It does not take a genius to count from zero to two or to understand pro sports and major media outlets are the last plantations in America.

For example; in 2016 the NHL has zero ownership, MBL has zero ownership, NFL has zero ownership, NBA has one black owner and many in the black community thinks he should be designated as “Other”. It is not about jobs in the black community it’s about ownership.

The NHL is led by a racist by the name of Gary Bettman and this is not based on he say, she say. I was up close and personal with Bettman (NBA Counselor), Ron Thorn (NBA VP) and Horace Balmer (Head of Security) at NBA headquarters in New York City in 1978.

In 1978 I was hired by Nike as a Sports and Marketing rep to cover the eastern region of the U. S. John Phillips was the Director of Basketball and Marketing for Nike Shoes. He asked me to join him in New York City to meet with the NBA brain trust of Bettman, Thorn and Balmer.

In 1977 Nike sponsored a trip to the Bahamas, the home of NBA star Mychal Thompson of the L. A. Lakers (son Clay Thompson). The trip was in conjunction with a charity All-Star Game with other members of the NBA that included Magic Johnson. The league balked at the 1978 game and John was called to New York City for the meeting.

The meeting got off to a cordial beginning with everyone smiling and shaking hands, but once the discussion started, Bettman claimed the game could not be played. When John asked the question why? Bettman’s response was, “Because we own the players!”

I jumped up from the table and said “I beg your pardon, are you saying the players are slaves”? All hell broke loose and the meeting had to be adjourned to a later time and place. We never met again and that is how I remember Bettman. He showed his true colors. It was then I understood why Irving Johnson was named “Magic” he disappeared like a puff of smoke leaving me and John Phillips holding the bag.

In 2016 there are no “Major Media” outlets own by black folks (newspapers, radio and television). The 1% who control all the wealth can be found in their Ivory Towers and luxury box suites on any given Sunday in sports arenas throughout America enjoying combat between the lions and their slaves. If you have any doubts that the plantation mentality is a figment of my imagination, look no further then Washington, DC, the Nation’s Capitol—once called “Chocolate City”, there its taxation without representation!

According to ESPN First Take’s Stephen A. Smith, Wilbon, is “One of the most respected sports journalist in America and a pioneer”??? Wilbon would have us to believe, that the reason behind this country’s racist charade are ‘Analytics’? Come on man!

For example; was it analytics that got winning coaches Tony Dungee, Mark Jackson and Lionel Hollins fired. Sonny Hill got kicked to the curb by CBS back in the day?

Remember, this is the same Michael Wilbon who as a sports columnist while at the Washington Post, claimed his sports editor George Solomon looked over his shoulder and told him what to write and what not to write. Why should we think anything has changed?

Remember, this is the same Michael Wilbon who volunteered and told me in the NBA Wizards’ press room, “ESPN wants me to appear on a segment of “Outside the Lines” to discuss the “N word,” but I have decided not to appear because the white host has no horse in the race”!

I was impressed, because he was finally taking a stand. He had been “A go along to get along Negro his entire media career.”

The following Sunday, who do I see sitting on the set of “Outside the Lines,” with the white host who had no horse in the race discussing the “N-word? Michael Wilbon.

Major media outlets like “The Undefeated,” are still trying to dictate to us who our heroes are and who they are not. Our heroes are definitely not “Go along to get along Negroes.”

Nine out of ten barber shops in the inner-city will say “No” to Michael Wilbon and his partner in deceit, Stephan A. Smith, because they speak with ‘Fork Tongues’.

I remember when Washington Post sports columnist Donald Huff wrote a column on me in the 70s as it related to my impact on sports talk radio. He went to the street corners, playgrounds, pool halls and barber shops in the Shaw/Cardozo to see how I rated. Glenn Harris a sports talk show host on WHUR Radio on the campus of Howard University, said, “The folks in the streets love Harold Bell, I can’t figure that one out yet!” The Common denominator—I am from the streets.

Several years ago Stephan A. Smith was participating in a panel discussion on racism in America for Essence Magazine. He flat out said, “I cannot talk about racism on my radio show because my white audiences who pay my salary don’t want to hear it.”

He spoke several months later at his alma mater Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina. During his Commencement speech, he chastised the graduating class to stand for something and don’t just fall for anything! Now if that is not talking out of both sides of your mouth, I don’t know what is.

According to USA Today writer Jason Lisk, “Wilbon didn’t find any cross-examples of black people who embrace analytics. Since the article posted, others have pointed out that he didn’t ask them. It would require some analytical interest in finding the truth, but if you want to say that race matters when it comes to those small groups interested in analytics, you could maybe do a poll, and ask questions that isolate hardcore sports fans, race and income and age, and knowledge of certain stats. This piece is not persuasive at all that it matters. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t”. So who is to say, this is not something Wilbon made up?

I like USA Today writer Lisk’s assumption, “It would require some ANALYTICAL interest in finding the TRUTH”. I refer back to actor Jack Nicholson’s courtroom statement in the movie A Few Good Men, ‘Some folks cannot handle the TRUTH’—-meet Michael Wilbon.

ESPN just launched a new website titled “Undefeated” aimed at discussing and focusing on black issues in America. Man, give me a break!

Washington Post columnist and former radio talk show host Mike Wise on 107 FM in DC The Fan is a contributor and I find him more trustworthy then Wilbon when it comes to trying to get the story right as it relates to the black community.

They are the only two names that I recognize so far as contributors. I thought cheerleader Jason Whitlock was on board but I understand ESPN fired him before the site launch.

I was critical of Wise when he wrote for the Washington Post, but I also gave him credit when credit was due (same with Wilbon). Wise is not a bad guy but for some reason like most in sports media they become full of themselves.

For example in a Washington Post column in January 2013 he called out RG3 shortly after Rod Parker was fired from ESPN for asking “Is RG 3 a “Cornhead Brother?” Stephan A. Smith and Wilbon were so quiet you could hear a mouse piss on cotton (see summary of column below).

WASHINGTON POST SPORTS COLUMNIST MIKE WISE CLEARS ESPN’S ROB PARKER

On Sunday January 12, 2013 there was a column titled “Why won’t Washington Redskin QB RG lll talk about his team’s name?” The story appears in the Outlook section of the Washington Post. The commentary was written by Washington Post sports columnist Mike Wise.

He was knowingly or unknowingly asking the same question former ESPN analyst Rob Parker was asking his colleagues on ESPN’s “First Take” and a national television audience on Wed December 12, 2012. Rob wanted to know if RG lll was a real brother or a Cornhead brother and if he was down with the cause (where was his loyalty)?

Wise said (summary), “The one person who could make Redskin owner Daniel Snyder come to his senses and realize it is time to stop demeaning Native Americans. But I fear that Griffin is not that guy, and not just because he’ll be focused for the next few months on physical therapy on his knee. No young, dynamic leader of an NFL team is that guy (or old dynamic leader). Pro players (or blacks in sports media at ESPN) who take on controversial social debates are gone, replaced by athletes (or sports media personalities similar to Stephen A. Smith) whose goal is not to offend-because that would mean fewer commercials, a loss of sponsors and, God forbid, a Q rating lower than Michael Jordan’s.”

The bottom-line as Wise pointed out in his column, there are no more Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe, or Curt Floods “who were down with the causes!”
That was all Rob Parker was asking on ESPN’s “First Take.” The question if you re-call, ‘Is he a brother or a Cornhead brother and is he down with the cause?’ The answer according to Wise’s column is YES to both questions.

First, ESPN suspended Rob Parker for 30 days before waiting two weeks into his suspension before firing him.
Wise, I am sure can relate to Rob Parker’s fate at ESPN he was recently fired from his sports talk show at 107 FM “The Fan” in DC which I am sure he thought was unfair (welcome to the black side of town).

We must remember as we move forward (or backwards depending on where you are sitting) professional sports in America are still the highest form of exploitation. The plantation mentality is alive and well (a media press room is a close second).

Whether Mike Wise wanted to or not he cleared Rob Parker’s name with the blessings of the Washington Post! He revealed RG III’s real identity!

I have not forgotten when Wise invited me to be a guest on his radio talk show the “Fan” after my blog on the Bleacher Report titled “Will the Real John Thompson Stand Up For Jayson Whitlock” went viral with over 30, 000 hits in three days.

http://bleacherreport.com/users/121596-harold-bell / See Jason Whitlock loud and wrong on John Thompson

Wise and his cheer leading co-host tried to ambush me by defending John Thompson against my allegations of him being a corrupt college basketball coach and a worthless human being. The show burned up the air waves and former City Paper columnist Dave McKenna gave me high marks for sticking to my guns as it related to Thompson. I am always going to get high marks—you cannot go wrong when you tell the truth.

John Thompson, Jr. continues to be the worthless human being I said he was. Recently he refuses to allow his son Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson III to be his own man. This past season Big John stormed into a press conference being conducted by his son. He demanded that his son stop answering questions and when he continue to answer the questions, he told him to “Shut the F—K up!”

It gets worst, last month Bob Grier once one of his best friends and assistant coach for the Georgetown basketball team died. Bob along with Sandy Freeman use to keep me off of John’s sorry ass on the DC NE playgrounds, he was as soft as cotton. Big John attended the funeral with his girlfriend and former mistress Mary Ann Finley (academic coach for the team). Finley was once engaged to marry Bob Grier until John stole her away and fired Bob.

James Wiggins was Big John’s “Bag Man.” Wiggins ran the Urban Coalition Summer Basketball League for Big John until the gate receipts came up missing.

He said, “I sat right next to him at Bob’s funeral and he would not even speak to me.” I forgot to tell Wiggins, ‘John was just being John, he wanted you to show him the money!’

In one of his e-mail responses, Wise said, “Harold you belong in the Hall of Fame, but you have probably pissed all the judges off!” Mike Wise, ‘You might be on to something!’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfKQOH5_iiw / the Original Inside Sports

The benefactors who came through Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports before their 15 minutes of fame speaks volumes; Dave Aldridge (TNT) James Brown (CBS) Dave Bing (NBA) Tim Baylor (NFL) Kevin Blackistone (ESPN) Jamie Foster Brown (Sister 2 Sister) Adrian Branch (NBA) Adrian Dantley (NBA) Larry Fitzgerald, Sr. (Minn. Spokesman) Bobby Gardner (NFL) Glenn Harris (WHUR) Darryl Hill (ACC) Jo Jo Hunter (NBA) Cathy Hughes (Radio and TV One) Dave Jacobs (Boxing) Jair Lynch (Olympian) Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing) Tony Paige (NFL) Butch McAdams (Radio One) Vasti McKinzie (AME Church) Oden Polyniece (NBA) Aaron Pryor (Boxing) Bill Rhoden (NY Times) Chris Thomas (BET) John Thompson, Jr. (Georgetown) Cecil Turner (NFL) Omar Tyree (author) Michael Wilbon (ESPN) Michelle Wright (Radio One). Liabilities and benefactors after the fact; Jim Brown (NFL) Don King (Boxing) Earl Lloyd (NBA) Doug Williams (NFL) Willie Wood (NFL)

If Wilbon thinks because there is a black President, Barack Obama, one media mogul, Oprah Winfrey, and one NBA owner, Michael Jordan, if they are his best examples of black progress in America, he is dead wrong.

We just got through celebrating Brown vs Board of Education’s landmark decision on April 16, 1954 banishing school segregation in America. Would you believe sixty-two years later in Cleveland, Mississippi blacks are still not allowed to attend schools with whites. Alabama leads the nation (200+) when it comes to Civil Rights cases on the court docket. Racism is alive and well and thriving in America.

On May 27, 2016 Judge Debra M. Brown ordered the town of Cleveland, Mississippi to confront its segregated past, insisting the town had been violating children’s civil rights, and that it is the school district’s duty “to ensure that not one more student suffers under this burden.” Analytics had nothing to do with this kind of racism.

In 1954 my Spingarn high school basketball teammate Spotswood Bolling was the lead plaintiff for the DC Public Schools (Bolling vs DC Board of Education) and I lived through that landmark decision. I was a freshman student/athlete at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, NC in 1960 when students from North Carolina A and T University kicked off the first ever sit-in at the segregated Woolworth lunch counter stores. The sit-ins spread 30 miles up the road to Winston-Salem and me and student/athletes Al Mayor (DC), Luther Wiley (Lynchburg, Va.) and Barney Hood (Decatur, Illinois) against the wishes of our coach, Clarence ‘Bighouse’ Gaines join the boycott. The historical March on Washington in 1963 led by the Rev. Martin Luther King I was there.

In 1968 I was standing on the corner of 9th and U Streets aka Black Broadway when riots broke out after the shooting death of Rev. Martin Luther King in Memphis. I was working for the DC recreation Department as a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force). On that April 4th bright sun shiny day, my co-worker Green Bay Packer safety, Willie Wood was standing with me. During the riots Willie and I were joined on the U Street corridor by Luke C. Moore, the first black modern day U. S. Marshall in-charge in America, appointed by the President of the United States. The three of us walked arm in arm in the streets while buildings burned around us.

The web site claims, “The Undefeated is the premier platform for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture. We enlighten and entertain with innovative storytelling, original reporting and provocative commentary.” My question, how can you be ORIGINAL when there is no-one on staff ORIGINAL when comes to black history? They can only tell stories from he say, she say, there is nothing ORIGINAL about that! The Undefeated will be similar to The Bleacher Report (own by CBS), it will be about control—been there and done that.

For example; there can never be an ORIGINAL INSIDE SPORTS, copied but never duplicated!

How many of us remember when our parents had to decide when it was the proper time and age to teach us about the Birds and the Bees? Today our kids can teach us about the Birds and the Bees and everything else they can GOOGLE on the internet, AKA The Undefeated.

In 2016 we have to teach them about the Cops and the Thugs, who sometimes are one of the same. Police shootings of unarmed black men in America are off the charts.

I have spent five decades working in the DC streets with youth gangs and at-risk children. I have seen the Good, Bad and Ugly of law-enforcement up close and personal.

I am not anti-cop; two of my three brothers were law-enforcement officers encouraged by me to join the force to try to make a difference. I am anti-bully cop. There are some good cops, but they are overrun by the bullies and cowards on the force controlled by the KKK known as the Fraternity Order of Police.

The KKK infiltrated police departments all over this country in the 1800s with strict orders to keep “Niggers in their place by any means necessary”! Some now sit in courtrooms in robes all over America, several in black face. The fix is on in Baltimore!

In 2016 those KKK members now run the Fraternity Order of Police and are Chief of Police in departments all over this country. The 1800s’ mentality is alive and well.

When was the last time you heard a President of the Fraternity Order of Police admit, “That was a bad shooting”? Let me tell you when—never.

All shootings “Are Good” as long as the victim is black.

Now the Fraternity Order of Police want to boycott Beyounce’s Concert in Philadelphia claiming she is anti-cop. The reason; her Super Bowl performance celebrating Malcomb X and the Black Panthers. The real problem, she didn’t ask for their permission—they had no control. The Undefeated, I bet was found on the same mentality.

My brothers Earl (DC Cop) and Alfred (U. S. Marshall) experienced “The Thin Blue Line and Code of Silence” while trying to be Good Cops.

The first modern day U. S. Marshall in Charge and DC Superior Court Judge, the late Luke C. Moore stepped in to save Alfred’s job and a black DC Assistant Chief Isaac Fullwood sold my brother Earl out by honoring and condoning the Code of Silence and Thin Blue Line. Earl turned in a white and black cop who targeted and brutally abused black prisoners only in their cells on the weekends.

The problem, there are too many making excuses as it relates to how dangerous it is for policemen on the streets of America. We forget this is an occupation that they signed up for—they had a choice and were not drafted into the job.

On the flip said of the coin—we were born black and had no choice. As long as the 1% control the politicians and they force us to live in these Section 8 Housing/Ghettos all over America with no-way out, black on black murder will continue to spiral out of control.

Our problem, we don’t know our history and when you don’t know your history you are bound to repeat it.

How can we claim progress or success when we leave our brothers and sisters behind in Mississippi and Alabama or in any inner-city neighborhood? We travel to Third World countries to help them solve their problems before solving our very own!

I understand I am a tough act to follow in sports talk radio and in the community; The Original Inside Sports was Outside the Lines before ESPN and Real Sports on HBO. The Original Inside Sports cared long before the NBA, NHL, MLB and the NFL when it comes to community service.

NFL Films (CBS) videotaped the first ever NFL promo for national television at the Kids In Trouble Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program in DC in 1972. Washington NFL players RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton were shown teaching inner-city children water safety. Dave Bing (NBA) and Willie Wood (NFL) were the first pro athletes to give back to the community (via Kids In Trouble, Inc.)

How many sports talk show host are responsible for successfully campaigning and getting pro athletes into the Hall of Fame? Meet Willie Wood, he was one of the greatest defensive back to ever play in the NFL and Earl Lloyd was the first black to play in the NBA, they both were ignored despite their contributions. Willie was finally inducted in 1989 (via Dick Heller) and Earl in 2003 (via Red Auerbach) thanks to my media blitz campaigns for them.

Ask me how many athletes have I gotten out of jail using my political contacts and media outlets; the first was DC’s playground basketball legend, Spingarn High School’s Bernard Levi, the next was a man considered to be the greatest NFL player of all-time, Jim Brown (NFL Captain of Domestic Abuse) and Jo Jo Hunter rated in my top 5 when you mention DC playground basketball legends (Elgin Baylor, Dave Bing, Willie Jones, Adrian Dantley and Jo Jo Hunter). Jo Jo is a former confidant and salesman for: James Brown (CBS), Eddie Jordan (NBA) and the list goes on and on—stay tune.

I am the only man on the planet who has broken bread with two of the most controversial personalities in American History, President Richard M. Nixon and the Greatest, Muhammad Ali.

This new websites like “The Undefeated” is another ploy to use black folks like Wilbon, Smith and Whitlock. They keep falling for just anything and not standing for something. The Undefeated and similar websites will be the blind leading the blind. There is nothing analytical about racism in America.

Note Worthy: Horace Balmer died last year and my sincere condolences go out to his family. I remember at the NBA All-Star game in Houston in the 80s and NBA legend Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe was without a ticket to get in, but too proud to let anyone know. I told Horace of Earl’s problem and he got him in through a side door. Horace was a good guy away from the NBA office (RIP).

                                                                 

As family and friends prepare for the home going services for a son, brother, nephew, cousin, friend, athlete, and pioneer, we will be remember Kevin Tatum as a MAN who stood for something and didn’t fall for just anything.

Kevin Tatum led by example as the point guard on the City Championship 1969 McKinley Tech High School basketball team in Washington, DC and as sportswriter for three decades. He covered sports for newspapers in St. Louis, DC and in Philadelphia. It was never easy, it never is, when you are honest and a man of integrity in today’s dog eat dog media circus.

Kevin discovered as I did, folks always want to hear the truth as long as it is about someone else, but never about themselves.

After college Kevin sport’s writing career started out in St. Louis, but after a short stay there he came home to work in his “Dream Job” the sports department of the Washington Star newspaper, but that was also short-lived. The paper filed for bankruptcy in 1981. He applied for a job in the sports department of the Washington Post without any success. This was really a blessing in disguise, the paper already had on board the just arrived Michael Wilbon, Dave Dupree and a couple of other go-along-to -get along Negroes. Kevin never fit the profile required to work for the Washington Post.

We had several conversations about his future in the business as he mailed out his resumes to newspapers around the country looking for his next job. His next assignment would carry him to the City of Brotherly Love. I discovered by chance through his late uncle Craig that he had landed in Philly. I immediately called Sonny Hill (Mr. Basketball in Philadelphia) and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer Elmer Smith asking them to keep an eye on him. He was highly respected by his peers despite assignments by his editors to keep him away from the juicy assignments of covering basketball mainstays like Penn State, Temple, La Salle, Villanova and the NBA.

Despite the assignments to the high school and Division II basketball beats, he made sure their stories were accurately told and went eyeball to eyeball with editors who tried to put a different spin on his stories.

The media in all forms is one of the most insecure professions known to mankind, especially for blacks. The reason, the opportunities are far, few and in-between. Black folks will step on each other, stab you in the back trying to get that ONE opening.

I applaud Kevin for being able to last in this cut-throat business for three-decades and leaving on his own terms–without the label of “Designated Tom!”

Radio talk show host Sonny Hill remembers Kevin as a brother who was a frequent guest on his Sunday morning talk show “The Living Room” heard on WIP All Sports Radio in Philly. He said, “Kevin walked with his shoulders back and his head held high. There were a lot of trials and tribulations, but he manage to weather all the storms.”

Former basketball All-Met at Eastern High School in DC and Villanova basketball standout Bernie Chavis says, “I didn’t know Kevin, but I read his columns in the Inquirer. He was an excellent writer and all I heard was good things about him in the community.”

The overseer of the Washington sports department was my old friend George Solomon. He ran a Gestapo type sports department, according to highly respected veteran high school sports reporter and native Washingtonian, Donald Huff.  George often looked over the shoulders of his reporters which was not a bad idea sometimes, but he too often looked over the shoulders of his columnist who were suppose to have some independence over the written word in their columns.

George allowed me to write several free-lance columns for the sports department and I have written several “Opinion” columns for the Editorial Page. I have seen the Good, Bad and Ugly of the Washington Post. In the 70s and 80s I was in and out of the Washington Post sports department so often folks thought I worked there.

George Solomon and his writers were frequent guest on Inside Sports.

I will never forget how Michael Wilbon cried on my shoulder in the Green Room of the Howard University TV station before we were scheduled to be a guest on the Kojo Knamdi Show. His complaint, George often looked over his shoulder and changed his columns to his dismay.

My advice, “You are a talented writer and I am sure you could find a better position with your credentials. Why not send your resume to the NY Times or LA Times?”

Famous last words, shortly after that advice, Wilbon would become a star columnist, a ESPN television co-host with Tony CORN-HISNER. This is one guy who should get down on his knees every night and thank God he was born Jewish/white (no talent).

Wilbon has co-authored books with NBA Hall of Fame player Charles Barkley, played golf with Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods. He is a millionaire and has been elected to several media halls of fame. Here it is 40 years later, the question to myself should be, “What did I know and when did I know it?” It looks like George knew best or did he?

Let me make one thing perfectly clear, I love Wilbon like a little brother and when my younger brothers the late Sgt. Earl “Bull” Bell and my younger brother Puddin aka Billy, Tyrik, or William, stepped out of line as grown men, I stepped to them! It is no different with those who came through Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports before their 15 minutes of fame.

My next question, what price did Wilbon pay for all those accolades? He had a heart attack that almost took him out of here and lost a lot of credit and trust in the community, especially, when he went on National television saying, “It’s okay to use the N word among family and friends!” This was after telling me in the Wizards (NBA) media press room, “I have been asked to be a part of the discussion on the N word on “ESPN’s Out Side the Lines but I am not going to participate because the white host has no horse in the race.” The next Sunday I turn on the TV and who do I see sitting in on that same discussion saying, ‘Its okay to use the N word?’

Kevin Tatum would never have gone back on his word because of the pride he had in himself of being black and proud. He was a product of a home that thrived on integrity and honesty.

In a recent e-mail I said, I would jump over a one-hundred, Michael Wilbons, Stephen A. Smiths, and Kevin Blackistones to get to one Kevin Tatum. There is no common denominator as it relates to Kevin, Wilbon, Stephen A and Blackistone, accept all four were sports writers and black to some extend.

Remember, Kevin was an outstanding impact athlete in high school and on the playgrounds of DC. Wilbon, Stephen A. and Blackistone could not play dead while in high school or college. Stephen A. claimed he played for Bighouse Gaines at Winston-Salem State my al-mater. In a conversation with Coach Gaines during homecoming several years before he died, he said, “Stephen A. Smith never got off the bench”–I rest my case!

In the meantime, for those of us who knew the real Kevin Tatum should not be alarmed by the story that appeared in his old newspaper the Philadelphia Inquirer obituary reporting his passing. The story claimed he plagiarized a story he had written during his tenure??? The obituary was written by some sports department go-fer by the name of Sofiya Ballin whose boss is evidently the one who tried to set Kevin up from the very beginning.

D. C. have no fear, Garry “G” Cobb is here. Garry is a classic case of a former NFL star who transitioned successfully to a radio and television career. Garry played linebacker in the National Football League for 11 years. He spent 6 seasons with the Detroit Lions, where he was a team captain for three years and led them to the playoffs in two of those years. Garry then played three years along side Hall-Of-Fame player Reggie White as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. He finished his career with two years in Dallas playing for head coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson. Some of Garry teammates in Dallas were Hall-Of-Famers Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin. As an outside linebacker in Buddy Ryan’s vaunted 46 Defense, Garry had his best day as a pro when he registered 4 sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery in a single game against the Atlanta Falcons and was named the Sports Illustrated NFL Defensive Player Of The Week. He held the Eagles single game sack until Clyde Simmons surpassed him with a 4.5 sack game. Garry was traded by the Lions to the Eagles in 1985 for one of the Birds All-Time greats Wilbert Montgomery. Cobb played on some outstanding defenses while playing for the Lions. He led NFL linebackers in interceptions with five during one of his years in Detroit. Garry also led the Cowboys with 7 1/2 sacks during one of his two seasons in Dallas. After his football career, Garry became a popular sports radio talk show host on Sports radio 610-WIP in 1991. He became known as G. Cobb and has developed quite a following among sports fans and especially Eagles fans in the area. In addition, Garry was a sports anchor and reporter on CBS-3 television in Philadelphia for eight years.

This is what Garry wrote on his blog page SPORTS 24×7.com in May of 2012 relating to the false accusation by the writer on the Dead Spin blog site. He said, “We have learned this week that the plagerism accusation against Kevin Tatum that was posted by Dead Spin in November, which had Tatum stealing a blog regarding Villanova basketball and claiming the information enclosed as his own, was at the very least a miscommunication between Tatum and his immediate supervisor” (see link below for complete story).  http://gcobb.com/2012/04/19/clarity-in-the-tatum-controversy/

When Kevin was contacted about this story, he said “No comment I have moved on!”  I am sure that is exactly what he would want family and friends here in DC to do—move on.  Rest in peace little brother.

As we head for the polls on Tuesday April 26th the poor and down trodden, especially, those of us in Black America we should be aware of “The Free Loaders” among us who want our vote. The GOP 1% is pissed-off about front-runner Donald Trump one of their very own. He is exactly what they have been wishing for, but the problem, they have no control. It is hilarious watching them scramble from pillar to post trying to come up with a workable solution to stop “The Donald.”

The Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has her detractors but nothing is as scary as Donald Trump as President of the United States, but even that is debatable according to supporters of Bernie Sanders.

In the black community nothing is as scary as Donna Edwards, Glenn Ivey and Anthony Brown three of the biggest do-nothings politicians in Prince Georges County, Maryland. All are running for public office. The best way to describe them is “Political Free Loaders” who don’t want to work for anyone!

I have admired and respected former United States Attorney General Eric Holder for his stand-up attitude during the President Barack Obama administration. His stand-up attitude against White House bully and former Obama Chief of staff, Raul Emanuel was one of a kind. Emanuel is now the Mayor and leader of “Black Lives Don’t Matter” undercover campaign in Chicago, Illinois. It’s here young black men’s blood is flowing in the streets like nowhere else in this country as Emanuel and his gangster cops hide videos proving ‘Black Lives Don’t Matter’ to him.

Holder’s support of Ivey is understandable because Ivey once worked as an Assistant U. S. Attorney for the Justice Department in 1990-1994, Holder was then U. S. Attorney General. Its one of those things where “I scratched your back and now I need for you to scratch mine”. This vote of confidence/endorsement was unwarranted, Glenn Ivey is a loser in every sense of the Word.

Ivey was twice elected as State’s Attorney in Prince George’s County, Maryland (2002-2006). He served from December 2002 to January 2011. In 2003 there was a shooting at Suitland High School(known as the Black Board Jungle of PG County). The shooting was thought to be gang relate, total chaos erupted in the school among, teachers, students and parents. It was the blind leading the blind.

The County Executive Jack Johnson (now an ex-con), the Police Chief Melvin High and the State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey sat on their hands waiting for things to return to “Business as Usual” while little children died.

In the meantime, I wrote a column in the OPINION section of the Washington Post calling leadership in the county out for their “Do Nothing Attitudes”. Glenn Ivey’s name was mentioned in the column as not having a clue. One month later I was attending a church community prayer breakfast on Central Avenue in the county and Ivey was on the panel. Evidently, someone told him I was in the audience and he sent one his aides to get me, I had never met the man before.

There was a brief discussion about me citing him in my column, I explained my position. We agreed to meet in his office to discuss solutions at a later date.

A month would pass before he could clear his calendar for me to meet with him and his staff. Joining me in that meeting would be members of the Board of Directors of Kids In Trouble, Inc., Andrew Johnson (former DC Cop/DEA), Rev. John Edwards, Sidney Davis (ex-offender and youth advocate), Rev. Salim Edwards (youth minister), Furman Marshall (youth advocate and martial arts grand master), the late Calvin Woodland (youth advocate and founder of the Woodland Raiders).

The meeting lasted for two hours with Ivey staying for the first hour and handing the baton over to his staff to figure out what we brought to the table and how we could work together to make things better for our children. When the meeting finally convened, his staff agreed we would meet again after they reviewed the minutes of the meeting with their boss. Those were what we call “Famous Last Words” we never heard from Glenn Ivey or his staff again.

I later discovered half of his staff were “Double Dipping” working other jobs while working full time for the State’s Attorney’s Office. Ivey didn’t have a clue.

My next encounter with his office would be in 2007 when I was attacked on a Friday evening by a delusional white man with a club in the parking lot of my residence in Bowie, Maryland. After I fought him off I discovered he was a new neighbor who lived in my building and on my same floor but I never knew or met him.

Growing up in the streets of DC and in a NE housing project, I learned street law, when you defend yourself one on one and the best man won you moved on to live another day. It was brought to my attention by several Bowie residents that this was Prince Georges County and not DC. And I had just finished doing battle with a white man and the white man looked like he got the worst of it. I was advised to call the police and report the incident to protect my ass.

I waited in the community room of the complex with several residents waiting for the arrival of the police when my attacker appeared in the lobby waving the club in the air. We sit there stunned and in amazement as blood dripped from his face before he disappeared on the elevator.

The PG County Police arrived shortly after and questioned me on what had happen. I explained to them I thought that the attack was unprovoked because I didn’t know my attacker. They left me to find the other man. When they returned to the community room they brought the club that was used in the scuffle with them. I was told by the officers if I wanted to bring charges I would have to go down to the Upper Marlboro Courthouse and fill out the paper work. On Monday morning I filed charges against my neighbor as he did against me. I had been forewarned and beat him to courthouse.

In his statement justifying the attack, he said “I heard voices coming from under Mr. Bell’s door talking about me.” The attorney going over the statement with me said, “This man is not operating with a full deck. He has a big problem.” The man’s wife later confessed to residents he was bipolar and had not been taking his medicine. Despite the evidence Glenn Ivey tried to throw me under the bus. But a white judge who saw how the cased was being processed threw the case out against me. Eric Holder’s ringing endorsement of Ivey has fallen on deaf ears.

In 2003 a man who had a history of domestic abuse was allowed to walk out of State Attorney Glenn Ivey’s courtroom a free man. He had promised to stay away from his wife. Twenty-four hours later his wife was dead and he had committed suicide. All in a day’s work for Glenn Ivey (see link below).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/03/14/johnson-questions-handling-of-case/e1cc1418-c189-4324-8acb-0aea53d3f18e/?postshare=2161461255820194&tid=ss_mail

Donna Edwards comes from the same cloth as Ivey, her constituency says almost to a man and woman, “The office of Donna Edwards is one of the worst run in the county. There was hardly anyone ever found in her Constituency Service Office on Silver Hill Road in Suitland. Her office staff located on Capitol Hill was just as incompetent. For years I tried to get her to address the nursing home issue (death traps for senior citizens) in Prince Georges County leading up to my brother’s death in August 2014. There was a recent column in the Washington Post touting Donna Edwards say, “If she is elected to the Senate we all would have a seat!” Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am familiar with the name Chris Van Hollen her political opponent, but I am not well versed in his political background but there is no way in hell, he can be worst then Donna Edwards as a politician.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/a-black-woman-in-the-senate-when-she-sits-there-we-all-sit-there/2016/04/11/aefcb5d4-ffe2-11e5-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html?postshare=5681460479018142&tid=ss_mail

Anthony Brown is a disaster, he is from the cloth of former Governor Martin O’Malley who paraded around the country pretending to be a Presidential candidate. O’Malley the state of Maryland in complete chaos. Nursing homes are some of the worst in the country, racism ran rampant in the Baltimore Police Department and he allowed the Baltimore City jail to be taken over and run by the inmates right under his nose. He could not even run the state of Maryland, but he wanted to be President?

Anthony Brown was no more then O’Malley’s caddy though out his term in office. He was left naked when he tried to run for Governor against Larry Hogan. He had nothing to run on except that he was black and that was a question mark?

Remember When that young/criminal was hung in his Upper Marlboro jail cell after he was responsible for the hit and run death of a Prince Georges County Police Officer in 2007? That horrific act was carried out by the KKK of the PG County Police Department, it happen on “The Watch” of Edwards, Ivey and Brown.

I warned the late Mayor for Life, Marion Berry “The Bitch Was Going To Sit Him Up” and I warned Jack Johnson that law-enforcement was on to him, but like most politicians who think they know it all–they didn’t listen and both went to jail.

In a recent column in the Washington Post Jack Johnson wants his conviction set aside because of police corruption (see link below), another case of “The kettle calling the pot black.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/former-pr-georges-executive-asks-for-corruption-conviction-to-be-set-aside/2016/04/18/1030af7e-057c-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html?postshare=2571461336409309&tid=ss_mail

2015 marked 50 years of my working in the streets, playgrounds, schools and courthouses here in the DMV. I was a pioneering awarding winning sports talk radio radio personality for over 3 decades. I have been named Washingtonian of The Year by Washingtonian Magazine, honored at the White House by the President, cited in the Congressional Record on 4 different occasions for my work with at-risk children and youth gangs here in the DMV. I have seen the GOOD, BAD and UGLY when it comes to politics in America and Prince Georges County, but it does not get any worst then Edwards, Ivey and Brown. When it comes to these 3 politicians you can delete, the word GOOD!

“The world is not a dangerous place because of all the evil that is done—it is a dangerous place because of the people who say and do nothing.” Meet Donna Edwards, Glenn Ivey and Anthony Brown.

NETWORKING—-this is what the key should be to success in our community, but somewhere along the way we lost our way! I thought about the e-mail I received from my dear friend Rodney Coleman titled “Money problems and no-name acts—Howard Theater struggling again!” DC’s last jazz club the Bohemian Caverns closed for good and has anyone seen our old friend, Walter Fauntroy?

I watched as superstar comedian/actor Kevin Hart’s recent visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl. A group of 40+ young people from Kentucky was scheduled to have lunch at the in the World famous Chili Bowl but they had to be moved to Ben’s Next Door because of the visit by Kevin Hart.

The diverse group of Black, White and Hispanic kids hailed from a Community Center in Kentucky. You could easily see they came from backgrounds similar to our very own.

Kevin Hart and the youth from Kentucky entered Ben’s Chili Bowl and Ben’s Next Door at about the same time. The cameras lined-up on the sidewalk alerted the kids that someone important was in the Chili Bowl. In fact, one could have easily assumed that it was President Obama and Michelle, because of the number of SUV’s parked in front and Kevin’s entourage was nothing to sneeze at.

While I am trying to get the Kentucky youth into Ben’s Next Door away from the cameras their curiosity got the best of them. Someone leaked that Kevin Hart was the visiting celebrity (I didn’t have clue), I was just as surprised as they were.

I finally get them all into Ben’s Next Door but as they are taking their seats another group is crowded at a door that leads to the Chili Bowl but the door is locked. The door has a see through window and Kevin Hart is seated on the other side of the door in plain sight.
It took me several minutes to get the group looking at Kevin to take their seats. It was then the pleas from the kids and the chaperons started. They begin asking me if I could get Kevin to come over and say “Hello.” I explained to them I was nothing but a ‘Worker’ for the restaurant and had no say so.

The matriarch and founder Ms. Virginia Ali stops by to see if everything is okay next door. This provides one the chaperons an opportunity to introduce herself and ask Ms. Virginia if it would be possible if she could get Kevin to stop by and say “Hello” to the kids. The matriarch uses all her charm and diplomacy and explains that Kevin is on a tight schedule and it would be almost impossible. I breathe a sigh of relief at least I got that responsibility off of me.

To watch the look of disappointment on the faces of those young children as Carmalo (chaperon) broke the bad news to them. I also felt and understood their pain.

I had already explained to Ms. Ali, that these are the young folks who are going to pay to see his movies (It would have been a great PR move for him).

When I had excess to the superstars to include, Ali, Jim Brown, Red Auerbach, Sugar Ray Leonard, Doug Williams, Don King, etc. it was a must that they meet and talk with my young people and they never said “No!”

Who would have thought that when these young people left Kentucky headed for DC they would be sitting in a restaurant with superstar comedian/actor Kevin Hart two feet away next door?

I met Kevin long before he became a superstar. On a visit to DC He was a guest at one of my Kids In Trouble Celebrity Fashion Shows.

My wife Hattie had already gotten his attention when he entered the restaurant. She told him I was next door (he winked). As I checked the arrangements for the kids next door I had to pass through where he was holding court in the other restaurant our eyes met and he winked (recognition). I kept moving, I have been a lot of things in my life, but never star-struck.

In the meantime, I had to make sure that the kids from Kentucky had my undivided attention.

When you have sat on a Mountain Top with Muhammad Ali, it does not get any better than that. Still I am thinking, how can I get Kevin to stop by and say a few words to these kids? I know I would not want to be a kid and have to ride all the back to Kentucky, thinking Kevin Hart was right next door and he didn’t have time to stop by to say hello!

My break came when one of the security detail came through the kitchen. I told him that Kevin and I went back and I needed for him to stop on the way out and say hello to the kids. He in turn sent another member of the team out to meet with me and he said okay.

There was another video shoot to execute out in front of the restaurant. A team member came back and told me that Kevin would make his exit through the kitchen and to keep my eyes on the front.

I all most missed him trying to get the kids back into their seats, by the time I got back to the kitchen Kevin was headed up the steps to the exit. I called out “Kevin where are you going, come back here and holler at the kids?” He put his hand up to his mouth and said, ‘I am hollering at the kids Harold!’

I said, “No way Kevin, come on man and say hello to the children.” He said ‘okay’ and he came back down and went into Ben’s Next Door and waved to the children.

During these difficult times we should always make children first, whether they are ours or someone else’s child.

Ali was a different kind of fellow if a child or baby was in his space the child had his undivided attention.

Many times it is not the celebrity at fault it is “The Yes Men” who are suppose to have his best interest at heart. Kevin probably has changed and success does that to some. Some folks handle success and other let success handle them. I am thinking in the end Kevin is going to handle success because his heart is in the right place. He could have blown me and the kids off but he didn’t.

After Kevin and his entourage had cleared the restaurant, the kids from Kentucky were still waiting outside to get into see the original Chili Bowl where Kevin Hart had just eaten. I took them on a walk through and they seem to have left happy.

When I took Sugar Ray Leonard under my wing as his mentor Robert Hooks was there and a host of others that I brought into help me support this kid in trouble. Ray did not have a bucket to piss-in or a window to throw it out. But when the dust had cleared, he had become the first pro boxer to earn over 100 million dollars (not Muhammad Ali)!

Folks often wonder how I came up with the phrase that I closed my sports talk show INSIDE SPORTS, use to close with, “Every black face you see is not your brother and every white face you see is not your enemy?”

The phrase was inspired by the likes of Sugar Ray, John Thompson, Don King, Adrian Dantley, Adrian Branch, Tony Paige, James Brown, Cathy Hughes, and the list goes on and on, but on the flip side of the coin there were the white faces that inspired me to be all that I could be, to include, Richard Nixon, Red Auerbach, Bert Sugar, Angelo Dundee, Hymie Perlo, etc.

April 4, 2016 marked 48 years to the day when our Prince of Peace Dr. Martin Luther gave his life trying to help the poor and down trodden in Memphis, Tennessee.

On Tuesday April 5th a group of young white middle school kids from Montana came in to the Chili Bowl and blew the top off the place. They had all competed in an essay contest on Black History and their reward was a trip to Washington, DC during spring break.

One the young ladies who won the contest closed out the evening by standing next to the matriarch and founder, Ms. Virginia Ali. She recited the winning essay, it was Dr. King’s speech the night before he was killed in Memphis. It was breath taking. She and fellow students are another reason why we should make all kids first.

On April 4, 1968 when Dr. King was shot and killed in Memphis,Tennessee, I know exactly where I was.

I was with my co-worker Willie Wood (Green Bay Packer NFL Hall of Fame) and we were standing on the corner of 9th and U Street NW DC. We were both working for the DC Rec Department’s Roving Leader Program (Youth Gang Task Force). We had just left Chez Maurice Restaurant’s Happy Hour, a popular hangout for the so-called black in-crowd in DC.

It was a beautiful spring day and we were enjoying the sunshine when someone rode by in a car and shouted, “Hey Harold, they just shot and killed Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee.”

Now here we are almost 50 years later and the theme song in the Black community is still “We Shall Over Come?” The newly renovated Howard Theater is struggling with a bunch of no-names on the marquee and the historic Bohemian Caverns has shut its door for good. And we are still trying to figure out what went wrong, the answer is in your closest mirrow.

In 2016 a racist billionaire is leading the polls to become the President of the United States and his counter-parts have come out of their holes to support him (keeping hope alive). Donald Trump is exactly what the Republicans wanted, but they had not planned on a member of their own 1% club whom they could not control! Now they are crying “Foul.” You reap what you sow.

President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle are getting the last laugh. I would love to be a fly on the wall while they are lying in bed laughing their asses off at this charade while the 2016 Presidential Campaign being spoofed on Saturday Night Live!

Our children’s blood flows in our streets while we pretend there has been progress has been made in human and civil rights in America.

To understand our problem we have to look no further then the black politicians, pimping ministers and black judges sitting on the bench seeing no evil, hearing no evil and sentencing no evil.

In the meantime, cops have become paid assassins in the black community. Their guns have taken the place of a rope. The real problem lies at the top of the law-enforcement community. The problem is the message of “Us against them” mentality.

This message was placed in the minds of racist cops decades ago by the KKK who infiltrated police departments around this country. They were hoping that the message would protect them and it has.

The Code of Silence and The Thin Blue Line were designed to protect white police officers against charges of murder and brutality in the black community. Black police officers unknowing would join forces and become card carrying members of the KKK by being members of the Fraternity Order of Police.

The keepers of this code are the Presidents of the Fraternity Order of Police Departments around America. This behavior is controlled by the 1% and condone by 90% of Police Administrators (to include Police Chiefs). The Godfather of Police Community Relations was the late New York City Police Chief Patrick Murphy. Mr. Murphy was hired by the late Mayor Walter Washington in the late 60s as the Director of the DC Police and Fire Departments. He tried his best to implement a Police/Community Relations Program in the Nation’s Capitol. He met with the staff of the Roving Leader Program once a month at police headquarters to get our input. The police union tried to stand in his path but he refused to give-in and there was progress made, but has since disappeared.

When was the last time you heard one of the Presidents of the Fraternity Order of Police where there was an unarmed black man or woman shot down in our community and a he said, “That was a bad shooting.” Never in the history of law-enforcement has one Fraternity own up to a bad shooting–similar to the KKK owning up to a bad lynching. All fatal shootings in the black community are considered “Good Shootings.”

You will not read or hear of this issue being discussed in Courtland Milloy, Coby King, Eugene Robinson’s columns in the Washington Post, or read about the issue in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NY or LA Times. Talking heads like radio talk show host Kojo Knnamdi, Sam Ford or Bruce Johnson on WUSA TV 9 or Maureen Bunyan on TV 7 would dare not broach the topic. The reason, they don’t have a clue?

2015 marked 50 years I have spent working in the streets of the inner-city taking me from the courthouses, playgrounds and schools in our community. I have seen the Good, Bad and Ugly when it comes to Justice & Just-Us, by no means am I anti-cop, my two brothers were in law-enforcement.

My older brother Bobby was a U. S. Marshall for 25 years, my young brother Earl was a DC cop for 14 years (both deceased). I was responsible for both entering the field of law-enforcement (thanks to an assist from former U. S. Marshall-in-charge, Luke C. Moore and columnist Bill Raspberry). My brothers both faced the Thin Blue Line and the Code of Silence trying to stand-up and be good and honest cop serving the people of our community. But Bad Cops like Chief Issac Fullwood proved that white folks didn’t have a patent on racism. His kind still exist in police departments all over this country.

My mentors were the late DC Superior Court Judge, Luke C. Moore and the late Assistant DC Police Chief Timon O’Brant (he was a cop’s cop) both were stand- up Black Men.

My best friend is Andy Johnson (Top DC Homicide Detective). He retired as a DEA Supervisor. And last but by no means least, FBI undercover agent and later the FBI Director of the Detroit Field Office, Wayne Davis. I met Wayne during the 1968 riots after Assistant Chief O’ Brant issue me a DC Police Department badge to get me through the police and military barricades. Wayne would later tip me off to warn our “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry there was a FBI sting in the works to sit him up. Marion did not heed my warning and “The Bitch Set Him Up!’

There are not just bad cops, but there are bad judges and politicians who are perpetrating a fraud in our black communities. Hats off to the black female Mayor and Prosecutor in Baltimore, please keep them in your prayers.

I recently went back into my archives and found one of my Inside Sports talk shows with DC Police Department Commander Jimmy Wilson and Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Alex Williams (a regular) discussing Police Brutality in our community. There is the e-mail from one of the leading Prince Georges County ministers discussing his hidden agenda when it comes to police brutality and how he is locked into the Chief and State’s Attorney? And then there is the homeboy Congressman who I volunteered my resources (media and community), when I first met him at last year’s 2015 Congressional Black Caucus Weekend in DC, he said, after I introduced myself “Man you just f–ked my day up!” He later invited me, my wife and several Kids In Trouble advocates to his office trying to clear up his blunder. It was there he told me, “Man I have never had folks come into my office without asking me for something!” He even called his mother and introduced us by speaker phone. But he turned out to be a ‘Cutie on Duty.’ Stay tune.

When it comes to politicians, The Congressional Black Caucus has been a waste of time for the past several decades.

Trump is not the only loser running for office, my Voter Alert includes, Prince Georges County, Donna Edwards, Glenn Ivy and Anthony Brown. Vote for their opponents whom ever they may be. In DC in Ward 7 Vote for the lesser of the two evils, there is little or no choice between Yvette Alexander and Vincent Reed. My best advice, vote for the unknown because the known is scary. Best bets: Chris Van Hollen and David Trone.

My heroes were not black athletes growing up as a kid in NE Washington, DC.  My heroes could not shoot a jump shot, throw a football 75 yards in the air or hit a baseball out of the park.  My heroes were black women with names like, Grandma Bell and Mommy B. They were my grandmother and mother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IGiGi receiving the Kids In Trouble 2008 Life Time Achievement Award at Ebeneezer AM & E Church in Ft. Washington, Md.

I don’t have a clue to where I met GiGi but you can bet it was somewhere in the war zones of the inner-city of Washington, DC. She was truly a sister in the struggle and for the past two decades she was a friend of Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports. When I heard of her passing I was stunned.

She was always a vibrant and energetic lady always trying to figure out a way to support almost any community endeavor when it came to her people. She was the ANC Commissioner in Ward 6 for several terms and served her constituents well. I remember when I helped to rescue a 15 year old autistic young girl off of the subway tracks at the Potomac Ave. subway station. The young girl had fallen or was pushed on to the tracks as I was exiting the subway train.

I saw people pointing down at her, but no one was attempting to rescue her. My first instincts were to jump down on the tracks, but a metro employee stopped and warned me I could be executed. We both laid flat on our stomachs and reached out toward the child asking her to give us her hand, but she just stared at us. Several more request were made, but still no response and I then notice the lights beneath me were blinking. This meant a train was heading into the station. I yelled “Honey please give me your hand” finally she reached up and I pulled her up with an assist from the other brother from metro. As we pulled her up to the platform, the trained rolled into the station and I broke out into a cold sweat.

There was hardly anyone on the platform and I could see metro was trying to cover the incident up. I left the scene without anyone asking me what had happen? Once I arrived home there was a message from GiGi asking me to give her a call. The first question, she asked was, ‘How was your day?’ When I got through explaining my day, GiGi said, ‘WOW.’ Right away she said, ‘Cover Up, but not on my watch!’ She ask me to stay by the phone and she would call me right back, but instead I received a call from a NBC WRC TV 4 reporter.

He wanted to meet me back at the subway station in the morning to be interviewed about the incident. Thanks to GiGi the interview was seen on the 6:00 news with anchors Jim Vance and Doreen Ginsler reporting. Doreen was jumping up and down in her anchor chair saying, ‘Now that is a hero’ but Jim sit there like he didn’t know me. My wife Hattie didn’t get Jim’s non-chalant attitude knowing how close we were once upon a time.

I never told her he had not spoken to me in over a decade.  All because I tried to save his life after a notorious drug dealer gave me a check he had written for drugs. The drug dealer was trying to save his life too, but it was still a business to him and he refused to cut off his nose despite his face. So since Jim and I were friends, he thought it best I tell him to step back. Mission Impossible–I failed to convince Jim and he kicked me to the curve.

My heroic actions was another slow news day to him. I owe to GiGi Ransom for making me a hero and chump all on the same newscast.  In 2008 Hattie and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary at Ebeneezer AM&E Church in Ft. Washington, Md. In attendance to help us celebrate were Doug Williams, Dave Bing, Chris Thomas, Butch McAdams, all the ‘Usual Suspects’ GiGi was the recipient of the Kids In Trouble Life Time Achievement Award.  On Saturday February 27th 2016 Kids In Trouble will celebrate Black History Month with a Tribute/Luncheon honoring Black Women with GiGi Ransom in mind—RIP my sister. 

 

 

 

In April 2006 remember receiving a call from Johnny Sample’s friend, basketball legend and youth advocate Sonny Hill.  There was bad news as it related to the death of my friend Johnny Sample.  It reminded me of a recent conversation I had with Coach Clarence Bighouse Gaines’ wife Clara.  She said, “Harold I never thought Gaines would die.”  It was eerie because I had that same feeling about Johnny Sample, even though I knew better.

He was known to his friends as Happy, Blade, Reds, and Redball.  He died suddenly in his hometown of Philadelphia, he was 69 years old.

I had just spoken with Johnny before heading south to the memorial service for “Bighouse.”  He said he was going to try to make it, but I didn’t look for him.  Johnny was notorious for not showing up.  I have heard all the stories but I don’t ever remember him giving me his word and not keeping it.

He was always there for all of my celebrity tennis tournaments, media panel discussions, award programs, radio and television talk shows, etc.  Compared to today’s pro athlete, he was a Saint.

I first saw Johnny Sample in Washington, DC in 1954.  He was a member of the Maryland State football team and they were in town to play Howard University at the Cardozo High School football stadium.

I was amazed that he didn’t wear thigh and knee pads; he worn his pants, skin tight.  The shoulder pads were so small it didn’t look like he had any on.  His level of play that day was like a Man among boys.

Howard University was no match for Johnny Sample and his teammates.  It was here that I came away with the impression that Johnny Sample was indestructible.  It would be years later before I would meet Johnny face to face.  It was at a Baltimore Bullets’ (Wizards) basketball game at the Baltimore Civic Center.

He was a member of the Baltimore Colts football team.  He was standing around outside of the bar during halftime laughing and talking with anyone and everyone.  I decided to go up and introduce myself, and we have been great friends ever since.

It was easy to like Johnny Sample; he had an outgoing personality and he made you feel like he had known you all of his life.  There was nothing phony or pretentious about him.  If you didn’t want to hear the truth, you didn’t want to be around Johnny Sample.

Michael Cooper is one the greatest running backs to ever come out of the Philadelphia public school system. He was one of Johnny’s closest friends.  He played at North East high school and Michigan State.

Michael remembers when he was invited to the Washington Redskin camp in 1964 for a try out by then Coach Bill McPeak.

It looked as though Michael was a sure bet to make the team until one day Coach McPeak decided it best he go on the Redskin taxi squad.

Johnny disagreed with the coach’s decision and let him know in no uncertain terms.  He would run through a brick wall if you were his friend.  Michael recalls his many acts of kindness for his friends.  He says, “Johnny Sample was not a fly by night friend, if you needed him, he was there.”

When his friend and teammate the legendary ‘Big Daddy’ Lipscomb was mysteriously found dead in Baltimore, the NFL claimed he died of an overdose of drugs.  Johnny knew for a fact ‘Big Daddy’ didn’t do drugs.  He said, ‘Big Daddy was scared to death of needles.’

He sued the NFL for $100,000 to clear his friend’s name and won the battle.  Johnny would lose the war NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle declared on him.

Coming out of Maryland State College, he was one the greatest running backs in the nation.  In 1955, he was voted unanimously by The Pigskin Club of Washington, DC as its “Player of the Year” for the Central Inter-collegian Athletic Association (CIAA).

His NFL career would be controversial, but his athletic skills were never questioned.  His mouth often got him into trouble, but his play on the field would often be his ticket out of the NFL doghouse.

During his 11-year NFL tenure he was one of the most feared defensive backs in pro football.  Roy Jefferson a former teammate and All-Pro wide receiver says, “If you caught the football in his territory you were going to pay the price.”

Hall of Fame All-Pro wide receiver Frank Gifford of the New York Giants was so fearful that he once saw Johnny on a New York street corner and ran to the other side against a red light to get away from him.

Johnny made “The Bump and Run” against NFL wide receivers a art form.   He would hold some All-Pro receivers to no catches for an entire game.

The Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins and the New York Jets were all NFL homes for Johnny Sample.  He earned two championship rings and one Super Bowl ring.

In 1969 Johnny walked away from the game that he loved.  He was much more than a great athlete he was a student of the game.  Johnny could disrupt the flow of a game by calling out the offensive play as the opposing team came out to line up.

The QB would immediately call a timeout and cuss Johnny out as he made his way to the sideline.  There were many who thought he would have been a great NFL coach, but he had burned too many NFL bridges.

Immediately after retirement he went to work on his first novel, “Confessions of a Dirty Football Player.”  This book outlined the mercenary world of professional football.  In an interview on my television sports talk show Round Table “Legends of Inside Sports” Jim Brown asked the question, ‘Johnny were you a dirty football player or just a hard clean player?’

His response, ‘I was never dirty, except when I played against you.’  The NFL Roundtable panel included, Roy Jefferson (Washington Redskins), Willie Wood (Green Bay Packers), and JB Brown (Miami Dolphins) all they could do was laugh along with Jim.

Johnny was not one to just sit around after his NFL career.  He became an entrepreneur and owned a ticket agency and sporting goods store called, Sample’s End Zone.  He later taught himself the game of tennis and quickly excelled.

 Jim Bad News Barnes (NBA) and Johnny pose for the camera at my Inside Sports Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Anacostia Park in SE DC and shares a Big racket with NBA legend Red Auerbach and me at another Celebrity tournament at Bannecker Rec Center in NW DC. JOHNNJ Johnny Sample is seen at the Grand Hyatt in NW DC participating in a NFL Round table with RB Jim Brown, WR Roy Jefferson, DB Willie Wood, DB JB Brown and Sonny Hill.  

He was the No. 1 player in the country in the United States Tennis (USTA), 45 and over category for several years running.  He would later serve as a tennis official for the USTA, Wimbledon, US, French and Australian Opens and chair umpire, linesman and referee for the USTA.

His inner-city youth tennis program was one of the largest and best run in the country. Tennis to him was all about, love, love and more love.

In February of 2004, he was inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame in Raleigh, NC.  This was almost 50 years after he had graduated from college.  The first question he asked when he took the microphone, “CIAA what took you so long?” 

Johnny and I had often talked about being “Blackballed” by the system is one thing, but to be “Blackballed” by your own people is a tough pill to swallow.

Johnny Sample’s induction into the Hall of Fame could not have come at a better time.  In this case better late than never.  This was definitely a highlight in his long distinguishing odyssey into the world of politics and sports.

During his induction speech he asked me to stand up and be recognized as the pioneer in sports talk radio.  He was always reaching and giving something back.  Johnny also excelled as a sports talk show host on W-H-A-T Radio in Philadelphia from 1988 to 2004.  Johnny used his sports talk show as a vehicle to improve the growth of his community.  He never forgot I suggested he should have his own sports talk show in Philly.

As a community advocate, he was instrumental in several projects.

The crown jewel was the Million Man March in 1986 when he organized seventy-three buses from Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey to Washington, DC.  In my world he was a special man.

John B. Sample Jr. was born and raised in Portsmouth, VA where he was an  all around high school athlete. He played his college football at Maryland-Eastern Shore.  He was an All-American running back and was the first black athlete from a HBC to be named to the College All-Star football team.  The annual game was played in Chicago against the NFL Champions.

Johnny Sample was a student of the game when it came to football. He would have been a great coach on any level.

He played for the Colts in the 1958 NFL championship game against the New York Giants that is still often described as “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” The Colts won 23-17, the first game to go to overtime.

In 1969 he was all over the field in that historical game against his former team, the Baltimore Colts. It was like he was in the huddle when the plays were being called.  He had an interception in that 16-7 upset it was the third Super Bowl. That was the game Jets’ QB Joe Namath, “guaranteed” victory.  The game established the old AFL on a par with the NFL after the two leagues had merged. He was also a co-captain along with Namath.

“He will always have a special place in Jets’ history as a member of the Super Bowl championship team,” Jets coach Herman Edwards said. “The Jets and the NFL community have lost a friend in Johnny Sample.”

In all, Sample played 11 seasons for the Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins and the Jets. It is rather ironic, the 1958 title game he was a rookie and the 1969 title game was his last—both were championship years.  He came into the league as a winner and he went out a winner.

“His participation in two of the most significant games in NFL history, the 1958 championship game and Super Bowl III, symbolized the champion John was,” Colts owner Jimmy Irsay said.

Known as a fierce hitter from his cornerback position, he had 41 interceptions during his career, returning four for touchdowns, and also returned one punt and one kickoff for a TD. In his final year with the Jets, he had seven interceptions.

Sonny Hill, a longtime friend of Sample’s who runs a basketball league in Philadelphia, said he thinks Sample belongs in the Hall of Fame.

But what was more important to his friend, Hill said, was standing up to injustices such as racism.

“Some tolerated it and went along with whatever, but Johnny would not tolerate it,” Hill said. “He was a man’s man.”

I was pleased to see my name in the program as an Honorary Pallbearer for the great Johnny Sample.  “Redball” it was my honor.  Johnny Sample is gone, but he is not forgotten.

 

       NBA Godfather the late Red Auerbach and wife Dotie/Red and Earl Lloyd celebrate Black History

The 2016 NBA All-Star Game and an email from Round Ball Report TV host Andrew Dyer in 2011 brought back this reminder for a little known black history fact, before their 15 minutes of fame, guess who came through Kids In Trouble, Inside Sports aka Harold Bell?

The roster reads as follows; Dave Aldridge (TNT), James Brown (CBS), Dave Bing (NBA), Tim Baylor (NFL), Kevin Blackistone (ESPN), Jamie Brown (Sister 2 Sister Magazine), Adrian Branch (NBA/ESPN), Adrian Dantley (NBA), Larry Fitzgerald (Media), Bobby Gardner (NFL), Glen Harris (TV 8), Grant Hill (NBA), Darryl Hill (Naval Academy/ACC), Jo Jo Hunter (NBA), Cathy Huges (Radio/TV One), Dave Jacobs (Boxing), Jair Lynch (Olympian), Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing), Tony Paige (NFL), Butch McAdams (Radio One), Oden Polyniece (NBA), Aaron Pryor (Boxing), Bill Rhoden (NY Times), Chris Thomas (BET), John Thompson (GT), Cecil Turner (NFL), Omar Tyree (author), and Michael Wilbon (ESPN).

Benefactors after the fact; Willie Wood (NFL) Jim Brown (NFL), Earl Lloyd (NBA), Doug Williams (NFL) and Don King (Boxing) 

No. 24 Willie Wood / NFL Hall of Fame LB Sam Huff pays tribute to Willie in 2007

No. 32 Jim Brown

No. 11 Earl Lloyd and wife Charley visit hometown of Alexandria, Virginia

No. 17 Doug Williams first black QB and MVP to win a Super Bowl (1988)

  Don King meets the late legendary Community Advocate Calvin Woodland

In closing, all the glory goes to God, but I thought I would remind you anyway.  Have a great and God blessed day.

As Always,

HBell

Note Worthy:

I ran a successful campaign to get Willie Wood inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame and Earl Lloyd inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame after they were overlooked by the NFL and NBA.

My high school coach and savior Dave Brown heard me on my Inside Sports radio talk show apologizing for tooting my own horn.  His advice after the fact, I never forgot, he said, “Son you don’t ever have to apologize for tooting your own horn, because first, you have to have a horn to toot.”  Coach Brown was a wise man.

      My hero, Coach Dave Brown and his wife and daughter as I pay tribute and thank him for saving my life.

 

The 2011 e mail that inspired this blog

From: hkbell@comcast.net
To: “Andrew Dyer” <dyer21@verizon.net>
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 7:51:14 AM
Subject: Re: NBA All-Star 2011 Credential Request: Round Ball Report / THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!

Andrew,

It is hard to believe that 35 years after I made my bold move to sit in the middle of the white media at the Capitol Center (Washington Bullets), that legit and qualified blacks in sports media are still being denied their seats at sports media press tables!

Media and pro sports are still the last plantations because the brothers and sisters who have benefited from others who have blazed the trails are now the roadblocks.  They are still not reaching back and pulling others along with them.  It is amazing how “Two dollars and your name in lights” can make one forget!

I just received an e-mail from another black female sports reporter in Kansas.  She ask me to contact the promoters at the Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night in Phoenix, Az to request credentials for her.  She received the same type of response from the PR people you received.  She has been legit for over 30 years.

We in many ways have to blame ourselves for most of these racist acts by the present folks in charge.  The likes of Don King, Rock Newman, etc treated blacks in sports media with little or no respect.  They hired PR people from another planet!

We keep talking about progress and the opportunities for blacks in America—did you check out that BS on ESPN this week about blacks in sports?

I was more than proud to see Michael Wilbon take a stand and call folks and organizations out for their lack of compassion for others.

The program did point out the number of major newspapers (in the 90s) with black sports editors on staff are in single digits. The same can be said of the number of black PR Directors in the NBA, NFL, MLB, Tennis, Golf tournaments and hockey is out of the question.  Put all the sports TOGETHER and you can count the black PR people on one hand.  Rev. King must be turning over in his grave.

I am still trying to figure out what black America is celebrating during Dr. King’s birthday and during Black History Month!  My program on Dr. King’s birthday read “Remembering Dr. King & Bringing the Civil Rights Movement into Focus.” 

This e-mail takes me back to my first NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas.  I encountered the exact same ROADBLOCK, unlike you I had the real NBA GODFATHER in my corner—Red Auerbach.

I will drop a note to my NBA contact (he was the one who denied me) and ask him to double check for press credentials for your two reporters.

I can’t promise anything but what the hell!

Remember, the problem usually starts at the top and he is at the top. The worst thing he can say is “No.”

And by the way, that GODFATHER tag you guys have given me is very flattering but the truth be told I am just another brother in this on-going struggle to be free. God bless and keep me and Hattie in prayer.

HB

 

 

—– Original Message —–
From: dyer21@verizon.net
To: hkbell@comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:10:32 PM
Subject: Fw: NBA All-Star 2011 Credential Request: Roundball Report

 

Harold. It’s time for you to pull their coat as the Godfather with your personal contact if he’s still in place because they gave us the standard thanks but no thanks response.

 

Andrew

 

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

From: Rebecca Colling <RColling@nba.com>

Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:14:01 -0500

To: <dyer21@verizon.net>

Subject: NBA All-Star 2011 Credential Request: Roundball Report

Thank you for your interest in covering NBA All-Star 2011.

Unfortunately, space limitations preclude us from issuing credentials for this year’s All-Star events for Roundball Report.

I’m sorry we are not able to honor your request.  However, should anything open up, we’ve kept your request on file and will notify you.

Tim Frank

Senior Vice President
NBA Basketball Communications

 

Played the organ in church on Sunday mornings
Grandma’s hands
Played the organ so well
She use to issue out a warning
Harold don’t you run so fast
You might fall on a piece of glass
Might be snakes there in that grass

She soothed my unwed mother
Grandma’s hands
They use to ache sometimes and swell
Grandma’s hands
She use to lift my mother’s face and tell her
Mattie, grandma understands
That you really love that no good man
Put yourself in Jesus’ hands
Grandma’s hands
Used to hand me piece of candy
Picked me up each time I fell

Grandma’s hands
Boy, they really came in handy
She’d say, Mattie don’ you whip that boy
What you want to spank him for?
He didn’ drop no apple core
I don’t have grandma anymore

If I get to heaven I’ll look for
Grandma’s hands. by Bill Withers

Marlin Briscoe was 1st to start at QB for the Denver Broncos and Willie Thrower was the first to play in a game for the Chicago Bears

 

A little known black history fact, how Marlin Briscoe was the first black QB to start in a NFL or AFL game.  Super Bowl first winning QB Doug Williams, Russell Wilson, Colin Kaepenick and Cam Newton all ride on the wave he created. He went from CB to QB to WR.  Briscoe was called the Magician before racism, drugs and pro football owners made him disappear for real.

This story was written by someone by name of Ken Crippen, it is long but it is worth the read if you like sports history.

Marlin Briscoe was on top of the world. He had set rookie records as the first black quarterback to start in the NFL and won two Super Bowl Rings as a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins. However, drug addiction almost ruined his life.

Briscoe was a fourteenth-round draft choice out of the University of Nebraska – Omaha. He said,  “I came into the league as Denver’s starting cornerback.” However, after an injury to the Broncos’ starting quarterback Steve Tensi, Briscoe received his opportunity. He had played quarterback from Pop Warner through college, so the position was familiar to him. However, there was a stigma that African-Americans could not play quarterback. According to the critics, African-Americans did not have the “mental capabilities” that were required of the position. Briscoe proved them wrong.

That rookie campaign saw Briscoe throw for 1,589 yards and 14 touchdowns in only a partial season. While those numbers do not look gaudy by today’s standards, let’s put them into perspective. Briscoe still holds the following Denver Broncos records:

• 1st in total offense by a rookie (1,897)
  • 1st in touchdown passes by a rookie (14)
  • 1st (tied) in most touchdown passes in a game by a rookie (4). (He also holds positions two and three with two games with three touchdown passes.)

He also ranks (Broncos all-time records):
• 3rd in most passing yards by a rookie in a season (1,589)
• 3rd in most completions by a rookie in a season (93)
• 4th in highest average gain-per-attempt by a rookie (7.09 yards)

Even with a record-setting performance his rookie year – records that still stand 45 years later – head coach Lou Saban did not want Briscoe to return as the starting quarterback. Briscoe recalled, “It was obvious that they did not have me in their plans.” He continued, “I had gone back to Omaha to finish up six hours that I needed to graduate. At that time, they had acquired Pete Liske from Canada. I heard it through the grapevine that they were having quarterback meetings and I was not even invited, even though I was the starting quarterback at the end of the season. That meant that they did not even have plans for me to compete. That was all I wanted was to be able to compete. I had no misgivings about feeling that I was not going to be the starting quarterback. Steve Tensi was the quarterback, but he got hurt the previous year. All I wanted to do was to be able to compete, but they had no plans for me.

The coaches didn’t even invite me to the meetings.  To me that was the first sign of disrespect. It was totally highly unfair. As a matter of fact, when I found out about the meetings, I flew back to Denver and stood outside of the office where they were having the meetings. When Saban came out, he could not even look me in the eyes. He did not know I was coming.”

The situation did not improve at training camp. “When I got to camp, it was apparent that they had no plans to even let me into the fray. I asked for my release, because I thought that with the success that I had, it would give me an opportunity to play for another team. However, that was not the case. I heard through the grapevine that I was blackballed. [Saban] wouldn’t release me right away. He said, ‘Wait four days.’ I was trying to figure out why he wanted me to wait four days. By the end of those four days, my name was tainted. It was spread around the league that I was a malcontent. I wouldn’t play another position. That is what they wanted me to do. I had no offers. Not even a sniff at quarterback.”

However, with Briscoe’s success as a starting quarterback, attitudes started to change around the rest of the league. “They drafted James Harris in 1969 as a quarterback. I don’t think that it would have happened if I had failed to show that a black man could lead on that level. There were a lot of naysayers out there that thought that a black man couldn’t throw and that they didn’t have the mental capabilities of leading on that level. They thought that there would be fan backlash and that fans would not come to the game. Also, they didn’t think that white players, particularly, would follow a black quarterback. Now, look at my line in Denver. They were all white and three-quarters of them played on teams from the south. The teams they played on didn’t have a black quarterback. They didn’t have black players at all. A lot of the guys, I still see them today, say that, ‘We could have won with you.’ Not only did you have to have respect of the white players, but you had to gain the respect of black players. You had to gain the respect of all of your teammates that you could play the position. I was in a situation where I had a heavy burden to prove that I could play that position and be a leader. Luckily where I went to college, it was a majority white school, but I was able to quarterback a multicultural team. I never thought of myself as a black quarterback. I think that is what saved me. Ethnicity never entered my mind. I was the quarterback. I was the leader of the team. So, when I got the opportunity, the pressure of being a black quarterback really didn’t enter into the picture. Fortunately, I had already been through the scenario of leading players, whether they be black or white or whatever. “

Marlin Briscoe was the first black quarterback to start in the NFL or AFL. However, he was not the first black quarterback since reintegration of the league. That distinction goes to Willie Thrower of the Chicago Bears. Thrower played sparingly for the 1953 Bears team, only throwing eight passes. But he blazed a trail for all African-American quarterbacks.

Briscoe recalled, “You won’t believe this. Right after my rookie season, one of my receivers was named Jimmy Jones. He used to play for the [Chicago] Bears. I went to Chicago to see my girlfriend. I contacted Jimmy and he took me to this bar called The Presidents. So, Jimmy is introducing me to the bartender, ‘This is Marlin Briscoe. He is the first black quarterback in the NFL.’ This guy was sitting next to me. He said, ‘You weren’t the first black quarterback.’ I said, ‘I was.’ He said, ‘No, you weren’t.’ I said, ‘Well, who was?’ He said, ‘I was. My name is Willie Thrower.’ It couldn’t happen in a million years. I knew that he existed, and he was sitting right next to me. We sat there and we talked for a couple of hours. I met him by happenstance going to this lounge with my receiver. I knew who he was, and for him to be sitting right next to me. It was kind of crazy, but I am glad that I got a chance to meet him. That was one of the highlights of my life.”

But, Briscoe was out of a job. He contemplated going to the Canadian Football League (CFL) to play quarterback. Did he think that he would have a shot to play in the CFL as a quarterback? “Yes. I went up to practice one day. I practiced at quarterback and some at defensive back. After that day’s practice, I went back to the hotel and got to assessing things. I decided that the CFL wasn’t for me. No disrespect to Canadian football, it’s just that with the success that I had in the NFL, I felt that I belonged there.”

He never gave up on trying to get back into the league. “I called around to the teams that I had success against my rookie year to see what was out there,” recalled Briscoe. “I almost beat the Oakland Raiders. I beat the Buffalo Bills twice. John Rausch, who was the coach of the Oakland Raiders, moved on to Buffalo. So I called him. He indicated that he had no need for a quarterback. He drafted James Harris, and he had Tom Flores and Jack Kemp. He said that he needed help at wide receiver. I told him that I never played wide receiver before, but that I would try it. They put me on a flight to Buffalo and the rest was history.”

Briscoe played wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills from 1969 through 1971. In that time, he racked up 2,171 yards on 133 receptions and was named to the Pro Bowl. Not bad for someone who never played the position.

After three years in Buffalo, his time was up. At the conclusion of the 1971 season, Buffalo traded Briscoe to the Miami Dolphins. “I felt like I hit the lottery,” recalled Briscoe. “It was kind of amazing, because Lou Saban was my coach at Denver. He denied me the opportunity to compete. He blackballed me from the league, I believe. There is no way in the world that you can be in the running for Rookie of the Year and to do all of the things that I did that year, and not get an opportunity to compete. That is all I wanted. So, after I was released and I go to Buffalo, I ended up being the Most Valuable Player over O.J. Simpson, at a position I never played before. A year later, I lead the league in receptions and made All-Pro. I also got entrenched in the community doing community work. Now, I am pretty much a fixture in the Buffalo community, but I was playing out my option and negotiating a new contract. Now, who do they hire to be head coach, but Lou Saban. So now, he is coming in and he has to deal with me on another level. He can’t just deal with a fourteenth-round draft choice that he could just mouse around. I was arguably one of the top receivers in the league.” In the 1970 season, Briscoe was ranked second in the league in receptions, second in receiving yards and seventh in receiving touchdowns. In 1971, he was the team’s leading receiver based on receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Briscoe continued, “At the end of the year, the [Miami] Dolphins were playing [the] Dallas [Cowboys] in the Super Bowl and I went to the game. I ran into Don Shula, and the only game we won was against the Dolphins.” The Bills went 1-13 in 1971. Briscoe continued, “I always had great games against the Dolphins, win or lose, in Buffalo. Even as a quarterback, I always had great games against the Dolphins. [The Dolphins] felt that they needed somebody to take the pressure off of Paul [Warfield] and I was playing out my option and I was available. [Shula] contacted Saban and said, ‘Saban, hurry up.’ [Saban] traded me to Miami and the rest is history.”

Briscoe immediately noticed a difference in attitude with the Dolphins. When asked about the differences, Briscoe commented, “Preparation. I led the league in receptions, but I didn’t know anything about playing wide receiver until I talked to Paul Warfield and got tutelage from him. I was just playing on natural ability. That is the only reason why I was able to make the transition from quarterback to receiver. I realized, in four years between Denver and Buffalo, that I knew nothing about football. I was just playing on talent and innate ability. When I got to Miami, everything was detailed. Conditioning was superior. When I got down there, I learned about professional football. I learned that everything that you do, you do for a reason. When I was in Buffalo, I used to make all of these circus catches. When I got to Miami, I heard Paul Warfield, ‘1…2…3…4…5…’ He was counting his steps. It was always a precise distance. I took heed of that. I learned to block better. I learned the philosophies of the game. Time management. We didn’t have that [in Denver or Buffalo].”

It was all business on the Dolphins. According to Briscoe, “We didn’t hang out a lot together. There were certain cliques. We didn’t go out and have a beer together. It wasn’t like that. But, when we got on the field for practice, it was like we were all one. Off the field, we had guys go different ways. Everybody had their own clique of one or two guys. When we went to the practice field, it was all business. How that happened is that Shula was such an organizer, we didn’t have time to think about other things other than doing our assignments and getting prepared, both mentally and physically, for the game.”

However, it was that attitude that formed the team that went undefeated in 1972. “It was one game at a time,” recalled Briscoe. “There were certainly a couple of games that could have broken our back, like the game at Pittsburgh in the playoffs or the game against the Minnesota Vikings during the regular season the we could have easily lost, but we pulled it out. We were a team that was well-prepared in every area that you need to be prepared: physically and mentally. If guys got hurt, we had people who could step up. When Bob Griese got hurt, Earl Morrall, at 37 years old, he is the one that took us through the season.”

Briscoe added, “We were always in better condition. When we played in the Orange Bowl, the heat and humidity was unbearable. A lot of teams that came through there would wilt. By the second quarter, they were out of it. When I first got there, we had four-a-days. I had never been in better shape in my life, and I worked out religiously. I think the fact that we took it one game at a time. Attention to detail. Everybody had a specific role. I led the team in receptions in Buffalo. Now, I have Paul Warfield on the other side. How many passes would I get, when we only threw 13 times a game? I had to realize that it wasn’t about me. When you only threw 13 times a game and you had the greatest receiver in the history of the game in Paul Warfield on the other side, I had to make whatever contributions I could make receiving-wise. I had to learn how to block. You had to be a total ball-player. You couldn’t just go out there and catch balls. You had to humble yourself in terms of your ego for the good of the team. I got hurt and Howard Twilley came in and we were still undefeated. When I got better, Shula kept Twilley in. Twilley would play the first half and I would play the second half. If I would have complained, it would have disrupted the balance of the team. We were undefeated. Howard and I were highly competitive. If I would have made waves about playing. They traded a number one draft choice for me. I was playing well until I pulled my hamstring. In the three years I was there, we only lost five games. That tells you what kind of team we had.”

I would be remiss as a historian if I did not mention that the 1972 Miami Dolphins were not the first undefeated team. They were the first team to go undefeated in the Super Bowl era. The 1948 Cleveland Browns were the first undefeated team. In fact, the Browns went 29 straight games without a defeat. It started in the 1947 season, where the Browns won the last eight games of the season, then won the championship. It went through the entire 1948 season, including another championship. It then extended into the sixth game of the 1949 season, when the San Francisco 49ers beat them 56-28. From the start of the 1947 season through the end of the 1949 season, the Browns only lost two games. Again, putting things into perspective, the Browns won more championships in that three-year span than they lost games.

The winning attitude continued for the Dolphins for the 1973 season. Briscoe recalled, “For the 1973 season, we actually had better athletes. We had Ron Sellers and a couple of other guys. Depth-wise that made us a better team on paper. We had the core of guys that we had the previous year. We didn’t lose anybody. We were confident that we could repeat. We still had that winning edge attitude.” While they did not go undefeated, they still won the Super Bowl in 1973.

When asked if he thought he would ever play the quarterback position again, Briscoe responded, “No. I knew that my days were numbered. Although, when [Bob] Griese got hurt, [Don] Shula did put me as an emergency quarterback. He had installed some pass plays for me as a receiver. Reverse pass and those kinds of things. When Griese got hurt, he had me practice at quarterback. He at least had me prepare to play the position and I guess that he had the respect to not only throw it from the receiver position, but as the emergency quarterback. He knew that I could play the position.”

Briscoe played for the Dolphins in 1974, before going to San Diego and Detroit in 1975, and finishing his career in New England in 1976. It was there he met fellow receiver Darryl Stingley. Briscoe recalled, “He was my roommate on the road.”

On August 12, 1978, the New England Patriots were playing the Oakland Raiders in a preseason game. Briscoe recalled, “I saw Darryl the week before it happened. They were playing down at the [Los Angeles] Coliseum, and I went down there and talked to him.”

According to an August 12, 2003 article in the Boston Globe, Stingley’s agent Jack Sands said, “I remember it as clear as if it was yesterday. We had just negotiated a new contract extension for Darryl that would have made him one of the highest-paid receivers in the league but it hadn’t been announced. They were planning to announce it when the team got back from the West Coast. Just before they left, I remember telling him, `Now, Darryl, don’t go sprain your ankle.’” The contract was never signed.

During the game, New England quarterback Steve Grogan threw a pass over the head of Stingley. Darryl attempted to leap for the ball, but to no avail. Briscoe commented, “I would always tell him that if you can’t get to the ball, don’t go for it, because you put yourself out there. If you can get it, it is your duty and obligation to try and get the ball. But, if you put yourself in a position where the ball is sailing on you, especially in the middle of the field, let it go.” On his way down after leaping for the ball, Stingley was hit in the head and neck area by Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum. The hit broke two vertebrae and compressed his spinal cord. Stingley was a quadriplegic. Briscoe commented, “Darryl, he went for a ball that he couldn’t catch. Wilt Chamberlain couldn’t have caught that ball. Jack’s been taught, just like we all have been taught, that you hit. I ran into Jack at a golf tournament in Oakland. He wasn’t doing well. Paul Warfield and I used to attack Jack. We wanted to let him know that receivers could hit, too. We used to double-team him to let him know that he couldn’t just come in to try and hurt us. Darryl was a great kid. We used to sit up and talk a lot. He used to always come over and ask me how to do certain things and we would work on certain things. It really hurt me when he was paralyzed, because he was such a nice guy. It was unbelievable. I talked to Jack. Jack is Jack. When you play football, the game is violent. You can get killed at any time. You can get paralyzed at any time. It is not a game for the faint of heart. Unlike the guys today, we were doing it for no money. We couldn’t even make a down payment on a cheeseburger with what we were making. I can’t even play golf on the pension I get. We loved the game, and the fact that we knew the basics, that helped us not suffer as many injuries as we could have suffered.”

As Briscoe’s career wound down, he faced personal struggles. “I came out to L.A. and I bought a house. I was single and I was still playing with the Patriots. Chuck Fairbanks let me go on the last cut. I always had a job in the off-season and went to school. I always felt that ten years was going to be enough for me and this was my ninth year. I got cut on what would have been my tenth year. That was my game plan. I went out to L.A., settled in and got to partying. I got a job as a broker in Century City in Los Angeles. That was the financial district in L.A. So, I was doing pretty well. I got to partying and hanging out with the wrong crowd. I started to dabble in cocaine, both at the job – a lot of brokers were doing cocaine – and when I came home I would do cocaine. Then, it escalated into a habit. Then, I got married and had a daughter. But, by then, I was spiraling out of control. It got to the point where I was dependent on cocaine. I ended up losing my family and my house and everything that I had worked for. I virtually ended up in the street. For ten years, back and forth, from homelessness to despair, or whatever. A ten year battle, where I lost everything. I had a nice house. A swimming pool. A great job. I got tackled by a linebacker that I couldn’t outrun.”

Briscoe continued, “I tried a couple of different venues. I moved back to my hometown of Omaha. It got worse there. I was a hometown hero and an accomplished student. Everybody saw me at my lowest point. That was a rude awakening. But, I was still an addict. Then, I moved to San Diego.” Briscoe played for the San Diego Chargers for three games in 1975. “I thought that if I could get away again, I could improve my lot in life. I went down there and same thing. I got put in jail twice. After the second time I got put in jail, I said, ‘This is it!’ When I got out, Lance Alworth loaned me $500. I called a friend of mine, Julius, to come and take me back to L.A. I had a chance to think about all of the things I had accomplished. I had to walk to a park where Julius would pick me up. As I was walking from the jail in San Diego, I had to walk through the same dope dealers that I used to buy from the two years I was there. I just kept going. If I had stopped, you wouldn’t be talking to me right now. So, I kept going to the park. Julius came and got me and I went back to L.A. I started teaching school and got my life back little by little.”

Briscoe lost everything in his battle with addiction, including his Super Bowl rings. However, he wanted to set the record straight. “Contrary to opinion, I did not sell my rings to a dope dealer. The rings were sold by a bank in my hometown that I put up for collateral for a loan. A lot of people think that I sold my rings to a dope dealer. That didn’t happen.” Briscoe was able to recover his 1973 ring, but does not have his ring from the 1972 season.

Briscoe kept himself busy. He was a volunteer coach at a local high school. According to Briscoe, “the last three quarterbacks I coached made all-league. I feel that is quite an accomplishment.” He is currently retired from coaching.

Briscoe added, “I also had an annual football camp here in Long Beach at the school that I coached at. It’s free for kids and I have about 400 kids. I bring in a bunch of old-school players. I have John Carlos, Kermit Alexander. Even Mark Sanchez of the Jets coaches my tiny tots. I started coaching at Wilson in 2008. When I got there, I saw all of the undisciplined route running, attitudes and all that stuff. So, I decided to have this camp and have all these guys in like Sam Cunningham that I knew from the NFL. They all volunteered their time. They are all old-school guys that learned the basics of football, and it turned out well. I have a nice sponsorship from Outback. It is always on July 4^th weekend.” The camps have not been held for the last few years, but he is actively looking to restart them.

Currently, there is a movie in production about Briscoe’s life. Tentatively titled, “The Magician,” the film is being written by Greg Howard, who also wrote “Remember the Titans” and “Ali.” According to Briscoe, “It is not totally a football movie, but it is a life movie. Hopefully it is inspirational. It is about overcoming obstacles and never giving up. I think that it is a story should be told, even if it wasn’t about me. Talking to Greg, he thinks that this is his best work.” Currently, Briscoe is waiting on NFL approval of the script, which he hopes will happen shortly.

He is also retired from the Boys and Girls Club. ”I worked for them for twelve years,” said Briscoe. “I started as a volunteer, but became assistant project manager when I was in L.A. and directed a $7.5 million building project. The previous director was sick. Since I studied engineering in school, he had me go to all of the meetings with the construction companies and architects. He subsequently died, so I stayed there for three years to see his vision through. Then I became a director and program manager. I decided to retire and pay attention to the projects that I am working on. The Boys and Girls Club was my passion.”

Briscoe is an inspiration to black quarterbacks and has worked with other black quarterbacks to mentor young athletes. According to Briscoe, “Me and Doug Williams and James Harris and Warren Moon. We have a black quarterback foundation called the Field Generals. We went down, several years ago, for a memorial for Joe Gilliam.” Gilliam became the first black quarterback to start a season when he took the field for the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers. He passed away in 2000. Briscoe continued, “All of the black quarterbacks who had played, past or present, were all there. To a man, they came up and thanked me for setting the tone and giving them an opportunity to play. I didn’t think that they knew who I was, but they did.”

Looking back on his career, Briscoe recalled his most memorable accomplishment, “Playing quarterback for the Denver Broncos and proving that a black man could lead. We also won games, and some big games. Proving the naysayers wrong about a black man at that position. All my life, I heard that blacks can’t play the quarterback position. At every level, I basically played in a white environment. I was always a black quarterback in their eyes. But to me, I was never a black quarterback. It was just the position that I wanted to play. At every level, I heard that a black man didn’t have the capabilities of playing that position. On every level, I proved them wrong. All the way to the pros.”

Even though he only played one year as a quarterback in the pros, did he still see himself as a quarterback first and wide receiver second? “Absolutely,” said Briscoe.

 

“I am thankful to God for allowing me to turn my life around, because a lot of people do not get those same chances.”

Briscoe is currently remarried and living in California.

Teams:

• Denver Broncos (1968)
• Buffalo Bills (1969-71)
• Miami Dolphins (1972-74)
• San Diego Chargers (1975)
• Detroit Lions (1975)
• New England Patriots (1976)

Awards:

• Pro Bowl (1970)
• Super Bowl Champion (VII, VIII)
• Member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins Undefeated Season

Ken Crippen is the former executive director of the Professional Football Researchers Association. He has researched and written about pro football history for over two decades. He won the Pro Football Writers of America’s Dick Connor Writing Award for Feature Writing and was named the Ralph Hay Award winner by the Professional Football Researchers Association for lifetime achievement on pro football history.

Follow Ken on Twitter @KenCrippen