote in a recent run-off election. They were what was once thought to be die-hard supporters have all but disappered without a trace from the Black Farmer landscape.

These two brothers are in Washington, DC this weekend (September 21st thru the 24th) to celebrate the annual Congressional Black Caucus Weekend. They will be singing our decades old theme song, “We Shall Overcome”, with added lyrics, “There is a party over here and there is a party over there!”

Michael Stovall and spokesperson, Lawrence Lucas, don’t seem to know “Who’s on First Base” and whether or not it will take a base hit, stolen base, sacrifice fly, walk or error to reach second base. Their relief pitcher President Biden is in the White House–its the blind leading the blind.

In the meantime, neither of the three are in Washington, DC to confront Booker, Warnock or members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to ask the question–“Why is there no support for the Black Farmer?”

The according to the latest statistics, MVP Vilsack is pitching a shutout, no-hitter and blocking home plate-No body is on First Base!

FOOTNOTE: In March, it will be 3 years and Biden-Vilsack has yet to deliver pandemic relief to Black farmers. On this same weekend, the Congressional Black Caucus is partying it up in DC while Black farmers may not get relief and ultimately not get crops in the ground in 2024. Biden-Vilsack are enriching White farmers at the moment so they will be able to buy the foreclosed farms that once belonged to Black farmers. This is a reality! Black America’s allegiance to the Democratic Party will be put to the test in the Polls in 2024. This is a personal hell for Black farmers to have Biden in the White House!!!!

REACHING ACROSS THE ISLE BLACK-WHITE-DEMOCRAT-REPUBLICAN FOR THE KIDS

THEY NEVER ASKED ME IF I WAS A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT!

LONNIE TAYLOR-THE FIRST BLACK CHIEF OF STAFF FOR A WHITE CONGRESSMAN ON CAPITOL HILL. HE WAS AN INNER-CITY KID WHO NEVER FORGOT!

“EVERY BLACK YOU SEE IS NOT YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER & EVERY WHITE FACE YOU SEE IS NOT YOUR ENEMY!”Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

BRAD GILBERT: COCO GAUFF HITS THE JACKPOT!

Brad Gilbert is old school. He was born in Oakland, California and if you ever met him, you would notice he is down to earth and there is nothing pretenious about him.

I met Brad through my long time friend and tennis junkie, LaMont Penry. LaMont has been a main stay at the tennis courts located at 16th and Colorado Avenue, NW in Washington, DC for the past several decades as a Chair Umpire and a Professional Line Umpire

Lamont has since become an International Line Oficial who has worked the Olympics, Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Laver Cup. He has traveled the World, from 16th street, to the U. S. Open to the games at Wimbledon, in Paris, France.

LaMONT AT WORK AT THE U. S. OPEN AS A LINE JUDGE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON RAFAEL NADAL

I had been participating and covering at what was once The Evening Star Tennis Tournament at the 16th street tennis courts since 1968. In 1967 I was the legendary comedian Petey Greene’s sidekick on his talk show–Petey Geene’s Washington. The show was heard on W-O-L Radio every Sunday evening.

He gave me 5 minutes to talk sports, Redskins, Bullets and Nats. We had a lot of fun for a couple of years. In 1970 he got tired of me and told to get my own show. ]

I switched to W-O-L and the popular DJ Bobby “The Mighty Burner” Bennett in the same building. One year later in 1972 I moved my sports talk show to W-O-O-K Radio1450 on the AM dial in NE Washington, DC.

It was here I took sports talk to another level, thanks to program manager, Carl Fergerson and popular DJ John “Terrible Turk” Edwards, a life time friend.

Inside Sports would become my tag and my Brand. It was during dinner the night before my debut show my wife Hattie gave me the tag Inside Sports, it would change the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond. Sports and political formats were unhear of in the 70s.

One evening after my show, Carl Fergerson brought to my attention that pro tennis was on the menu for the weekend at the Carter Baron Theater on 16th Street NW.

It was called The Evening Star Tennis Tournament. The headliners were Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors, two high profile rivals. The tournament sounded like somewhere I needed to be.

When I arrived I saw Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors sitting around in an open outdoor tent waiting for their next match. Out of nowhere, I was approached by a gentleman who thought I was lost and asked if he could help me? I did noticed that Ashe and I were the only black faces under the tent.

I told him I was Harold Bell and I was there to cover the tournament. He introduced himself as Charlie Brotman. He was the Press Relations Director for the tournament and for me to make myself at home.

Arthur Ashe was sitting nearby and I went over to introduce myself to him. We shook hands and it went downhill from there. I told him I was a sports talk show host here in DC and I was wondering if he could be a guest on my show? He said, “No” and walked away. So much for Brotherly Love in the Nation’s Capitol!

Suddenly, there was a voice from a nearby table saying, “Sir, I will be on your show.” It was Jimmy Connors.

I went over and sat down and I introduced myself. He wanted to know if we could do the show by telephone? I said, “Yes.” I gave him the time I would be on the air (3 pm) on Sunday and the number to the show.

He didn’t make any promises and said, he would have to check the schedule for Sunday and if he was free, he would call.

On Sunday, I was good because I had the legendary Godfather of the NBA, Red Auerbach and his wife Dotie in studio as my co-host. Red was a big tennis fan, but I did not utter a word to him that Jimmy Connors might be calling in.

Around 3:15 pm Red and I are talking DC playground basketball, when Carl Fergerson bangs on the studio window with a sign reading, “Jimmy Connors on line 2.” I whisper to Red, Jimmy Connors is calling into the show. He says nothing, I click on line 2 and I say, “Hey Jimmy, thanks for calling in.”

Dotie and Red Auerbach smile as we welcome Jimmy Connors to Inside Sports

Jimmy respones, “Hey Harold, I told you if I could break free I would call.” Red almost choked on his cigar and said, “What a surprise!” Jimmy hung in there with us for at least 20 minutes. That was my introduction to pro tennis–I got over the Ashe snub and kept it moving.

photo by don baker

12 YEAR-OLD JOSEPH BAKER AND FORMER NBA PLAYER ADRIAN BRANCH JOIN ME AND RED FOR A INSIDE SPORTS CELRBRITY TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN ANACOSTIA PARK IN SOUTH EAST DC.

I called Henry Kennedy Sr. my partner in all my community endeavors to tell him about having Jimmy Connors’ surprise visit on Inside Sports.

He laughed and said, “I am not surprised, I know Jimmy, his agent and his mother! Jimmy is a Mommy’s Boy. Let me know when you need him again and I will get him for you.” Small World!

This brings me back to Brad Gilbert and LaMont Penry. LaMont and I would become great friends and he would introduce me to the players when an opportunity presented it self. Most important, he made it possible for me to expose my Kids In Trouble program participants to another World. A World that would enhance their opportunities to dream for a better tomorrow.

I brought to LaMont’s attention that there were certain PR folks who were blocking me from getting interviews with James Blake and other high profile players. When Coco made her first appearance in DC those same PR types again refused me press credentials.

LaMont would introduce me to Brad in the early 90s before he became the coach for the great Andre Agassi. By 1994 Andre was red hot and the No. 1 Men’s Player in the World.

On Andre’s next visit to 16th street, Brad made sure I had excess and James Blake followed Andre’s lead.

After Andre had defeated Blake in the semi-finals of the tournament, I interviewed both players at the press conference open to all the media. Brad made sure I got a chance for a few private minutes to discuss the contributions of the great Arthur Ashe. The contributions that benefited both men and women in today’s tennis World. https://studio.youtube.com/video/6gRvsK87kh0/edit?o=U

ANDRE AND I TALK ABOUT THE GREAT CONTRIBUTIONS OF ARTHUR ASHE

When I say, Coco Gauff hit the jackpot, it means she can count on Brad being transparent, truthful and honest as he has been during his entire career as a player and Coach.

COACH BRAD GILBERT AND COCO GAUFF THE NEW SHERIFF IN TENNIS

Coco’s acceptance speech was from the heart when she said, “Honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me…two weeks ago, I won a 1000 title (in Cincinnati) and people were saying that was the biggest it was going to get,” three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now.“

John McEnroe’s respones was a foul no matter the game you played. He said, “I have a hard time believing her claim about her doubters. One reason is because of her young age (being young does not make you a liar).

I heard Coco talking about the people who were writing her off and saying that she was never going to win a major. Who were those people?

I’m not familiar with those people because I think her progress has been steady. It has been really positive, and she was in the final of the French. Okay, so there were a couple of stumbling blocks along the way, but I don’t think anyone didn’t think she was going to win a bunch of majors.”

One reason McEnroe is not familiar with “THOSE PEOPLE” is because he never had to walk in her parents or Coco’s shoes! He and his brother Patrick came from a DIFFERENT WORLD of “White Privilege.”

The player haters and envy and jealous people who were claiming she would never become the player she is now. My advice, ignore them, they will go back in the closet and wait for her to fail. Her winning is like krytonite and the closet is their only defense.

Brad has been hitting home runs right out of the box as a tennis coach. First, with Andre Agassi, Andy Rodick and now Coco Gauff. No surprise envy and jealousy has surfaced among his peers.

If Coco follows Brad and her parent’s lead and leave the McEnroes and his kind locked in the closet, her winning attitude will be more important than any game she wins.

Just think if Arthur Ashe had acted like the idiot McEnroe was, there would be no Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U. S. Open.

NIKE STORE MANAGER LAURA HANES AND I VISIT THE CAPITOL HILL OFFICE OF CONGRESSMAN WALTER FAUNTROY TO GIFT HIM SOME NIKE RUNNIG SHOES AND APPARELL FOR HIS NEXT CAMPAIGN RUN.

I met McEnroe in 1978 in Washington, DC when I was the first Nike Shoe rep on the East Coast.

One of McEnroe’s first visits after signing a Nike Shoe contract was to the Nation’s Capitol for a promo visit at the Nike store on M Street in Georgetown.

Former Boston Celtic and NBA Hall of Fame great, the late Sam Jones was also a Nike rep working with me on the day McEnroe arrived. He was aloof and had very little personality. Forty-five years later, he is who Sam and I thought he was.

OLD SCHOOL TEACHING NEW SCHOOL–NIKE REP AND NBA GREAT SAM JONES AND I HOST A NIKE BASKETBALL CLINIC FOR NEW SCHOOL AT DREW ELEMENTARY IN NW WASHINGTON, DC

Brad has always been a “Class Act!” He has never been a mediorce human being and he was not a mediocre player. He was no John McEnroe, but I would jump over 10 McEnroes to get to one Brad Gilbert.

As a professional tennis player Brad won 20 pro singles tournaments during his career, adding three doubles titles. His best world ranking was #4, which he achieved in January 1990. His best finish at a Grand Slam singles were quarter-final appearances at the US Open in 1987 and at Wimbledon in 1990.

His best year on tour was 1989 when he won five singles titles, and claimed wins over four future Hall of Famers – Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Boris Becker, and Stefan Edberg. Those were no Howdy Doody tennis players.

Coco’s parents will never have to worry about Brad leading their daughter down the wrong path and giving her bad advice–what they see is what they will get with Brad Gilbert.

Let me say this again, “Every Black Face you see is not your brother or sister–And every White face you see is not your enemy!”

U. S. OPEN MENS’ SINGLES WINNER, THE GREAT NOVAK DJOKOVIC IS ANOTHER CLASS ACT. HE PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS FRIEND, THE LATE NBA GREAT–KOBE BRYANT.

harold bell–is a radio sports talk show pioneer. His work with at-risk children and youth gangs in DC is legendary. He can be reached at 240-705-3447Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit SEPTEMBER 4, 2023

PHILLY OLD SCHOOL TAKING NEW SCHOOL TO SCHOOL!

MURAL-MURAL ON THE WALL WALI JONES WAS THE MOST DESERVING OF THEM ALL.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/sports/nba/philadelphia-76ers/mural-sixer-wali-jones/3609259/

Wali watches as his Philadelphia 76er teammate Billy Cunningham and his father “Pop Jones” lend a helping hand to a neighborhood kid–helping him to reach his goal.

Wali making children really FIRST!

“Pop Jones” is 106 years young–the 81 years young Wali Jones says, “He is my hero and I don’t make a move without him. He still inspires me to be all that I can be and more.”

The City of Philadelphia is known as the City of Brotherly love. I met the great legendary Johnny Sample when I was a high school student at Spingarn High School in NE DC in the late 50s. My older brother Bobby was a student/athlete (baseball) attending Maryland State on the Eastern Shore.

I was holding my own as an all-around athlete at Spingarn playing football-basketball and baseball. I thought I was the straw that stirred the drink and then I met the man, they called “Redball.”

One weekend Bobby was home for the weekend from his studies at Maryland State. He invited me to ride to Cardozo High School in NW DC to watch the Maryland State football team play Howard University.

During the ride to the game he could not stop talking about his baseball teammate, Johnny Sample. You would have thought this brother was Superman and he walked on water.

We took our seats in the stands and watched the two teams warm up. My brother pointed out Johnny to me and told me to keep my eyes on him during the game.

The first thing I notice, he wore no shoulder pads and it looked like he wore no thigh or knee pads. When the game started, that was how he lined up behind the quarterback with just a uniform, helmet and football cleats (I think).

When the game ended he had scored four touchdowns and had run/jogged a mile through the Howard University football team. It was like watching a man against little boys. This was my intro to “Redball.”

My brother took me down to the field when the game ended and officially introduced me to “Super Man.” He had not broken a sweat on a bright sun shiny day and he wore no shoulder, thigh or knee pads.

My brother must have told him about my exploits on the football field, the first thing he asked me, “Are you andy good”, my response, “Not as good as you!” We became great friends years later.

Johnny was originally from Tide Water, Virginia, where he was a great all-around high school athlete, but adopted Philly as his home after college. He played basketball in the Sonny Hill/John Chaney Baker League with Wilt Chamberlain, Earl Monroe, Wali and all the other playground greats.

Johnny was a respected and top rated AAU tennis player and pro tennis referee. His youth tennis programs were No. 1 in the city and it benefited hundreds of inner-city children.

His no holds barred sports talk radio show was one of a kind in Philly. He copied my format–sports and politics. ESPN recently cancelled all political discussions on the network. Another example in sports talk radio today–if you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen!

https://studio.youtube.com/video/wzY5Mki8OVE/edit?o=U / Johnny and Jim Brown go one on one.

The Philly Connection: WR Roy Jefferson (Pittsburg Steelers)-Willie Wood (NFL great and the first black WFL Head Coach of the Phila. Bell)-Sonny Hill (The Philly Playground Commissioner) and Johnny Sample, NFL All-Pro corner back (The only player in pro football history to play on two World Football Championship teams).

Philly Mayor Wilson Goode, Sonny Hill (mentor) and I on a tour of the city’s playgrounds

WALI JONES AND I ATTEND THE SONNY HILL/JOHN CHANEY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT IN PHILLY.

The trailblazing playground format was the first basketbal clinic experience for my DC based Kids In Trouble program.

It was our first travel to a basketball clinic outside of the city. Dave Bing/Howie Lang and Bighouse Gaines/Earl Monroe clinics would follow.

When I attend high school and family reunions today, those clinics are still talked about with adults who were participants in my Kids In Trouble program.

Last year I lost one of my favorites to a dump truck accident while he was riding his bike in the wee hours of the morning in downtown DC. Michael “Gee” Gordon would always like to tell me how he went one on one with ‘The Pearl’ on the campus of Winston-Salem State in Winston-Salem, NC–those were the days.

The late Michael ‘Gee’ Gordon (fist in the air) remembered Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe.

Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Bighouse Gaines attend one of my annual Inside Sports Celebrity Fashion Shows in DC (the first of its kind in sports media).

The Dave Bing/Howie Lang clinic in the Poconos Moutains was a great experience for my high school All-Stars.

Wali was always a class act during those early days. He had a hic-cup here and there like we all do, but he managed to stay above the fray of the naysayers and backstabbers. When it came to his support for Kids In Trouble and my traiblazing Inside Sports talk radio show-he was always just a telephone call away. His support never wavered.

In our last telephone conversation, I told him how proud I was to be his friend. His response was typical Wali Jones, “Harold Bell you are family. You are in that Mural on the Wall.”Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit AUGUST 29, 2023

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE GAME CALLED LIFE-EARL TILDON 101!

LEBRON JAMES MEETS THE PRESS FOR DAMAGE CONTROL FOR THE “I PROMISE MIDDLE SCHOOL”, HE SUPPORTS THE SCHOOL FINANCIALLY IN HIS HOMETOWN OF CLEVELAND.

Children around the country are heading back to school to face the same old problems they left there in June 2023 and some new and added problems–Critical Race Theory and Transgender bathrooms!

In Cleveland, Ohio “The King” LeBron James has a math and reading problem at his school of “I Promise.”

No members of I Promise’s inaugural class have passed the math portion of Ohio’s proficiency test since the school opened. Just 3.1% of the school’s sixth grade class demonstrated proficiency in English language arts in 2021-22, and none achieved math proficiency.

The report could be misleading because of the pandemic. See the full story at the link below. https://www.complex.com/sports/a/tracewilliamcowen/lebron-james-i-promise-school-low-test-scores

In the meantime, here in DMV there are not enough teachers to teach and not enough drivers to drive, all want a slary increase!

In Howard County, Md. one school district, children were left with little or no transportation. Officials claim that there was a bottleneck as 200 buses tried to leave the lot at the same time-sounds like boycott!

In most school districts they are still trying to figure out a way to keep our children safe from the evils that lurk, inside and outside of the schools! The see through book bags to deter bringing guns into the schools have been almost non-existence.

I will never forget the Dinner Party in 2016, my wife Hattie and I were sitting around a table discussing a Donald Trump White House with several other dinner guest, very little has changed in 2023.

We are still talking about a Donald Trump White House or could it be a Donald Trump-Jail House!

One brother, a Ph.D. from a prestigious Ivy League School and a CEO, decided to explain the problem that we are now facing in Black America as it related to our schools.

The problem, he said, “It started with teachers and community activists.  What is a kid going to learn from someone who decided his or her best option in life was to become a teacher or community activist?”  

You could hear folks around the table take a deep breath!

He went on to remind us what they say about teachers:  “Those who can, do.  Those who can’t, teach.”

To my surprise he turned to me, and said, “Harold you are a community activist and youth advocate,  be honest, what do you make as a Historian at Ben’s Chili Bowl? 

My response should have been, “A half-smoke with Chili!”

I have been known to call them like I see them.  Instead, I replied, “Ben’s Chili Bowl could never pay me what I am worth.  Do you really want to know what I make?

MONTGOMERY COUNTY MOTORCYCLE COPS JOIN ME FOR LUNCH AT BEN’S CHILI BOWL.

“First, I have gone where there were no paths in community involvement by pro athletes, politicians, entertainers and law-enforcement (Officer Friendly). I used my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports radio talk show formats and made a trail for the NBA-NFL and MLB to follow. 

THE INSIDE SPORTS FORMAT CHANGED THE WAY WE TALK AND REPORT SPORTS IN AMERICA.

A SPORTS & POLITICS FORMAT WERE UNHEARD OF ON RADIO AND TELEVISION IN THE 70s.

ESPN RECENTLY BARRED REPORTERS FROM DICUSSING POLITICS ON THE NETWORK.

In the meantime, I made kids believe that if a knucklehead like me from a NE housing project could sit on a mountaintop with The Greatest, Muhammad Ali, and have lunch at the White House with President Richard M. Nixon of the United States of America—so could they.

PAT PATTERSON HAS OUR BACKS WHILE THE GREATEST AND ME CONDUCT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE MOUNTAIN TOP.

SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM ROGERS LOOKS ON WHILE PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON WELCOMES HATTIE T AND ME TO THE WHITE HOUSE.

I made kids excel in the classroom.  I made C students feel like they just won the Congressional Medal of Honor and a B and an A were in their future.

I made them feel they were the best when they took the field in sports.  I taught them sportsmanship and made them respect each other.  I taught them that losing a game was not the end of the world.

I taught them there will always be a game the next day or the next week.

I made young athletes understand, that the most important game being played was not football-basketball or baseball.  It is the Game Called Life and their life did matter. 

I made kids understand that every black face they saw was not their brother or sister, and every white face they saw was not their enemy.

I made kids do one hundred sit-ups and one hundred jumping jacks when they didn’t follow the rules.  I made them understand there are consequences when they didn’t follow the rules.

I made kids believe their heroes were not athletes, entertainers, or drug pushers.  Their heroes are their parents and teachers.

In 2007 I saved a young austic girl who had fallen or was pushed on to the subway tracks at Potomic Avenue Station in SE DC. I pulled her off the tracks as a subway train was approaching the station. I made the rescue look like a walk in the park. I was scared to death. I was soaking wet after the rescue. I think I had peed on my self.

HATTIE AND I ARE HONORED WITH A CERTIFICATE FROM THE METRO GENERAL MANGER JOHN CATEO.

I made a young man like Lonnie Taylor growing up in the inner-city believe he could become the first black Chief of Staff for a white Congressman on Capitol Hill.

I helped prepare Dave Bing to survive the wars of the NBA on the playgrounds of DC.  He would later become, the Mayor of Detroit.

BING NBA SCORING LEADER TO THE NBA HALL OF FAME

BING PRESENTS ME WITH A COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD

THE ROUNDBALL REPORT THE PG COUNTY TELEVISION BASKETBALL SHOW WITH ESPN ANALYST CHRISTIE WINTERS-SCOTT AND MONICA McNUTT-THEIR NBA CREDENTIALS VIA INSIDE SPORTS.

I helped make Cathy Hughes a radio and television personality by becoming a mentor to her son, Alfred Liggins. He became a benefactor of Kids In Trouble my non-profit organization. He participated in the John Chaney/Sonny Hill and Bighouse Gaines/Earl Monroe basketball camps in Philadephia and Winston-Salem, NC respectively. He and his mother were gifted with Nike apparel during her days as a receptionist for WHUR Radio. Not to mention the gifts given to her by Larry Brown and Earl Monroe.

WHUR RADIO: CATHY HUGHES AND ALFRED LIGGINS

NFL FILMS VIDEO TAPE NFL PLAYERS

RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton are teaching water safety to inner-city kids at the Hillcrest Saturday Program. A year earlier I had saved an 8 year old boy I found lying on the bottom of the pool. This was the first ever NFL video promo seen on national television in 1972.

I helped make Sugar Ray Leonard believe he could become a World Boxing Champion when others had forgot. He became the first in the history of the sport to earn over one hundred million dollars in prize money. 

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN SUGAR RAY LEONARD MADE CHILDREN FIRST.

I helped make BET comedian Chris Thomas “The Mayor of Rap City.”  I provided him with his first Comic Relief platform on Inside Sports. Chris was on WYCB Radio with me when Sugar Ray beat Wilfred Benetiz for his first title. Ray called in LIVE on Inside Sports to thank me for my support. He said, “Harold I am the Welterweight Champion of the World tonight, because you were there when no one else was.”

CHRIS THOMAS BEFORE HE BECAME “THE MAYOR OF BET”– INSIDE SPORTS WAS HIS PLATFORM.

I helped to make gospel singer Robin Sugar Williams believe she could become somebody and sing at the White House for the President of the United States and around the World.

ROBIN-FOZIE-UNKNOWN SANTA AND HB. SANTA’S HELPERS FOR ANNUAL KIT TOY PARTY.

I helped mentee Omar Tyree to become a best-selling author for the NY Times.  He penned “Flyy Girls and Marion Barry: Mayor For Life.”

AUTHOR COOL HAND LUKE OMAR TYREE–WATCH OUT HOLLYWOOD.

I used Inside Sports to help Georgetown basketball Coach John Thompson to promote his team when he had a difficult time winning a game. The GT play by play games were heard on W-O-OK Radio. He later became the first black to win a NCAA Division One title. I introduced him to Nike and he became a millionaire. 

JOHN THOMPSON IS SANTA’S HELPER DURING ANNUAL KIDS IN TROUBLE CHRISTMAS TOY PARTY.

When I was the East Coast Nike Rep, Howard White participated in my community endeavors until he hooked on with Michael Jordan. He was recently featured in the movie “Air” based on Michael Jordan’s legacy as the face of Nike. Actor/Comedian Chris Tucker plays White in the movie.

HOWARD WHITE KNEELING ON RIGHT AS A PARTICIPANT IN THE INSIDE SPORTS & KIT CELEBRITY TENNIS TOURNAMENT–ANACOSTIA PARK IN SE DC. HE HAS NOT BEEN SEEN SINCE.

When others had forgotten their sucess. I paid tribute to pioneering Ohio State first black QB, Cornelius Greene and his DC teammates, Woodrow Roach and Lenny Willis at the Shorham Hotel. Joining them were legendary Coach Woody Haynes and two time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

OHIO STATE: COACH WOODY HAYNES-QB CORNELIUS GREENE-RB WOODROW ROACH-RB ARCHIE GRIFFIN-RB LENNY WILLIS AND HBELL. TRIBUTE AT THE SHORHAM HOTEL IN WASHINGTON, DC.

I guided QB Doug Williams through the community as he guided the Washington Redskins to the 1988 NFL Super Bowl. He became the first black QB to win a Super Bowl and the MVP.

HB-HATTIE T & QB DOUG WILLIAMS

When the NFL and the NBA “Blackballed” the great Willie Wood and pioneer Earl Lloyd and forgot their contributions to the pro sports franchises–I made them remember. 

GREEN BAY PACKER GREAT WILLIE WOOD WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NFL HALL OF FAME IN 1989. EARL LLOYD WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NBA HALL OF FAME IN 2003.

ALEXANDRIA YOUTH HONOR NBA PIONEER EARL LLOYD IN FRONT HIS STATURE AT THE CHARLES HOUSTON REC CENTER IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA DURING BLACK HISTORY MONTH.

I MADE KIDS BELIEVE THE MOST IMPORTANT HALL OF FAME–IS GO’S.

MR. CEO, THAT IS WHAT I MAKE–I MAKE A DIFFERNCE. WHAT DO YOU MAKE?

FOOTNOTE: WE WILL ALL KNOW THE MOMENT WHEN AMERICA DECIDES TO REALLY MAKE CHILDREN FIRST-EVERY SCHOOL BUS IN AMERICA WILL HAVE SEAT BELTS!

THIS PAGE IS IN HONOR OF MY MENTOR AND COUSIN DC NATIVE, EARL TILDON. HE RECENTLY WENT HOME TO BE WITH THE LORD- I WISH TO BE THE GREAT WRITER HE WAS. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS WATCHING YOU. RIP BIG BROTHER.

A GRIEVING MOTHER’S TEARS

Author Earl Tildon 1993

Who is Harold Bell?  From where I sit, a man obsessed with youth and children’s plight.  He is a man who walks swiftly away from compromise, aggressively wanting things right.  Who is Harold Bell?  From where I sit, he is an arrogant rebel with youth as his cause.  He keeps raising their issues without fear or pause.

Why does Harold Bell do what he does, and why does he do it his way?  It may be because many others who did it are longer doing it today.  It may be that those who have risen to the heights don’t quite remember any more.  For once they have left the place of their birth they throw away the key that once opened the door.  Harold Bell is no diplomat; perhaps he doesn’t know how the game is played! Perhaps he is naïve to think that “Superstars” are coming back where he stays.  Could it be that it is not vogue to court the poor, or not want a black child to die, or maybe it is politically incorrect to ask the question why?

Maybe Harold Bell speaks up too much, or perhaps he is far too crude.  Or maybe he has spoken out against the establishment, or maybe he has just been rude.  But Harold Bell didn’t invent rudeness nor does he speak as loud as some, for leaders have known through the ages that justice goes to the beating drum.

Harold Bell perhaps understands that silence somehow appears to be consent.  And he knows that our oppressors flourish when our heads and backs are bended.  He also knows that children maybe homeless or parentless or in pain.  He also knows that their need to survive is real and to reach out to our children the World gains.

Thank God Harold Bell has access to the media so that we can read and listen to his candid outspoken word.  Thank God for readers and listeners who understand motivation is what we need.  Thank God for those like Harold Bell, who speak out against “Kids killing kids,” crack, heroin and speed.

It is hard for me to understand why some may dislike Harold Bell!  He is such a nice guy it is hard to believe some would turn him off while little children die.  There may have been a word that even Harold Bell could say that would have caused the listener to save a child along the way.

But such is life we can’t always please, so why expect it of Harold Bell?  He did not create today’s problems and who are we to judge we do so little well?  At least he is study on the course and he is consistent from year to year.  We need more Harold Bells who understand our plight and “A Grieving Mother’s Tears!”Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit AUGUST 19, 2023

JIMMY McPHAIL: ALL THAT JAZZ AND A TEACHER IN THE DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS!

I was sadden to read and see on the news the on-going deteriorating conditions of public school education in Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia aka DMV.

In Prince Georges County, the board of education has been a comedy act of Albert and Costello for decades. It has been “Who’s On First!?” Black children have yet to be on FIRST in America’s education system.

In June 2023, the County Executive Angela Alsobrooks was hear saying, this about the new Superintendent, “Millard House, has experience success in leading diverse school districts, like PGCPS, which led me to chose him to lead PGCPS.” My man ain’t seen DIVERSE until he has seen PG County!

Famous “Last words!” Remember, Juanita Miller, she was appointed to the School Board by County Executive Alsobrooks? That appointment became a power struggle between the board and Ms. Miller.

When they tried to fire Ms. Miller and kick her to the curb, the lady from the Benning Road corridor in NE DC said, “No way Hosea, I ain’t going quietly!”

County Executive Alsobrooks, suddenly distanced herself from her appointment, she saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil as it related to her friend.

If the naysayers and player-haters had done their homework (research) they would have discovered Ms. Miller grew up on the Benning Road corridor in NE D C. She is a graduate of Spingarn High School adjacent to Langston Terrace, the first public housing project in the nation and a tough neighborhood.

Juanita with sister Barbra and brother Maurice Culbreath, walked softly but carried a “Big Stick!”

The Culbreaths learned to stand up for themselves early in The Game Called Life. If they were pushed they pushed back-it was the rules of survival in NE DC.

It was no surprised to me she pushed back from the charade with the board of education. She took a vacation, and went to the Carribean Islands or some other exotic paradise for some RR.

On her return, the dust had cleared, a Maryland administrated judge sent her back to her job on the school board-case closed.

Judge Richard O’Connor recommended that the Prince George’s County school board member should remain on the 14-member board. He wrote, Ms. Miller, did not violate any stature, policy, or bylaw and performed her duties, competently in a distinctly hostile environment.”

Juanita Miller was not giving up her “Night Out With The Girls” with the County Executive easyly!

The outgoing Superintendent, Dr. Monica Goldson spent 32 years in the system as a teacher, principal and Superintendent. She left the job and the children worst than she found them.

The system’s final FY24 budget review submitted to the county council on March 10, 2023 reported a teacher shortage of 1,573. Since then, another 601 educators have left the system. Whichever report you accept means the system needs to fill well over 2,000+ vacancies.

Dr. House has not been on the job a full 90 days and he has already found lies and deceit as it relates to teacher shortage.

He was led to believe the school system was short of 500 teachers, only to discover they are short 2,000+, that has to be a setback for a man going into his first year on the job. The only thing comparable would be a fire truck racing to a 4 alarm fire with no water!

Dr. House, this is a sad welcome to your new job, but be sure to bring your bullet-proof vest and your favorite phychiatrist, you will need both!

By the way, it has gotten more complicated, there has been a cyber attack on 45,000 accounts in your system and I have yet to see a transparent book bags to stifle guns in the schools as advertised.

It is no secret, “The teachers are scare of the principals, the principals are scare of the Superintendent, the Superintendent is scare of the parents, the parents are scare of children and the children ain’t scare of no dam body!”

In Washington, DC 65% of the teachers surveyed said, they are scare of the children and don’t feel protected, 42% said they have been attacked by students, 45% said, they are seriously thinking about leaving the profession all together!

These same stats found in DC, I will bet, similar stats are found in PG County. Birds of a feather flock together.

Homegrown DC cop, Robert Contee (Langston Terrace) took over as chief after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s choice of Peter Newsome went AWOL. Contee didn’t stay around much longer than Newsome, he left, quick and in a hurry for a new job with the FBI. He was rewarded with a higher salary for leaving the DC Police Department like he found it, in the same crime wave. Nobody cares except on payday!

When Contee jumped ship, Mayor Bowser tried to hire acting chief Ashan Benedict, he took a long lunch break and turned the job down.

Bowser then hired the first black female chief in the history of the department when she hired, Pamela A. Smith. Ms. Smith was named the first black woman in the history of the Park Police in 2021.

Ms. Smith retired as chief in 2022 after 25 years with the department. She came out of retirement and joined the DC Police Department as a Deputy Chief for a year. She left that position and join Homeland Security for a year. She then circled back to DC as the chief, that is quiet a Merry-Go-Round! One year and counting?

There are bets in the Bowser administration and among the DC Council, Chief Smith won’t make it to Christmas. Her one-year job cycles leave much to be desired.

According to Washington Post columnist, Courtland Milloy, she is having problems sleeping at nights–that is not a good sign for longivity.

The new chief has yet to be confirmed by the DC City Council and that may be a problem.

A problem only because if you are aware of the strain relationship between the City Council and Mayor Bowser in the past few years–this confirmation is not a slam dunk!

Ms. Smith, it looks like she is in over her head. This would be a difficult job for Superman and Superwoman together. Chief Smith has found herself after each violent crime committed singing the same song as her predesessors, “Could we please get more snitches to help us to help you”

During one press conference, Mayor Bowser decided she wanted to become comedian. She was asked about the rising crime rate among our youth, her response shown exactly what she thought of DC residents during this crime spree, she said, “This ain’t the town of Mayberry!” If it was she would be Barney Fife and that ain’t funny.

Speaking of Deputy Barney Fife in Mayberry, Bowser is in her 3rd campaign of trying to find a chief of police. She will be working on her 4th police chief if Smith does not survive this present crime spree.

In Virginia, the schools are under attack by Governor Glenn Youngkin as he tries to whitewash Black History with his implementation of Critical Race Theory. He wants to make America great again.

In the meantime, a 6 year-old first grader shoots his teacher in Hampton Virginia. The teacher discovered the child has a gun, she alerts the Principal. His advice, “lets wait until after school to search him.”

The teacher, Abigail Zwerner was shot minutes later. She is recovering and suing the school district and counting her blessings she is still alive.

The 6 year-old is with his grandmother and his mother who gave him the gun while on drugs is hopefully on her way to jail. In the meantime, an Assistant Principal and the Superintendent have been fired.

Governor Youngkin, has a proposal on the table suggesting transgender sex bathrooms in our schools. He is getting a lot of push back from parents, teachers, students and politicians.

Teachers are our most important community members, but we don’t want to pay or protect them!

These attacks on teachers and the education system brought to mind a Washington, DC legend and landmark, jazz vocalist Jimmy McPhail.

A recent documentary was shown at the Martin Luther King Library in downtown DC about the life and times of an extradinary school teacher and jazz vocalist, Jimmy McPhail.

The documentary was the brainchild of Executive Producer Larry Law. He is a native Washingtonian and a talented videophotographer.

I knew Mr. McPhail up close and personal. I was trying to go to hell in a hurry at Brown Jr. High School in NE DC. The head man was Principal William B. Stinson. Mr. McPhail was a substitute teacher.

He also presided over “Room 104” a holding pen for all badasses and non-comformers during school hours. If you were late, or a teacher had sent you to the office for disruptive behavior, you were assigned to “Room 104” from 3 pm until 4 pm and Mr. McPhail would lay down the rule of law for Brown Jr. High.

You had two choices, either do your home work or sit quiety for one hour. Mr. McPhail did not play. He was built like an NFL linebacker and we sensed he would blindside us if warranted. It was rumored he had throwed one knucklehead out of the window one evening. We never could confirm it, but the rumor was enough to keep us in our seats.

I hung out with a group of knuckleheads that included Rhoma Battle, Mickey Freeman, Teddy Acherson, Hobo and Jimmy Reid. They were the Langston Terrace crew. I was an outsider from Parkside a housing project on he other side of the river. All of them were so-called tough guys, I was just a wannabe.

They allowed me to hangout with them because I was an athlete. I ran track, played basketball and baseball. I played 12 and under baseball against them for the DC Recreation Department.

Brown was located at the far end of 24th & Benning Road. It was a two block walk from the bus stop every morning, Monday thru Friday to get to the school.

Once I got off the bus, I had to walk past the historical Langston Golf Course, newly built Spingarn High School, Charles Young Elementary, Phelps Vocation High School was hidden behind Charles Young. Brown Junior High was at the end of the road.

I loved that walk pass some of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen, thinking and dreaming one day I would be attending Spingarn for all the wrong reasons, sports and pretty girls.

Not many people realized that “The Hill”was the most unique educational plot of land in America.

I remembered, one cop was assigned to police everything that moved in those two blocks. He had neither, horse, motorcyle, bicycle or car. His two flat feet could outrun any knucklehead who dared to challedge him in a foot race. His name was officer Ray Dixon, he was the first “Officer Friendly” ever assigned to the DC Public Schools. He never fired a shot his entire career on “The Hill”, he was feared. All you had to do was mention his name and the brothers start looking for which direction to run.

Coach William Rountree-Officer Ray Dixon-HBell-Dave Bing-pay tribute to Spingarn Principal Dr. Purvis Williams and his staff. Narrator Marie Primus looks on.  This was a long overdue thank you.

In Appreciation: Tribute to my savior, Spingarn Coach Dave Brown and his family on his retirement.

Mr. McPhail, William B. Stinson, and a Assistant Principal, who I can only remember as “Smiling Jack” and officer Dixon help run a tight ship on “The Hill.”

I had no clue that Mr. McPhail was a legendary jazz singer until it was too late–it was my best moment!

It was during a lunch break, Hobo, Rhoma, Jimmy, Mickey and me were shooting craps in the back of the school lunch room in the alley with a lookout inside. A Wonder Bread truck drove up to the door in the alley. We paid no attention to the truck until Officer Dixon jumped out. It was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide-busted!

All of us were sent home and told not to comeback unless we had our parents with us. My mother had just taken off from work a couple of weeks earlier for me being late two days in a row. I was hanging out in front of Spingarn trying to be a part of the “In-Crowd.”

Every morning just before the 9 am warning bell for class, Officer Dixon would make a clean sweep of the front of the building. It looked like a Ghost Town after he walked through never raising his voice.

There I was looking like a deer caught in headlights runing trying to keep from being late at Brown.

After being sent home by Mr. Stinson I tried to hide out for a couple days at home, but someone snitched on me to my mother and all hell broke loose. It was hard playing hooky from school back in the day.

There was a for real Truant Officer and the nosey ass neighbors–were “The First Neighborhood Watch.”

The next day I had to go to work with my mother to pick up her check. We took the bus back to Brown, the ride seem to last forever and the long walk from Benning Road to the school–did not make my mother a happy camper. This was no where near a win-win situation for me.

While sitting in the Principal’s office waiting for him to get through a meeting with Hobo and his father, guess who pops into the office–Mr. McPhail. He sees my mother and blurts out, “Mattie, what are you doing here and in the same breath says, is that knucklehead Harold Bell your son?”

Talking about a small world. It was his night club, The Gold Room on Bladensburg Road NE, my mother, aunts, and uncles were all hanging out on the weekends. I would no longer be a problem at Brown Jr. High. Mr. McPhail had my number!

photo enhancement by Don Baker

Party Animals Back in the Day: My mother standing in the back row in the center of the picture with pearls around her neck. My aunts, uncles, cousins and neighborhood friendS pose for a photo before heading downtown to Black Broadway/Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room. Watch out DC!

Jimmy McPhail, was not only a teacher he was a legendary blues singer who toured and recorded with jazz greats like Duke Ellington. He also appeared with icon singers like Pearl Bailey, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Josephine Baker. In 1965, he performed in the San Francisco premiere of Duke Ellington’s first “sacred concert,” a program of original religious music. He recorded with Ellington for RCA Victor.

THE DUKE & HIS GREAT BAND

He came into his own as a singer while attending Armstrong High School, where Ellington also had studied. The quartet Mr. McPhail formed there in the 1940s performed at the Cotton Club at 16th Street and Benning Road NE.

In 1950, Mr. McPhail won a talent contest sponsored by radio station WWDC, beating out another singer who was to make a name for herself, the great Shirley Horn. First prize was a week’s engagement at the Howard Theater with Ellington, who asked McPhail to come to New York to perform. He toured and recorded with Duke Ellington.

In 1959, Mr. McPhail bought the Melody Inn, a nightclub on Bladensburg Road NE where he had been performing regularly. He then brought the club and changed the name to, Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room, featuring many of the best-known names in blues and comedy.

Mr. McPhail was a substitute at Brown and McFarland in the early years. He was big on education, while still a student, he was determined to have a separate career as an educator. He went on to graduate from Shaw University in North Carolina, received a master’s degree in education from George Washington University and he did additional graduate work in education at Miner Teachers College.

Mr. McPhail, taught music for 25 years at Elliot Junior High School while making Jimmy McPhail’s Gold Room a hot spot for jazz lovers in DC.

He died a young man in 1998 at the age of 72. He played an important role in my life and thousands of young men and women not only in DC but around the World.

It is often said, “It takes a Village”, I am thankful that Jimmy McPhail was a member of my Village.

photo by photographer Fred Shepard

KIT BACK TO SCHOOL MEETING WITH ALEXANDRIA YOUTH IN FRONT OF EARL LLOYD STATURE

Alexandria City School Board recently appointed Dr. Melanie Kay-Wyatt as ACPS Superintendent. In a nation wide search the board appointed a familiar face with just a couple years experience in the Alexandria School system. Ms. Wyatt will face similar problems as Dr. House in Prince Georges County.

I spend several decades working with the late, Dr. George Logan-El, Lawrence Brown and Michael Johnson of The Untouchables in out of the schools in Alexandria.

I have worked closely with legendary boxer Tony Suggs at the Charles Houston Rec Center for the past couple of decades. He was among the toughest brawlers in boxing in the 1980s. He possessed a right hook so devastating, he knocked out 16 of his final 18 opponents. Tony now works closely with seniors with Parkinson desease teaching a class called Boxercise.

The youth still seek him out for spiriture advice, they know he has been there and done what they are going through.

He thinks the new Superintendent’s top priority will be trying to bring peace to the schools between the Latino Gangs and the differnt Crews of black youth.

There have been some serious after school confrotations between the groups. “Her success will depend on having people around her with good street sense and common sense.”

In closing, I sometimes wonder where and how did we lose all of our great character traits, honesty, integrity, keeping your word and being black and proud, black lives matter, without someone reminding us in a song.

I am missing the “Good Old Days” and I find it hard to imagine that today’s youth will remember, these days as their “Good Old Days”, but they will!

KUDOS: TO COUNTY EXECUTIVE ANGELA ALSOBROOKS NAMING ANTHONY BENNETT AS THE NEW INSPECTOR GENERAL IN CHARGE OF CLEANING OUT BAD COPS IN THE PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT. HOPEFULLY, HE IS IN TIME TO SAVE OFFICER MICHAEL BROWN FROM BEING AMBUSHED ON THE JOB!

NO SURPRISE: BLACK MARYLAND STATE TROOPERS FILED A 40 PAGE LAWSUIT IN U. S. DISTRICT COURT. THE LAWSUIT ALLEGES THE STATE’S LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY HAS A HISTORY OF ENGAGING IN SYSTEMIC DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ITS OFFICERS OF COLOR. THE BEAT GOES ON.Written by hkbell82Leave a comment Posted in UncategorizedEdit

theoriginalinsidesports

If you want to know why Harold Bell is the way he is, start with his heroes, Grandma, Amy Tyler Bell. and his mother, Mattie Bell

Grandma Bell with her grands: clockwise, sisters, Ronnie and Carol-brothers, Harold, Earl, Bobby, and cousin Tommie “Red”

“My grandmother use to tell the grands, ‘A lie will change a thousand times. The truth will never change,” Bell said.

His heroes were black women, not black men. Harold’s sheroes could not hit a baseball out of the park, throw a football 60 yards or hit a jump shot from the corner. All were Super-Stars in “The Game Called Life!’

Harold’s other ‘SHEROES’, mother, Mattie Bell, mother-in-law, Elease Thomas and wife, Hattie T.

“If I leave here today or tomorrow, nobody owes me anything, but the same respect and support I shown them. What I’d like to do is try to pay back some of the people that have helped me to help others.

The naysayers can’t say he stole from kids, did drugs or time in jail.”  Instead of going to jail he helped unfairly incarcerated black men get early releases. 

Bell advocated behind the scenes for the early prison release of friend and DC Community Advocate, Happy Myles. DC playground basketball legends, Bernard Levi and University of Maryland basketball star Jo Jo Hunter were benefactors of his early release campaigns.

Hunter had been convicted in 1997 of robbing two jewelry stores and was sentenced to serve up to 43 years in prison. Bell had several prominent sports stars and other Washingtonians write letters on Hunter’s behalf. He was paroled a summer later after serving eighteen years.  Bell says, “All the credit and glory goes to former Bureau of Prisons Director, Norman Carlson.”  He worked closely with Bell when it came to second chances during the Nixon administration.

The late NFL legend Jim Brown also benefited from his social media and letter-writing campaigns. Bell campaigned for Brown’s early release from jail after charges of spousal abuse in 2007. 

He was flawed like the next man or woman, but black women taught him the best way to live was to lead by example.

For five decades, Bell has told the truth as he saw it, on the airwaves and in print in Washington, D.C. He was the first black sports radio talk show host in DC.

He has been a free-lance writer for the the New Observer, Afro-American, the New York Amsterdam, Washington Post, Washington Times newspapers, and the Bleacher Report. He considers the most powerful vehicle in the media is the written ‘Word’.

He regularly calls out 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.

His work with with youth gangs and at-risk children is legendary. He has held court in Simple City and delivered toys for tots on Christmas in the wee hours of the morning in Potomac Gardens and Barry Farms housing projects.

KIDS IN TROUBLE LOOKING FOR OFFICER FRIENDLY!

1) 

NFL legend the late Jim Brown and Congressman Tom Davis (R-Va) co-host a Kids In Trouble Youth/Police Forum in Washington, DC.

2) Washington Post columnist Pulitzer Prize winner, Bill Raspberry writes, “Youth and Police Break Accord!” Since the 70s and 80s “Officer Friendly” has become a thing of the past.

3) Officer Friendly, Charles Robinson (4th District) and I talk sports on a DC U Street corner with Kirby Burkes and Ricky Dargan.

When the city overlooked the accomplishments of the Ohio State football team, especially its players, pioneering QB Cornelius Greene, and running backs, Lenny Willis and Woodrow Roach, Bell arranged to pay tribute to them at the Shorham Hotel in their hometown of Washington, DC.

Joining the players would be their legendary and controversial coach, Woody Hayes. Archie Griffin their history making running back teammate would join them. He is the only two-time winner of the prestigious Heisman Trophy in the history of college football.

The Honorees & Guest: Archie Griffin-Host HBell-Coach Woody Hayes, Ronnie Watts-Cornelius Greene and Dave Bing.

The late Grambling alumnus Bob Piper, a DC Public High School basketball coach at Western High School, and Grambling Athletic Director, advised AFL/NFL QB Doug Williams to contact Harold Bell when he made his decision to play for the Washington football team. 

Bell led Doug throught the community, while Doug led the Washington football team to Super Bowl XXII. He was named the MVP, and the first Black to win a Super Bowl.

He honored Gary Mays, a multi-sport athlete in D.C. in the 1950s. Gary guarded high school superstar Elgin Baylor in a upset winning play-off game. He held him to 18 points (Baylor average 35 pt). 

Gary was a catcher for Armstrong High School and almost made it to the major leagues despite having only one arm. He was in a major league baseball tryout for locals at old Griffith Stadium, home of Major League Baseball’s Washington Senators. 

Mays was selected as the best player among hundreds of would-be major league players. Gary was the only player to hit a home run out of the stadium and would-be base stealers never advanced beyond first base. No team offered him a contract or a tryout.

ESPN’s Mike Wilbon and Harold share a laugh during tribute to Gary. Harold Bell says, “Gary Mays is probably one of the greatest all-around athlete I have ever been around. His story should be a movie.”

It was Harold Bell who campaigned to get NFL All-Pro Willie Wood and NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd inducted into their hall of fame after they were “Blackballed” by their leagues. Willie was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989 and Earl was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2003.

Congressman John Lewis (D-GA) wrote a letter to Earl Lloyd to let him know he was on board with Red Auerbach, Dick Heller and Kids In Trouble in their efforts to see that he takes his rightfull place in the NBA Hall of Fame sooner than later.

Legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi said, “Willie was my coach on the field.”

Willie joins the late legendary Washington Times sports columnist, Dick Heller and Harold to say, “Thanks” for their campaign to get him inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.

Bell says, Maury Wills revolutionized Major League Baseball in the 1960s. He spent 8+ years playing minor league baseball before being called up by the L. A. Dodgers. Wills, a native Washingtonian was a local hero in the housing project where Bell grew up. All the little guys in the neighborhood looked up to him, including Bell and his younger brother Donald Wills. He was known as Sonny Wills.

Donald and Harold were three-letter athletes at Spingarn High School. They were the quarterback-wide receiver touchdown duo for the football team. Bell telling Wills to “Throw me the dam ball” too much led to him being locked on the school bus at half-time, against next door rival Phelps Vocation High School.

To his surprise, the team won without him, proving he was not as indispensable as he thought. Wills returned a punt for 63 yards to win the game.

There were 13 Wills siblings and all were great all-around athletes including the girls. The older brothers, Guy, Dukey and Bobby were all better baseball players than Maury, accoding to the old-timers.

Maury was a switch-hitter when he arrived in the Major Leagues in 1959 (he hit from both sides of the plate). The time he spend in the minor leagues was not wasted.  He was a master, bunter.

He singled handedly made the homerun obselete as he terrorized opposing catchers. Wills broke Ty Cobbs’ stolen base record of 95 in 1962 in St. Louis. He stole bases 96 and 97 in a 12-2 loss. 

The most bases in one season he would steal, would be 104 in 1962, Lou Brock and Ricky Henderson would all follow his lead. 

Ty Cobb was King of the stolen base before Maury. The story written in the Washington Times by Dick Heller reads, “Maury Wills Ran Ty Cobb out of the record book in 1962”. Wills was named “The Godfather of the Basepaths”

Wills, led the Dodgers to three World Series titles, won 7 stolen base titles, and beat out the great Willie Mays for the MVP in 1962. 

He was the toast of Hollywood–except when it came to voting him into the MLB Baseball Hall of Fame, he was not on the ballot of the baseball writers. 

“Baseball writers vote anonymous, hiding behind anonymity much like the Klu Kux Klan hid behind their hoods and robes when they terrorized black folks in the 1800s. I think they have a problem with the company he kept off the field”, says Bell.

The late Washington Times sports columnist Dick Heller and Bell started a campaign to get him inducted, but Maury had a problem staying focus.

In Washington, DC across the street from Howard University on Georgia Avenue, NW, there is a baseball field named in his honor. Wills, died in 2022 with a broken heart, Bell spoke at a Memorial Service in his honor in DC.

The Roundball Report located in Prince Georges County, Maryland were credential benefactors of Inside Sports and NBA VP Brian McIntyre’s support. Several reporters made it to major media outlets.

“I’ve come to know Harold over the years,” says Brian McIntyre, who was the NBA’s longtime Vice President of Communications through 2010. “He’s a guy who’s reached back and touched an awful lot of people’s lives. He’s a fighter. He believes in what he believes dearly, and he’s not going to give an inch. You have to respect somebody as passionate as he is.”

For 45 years straight years (1968-2013), he and his wife, Hattie, led Kids in Trouble without grants or loans. The organization went into D.C. neighborhoods where Bell grew up while playing at Spingarn High School and addressed the same youth violence that plagues our communities today.

Spingarn High School is the home of Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing, the only players on the NBA’s 50 GREATEST Players of All-Time from the same high school.

The common denominator; Baylor played for Coach Dave Brown and Bing played for Coach William Roundtree–Bell played for both coaches! There the commonality ends.

DC’s finest-Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing

NBA Hall of Fame player and Spingarn alumnus Dave Bing and Willie Wood were the first pro athletes to reach back into the community via Kids In Trouble.

In 1967 there was a shooting after a high school basketball game between Spingarn and McKinley Tech.  A Spingarn student was shot. Dave Bing a Spingarn alumnus was an NBA Rookie playing in his first All-Star Game in Baltimore.

Bell and Wood were working with the DC Recreation Department’s Roving Leader Program (Youth Gang Task Force).  Bell a Spingarn alumnus was assigned to the shooting at his alma mater.

When he arrived at the Benning Road NE school there was talk of revenge among the Spingarn students.  The quick-thinking Bell drove to Baltimore the next morning to solicit help from Bing. 

After playing in the game on national television on Sunday, Monday morning Bing walked into a Spingarn auditorium and got a standing ovation from the Spingarn student body.  His words of wisdom and plea for peace were heard and further violence was averted.

Bell would continue saving young people’s lives in the the community. In 1969 he would walk into The Hillcrest Saturday Program swimming pool and find one of his kids lying at the bottom of the pool.

He dove into the pool and pulled little Horsy Ward out. No one in the pool knew how to apply artificial resuscitation to revive him. On a cold wintry November day, Bell ran two blocks soaking wet to Childrens Hospital with the child in his arms. 

Larry Brown and Harold McLinton of the Washington Redskins football team, joined the Kids In Trouble team in 1970. Brown would be named NFL MVP in 1972. NFL Films video taped its first ever community promo at Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program.  

The NFL promo featured Larry and Harold teaching water safety to the young kids in the pool.

In 2007 he was exiting a subway train at the Potomac Avenue Subway station in SE DC when he spotted a child lying prostate across the subway tracks. 

His first instincts were to jump down on the tracks to help the child. A subway employee stepped in front of him and warned him there was the possibility he would be electricuted by a live rail.

The Amtrak employee suggested that they lie on their stomachs and reach out to the child and hopefully she would respond. Bell followed his lead and they reached out to the child, but she did not respond to their pleas–she just stares at them. 

Bell frustated looks down under his stomach and sees the red lights flashing, indicating a train is arriving. He screams “God Dam it girl, give us you dam hand”, she camly reaches up and gives us her hand as the train arrives in the station”.

Metro General Manager John Catoe thanks his two employees Michael Banks, and Adrian Avant for their part in assisting in saving a young girl’s life in October 2007. Harold’s wife Hattie looks on as he receives a certicate for his quick thinking and the role he played at the Potomac Avenue subway station in NE DC.

In 1978 Harold Bell was a successful and popular sports talk radio personality in DC. He was the pitchman for Nike shoes, Budweiser Beer, Maryland State Lottery, and Coca-Cola, all sponsors of Inside Sports.

He and Andrew Johnson, his childhood friend, former high school teammate, and DC cop on the beat for the 3th District (U Street corridor) both felt it was time to thank those responsible for their success in The Game Called Life.

The two teamed up with former Spingarn track and field star and one of the founders of the in-crowd Foxtrappe Club, the late Bill Lindsay. They honored their Spingarn Principal, Purvis Williams, teachers, and staff at Bill’s new restaurant, Mingles in downtown DC. Today Bell calls the tribute, the most satisfying community endeavor of his lifetime.

Harold and Dave Bing pay tribute to Spingarn High School leaders and heroes. L-R Basketball Coach, William Roundtree-Officer Ray Dixon and Principal Dr. Purvis Williams.

Dr. Williams, teachers, custodian staff, and their favorite cop on the beat, Officer Ray Dixon were all elated. Dixon patroled all four schools on “The Hill”, Spingarn, Phelps, Charles Young Elementary, and Brown Middle school without car, horse or motorcyle. He never lost a footrace or pulled his gun.

Every reach-back program promoted today by the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL all started with Harold and Hattie Bell in Washington, DC. Thousands of children in the District, Virginia and Maryland (DMV) have benefited from Kids In Trouble, Inc. 

DC was home but he could be found in Philadelphia hanging out with playground basketball legend and CBS/NBA color analyst Sonny Hill. He is seen taking a tour of city playgrounds with Mayor Wilson Goode. 

During the murders of black children in Atlanta in the 80s, he raised money for the Atlanta Police Department to help solve the murders. Muhammad Ali, mailed ten one-hundred dollar bills to him as a donation to the project.

First-ever NFL films video taped community promo. They capture MVP NFL RB Larry Brown and teammate LB Harold McLinton teaching water safety to inner-city kids at the Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program.

HERE COMES THE JUDGE–LUKE C. MOORE

During this reach-back experience, Bell tried to improve the lives of at-risk youth by using pro athletes, entertainers, law enforcement, television personalities, and judges as highly visible vehicles in his community programs.

During the 1968 riots, he walked arm in arm with co-worker Willie Wood and U. S. Marshall In-Charge, Luke C. Moore on the U Street and 14^th Street corridors trying to quell the violence and save lives.

DC Superior Court Judges, Luke Moore and Gene Hamilton

Luke Moore was the first modern-day U. S. Marshall appointed after the legendary civil rights advocate Frederick Douglas. When Luke received a Presidential Appointment as a sitting judge for the DC Superior Court from his mentor, President Richard Nixon, they were locked in for life.

He would later joke that he had put in a good word for him to the President. Judge Moore would laugh and say, I don’t doubt you!” Luke, was his hero.

Judge Harry T. Alexander is Santa’s Helper assisting Harold McLinton during the annual KIT toy party.

Judge Alexander, he didn’t just talk the talk, he walked the walk. Justice was not a one-way street in his courtroom. Harold, remembers being in his courtroom when a white cop kept referring to the male defendant as ‘Boy’. 

Judge Alexander reminded the officer that all defendants were to be addressed as Mr. or Mrs. The officer must have been hard of hearing because he kept addressing the defendant as ‘Boy.’

The third time the officer used the word ‘Boy’ it was his last. Judge Alexander dismissed the case on the grounds of mistaken idenity–the courtroom erupted with applause.

Harold and Hattie founded Kids In Trouble, Inc. and the Hillcrest Saturday Program in 1968 shortly after the riots. The program served neighborhood kids in the U Street/Cardozo/Shaw communties. 

They gave away Thanksgiving turkeys and were the host of Christmas toy parties. They coordinated the parties for kids who otherwise wouldn’t get any toys.

Washington, DC’s first black Police Chief, Burtell Jefferson is a Santa’s Helper during one of KIT’s annual Christmas toy parties.

The Washington team football players, Roy Jefferson, Larry Brown, Harold McLinton, Ted Vactor, Dave Robinson, Doug Williams, (NBA) Sam and KC Jones and Al Attles were all Santa’s Helpers.

He and his wife have raised money to send kids to summer basketball camps in Winston-Salem, NC, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. Kids In Trouble youth were often the guest with seats on the field of the Washington NFL pro football team for games at RFK Stadium.

When Hattie and Harold could not find college students from Howard University or DC Teachers’ College to volunteer as tutors, they reached out to the Maryland suburbs for help.

Every Saturday a yellow school bus full of white youth from Takoma Park Seven Day Adventist High School would arrive on 14th and W Street to tutor the kids. 

The white youth and President Richard Nixon inspired him to coin the phrase for the closing of his radio sports talk show-Inside Sports. Every Saturday evening he would close his show saying, “Every Black face you see is not your brother or sister and every white face you see is not your enemy!”

The Kids In Trouble Saturday morning tutoring platforms would lead to youth nationwide receiving credits on their transcripts to college and employment opportunities after college. It all started with a Yellow School Bus arriving from Takoma Park Seven Day Adventist High School on Saturday mornings.

Takoma Park High School students check the homework of the Hillcrest Saturday Program elementary school students. (Washington-Afro March 1969).

Lonnie Taylor was one of the young people in “The Hood” that benefited from the Saturday Program. He would later become the first black Chief of Staff for a white Congressman on Capitol Hill. He wrote;

Dear Mr. Bell,

It was good seeing you at Secretary Jack Kemp’s address sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. As I stated then, as a former resident of the 14th and W Streets area, I owe you many thanks for the things which you did on behalf of the city’s youth. Believe me, Hillcrest Saturday Center Program often brings back fond memories. You should take pride in the fact that your example of selflessness continues in so many of us. Thanks for all that you have done and all that you do.

Sincerely,

Lonnie Taylor, Chief of Staff Jack Buechner, M. C.

President Richard M. Nixon welcomes his old friend Harold and his wife Hattie to the White House President Nixon would give Bell a Presidential Appointment for his work with inner-city kids (1969)

In 1971 Bell wrote a note to the President via Mary Ann Snow in the White House Office of Communications asking to be transferred from the President’s Council on Physical Ftness & Sports. 

There was an opening (Domestic Actions) at the Department of Defense under Secretary Melvin Laird–request granted. He was assigned to Bolling Air Force Base in SE DC. He felt right at home.

Due to overcrowded conditions in juvenile facilities in DC, the Bells found the only halfway house for juvenile delinquents ever established on a military installation.  It was called Bolling Boys Base located on Bolling Air Force Base. 

Judge Moore coordinated the historic transition with Mayor Walter Washington and the Department of Defense. On opening day of the facility, he brought Chief Judge Harold Greene and his homeboy, Judge Hamilton to participate in the festivities.

They were joined by Petey Greene, Larry Brown, Harold McLinton, Roy Jefferson of the Washington Football team. The late Air Force General Earl Brown (the brother had my back) represented Melvin Laird and the Department of Defense.

Bell was a multi-sport star athlete at Spingarn. He admits he spent many games in the coaches’ ‘Doghouse’ for his selfish play.  He says, “My problem, I wanted the ball in my hands when the game was in doubt.  It is the same way I play, The Game Called Life when it comes to our young people.”

He opened community centers that had previously been closed on the weekends to neighborhood residents. Washingtonian Magazine named him Washingtonian of the Year in 1980 and called him “A One Man Community Action Program.”  He was the first sportscaster in the DMV to receive the honor from the magazine.

NFL Quarterback Joe Theisman and Harold share Washingtonian of the Year honors with teammate Mark Mosley and their wives.

Nike rep Laura Newton and I present Congressman Walter Fauntroy Nike runnng shoes for his upcoming campaign.

He was the first Sports and Marketing Rep for Nike and Anheuser Busch in the Nation’s Capitol. He moonlighted on the weekends as a wide receiver playing minor league football for the Virginia Sailors.  

1980 was a very good year for Bell and BET Television founder Bob Johnson. He was at the top of his game as host of the No. 1 sports radio talk show in DC. 

After eight years on the air Inside Sports and Harold Bell were recognized as the trailblazers in sports talk in Washington, DC.

September 1980, Radio and television critic, William Taaffe of the Washington Star News wrote, “Talk Show Host Harold Bell Blazes a Path Inside Sports. Inside Sports rules the roost because of content, freshness and a crusading kind of honesty.”

Bell and Johnson met in Faces Restaurant on Georgia, Avenue, N. W. a hang-out of D C’s “In-Crowd.” Johnson was working in the office Walter Fauntroy (D-DC) as his press secretary.

While having lunch one day in Faces, Johnson asked Bell how would he like to join him at BET and cover high school sports in the DMV. Instead, Bell became a member of BET’s first Sports Media Roundtable with Charlie Neal (W-O-O-K radio), and Martin Wyatt (WRC TV 4). After a month of no pay, Bell gave up on the roundtable.

Hattie and Harold have been honored at the White House by President Richard M. Nixon and cited in the Congressional Record on four different occasions.  First, it was Lou Stokes (D-Ohio), Bob Dole (R-Kan), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and former DC Congressman Walter Fauntroy for their work with at-risk children.

Top Photo: Coach Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines his mentor was voted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. Harold congratulates Bighouse on his induction. In Chicago in 2007 for an alumni tribute to Bighouse, he received the first, “Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines Community Service Award.“

DAVE BROWN DAY: DC’s first Black Mayor, Walter Washington and Bell thank Coach Dave Brown for his many contributions and leadership as a teacher and coach in the DC Public Schools.

Harold said, “The only reason I’m still standing strong today is because of my high school and college coaches, Dave Brown and Bighouse Gaines.  They were there to prevent me from going to hell in a hurry.“

“I tried to keep it real for my kids making sure they went ‘First Class’.  I think I’m more proud of that than anything else. When I see 99% my former youth today as adults, it’s still Mr. Bell. They show respect because I never misled them and they remembered I was there during the good and bad times”,

Bell says, “a man is only as good as his word and I made my word golden with my young people. Today in the black community a man’s word means very little.  I not only talked the talk, I walked the walk”.

Bell and the late Petey Greene were close friends.  Petey was a local legend who hosted a highly-rated radio talk show (and, later, television show) on WOL-AM. 

Bell met Greene while caddying on the weekends at the prestigious Burning Tree Golf Course located in a Maryland suburb.  This was the same golf course he met his friend Vice-President Richard Nixon in 1957.

In 1967 Greene would give Bell five minutes of air time on his Sunday radio talk show, “Petey Greene’s Washington.”  He used those five minutes to talk sports.

Petey would later tell him to get the hell off his show and get his own. WOL radio personality Bobby Bennett picked him up. 

Bennett was the No. 1 DJ in the country at the time and was known as The Mighty Burner.  “I think Bobby was a closet sportscaster in waiting.  We talked sports on Saturday afternoons the show was a big hit,” Bell said.

Community outing at Hillcrest Saturday Program L-R Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor (NBA), Larry Brown (NFL), Petey Greene (Radio and TV icon)-HBell.

In 1969 Bell encountered President Richard Nixon on a walking tour of the riot-torned U Street corridor.  He tried to reach out to the President, but the Secret Service detail would not let him get anywhere near him.

He tried to tell one of his Secret Service,  “I used to caddy for the President”, his response was, “Write him a letter” and I did.

President Nixon gave him a Presidential appointment in 1969.  Petey Greene and the chance encounter with President Nixon would change his life.

In 1972 Bell was now on a roll and ready to go it alone with Bennett’s blessings.  An old friend from high school, John Edwards was a DJ at  WOOK-AM another black-oriented station.  His radio tag was, “Terrible Turk.” 

Turk, talked the program manager into hiring Bell as a weekend talk show host. They allowed him to express his strong opinions with no filter. The show was christened “Inside Sports,” the tag given to him by his wife, and is now a part of sports talk radio history. 

For much of the next 30 years, Bell held court with a Who’s Who of sports figures.  It was his relationships with Muhammad Ali and Red Auerbach that gave him instant credibility on sports talk radio.

“Inside Sports changed the way we talked and reported sports in America and beyond. Every sports talk show in the country, including ESPN now has a format similar to the original Inside Sports.

Outside the Lines-I was Outside the Lines long before Bob Levy. I was Real Sports long before Bryant Gumble”, he says.

Several years ago Legendary Dallas, Texas sportscaster Dale Hansen was named the “Sportscaster of the Year.” 

He was honored in Washington, DC, Bell called him at his office in Dallas and congratulated him. He reminded Hansen, that his sports talk format was “Inside Sports” a format he found in 1972.

He told Hansen to GOOGLE him. The unexpected response via telephone from Hansen knocked Bell for a loop. 

“Harold, this is Dale Hansen in Dallas.  I lost your telephone number when you called the other day.  I finally had to track through your notes and I finally found it.  I am sorry I didn’t get back to you.  Your stuff is fantastic to read about.  Everything you have done makes my little bit a peeling off of White Privilege and rather insignificant, but I thank you for sharing this with me.  I hope you get this message, Thank you, sir, thank you very much.” 

After he retired from NBC Good Morning America as a co-host with June Paulie, Bryant Gumble discovered a sports talk show he called Real Sports. 

He discovered Real Sports much like Christopher Columbus discovered America.  The landscape was already occupied! 

Gumble another “Copycat” followed ESPN making a living off of the Inside Sports talk format. He recently won a Life Time Achievement Award perpetrating a fraud pretending the talk format was his brainchild.

James Brown (CBS/NFL) was a conspirator and go-fer for Gumble and Real Sports. Brown a native Washingtonian came through Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports. He held the title, reporter/correspondent for Gumble.

In the 70s and 80s, Inside Sports ruled the roost in sports talk in DC. James Brown was just a salesman trying to make a sale for the Xerox Corporation in Washington, DC. He went from modeling in Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports Celebrity fashion shows, to following me in a failed TV audition for a weekend sportscaster opportunity at NBC affiliate WRC TV 4. 

Chuck Taylor was the NBA Washington Bullets analyst until along came James and Chuck disappeared without a trace. I later discovered that James asked Bullet star player, Wes Unseld to put in a good word for him with owner Abe Polin for Chuck’s job.

Brown went from a failed TV audition to an NBA Bullet analyst, to a radio talk show host on WTEM, BET, TV 9 WUSA sports, Don King Boxing, Fox NFL, CBS/NFL,  and not necessarily in that order. Famous last words:

“Harold has always been a voice for people who didn’t have a voice.  He hasalways called it as he saw it.  He has been an inspiration and motivationfor me and a lot of other black broadcasters.”      

James Brown (NFL/CBS Sports)

The pro sports leagues followed his lead, their media coverage reads: Inside the NFL-Inside the NBA-Inside MLB-Inside the NHL, etc.

The one production they could not steal–his exclusive one-on-one Rumble in the Jungle interview with THE GREATEST, Muhammad Ali. It is the only one on one interview on the planet–Ali is seen with a black eye! 

October 30, 2024 the spotlight will be on the 50th Anniversary of The Rumble in the Jungle.

NBA legend, the late Sam Jones, James Brown-HBell, and NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd celebrate Black History Month on Bolling Air Force Base in SE DC.

Bell says, “I was Out of DC long before NWA (Niggers With Attitudes) was Out of Compton. NWA did not hit the big time until the 1980s. I had been on the airwaves for over a decade playing the same type of message music without the profanity.”

“NWA had to go underground with their music because the FCC would not allow their profanity-laced lyrics to be played over the airwaves. The FCC had their eyes on Bell, but their political hands were tied-no profanity.”

 He was tackling the tough issues as it related to pro sports, racism, bad agents, and bad politicians, when everyone else was just giving the scores, and batting averages or telling you how much a player weighed and how tall he was.  He was playing message music when no one dared to play it on talk shows.

He was playing hits like, Wake Up Everybody, What’s Going On, Black & Proud, the Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Who Shot the Sheriff, etc.

“It was unheard of and now I can appreciate Inside Sports while transferring my old shows from cassette to CD. I can understand why people liked the original Inside Sports talk format. 

The show had no ‘Cut Card’ and there were no pom-poms and skirts allowed on the show. A media room deadline is still one of the most segregated hours in America, second only to a church on Sunday morning”, he says.

His interviews with Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Red Auerbach, Spencer Haywood, Harry Edwards, Sonny Hill, Johnny Sample, Don King, Bighouse Gaines and John Chaney are educational talk radio classics.

He was the host and producer for panel discussion shows with football players on the difficulties they faced after they retired, decades before it became a national issue. He was the first to convene a Media Roundtable with other members of the media.  His roundtable discussions with coaches and athletes–unheard of.

There were the Jim Brown & Johnny Sample-Bighouse Gaines & Gary Williams-Don King & Sugar Ray Leonard Roundtables and the list goes on and on.

He gave John Thompson, before he was “Big Man On Campus” and Sugar Ray Leonard before he was the Welterweight Champion of the World, their first on air exposure when they could not buy their way onto a local TV or radio station.

He remembers his friendship with the late Red Auerbach and his wife Dotie they lived in NW D.C.  They treated him and Hattie like family.

His biggest regret, he didn’t tell Red about the rumors of drugs before he drafted Len Bias. He says, “I probably could have saved Bias’ life, but I made a mistake and listened to my street sense over my common sense.”

NB0A legend Red Auerbach and his wife Dotie share a laugh on Inside Sports with a surprise visit from tennis legend Jimmy Connors via telephone.

Others have reached back like former NBA referee Lee Jones and Jim Clemons, who played with the ’72 Lakers championship team. Clemons went on to be an assistant coach on the Bulls’ and Lakers’ title teams of the ’90s and 2000s.  He said, “I owe them dearly.”

Former player/coach Al Attles of the Golden State Warriors says, “Bell is a Good Man. He does so much trying to help others. He is good people.

We go back a long way. He’s just been outstanding. I grew up in New Jersey and went to school in North Carolina, of course, and moved out to the West Coast. But I have always been partial to people who give back to the community.

He has done so many good things. I’m a community guy and he always was. It’s not easy. As we get older, and new people come in and do things, I don’t think it’s that people don’t appreciate what you’ve done, it’s just that people move on.”

Bell says, “Al is right, but it is difficult to move on and leave the mess we help create still standing tall. The liars keep telling lies and the thieves keep stealing. When is enough-enough?”

In 1975, Bell produced and hosted a half-hour sports special on WRC TV 4, the NBC affiliate in Washington, DC.  His special guest was Muhammad Ali.  

Sports media history was made on Sunday, November 23, 1975. Harold Bell became the first black to host and produce a television sports special in prime time on NBC affiliate WRC TV-4.

“I met Ali on the campus of Howard University in 1967, I was a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force) for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks.  Ali was there speaking to the students as a part-time comedian and community activist. 

His boxing license had been suspended because he refused to be drafted into the United States Army. He was on a tour of colleges talking about his problems with the draft and being black in America.

“We hit it off and walked from the campus down Georgia Avenue to 7^th& T Streets together. We talked about my working with young people and the challenges I faced.  He was impressed. I turned to see about 40, or 50 people walking behind us it was like a parade. I didn’t see him again until 5 years later“, he says. 

The late J.D. Bethea a sports writer for the Washington Star was contemplating writing a story on him, he and Attorney Harry Barnett invited him to ride with them to Cleveland to see Ali fight an exhibition for a Cleveland Children’s Hospital.

 “Harold Bell may be the only black guy living who grew up in a ghetto, in real poverty, but still never learned to “play the game,” that great American pasttime. Everybody plays the game to some degree. That is what success is all about. Playing the game. Being alternately maile able and assertive withe the right people at the right time. Bell never learned. If he had, given his drive and singlemindness of purpose, he would probably be dangerous.” J. D. Bethea–Washington Star-News Sunday December 1, 1974

BEFORE YOU BLAME THE CHILDREN–LOOK IN THE MIRROR!

They didn’t have to ask him a second time. Barnett at the time was representing George Foreman.  It was the best car ride ever when Muhammad recognized him during the press conference. He said, “Harold Bell, what are you doing this far away from home?” From that point on their relationship flourished and it was all down hill from there. It was in Cleveland he became ‘The Chosen One’!

The carat in the relationship came in 1974 after Ali shocked the world when he knocked out big George Foreman in the 8th round. He became the undefeated and undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the world. He had made a promise to Harold in Chicago before leaving for Zaire, Africa. He made fun of him, when he said, “Harold Bell since you are scared to fly over the ocean after I knockout George, I will give you the first interview.”

It was five nights after the fight. On a rainy night in DC Harold’s phone rang around 10 pm, it was Ali keeping his word (unheard of). It has been five decades later and Harold says, “I am still amazed by that call. I was just a nobody trying to be somebody”.

Bell hosted Inside Sports well into the 1990s at different radio stations. 

He never compromised (he once gave  boxing promoter Don King a five-figure check back after he claimed King reneged on his word).  “A man is only as good as his word” says Bell.

Don King’s word has never meant anything. There are plenty of fighters including, Ali and Mike Tyson who said, “No Mas” to King, 

Don is the best example, “You can take a N out the ghetto, but cannot take the ghetto out of him”, he said.

Harold has chastised those whom he believed didn’t give enough back to the communities from which they came. Players, media, coaches, it didn’t matter: if you were on Bell’s bad side, there was hell to pay.

He says, “Radio is a special medium.  I enjoyed taking calls from my listening audience.  Bell, however, says he never hung up on a caller and thinks many of today’s radio gabbers are ‘rude’ to their listeners.

“I discovered early you’ve got to be able to distinguish betweenConstructive Criticism and Destructive Criticism, I knew when people were trying to help me and when they were trying to play me. You always have to consider the source.

When Red gave me advice, I knew he wasn’t trying to hurt me. Or when Al Attles pulled me to the side, I knew he was trying to help me.”

Bell is still writing, he was the most read and most popular blogger for Black Men in America.com. The website is one of the most popular black websites on the internet, ranked in the top 10 out of over 500 black websites.

His archives/collection of star maker interviews is still being developed with the likes of Ali, as well as Red Auerbach, Sam Jones, Al Attles, and Connie Hawkins.

In February he will continue to work on “The Chosen One” his documentary to commemorate Black History Month.

His work as the historian at D.C.’s iconic Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant has come to an end. And he’s still telling the truth and calling it like he sees it.

It is truth without the he say, she says, the frauds and liars that keep our community divided.  There will be no hiding behind anonymity on his watch.

Earl Lloyd was the first black to play in the NBA described Bell best when he said on the late John Thompson ESPN 98O radio sports talk show, “Harold Bell may be controversial, but I have yet to hear anyone call him a liar.”

Case closed–in 2020 the National Association of Black Journalists honored Harold Bell with their pioneer award recognizing his media trailblazing efforts. He thought it was “April Fool”!

https://www.bigmarker.com/nabj/NABJ-Sam-Lacy-Awards-Program? bmid=99ea2ef240f2 / NABJ PIONEER AWARD

Dave Aldridge is a native Washingtonian and a former writer for the Washington Post, reporter for ESPN-TNT/NBA-ATHLETIC. He has interviewed Presidents and some of the greatest athletes of all-time. He has known Harold Bell up-close and personal for over 4 decades. Oct 29, 2021

Jamal Harvey is the No. 1 amateur boxer in the WORLD. In 2024 he will be the youngest fighter to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris, France. Like many participants at the Miracle Theater he kep it moving!

Mom, Kim introduces the champion, while comedians and co-host Sylvia Traymore and Chris Thomas look on.

William “aka Poochie” and and his wife Nel Butler are the proud parents of Prince Butler. Prince is a student/athlete at the University of Alabama. Dad and mom share the spotlight with Prince after the game. He will graduate at the top of his class in 2024.

Photos: Miles, friend and me celebrate a big win after championship game / Miracle Theater: Mom Candence-HB-Miles-Grandma Gloria and the late Darryl Pendington (Steny Hoyer office of Constituent Services) / Miles says a prayer before campus talk show / Miles volunteering at Bowie Senior Center with Grandma–she taught him his best lesson. The art of giving back.

I have known Miles Clark since he was was in diapers crawling around in the Pin Oak Senior Center in Bowie, Md. His grandma, Gloria Gaddy was the resident manager of the building. His mom, Candence use to drop him off at the building for Grandma to watch. He became the star of Pin Oak.

My wife Hattie and I would become his biggest cheerleaders at an early age and watch him go from Little League Football, to Bowie High School Football and a member of the band–next stop Bowie State University!

To my surprise, he would switch to something that was as big as he was, but he did not to have to hit and block in pratice and in games–the tuba. Miles became a member of the Bowie State band–a brilliant decision.

His next move came as a surprise, he and several other students became the co-host of a campus radio talk show–talk radio is something that is close to my heart. I am still waiting for him to invite me, his mentor on the show as a guest. In the meantime, we will keep cheering him on in The Game Called Life!

Photos: HB-Robin Sugar Williams and the late Fozie the Clown co-host the Kids In Trouble annual Christmas toy party for elementary school children / Robin and daughter at the Miracle Theater / NBA Legendary Coach Red Auerbach and Robin celebrate Black History Month at the Hyatt Regency Hotel/ Robin dedicates, “My Hero” to Judge Luke C. Moore during his birthday celebration on the SW waterfront/ NFL legend RB Robin, Duane Thomas, his wife and me are Santa’s Helpers at the KIT annual Christmas toy party for elementary school children.

Robin Sugar Williams is a renowed gospel singer, who has sung at the White House for the President, sung Christmas caroles on the Montument Grounds and traveled the world spreading her love for Jesus Christ. She has been a member of the Kids In Trouble family since she was 10 years old. Robin grew up in Ward 8 of SE DC, she was educated and taught in the DC Public Schools. She has never forgotten who she is and where she came from. Her contributions and involement can never be measured in silver and gold.

GONE TOO SOON:

HAROLD BURKE / PRODUCER “WE REMEMBER ALI” MIRACLE THEATER 2019

Dr. George Logan-El (cap and gown) was a native Washingtonian and a community activist. His work with youth gangs and at-risk children in the DMV, especially in Alexandria, Virginia is legendary. He was one of the founding fathers of group of young men called, “The Untouchables.” His best work was needed and saved for his grandson, Antonio Logan-El. He raised him single handedly making sure that he nerver strayed too far away from the importance of an education and good sportsmanship among his peers.

Antonio excelled in sports and academics in the classroom with the understanding there was no football or basketball without good grades.

Antonion was participating in my Christmas toy parties and youth forums when was 5 years old. He is seen sitting on the Baby Grand Piano at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC. He was 5 or 6 years old. Antonio can also be seen serving the children, food and drink at the annual KIT toy party. He was an All-American football player at Friendship Military High School Academy in Forestville, Md. He graduated from Towson State in Maryland. His grandfather died of cancer and never got to see him play college football or graduate from college. RIP Dr. George Logal-El.

William Walker served on the Board of Director of Kids In Trouble. He was instrumental in organizing my toy parties and youth gang forums. William was playing an important role in my documentary/movie project. He died suddenly, two years ago leaving his elderly mother, and a 16 year old son behind.

WE REMEMBER SANDY FREEMAN: THE GODFATHER OF DC PLAYGROUNDS!

Sandy Freeman was a native Washingtonian and one the greatest all-around athletes ever produced in the DC Public Schools. When we talk about 3 lettermen in high school your thoughts, are football, baseball and basketball, Sandy excelled in all three. The reason he was not a 4 letterman, boxing was not considered a high school sport. Sandy was one of the most respected athletes to ever play on a DC playground basketball court.

I remember when I banished Big John Thompson to sit on the hill outside the Brown basketball court. I had chosen him to be on my FIVE. He stood in the neigborhood of 6’10 and I needed a rebounder–I was the shooter! The rules–you lose you sit on the hill and watch. I was not ready to lose.

For some odd reason Big John thought he was playground basketball legend “Willie Jones”, and started to take jump shots! I called time-out and banished him to sit on the hill and wait his turn. His bodyguards, Sandy and Batman were nowhere in sight!

When Sandy and Batman finally arrived he was allowed back on the court. Big John selected them on his team and our winning streak ended. Free, never said a Word to me regarding Big John, but I got his message loud and clear. I was tired anyway!!!

Free did save me one Sunday from a good ass kicking. My housing project hero and later my Minor League football teammate and coach, the great Earl Richards ran me into the pole. I was about to score the winning basket in a one on one. Free had to jump between us before he had to call an ambulance for me (I was smelling myself).

The Virginia Sailors: DC players–No. 50 Earl Richards and No. 82 HBell

Free never even pretended he knew anything about the boxing ring, but everyone else knew! I don’t ever remember Free getting in an agument on the court and I spent a lot of time on his domains, Blow and Brown basketball courts.

During the TRIBUTE OF HONOR & LOVE for Free at the mass of Christian Burial Saint Thomas Moore Catholic Church, the homegoing service was one like none I have ever witness.

After the WORDS OF REMEMBRANCE: The Reverend Raymond Moore made a move like I have never seen made in the Catholic Church–it would have made Free proud.

After words of Remembrace by Ollie Johnson-Stacy Robinson-Monk Wilkins and nephew Roland Johnson, Reverend Moore send a shoutout to family and friends in attendance. He asked if there were any more words of Remembrance? The rush to the mic was as if Reverend Moore had said, FREE MONEY!

Reverend Moore gave the speakers a no-time limit–unheard of at any church in the DMV. He waited patiently for each speaker to finish their desertation. I think he was enjoying the words of remembrance as much as we were.

My life long friend, Andrew Johnson, and I sat and smiled. We realized the words of remembrance was coming from a different generation of Sandy Free admirers.

Andy and I had been friends since 12 & under (Parkside vs Langston), and high school teammates at Spingarn. He was a cop on the beat in the U Street corridor, and Harrison Playground, another one of my domains as a youth gang task force member of the DC Department Recreation & Park’s elite Roving leader program.

He retired as a DEA supervisor. He has had my back and others like me in the community and around the World for 50+ years (1968 and counting).

We left the church amazed by the great stories told by Ollie, Stacy, Monk and nephew Roland Johnson. The bonus round of remembrance was off the charts delivered by playground legend DeLonte Taylor, Stanley Carter and nephew Roland Robinson.

The most hilarious story was delivered by DeLonte. His story: Free threaten to knock out coach George Gibbs of the Old Timers. On a road trip to New York City, Gibbs was ignoring his words of advice.

He kept advising Gibbs to put the hot shooting duo of JoJo Hunter and DeLonte back in the game to protect their lead. Gibbs kept pretending not to hear a word Free was saying. Finally, Free said, “If I come down there and knock you out–you will hear me then.” Those words brought the house down!

It was a beautiful bright sun shiny day for a homegoing for a true legend. Friends and family gathered out in front of the church for over an hour reminising. We were serenaded by the songs outside of the church by Luther Vandross (A Dance With My Father) and Smokey Robinson (We Are Going to Miss You). Free was listening closely by in a ride fit for a legend.

Horton’s Funeral Director and owner Reds Horton provided the ride that took Free to his final resting place in style.

Andrew and I left the church realizing that Free had another basketball life after the Blow and Brown basketball courts, Bradbury Heights and the DC Old-Timers–he was still shooting the ball at age 70.

Sandy was truly THE GODFATHER of playground basketball and I was an eyewitness. RIP my brother.

Before he became “Big Man on Campus” John Thompson is seen talking to a group of kids at one of my annual KIT Toy Parties. Look closely and you will see his son Lonnie under his right elbow.

Playground Basketball Legends: Sandy Freeman’s Disciples

TOP PHOTO: Monk-Keith-Thurmond-Stanley-HB-Andrew-Ollie & Wine

Standing in the back is playground basketball legend Stacy Robinson and his crew at the Kids in Trouble Hillcrest Saturday Program. This was long before Bradbury Heights and DC Old Timers.

David Aldridge/The Athletic October 29, 2021

D. C. broadcaster Harold Bell’s memorable interview with Muhammad Ali

ALI & FOREMAN: THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE ZAIRE, AFRICA SATURDAY OCTOBER 29, 1974

Harold Bell, in his eighth decade, continues to lead a unique life. The longtime DC broadcaster and community leader, who was the first black to host and produce a daily sports talk show in the city in the early 70s, and who was on air in town for decades, still does a weekly show on YouTube that runs the gamut from sports to politics. He still gives honest, unvarnished opinions on the people and issues of the day. Bell’s Kids In Trouble campaign raised money and had annual Christmas toy drives for thousands of needy youth in the DMV (1968-2013) without grants or loans. And, this month, he’s part of the retrospective surrounding the Ken Burns’ PBS documentary on the late, great Muhammad Ali.

Ken Burns, daughter, Sara and son-in-law, David participate in panel discussion with MPT moderator Charles Robinson and Harold Bell. They discuss the PBS cut & paste preview of Muhammad Ali.

Bell not only knew Ali well, but wound up getting one of the most converted interviews with the champ, immediately after Ali’s iconic defeat of George Foreman-the “Rumble in the Jungle”-in Kinshasa, Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1974. Saturday marks the 47th anniversary of that upset, which ended with an eighth-round knockout of the previously undefeated champion by then -32-year-old Ali, a prohibitive underdog going into the fight. But Ali got Foreman to punch himself out with his infamous “Rope-a-Dope” strategy, leaving the exhausted Foreman unable to get up after an Ali flurry in the last 30 seconds of the eighth round put him on the cavas.

Bell, met Ali in 1967 on the campus of Howard University, he was working as a Roving Leader for the Department of Recreation and Parks. Ali gave him his first post-fight interview after returning stateside from Zaire to Bell- which became a half-hour special on NBC affiliate in town, WRC-TV 4. It was the first prime-time sports special in history produced and hosted by a Black man.

Ali befriended many writers and broadcasters over the years, of all races, most notably Howard Cosell of ABC Sports, whose public defense of Ali’s refusal to serve in the U. S. military because of his religious beliefs as a practicing Muslim was controversial and vital at the time. Bell’s friendship with Ali took him all over the country as Ali trained for his fights. “I never heard him say a discouraging word about a white person,” Bell says of Ali today. “He has never talked about hating white people. He protected Angelo Dundee, Gene Kilroy and he loved Bert Sugar.” He was flawed, but he was still one of the most unique and caring human beings I have ever met. I am just privileged and honored he chose me as a friend.

Bell has held onto the interview for the last four-decades, rebuffing efforts from the likes of HBO, Burns, Daymond John from the TV show “Shark Tank”, CAA (Creative Artist Agency) and Don King.

The fast talking and known scammer King mailed him a $10,000 check, saying, “Promises made, promises kept.” He waited for King to come to DC for a boxing promotion and gave the check back to him. King, had hired Bell’s younger brother William as his photographer, he took the photo of the transfer of the check. Thanks to King’s “Right Hand” confidant, Connie Harper, he played along with King for a minute. Her best advice, “Don’t take any money from Don unless you earned it.”

He watched how he kicked his partner R & B King, the late great Lloyd Price (Bell’s mentor) to the curb, stole from Ali and Tyson. Bell said, “I felt lucky to escape with only hurt feelings.”

Bell, received a Pioneer Award from the National Association of Black Journalists’ Sports Task Force in 2020. He is looking into making the interview available via other platforms. “I am getting calls from all over the world about this one of a kind interview,” he says.

Nation Association of Black Journalist 2020 pioneer honorees, Lee Elder (Golf)-Ozzie Newsome (NFL)-Harold Bell (Sports Media) and Kristi Toliver (WNBA). Narrators: Dave Aldridge-Ray Richardson and Ron Thomas.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST MEET ALI?

I left Winston Salem State before graduation (Bighouse Gaines and the school saved his life). He decided to chase his NFL dreams instead of a college degree. Bell ended up in Charleston, West Virginia playing minor-league football for the Charleston Rockets. He got cut without dropping a pass. He remembered there were several passes thrown over his head and behind him. He said, “I guess they thought I should have caught those passes too.” Disappointed, he took the bus home to D. C.

He returned home and connected with old friends, Petey Greene and Marvin Gaye. They met in front of the landmark Howard Theater one weekend night. Petey had gone to jail instead of college and Marvin joined the Air Force. The three of them stood on the corner trying to figure out their next move in their hometown without a degree that has been mistaken for opening the doors to success in Black America.

Bell remembers Marvin, making up his mind fast and in a hurry. He said, “I am getting out of DC.” Bell and Petey both looked at him and asked the same question, “Where are you going man?” His response, “I don’t know, but I am getting the hell out of this town!” The three of them shook hands, hugged and Marvin was gone.

Petey and Bell hung out for a little while longer and called it a night. Petey asked Bell if he was really looking for work-he said, “Hell yes!” Petey, told Bell to meet him at 10th and U Streets Monday morning at 8:00 am at the United Planning Organization (UPO). There might be some work for him.

Monday morning Bell met Petey at UPO, he was introduced to the CEO Mr. Jim Banks. He was hired as a Neighborhood Worker, two days later H. Rap Brown was hired to join him and Petey. They were the trouble-shooters for the Cardozo/Shaw Community. Their domains would be the schools, playgrounds and DC Superior Court.

In 1967 Bell would join the D. C. Department of Recreation and Parks, elite Roving Leader Program. The jobs were similar, with the exception the Roving Leaders were assigned to work with youth gangs and at-risk children throughout the city.

After he joined the D. C. Recreation Department (1967). Bell and Petey stayed in touch and would meet at Ben’s Chili Bowl regularly for lunch. One day Petey came in and told Bell that Muhammad Ali was on the campus of Howard University. Bell said, “Lets go what are we waiting for?” Petey said, “I have a meeting with Mr. Banks, I cannot hangout.” Bell said, “See you later.”

When Bell arrived on campus, he saw folks hanging out around the Administration Building. As he got closer, there was Muhammad Ali surrounded by what seem like hundreds of students laughing and giggling. Ali had their undivided attention. He was talking about racism and why he was not going to join the U. S. Army, mainly because, “Them Vietcong ain’t never called me nigger.”

Bell eased his way up through the crowd until he was almost nose to nose with the champ. Ali paid him no attention–he had the students begging for more.

It was a beautiful day to be hanging out, finally after about 30 more minutes of American racial history, Ali called it a day. He made a request for someone to show him around the campus, hopefully a pretty coed.

Before one of the pretty little girls could respond, Bell grabbed him by his hand and said, “follow me.” The next thing Bell knew, he had Ali by his arm leading him off campus to the Georgia Avenue corridor.

Ali did not complain, because the pretty little girls were following them. When they got further down the avenue and walking by the Wonder Bread Company, Bell turned to look behind them and it looked like a Ali was leading a parade. Folks were blowing their horns and women were stopping their cars in the middle of the street and getting out to run over for a hug or touch–it was crazy. Ali loved his people.

Bell said, when he got down to 7th and T streets he was taking him to Sam K’s Record Shop to introduce him to Sam, but before he could get him there, Harvey Cooper aka “Oldest Teenager” jumps in front of Ali and starts to throw phantom punches at the champ. The champ accommodates him for about 60 seconds-everybody laughs. Sam K comes over and Bell introduce the two legends. Bell says, “I will never forget that day, it will always be etched in my mind. The day, I first met Ali on the campus of Howard University.”

WHEN DID YOU SEE HIM NEXT?

I did not see the champ again-until 1972. That was a great year, I became the first Black to host and produce my own radio sports talk show in Washington, D. C.

The Inside Sports tag was given to me by my wife Hattie at the dinner table the evening, it wasthe day before his radio debut. Inside Sports changed the way we talk and report sports in America. Bell, left Petey Greene and Bobby “The Burner” Bennett talk shows at WOL and found a new home at W-O-O-K Radio 1450 on the AM dial, thanks to his childhood friend, the legendary DJ, John Edwards aka “Terrible Turk.”

Ali and Bell would meet again in Cleveland in 1972 thanks to JD Beathea a sports columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper. I heard he and Harry Barnett a white attorney and a graduate of the Howard University Law School. Barnett, also represented George Foreman.

Their favorite place to hangout was “Billy Edwards Boxing Gym” located on the corner of 9th and S streets, NW. One evening Barnett and Beathea were talking about driving to Cleveland for a charitable boxing exhibition featuring Muhammad Ali. That was all I had to hear was the name, Muhammad Ali. I hitched a ride with them after clearing it with my wife.

Bell, remembers arriving in Cleveland, walking into the hotel lobby and there was Muhammad Ali holding court again, but this time it was not with a group of college students, it was with a group of reporters hanging on his every word.

They tried to ease their way around the group heading to the front desk to register for their rooms, but Ali spots Bell, and yells, “Harold Bell what are you doing this far away from home?” Bell says, “I almost fell to the floor. I had not seen him in 5 years and he makes me, The Chosen One.”

It was there in Cleveland Bell would meet Ali Boxing Royalty, the champ’s brother, Rahman Ali, R & B legend, Lloyd Price, Boxing Historian, Bert Sugar and the man who called himself “King”, Don King!”

Against everyone’s wishes, Ali crowded King, the first Black promoter in the history of the sports’ flawed history. King would be right at home. He was an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY THIEF-he stole from everybody!

Ali was in Washington, DC in 1975, he was in town to be honored by the DC Chamber of Commerce as its “ATHLETE OF THE CENTURY!” Bell was his caretaker for the weekend.

After he picked up the champion and his side-girlfriend Veronica at National Airport. He got them settled in separate rooms at the Sheraton Hotel. Bell, spend several quiet hours with the champ in his room. He questioned why he was was carrying a briefcase of cash around with him. How did Bell know about the cash in the brief case? He said, “It was the same briefcase Ali had when he arrived in New York City from Zaire. The same briefcase he went to get a one-hundred dollar bill out for him in 1974 after their interview in New York City.”

Ali, opened the briefcase in the hotel room and said, “I brought the cash with me from Zaire, because I did not want King to steal it. I give the money to folks who need it.”

Ali, later accused King, publicly of stealing one-million dollars of his 5 million dollar purse. The champ told Bell, “King was the biggest mistake I ever made in boxing. Lloyd Price would echo the same cry!”

This is the email I received from R & B legend Lloyd Price on New Year’s Day in 2021 telling me to stay away from Don King. King reneged on a promised partnership with Lloyd. King’s net worth 300 million. Lloyd Price died May 2021.

This charade with King reminds me of something Ali’s business manager Gene Kilroy once said to me. He said, “Harold Bell, if you played the game, you would be a millionaire and they would have been calling Howard Cosell the black Harold Bell!” My response, ‘Ali never told me I had to play the game.‘

The next morning after the exhibition fight in Cleveland, JD Beathea decided to write a story on the first black boxing promoter, Don King. I was invited to breakfast by JD to sit in for an introduction to King (it was called networking). King shown up with Connie Harper. It was here King said, “Harold Bell stick with me baby, we are going places!”

King, never fooled me, when he came to New York City to set up office space for Don King Productions, he brought his right hand lady with him, the late Connie Harper. She knew his DNA and shared it with me.

It was the summer of 1973 when I called Don at his new office in the Big Apple. Connie answered the phone. I told her I would like to make an appointment to meet with DK aka Don King when his busy schedule allowed. She said no problem and that she remembered meeting me at breakfast in Cleveland.

Several days later I took a train to New York City to meet with the man who called himself, King!

I arrived by cab to his office for a 3:00 pm meeting. He was nowhere to be found. Connie said he was not answering his phone. It would 5:00 pm when he came through the door apologizing for his tardiness.

No problem, the two hours I spend with Connie were the best two-hours of my sports media career. The 411 and 101 lessons she taught me regarding DK can never be measured.

The most important lesson she taught me, was not to take any money from DK I did not earn, if I did he was going to treat me like a HOE! She was right on time and on the money!

I learn one lesson on my own–not to laugh at some of his dumb ass jokes. But still I supported him on Inside Sports, and the columns I wrote in the Afro-American and New Amsterdam newspapers.

There was very little choice, on the other side of the boxing landscape, there was Bob Arum, Lou Duvall, or Mike Trainer. I was left with playing the “Race Card” with a bigger racist than all of them–Don King. Connie, taught me when to hold them and when to fold them!

Playing fair was not in Don King’s extensive vocabulary, but I decided to rolled the dice with him. Going in I knew “The House always won.”

Being in the corner of DK was like playing Russian Roulette, but there I was on national television on the Geraldo Rivera talk show defending DK’s right to steal from his fighters. The opposition was, Rivera, the late Bert Sugar and award winning journalist, the late Jack Newfield. Newfield was the author of the 1995 journalistic masterpiece “The Life and Crimes of Don King–The Shame of Boxing in America.

THE MAN WHO COULD HAVE BEEN KING–BOXING PROMOTER DON KING CHOSE TO BE A THIEF.

Who ever said, crime does not pay, never met Don King. As they say, “The proof is in the pudding.”

First, In 1972 I was there for the Children’s Hospital benefit scam in Cleveland when King convinced his friend Lloyd Price to introduce him to Muhammad Ali. Lloyd help convince Ali to come to Cleveland to fight in an exhibition to save a hospital for sick children. The hospital was in the process of declaring bankruptcy-DK was the promoter. His scheme was to make Ali his meal ticket to fame and fortune.

When the exhibition was over and the smoke had cleared. It was reported the boxing exhibition raised in the neighborhood of $80,000, DK gave the hospital $15,000!

The champion boxers who have been victimized by King reads like a Who’s Who; Tim Whiterspoon, Larry Holmes, Terry Norris, Mike Tyson, Julio Cesar Chavez, Muhammad Ali, and on and on. He settled most law suites out of court.

The million he stole from Ali, King send a friend of the champ’s to a hospital with $50,000 in cash. Ali was lying in a hospital bed dead broke, and with the cash the friend brought a message from King. He told Ali if he did not take the cash, he would have him in court forever and a day. Ali, took the $50,000.

Mike Tyson claimed, King and his homeboys stole $100 million from him. Tyson and King settled out of court for a reported $14 million dollars. After each transaction, Don King cried out, “Only in America.” Don King has no shame!

I could see he was becoming suspicious of me, I never accepted the meal tickets, hotel rooms, the perks he passed out to the media who kissed his jackass. In Las Vegas, Bert Sugar and Howie Evans (sports editor for the New York Amsterdam newspaper) let me share their room.

Access to press credentials for Don King fights became a hassle for me to obtain. His all white PR team would claim they never received my credential request. Fight time, he would hide out in a different hotel or trailer. His son Carl or friend Aaron Snowell would tell me where he was hiding out. I would confront him and he would lie saying, “Harold baby, I have nothing to do with the distribution of press credentials!” I would then be approved for credentials in the nose bleed section in the arena.

He had the nerve to not approve me for press credentials in DC my hometown. PR man in-charge Charlie Brotman apologized to me–I knew almost everyone taking tickets at the door at the DC Armory. The look on his face when I appeared on press row shaking hands with Lloyd Price and Kenny Gamble (Philly Sound). I gave him a ‘Thumps up,’ and hollered “Only in America Baby.” Priceless!

THE MEDIA LEGENDS OF BOXING AND THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR.

WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT IN THE INTERVIEW?

We talked about the state of Black America and racism unlike anything in our life time. The state of young people and the crime and gun violence in our community. He talk about the definition of friendship and how important it was for us to speak truth to power. He talked about how important Black women are in our lives. We talked about the influence of our parents, and how at the end of his career he wanted to be a minister in the Nation of Islam and travel all over the world to bring peace. All the things we talked about are still relevant today as we head into 2024. It’s only two minutes of the interview where he talks about the difference between a fighter and a boxer. 

The interview was one of a kind and it was very inspiring. This was the first interview ever in his boxing career, he allowed anyone to interview him with marks on his pretty face (black eye). This was the first exclusive interview in the history of the sport an undisputed heavyweight champion allowed a black journalist to interview him one on one. Ali has done thousands of interviews around the world, he has never promoted an on air radio or television personality, the exception-Harold Bell and Inside Sports.

DID YOU SEE ALI AGAIN AFTER THE INTERVIEW?

The D.C. Chamber of Commerce names him the Athlete of the Century (in November, 1975). James Denson was the (executive vice president) of the Chamber of Commerce. So James Denson calls me and says ‘Harold, your man is coming to town; we’re honoring him. I’d like you to pick him up at the airport. You can take my car.’ I say okay. So I take the car, go out to the airport. And I can’t find this fool. And so I see Veronica (Porche’, who would become Ali’s third wife). I had never met her, but I knew who she was from the newspapers. And I introduced myself to her and said ‘where is he?’ She points over to the baggage area. He’s over there doing magic tricks, signing autographs. I stand up on a chair and say ‘hey, Champ, this is Harold Bell; come on, man, we’ve gotta go.’ He ain’t even look at me. He said ‘Harold Bell, cool it – I’ll get there when I get there.’ So I sit there with Veronica, and we wait about another half hour.

I took them to the Sheraton Hotel, took Veronica to one room, took Ali to another room. He’s still married (to his second wife at the time, Belinda), but I don’t know what that’s all about. … we must have spent three hours together. I said ‘Champ, I’ve got to go get Hattie, man, so she can get dressed and we can come back for the tribute.’ He said okay. So I went and got Hattie and came back, and we sat at the table with my mother-in-law, Veronica, Happy Myles and his wife Barbra. Mayor (Walter) Washington is presenting Ali with a big plaque, as Athlete of the Century. He stops Mayor Washington in mid-sentence. He says ‘hold it, hold it, Mr. Mayor. Do you know Harold Bell?’ Hattie started looking at me. I said ‘I don’t know what’s going on.’

Ali says again, ‘do you know Harold Bell? Harold, stand up.’ I stood up. And the Mayor’s looking out, trying to find me. He finds me. And he says ‘yeah, I know Harold Bell; who don’t know Harold Bell?’ And he said ‘let me tell you something, Mr. Mayor. That man is my friend. And I don’t want anything to happen to Harold Bell on your watch. Because if anything happens to Harold Bell, you’re going to have to pay.’ He said ‘do you understand, Mr. Mayor?’ The Mayor said ‘yeah, Champ, I understand.’ He said, ‘you know what? You’re not as dumb as you look.’ And the crowd fell out laughing. Hattie said she felt like crawling under the table. I was standing clapping. Only Muhammad Ali could get away with something like that.

I would see Mayor Washington the following summer at the Bannecker Playground located directly across the street from Howard University. We would take a photo with some youth on the playground. As he was leaving, he turned to me and said, “Tell my main man Ali, the next time he is in town to give me a call.” We both laughed.

All forgiven-Mayor Washington and me hanging on the playground out with some youth in DC.

If you ever met Ali, there was one great thing about him, he could make you smile and laugh!

COMMENTS FROM THE ATHLETIC:Mike L Oct 29, 2021 WOW / Charles S Oct 29, 2021 Great article and great read. / Eric F Oct 29, 2023 This is the content I subscribed for. Great read. The World could sure use Ali around. Man I sure miss that guy. / Jim J Nov 8, 2021 Dave, of all the amazing articles of yours I’ve read this is hands down the best. / Nelson B Oct 30 Says a lot about the man when he gave Harold Bell the first interview just like he promised. / Tom M Oct 30, 2021 Love the story. Ali was so much fun. You can’t make this stuff up.

70 YEARS (1954) AFTER BROWN VERSUS THE BOARD OF EDUCATION WAS HEARD IN THE SUPREME COURT AND SEGREGATED SCHOOLS WERE OUTLAWED IN AMERICA–POLITICIANS HAVE SINCE SUCCESSFULLY TURNED BACK THE CLOCK—WITH THE HELP OF A FEW SPOOKS THAT ARE SITTING BEHIND THE DOOR. THIS IS PERSONAL WITH ME, SERVERAL OF MY FRIENDS AND MENTORS WERE INVOLVED IN THIS STRUGGLE FOR AN EQUAL EDUCATION-THEY WERE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!

Hattie and I visit President Richard M. Nixon at the White House in 1969

My friend and Spingarn High School basketball teammate Spotswood Bolling was a plaintiff in the 1954 Brown versus Board of Education Supreme Court Ruling. Spotswood is seen celebrating with his mother at their home in SE DC. In 1954 he was a student attending Sousa Middle School at the time of the ruling.  He was later invited to the White House to meet with Vice-President Richard Nixon.

I remember we were in high school during basketball practice when I told him I had met Vice-President Richard Nixon and I had become his caddy on the weekends. Spotswood dribbled around me and said, (paraphasing), “Been there and done that!”

This leads me back to segregated schools, Roe vs Wade, voting rights for Black America being attacked by politicians nation wide (redistricting), and Critical Race Theory.

Spotswood, US Marshall/Judge, Luke C. Moore and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall must be turning over in their graves, to know that politicians have successfully turned back the clock when it comes to the quiet return of segregated schools in America. 

It all comes down to, “Who Can You Trust on Capitol Hill” and you can also add, “Who can you trust on the Supreme Court?” Trump has made Black Americans, “Damage Goods” with his recent appointments!

As I write this blog the politicians are 24 hours away from shutting down the government. As they shut down the government, millions of American citizens will be out of work, including military personel around the world. But guess who won’t be missing a meal or a paycheck? The working stiffs on Capitol Hill! They will ride, or fly away to their villars in the suburbs and have no problem leaving everyone else behind (strike was averted in last minute).

Let us not forget their history during difficult times, especially, their colleague like former Congressman William Jeffereson (D-Louisanna). It was on August 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson’s home in Northeast Washington as noted in an 83-page affidavit filed to support a subsequent raid on his Congressional office. The FBI found $90,000 in cash in his freezer, in $10,000 increments wrapped in aluminum foil and stuffed inside frozen-food.

Next door in Prince Georges County former County Executive Jack Johnson was also arrested for taking brides. In a raid on his home no money was found hidden in his freezer, but thousands of dollars were found hidden in his wife Lesley”s bloomers ($76,600)! May 17, 2011, Johnson pleaded guilty to extortion and witness-and evidence-tampering. He served most of his seven-year and three-month sentence at the Cumberland Federal Correctional Institution. His wife Lesley served one-year in jail for witness and evidence tampering. Proving crime does pay–she ran for office on the PG City County and won in 2010.

Recently, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey took accepting brides to a new level, when the FBI raided his home and found gold bars and a stash of cash ($500,00) hidden in his suit pockets. Menendez explained, the money was drawn from his personal bank account in case of a family emergency. The gold bars and brand new Mercedes Benz in his driveway, he never explained.

In the meantime, the American Black Farmers were once promised 40 Acres and a Mule, are now being held hostage by Tom Vilsack and the Agriculture Department. Vilsack refuses to allocate over 5.1 billion dollars or funds necessary under the America Rescue Plan Act, approved by President Joe Biden to help Black Farmers to save their farms. Something is wrong with this picture!

In 1954 Thurgood Marshall was the lead attorney who argued the case of segregated schools in the Supreme Court and won. 

My friend and mentor Luke C. Moore was the US Marshall-In Charge during that turbulent period in American History.  This is the same history that Governors, DeSantis in Florida and Youngum in Virginia do not want Black and White children to learn as they lead the charge by implementing Critical Race Theory (CRT) in our schools across America. 

Thurgood Marshall would go on to become a giant for the civil rights and human rights of all Americans. He was appointed Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court in 1967-1991. He died in 1993.

In a interview with Judge Moore on “Inside Sports” he explained what losingThurgood meant to everyone, no matter black or white! He was a champion for all the people. https://studio.youtube.com/video/Fkafk63frbg/edit?o=U

Luke with homeboy, Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton and me.

 Luke was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1955 and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Cobb, Howard & Hayes where he remained until 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Luke Chief United States Marshal for the District of Columbia.   With that appointment Luke became the first African American to serve as Chief Marshal in any Federal District since President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877.  His appointment came just months before the Ole Miss crisis with James Meredith.

In 1967 Luke was assigned by President John F. Kennedy to go to Mississippi to lead a larger contingent of US Marshall, after three attempts by Chief U.S. Marshal J.P. McShane, who led a small contingent of marshals to enroll Meredith, but were blocked by Mississippi politicians and state troopers.

President Kennedy ordered a much larger group of deputy U.S. marshals, a 127 man contingent, to carry out the court order and to protect Meredith.  After Meredith successfully enrolled on October 1, this larger contingent was supervised by U.S. Marshal Luke Moore.

Under orders from President Kennedy, over 300 U.S. Border Patrol agents were made special deputies, bring the total number of federal law enforcement officials to 538.  They were soon tested. 

On October 1, ten days after his admission was first blocked by Mississippi officials, Meredith finally became a student at Ole Miss.  Later that day rioting broke out on the Ole Miss campus.  The marshals and federal troops were called up to restore order.  By the time the violence ended two men were killed including a French journalist and 28 deputy marshals were wounded by gunfire.

Following the initial confrontation, US Marshall Luke Moore was assigned to work directly under Chief Marshal McShane and U, S Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Luke, supervised, coordinated and monitored the U.S. Marshal’s activity in Oxford.  In his supervisory capacity Luke traveled to Oxford on numerous occasions although few knew of his role and his visits at the time.

Luke was not the only African American Marshal involved in the Ole Miss integration.  Black deputy U.S marshals were not allowed to participate in the initial integration confrontation but soon afterwards they became a regular part of the Meredith security detail.  The Kennedy Administration did not send those same US Marshals in September and October, 1962, he feared that their presence would further inflame the racist crowds opposed to the integration of Ole Miss. 

In this regard the Kennedy Administration was following a precedent established by President Eisenhower during the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when he called out the 101st Airborne to the city to enforce a desegregation order and protect the nine black high school students designated to integrate the school.   Eisenhower ordered that only white soldiers of the unit be sent to Little Rock.

Once Meredith was enrolled, however, African American marshals were assigned to his security detail at Ole Miss.  Eight of these marshals, Richard Kirk Bowden, James Palmer, Howard Riley, Oscar Spearman, Joseph Robinson, Cleveland Braxton, Frank Lamondue, and Braxton Harris, all rotated in and out of Oxford and Jackson along with a much larger contingent of white U.S. deputy marshals in October, November, and December 1962. 

Initially even these federal law enforcement officers were subject to Mississippi segregation.  When they were in Oxford, they were housed by local black beauticians Thelma Boone Price and Cecilia Nelson, who were active in the civil rights movement. By Christmas, 1962, they were accommodated, along with white deputy marshals at the Oxford Holiday Inn.

Luke, remained Chief U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia after President Kennedy’s assassination and through the administration of his successor, President Lyndon Baines Johnson. 

April 4, 1968 will be etched in my memory forever. I remember I was tstanding on the corner of 9th & U Streets NW on a beautiful bright sunshiny day. Standing with me was my co-worker, NFL great, Willie Wood. We were both working for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks’ Roving Leader Program.

During the off-season, Willie would return home and work in the DC Public Schools as a teacher or with the Roving Leader Program. 1968, he chose the Roving Leader Program.

WILLIE WOOD INDUCTION INTO THE NFL HALL OF FAME 1989.

We had just had lunch at the Che Maurice Restaurant and were standing on the corner watching the girls/ladies walk by. Suddenly, a car drove by with a brother they called, “DC’s Oldest Teenager” Harvey Cooper. He yelled, “They just shot Dr. King in Memphis”, before we could comprehend what he had just said, they drove off.

Willie and I were left standing there trying to figure what Harvey had just said! People started to come out of the stores and restaurants, screaming, “Dr. King had been shot in Memphis”, no one knew his condition. Willie suggested we call the Roving Leader Office for further instructions.

As we started to walk down the U Street corridor, Luke Moore joined us and we walked shoulder to shoulder until we got to Ben’s Chili Bowl. There we spotted Ben, Carlton Snipes, Duke and several other businessmen standingout front. Luke, left Willie and I to see what was going.

He returned and said, “President Nixon has ordered all businesses to shutdown.” This was according to DC Mayor Walter Washington.

I called Stanley Anderson, the Director of the Roving Leader Program and was told, Assisstant Chief of the DC police Department, Tighman O’Bryant wanted to see me at the 4th District Police HQ. O’Bryant was the highest ranking black on the department in1968.

When I arrived at the V Street NW HQ I was directed to rollcall downstairs. I walked in and O’Bryant called me over and introduced me to the officers all standing at attention. He pulled out a police badge and swore me in–no gun! The badge would allow me to bypass the police and military barricades.

The next three days and three nights were a living hell, until I met FBI undercover agent Wayne Davis. Wayne would later become one of the FBI’s earliest and most respected Black executives. During his career he led the FBI Detroit Office and several other field offices. We hit it off right away. He was a New Jersey guy from Newark. He was an outstanding college basketball player at the University of Connecticut.

We became great friends and after he retired, he made several guest apperances on Inside Sports.

If DC Mayor Barry had left his ego in Facess Restaurant the night I warned him the FBI was coming after him, “The Bitch Would Have Never Set Him Up.” Wayne, told me to warn him.

FBI Director Wayne Davis and me at the Detroit FBI HQ.

We attended the Thomas Hearns vs Pipino Cuevas title fight on August 2, 1980 at the Joe Louis Arena. The HIT MAN won his first world title with a vicious knockout of Mexican power puncher Cuevas. Wayne died at age of 81 in 2020–a brother truly gone too soon.

In 1969 Luke was reappointed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.  Three years later President Richard Nixon appointed him to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Luke, remained on the bench until his retirement in 1987.

During his tenure on the bench EQUAL JUSTICE was not just a ralling cry it was found in DC Superior Courtrooms. There was Chief Judge Harold Greene, judges, Harry T. Alexander, Ted Newman, Henry Kennedy, Jr. and Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton. In Maryland, William Missouri (Upper Marlboro), and Alex Williams, (Md, Federal Judge) were the Gatekeepers. All followed Luke in support of my non-profit Kids In Trouble, Inc. endeavors. Luke died at the age of 70–another brother gone to soon!

Luke introduces KIT Santa’s Helpers, Roy Jefferson (NFL), Ted Newman and Henry Kennedy, Jr. at the Foxtrappe Annual Christmas toy party. Henry met his wife Altomise at one of the parties.

Thurgood Marshall-Luke Moore-Spotswood Bolling-Willie Wood-Wayne Davis-Eddie Slaughter all warriors in the struggle for a piece of the American Pie!

FOOTNOTE: IN MEMORY OF EDDIE SLAUGHTER

Black Farmer, Eddie Slaughter died suddenly on Wednesday after decades of fighting for the Black Farmer. I met Eddie through my high school teammate and Black Farmer spokesperson, Lawrence Lucas via podcast and occassional telephone conversations where he would explain the plight of the Black Farmer. He was a humble and gracious black man. Eddie was 72 years old. Join Corey Lea, Michael Stovall and other black farmers in Atlanta on December 9th. Show up and show out in memory of Eddie.

This outing will not be read in the Washington Post, or heard on the Joe Madison Sirious XM or Roland Martin Podcasts. Eddie Slaughter, longtime advocate for Black farmers, dies – Center for Public Integrity

harold bell is a pioneer in sports talk radio. His Inside Sports talk show format changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond. He can be reached at 240-705-3447

Corey Lea-The Black Farmer

Michael Stovall-The Black Farmer

Colby King Black spokesperson for Joe Biden via Washingon Post

The phrase “40 acres and a mule” has come to symbolize the broken promise that America’s policies offer economic justice for African Americans. Full reparations for Black America will never happen.

The 1% will never give up Power or Money. For example, paid in full to the ancestors of the slave trade, today’s fair market price for Forty-Acres and a Mule, 6.4 trillion-dollars!

‎I met Colby King in the 1990s after he joined the Washington Post commentary staff after leaving Riggs Bank where he was a vice-president. He was later named deputy-editor of the editorial page. He was a mentor and once wrote a $5,000 check for my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble.

During my career in sports media I have had some great mentors when it comes to the written word, to include, Ms. Frances Murphy (Afro-American), George Solomon (Washington Post), Bert Sugar (Boxing Historian), Jim Vance (WRC TV 4), Howie Evans (NY Amsterdam) and Bill Raspberry (Washington Post).

I have wrtten several freelance sports and commentary columns for the Washington Post. Thanks to George Solomon and Colby King. I met Washington Post owner Donald Graham when he was a young cop on the streets of DC. We broke bread a couple of times.

King is a native Washingtonian, a graduate of Dunbar High School and Howard University. According to his introduction for the Pulitzer Prize, he was known for his against-the-grain columns that spoke to people in power with ferocity and wisdom!

On Thursday September 14th I received an email from Corey Lea, it was an update on his latest legal Merry-Go-Round with the America’s court system on behalf of the Black Farmer. The American Courts are well known for Justice & Just-Us system of law when it comes to Black America!

In the email Corey described how the Biden White House-Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack administration conspired with private banks to take Black farmers land.

Right away Colby King came to mind, his background in banking and his commentaries on Saturdays in the Washington Post might help shed a little light on this charade and fraud of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Man, I dialed a wrong number when I referred Corey to Colby!

Somewhere in the 2,000s after winning The Pulitzer Prize, it sounds like King got lost in the shuffle according to his commentary on President Joe Biden on Saturday September 16, 2023.

King’s commentary two days after I referred Corey to him sadden and disappointed me to no end.

Corey, Michael Stovall, Wayman Hinson, and I have had conversations relating to the Black Farmer down through the years. I met them through spokesperson, Washington, DC native, and my Spingarn high school teammate, Lawrence Lucas. We all have been in the struggle for decades.

Lawrence Lucas spokesperson for the Black Farmer and member of the Spingarn football team in 1967. He is standing on the left in the back row. I am standing on the right back row.

During those conversations as it related to the White House and the Black Farmer, I have never heard them call out Joe Biden for being too old to be President–NEVER! Biden is younger than Lucas and I.

Colby King’s commentary was based on Biden being too old to be President! Not once did he mention the plight of the Black Farmer. I would hate to think King is practicing Critical Race Theory.

Corey Lea invited King to give him a call if he needs clarification–I told Corey not to hold his breath.

In the meantime, there seems to be a divide between Corey Lea and Michael Stovall. They are now in two different camps. Corey is fighting the battle of the Black Farmer through the court system where he has received alledged Debt Relief but no monetary award from the Department of Agriculture to the tune of $250,000. Michael Stovall has received two settlements from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for $250,000 for a total of $500.000. When settlements like Stovall’s are refused by Vilsack, he passes them on to the DOJ.

Vilsack refuses to provide administrated hearings to contest alledged debts of black farmers. However, he pays the USDA for accrued interest on the inflation reduction act.

The accrued interest is prohibited until the administrative complaints are resolved pursuant to the 2008 farm bill and Pigford Settlement agreement is settled.

Stovall has teamed up Lawrence Lucas and they have taken their fight for the Black Farmer to social media, and to the streets with marches and boycotts.

This looks like the “Old Divide & Conquer” used by our enemies and develops into, “He says and she says!” There is no love–and hate becomes the bottom line.

Since I am a eyewitness to this struggle there has been a revolving door. It has become difficult to know who is on First?

The Stovall Team was once, Congressmen Corey Booker, Rafel Warnock, Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren–have all flown the coop!

I watched a recent Podcast narrated by Lawrence Lucas, it looks and sounds like their latest savior is Presidential candidate, Dr. Cornell West. He is running on the GREEN PARTY TICKET and could very well be a thorn in the side of the Biden campaign. The thing only that can save Biden, no one wants Trump.

Biden’s support of Vilsack denying the Black Farmer Debt Relief could bite him in his jackass.

Bill Raspberry was from Mississippi when he landed his teletypist job with the Washington Post in 1962. His first beat assignment was “The Potomac Watch.” He would rise through the ranks according to the Washington Post for his “Fiercely independent views illuminated conflicts related to race and poverty.” Raspberry won a Pulitzer Prize.

King and Raspberry had nothing in common except they both were columnist for the Washington Post and Pulitzer Prize winners. Bill was down to earth and King was a snob.

King knew absolutely nothing about the streets and the poor side of town (Simple City, Potomac Gardens, Barry Farms, Anacostia, Mayfair/Parkside, Langston Terrace, etc). Raspberry followed my lead in the inner-city.

I met Raspberry in 1966 at the favorite hangout of the in-crowd in Washington, DC, Faces Restaurant located on the upper NW corridor of Georgia Avenue.

Legendary radio personality Petey Greene and I were working for the self-help group, the United Planning Organization. We were hired as Neighborhood Workers in 1965.

Petey and I would meet for lunch on Fridays at Face’s for the best fried fish and chicken in the city. On this particular Friday I was running a little late. I found Petey sitting at the bar. He had already ordered my fish lunch and he had my favorite ice tea sitting there waiting for me.

One of the hot topics during that Friday was the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys. The Redskins were heading to Dallas for their usual showdown. Petey pretended to hate the Redskins for the sake of an augument. He gave the Redskins no chance of winning and I disagreed.

There was a guy sitting three or four seats to our right we had never seen in Faces before. Petey, looked at him and asked, “My man who do you like?”

The brother didn’t miss a beat, his response, “I am from Mississippi and I have no clude!” Petey, looked at me and said, “Harold Bell, hit the bama with the hammer.” The guy just smiled, but Petey gave him the blues for not being aware of the rivary beween the Redskins and the Cowboys.

He finally introduced himself as Bill Raspberry and he worked for the Washington Post. Petey, looked at him and asked, “Doing what?” His next question, “What paper route do you serve?”

Let the show began. Petey, had the Raspberry laughing so hard, he had to excuse himself and go to the bathroom.

He came back to the bar and introduced himself as a writer for the Washington Post. He later told me me, Petey almost made him pee on himself. This was the beginning of a great friendship. On Fridays, Raspberry would join us for fish or chicken at Faces.

I would start hanging out at the Washington Post with Raspberry. He would introduce me to sports editor, George Solomon and sports writer, Dave Dupree. George, would later become my mentor.

Petey, had a talk show on Sundays on W-O-L Radio, “Petey Greene’s Washington.” He was the talk of the town. He gave me 5 minutes to talk sports every Sunday. After he had done his homework, I had Raspberry call in one Sunday to talk Redskin football.

He would become a supporter of all my community endeavors, Kids In Trouble Christmas Toy Parties, Thanksgiving baskets, community day outings, celebrity fashion shows, tennis tournaments, etc.

SGT. EARL K. BELL WENT FROM A MILITARY COP TO DC COP-THE PLANTATION MENTALITY REMAINED THE SAME!

My younger brother Earl K. Bell aka Bull Bell decided he had enough of racism in the U. S. Army after two tours. He decided to bring his two children and wife back home to the U. S. to escape the blatant racism found in Mannheim, Germany.

He had an unblemish service record. He was a Staff Sergeant on the base Military Police, starting fullback on the base football team, Heavyweight Boxing Champion, table Tennis champion and volunteered as a softball umpire.

When racism raised its ugly head in downtown Mannheim at off-base night clubs, black soldiers turned to him for advice. He led them downtown to a nightclub that had policies of “No Blacks allowed”! 

He was confronted by his co-workers U. S. Army MPs who were sent there to enforce the peace. His actions did not sit well with U. S. Army brass. He was all set to sign for a third tour, but decided to separate from a racist Army and return home to DC.

Some how Jet Magazine got hold of our stories, Earl confronting racism in Germany and his big brother having lunch with an alledged racist President at the White House, Richard Nixon. I kept it moving.

Earl once home applied for the DC Police Department and discovered racism was just not confined to Mannheim, Germany. He passed the physical and scored high on the written exam, but he received a letter from black Assistant Chief Maurice Turner a hometown boy, the letter said, he was ineligible because of his previous juvenile record.

There were laws on the books stating that a juvenile’s record could not be held against him in a Civil Service appointment.

I called Raspberry and explained to him there was a problem in the DC Police Department personnel office relating to my brother’s employment. His response, “I will check it out and get back to you!”

Ollie Johnson in background with ball while Dewey Hughes, Bill Raspberry, and I look for a ball of our own. The ocassion a celebrity basketball outing against the Washington Redskins at the Georgetown University Gym.

Three days later my brother received a letter from Turner saying, “We apologize Mr. Bell it was all a mistake”. Thirteen years as a DC cop–the Thin Blue Line and Code of Silence ended his career in 1984.

Sgt. Bell was disciplined after an abusive Lieutenant stepped on his foot while wearing shower shows in the 7th District Station. The Lieutenant was knocked out with one punch. When the air had cleared Sgt. Bell was lett hanging despite several officers willing to testify on his behalf. Several months later he was was taken off the streets and assigned to the Police & Fire Clinic in SE DC.

The first morning of his new assignment he met a 16 wheeler on a icy Southern Avenue and Suitland Parkway overpass-the 16 wheeler won.

Washington Post columnist Dorothy Gilliam picked up the baton and kept the legacy of Sgt. Earl K. Bell alive. Cops were wall to wall in the reception room of the hospital. They came in all colors, shapes and forms to show their respect for the MAN they called “Sgt. Bull Bell!”

Raspberry joins Fatty Taylor (NBA)-Larry Brown (NFL)-Petey Greene and HB for Community Day at the Kids In Trouble Hillcrest Saturday Program.

DC Recreation Department Director, Joe Cole-Bill Raspberry and Carlton Snipes (U Street Mayor) thank everyone for their participation.

Washington Post columnist, Bill Raspberry expose police union for breaking the truce between youth and Officer Friendly cops in the inner-city. A peace that had taken years to cultivate.

Officer Friendly, Charles Robinson and I have a friendly encounter in “The Hood” with Ricky Dargin and Kirby Burkes.

This brings me full circle back to Black Farm Leader Corey Lea and Washington Post Editorial columnist, Colby King.

On September 12, 2023 I received an email from Corey Lea regarding the Biden White House and Agriculture Secretary,Tom Vilsack who was trying to destroy the Black Farmer. Along with Vilsack, BlacK leadership has kicked the Black Farmer so far to the back of the bus there is an overload. Rosa Parks can’t find a seat.

Politicians, Corey Booker (D-NJ) once a Presidential candidate and Rafel Warnock (D-Ga.) a benefactor of the black vote in a recent run-off election. They were what was once thought to be die-hard supporters have all but disappered without a trace from the Black Farmer landscape.

These two brothers are in Washington, DC this weekend (September 21st thru the 24th) to celebrate the annual Congressional Black Caucus Weekend. They will be singing our decades old theme song, “We Shall Overcome”, with added lyrics, “There is a party over here and there is a party over there!”

Michael Stovall and spokesperson, Lawrence Lucas, don’t seem to know “Who’s on First Base” and whether or not it will take a base hit, stolen base, sacrifice fly, walk or error to reach second base. Their relief pitcher President Biden is in the White House–its the blind leading the blind.

In the meantime, neither of the three are in Washington, DC to confront Booker, Warnock or members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to ask the question–“Why is there no support for the Black Farmer?”

The according to the latest statistics, MVP Vilsack is pitching a shutout, no-hitter and blocking home plate-No body is on First Base!

FOOTNOTE: In March, it will be 3 years and Biden-Vilsack has yet to deliver pandemic relief to Black farmers. On this same weekend, the Congressional Black Caucus is partying it up in DC while Black farmers may not get relief and ultimately not get crops in the ground in 2024. Biden-Vilsack are enriching White farmers at the moment so they will be able to buy the foreclosed farms that once belonged to Black farmers. This is a reality! Black America’s allegiance to the Democratic Party will be put to the test in the Polls in 2024. This is a personal hell for Black farmers to have Biden in the White House!!!!

REACHING ACROSS THE ISLE BLACK-WHITE-DEMOCRAT-REPUBLICAN FOR THE KIDS

THEY NEVER ASKED ME IF I WAS A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT!

LONNIE TAYLOR-THE FIRST BLACK CHIEF OF STAFF FOR A WHITE CONGRESSMAN ON CAPITOL HILL. HE WAS AN INNER-CITY KID WHO NEVER FORGOT!

“EVERY BLACK YOU SEE IS NOT YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER & EVERY WHITE FACE YOU SEE IS NOT YOUR ENEMY!”