Harold Bell (Inside Sports)

Ali shocked the sports world on October 30, 1974 when he knocked out George Foreman in the 8th round in a fight known as The Rumble in the Jungle. 

The Dope he roped was none other then the Heavyweight Champion of the world. Big George would later admit “Ali out thought me and he outfought me.”

Ali and I met in Chicago prior to the big fight.  He invited me to go as his guest.  I turned down his invitation I was not too thrilled about flying across all that water.  A decision I now regret.

But he promised me on his return back to the United States I would be the first media personality to interview him in New York City.  I never will forget how confident he was that he would return victorious.

The champ was a man of his word.  He called me after his arrival back home and gave me the green light to head on up to the Big Apple.  The interview was held in his hotel room overlooking Central Park.

My producer Rodney Brown and cameraman Wil Williams would accompany me on this historical journey.  On our arrival in the hotel lobby I called the room number he had given me.  He answered the phone and said, “Come on up!”  He opened the door while combing his hair and said “What I tell you boy, I am the Greatest.”  We all started laughing–he was right again.

In the best interview I have ever seen Ali give.  He talks about controversy, friendship, truth, the innocent of a little child, the difference between a boxer and a fighter, The White House and self-sufficency.  He closes the show talking about his commitment to the Nation of Islam.

The interview is captured in the video titled, “The Legends of Inside Sports.”  Its one of a kind.  This is the Greatest being the Greatest as he talks about The Game Called Life.  Forty years later the topics are still revelant.

The interview is one of a kind there is nothing like it in the market place.  In 2007 a group brought the rights to Ali’s name and likeness for 50 million dollars and 20% of the monies generated from advertising.  It was a great deal for the champ because of his age and failing health.

My interview is distinguished by his left black eye and it was not for sale.  The champ never allows anyone to interview him with marks on his pretty face.  If you ever see any parts of my interview with Ali and he has a black eye–you will know it is my interview with the champ in November of 1974.  The interview made its debut on NBC affiliate WRC-TV 4 in Washington, DC in November 1975.  It has not been seen since.  I have the copy rights to the entire interview. Stay tune.

 

Former Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon, Jim Brown and Lou Stokes (D-Ohio)

Jayson Whitlock is now the host of a podcast titled “FEARLESS”, several years he wrote a lionizing column for The Bleacher Repot titled, “Jim Brown My Hero.”  The column must have had legendary Washington Post sports writer the late Shirley Povich turning over in his grave.

A press room at deadline is still the most segregated institution in America, with a church on Sundays running a close second.

Mr. Povich was the author of a best selling book titled “No Cheering in the Press Box.” I admired and respected the man. He and Sam Lacey, sports editor for the African-American newspaper, stood for something, and did not fall for just anything.

I never missed their commentaries, and columns here in my hometown of Washington, D.C. Their kind in sports writing have become endangered. They inspired me to to write commentaries for my radio sports talk show: “The Original Inside Sports.”

Jim Brown once said, “All Sam Lacey did was cover Jackie Robinson; he never really covered the NFL.”   I wonder why?  In the late 40s and 50s, Jackie Robinson was the most important black athlete of our time.

Mr. Whitlock’s ill-timed and idiotic column defending Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan against Jim Brown’s accusations as “Do nothing Negroes” was cheer leading at its worst.  You would think Whitlock’s column would make the next sports columnist think twice before following in the same path. Enter Washington Post columnist and ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption co-host, Michael Wilbon.

I know this may sound familiar to some, but let me introduce you to Michael Wilbon in his own words, “Harold, I have not forgotten when I came to the Washington Post as a 22-year-old right out of college, I didn’t know diddly.   You took me under your wing and had me on your sports talk show, Inside Sports. You sit me down and made sure I knew the Good Guy coaches in the city.”

I remember Wilbon’s column in the Washington Post was titled “Tiger’s Actions Speak Volumes.”  Let me clear the air from the very beginning, I like Michael Wilbon, he is really a good person, but he is a go along to get along guy.  He has never stood up for anything, including himself.

He has no track record of ever doing anything in the community before the Washington Post, but he should not feel like the Lone Ranger; he has plenty of company in the media.  In our long association, he has always been a gentleman, and he has always kept his word with one exception.

During my radio days in the 70s and 80s, I had a pipeline into the Washington Post newsroom. My radio talk show, “The Original Inside Sports” was the No. 1 rated sports talk show in town.  Long time sports editor George Solomon was my “Go to guy” in the sports department. George was a pretty smart guy, and much like Jim Brown, he thought he was smarter than anyone else.  My show was like a “Watering Hole” for writers and sports columnist at the newspaper.

Longtime Washington Post High School Sports Editor Donald Huff once said, “George Solomon runs a tight ship when it comes to the sports department.”  Despite that assertion, there were some great writers and reporters who worked for him.  My favorites were Byron Rosen, and Tom Callahan (class acts).

If George wanted to know the latest on the Black Athlete or something going on in the black community, he knew he could hear it on Inside Sports. He was a consistent contributor, he participated in-studio, and there were long distance calls from Wimbledon and track meets and golf courses from around the World.

My community programs became one of his favorite hangouts, celebrity tennis tournaments, Christmas toy parties for needy children, etc.  His staff followed his lead: Rosen, Callahan, Wilbon, Dave Dupree, Donald Huff, and Dave Aldridge all became regulars on Inside Sports.  Somewhere in the 80s, I became a regular on the first televised Comcast Washington Post sports talk show.

Good Old Boys like Tony Cornhiser, John Feinstein, and his hatchet-man, Leonard Shapiro, kept their distance.

I clearly remember Shapiro taking a gamble to come on Inside Sports to plug his bogus book titled “John Thompson: The Real Story.”  My first question to him was how could this be the Real John Thompson story when you didn’t interview him, or anyone in his family, and you never interviewed me? I am sure that was the longest hour he ever spent on radio.

I had known John Thompson since he was in middle school.  During his playing days on the playgrounds in Northeast DC. He could have easily played the role of the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz” (no heart).  I used to chase him off the basketball court and make him sit on the hill until his bodyguards arrived (Batman Grier and Sandy Freeman).  He wanted to be a jump shooter instead of a rebounder, I was the designated shooter.

John Thompson’s NBA basketball claim to fame: “I backed up Bill Russell.”  Red Auerbach put him in the expansion draft after his first year.  He was the first 7-footer ever put in the expansion draft.

His NBA career was over, and down the drain in two years. He could not play dead.   He was also overrated as a college coach. Media Scoop: With Big men like Pat Ewing, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Michael Graham, John Turner, etc., he should have easily won three National NCAA titles.

When he was first hired at Georgetown, he could not buy a story on any sports page, or time on any radio or television station to promote Georgetown basketball.  I gave him a five-minute time slot every Monday evening on Inside Sports (W-O-O-K Radio) to promote his team.

He is another “know it all” in the community with no community track record. I assisted his wife, Gwen, in her divorce case.  Big Bad John tried to intimidate her. He would show up unannounced and sit in a parked car or hide behind a tree in front of her residence late at night (in the black community, we call this Tree Boxing).

She took him to court and to the bank to the tune somewhere in the neighborhood of $6 million. It could have easily been $12 million but she wanted him out of her life.   John was a millionaire before he left Georgetown. He was taking money under the table from sports agent David Falk. That is the Real John Thompson story.

Washington Post sports writer Dave Dupree was the first to write a story on my community involvement (Christmas toy parties hosted by the Washington Redskins), but he started to smell himself after he became a columnist.

We covered the Washington Bullets together during the 70s. The Bullets’ media press table was divided into two sections starting at half-court. White media sit to the left and those of us who where black sit to the right.  Dave and I fell out of love in the visitor’s locker room after a Bullets’ game.  I jokingly asked him why was he a no-show on Inside Sports, and he had a curt response, “I don’t work for Harold Bell.”

I mistakenly took it as a Dis aka disrespect. I slapped him in his mouth and all hell broke loose.  Several of our colleagues stepped between us and I was hustled out the locker room. I still regret the incident. Dave was not really a bad guy.

The late Mark Splaver was the Director of Media Relations for the Bullets. One home game I arrived late after he had passed out media press guilds for the team. During half-time, I reminded him I had not received a press guild, he walked away without responding.

He returned in the third quarter and threw the guild on the table in my direction. I went after him for an explanation but Jerry Sachs the Vice-President of the team stopped me, and asked me to let him handle it, and I did.

The next home game, Mark came to the press table and apologized.

There was still a problem, I was appalled by the media seating arrangements, here it was in the late 70s and blacks in media were still being treated like second-class citizens.

In 1954, Rosa Parks had refused to get up and give her seat to a white man on a bus, and in 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King gave his life in Memphis fighting for our civil rights.

Here we are in the late 1970s, Dave Dupree (Washington Post), Ron Sutton (WHUR Radio), Greg Mosso (WHUR Radio), Chuck Taylor (TV 20), Gerald Burke (Afro-American) and me were still sitting in separate but equal seats at the press table in the Nation’s Capitol.  Something was wrong with this picture.

In 1974, I established a monthly Media Round Table on Inside Sports at W-O-O-K radio with members of the local media. It was here Frank Pastor, a white sports writer, and I decided we would switch seats at the next home game.

We met in the press room and walked down the steps to our seats, he went to the right and I went to the left. No one batted an eye.

It was integration without a protest sign or march, we just did a sit-in. The following season, the press table was fully integrated. Frank, and I gave each other a High Five to celebrate.

My problem with Michael Wilbon started in the Green Room on the campus of Howard University. We were killing time waiting to go on WHUT 32 Kojo Nnamdi’s television talk show.

It was here he confided in me that he didn’t like the way editor George Solomon was constantly looking over his shoulder and changing his columns.

Wilbon said, “He never does that to Tony Kornhiser. I am thinking since I am now a columnist, I should be free to write my own stories.”

Jill Nelson, a former Washington Post writer, wrote a book in 1993 titled “Volunteer Slavery/My Authentic Negro Experience.” She said, ‘the Washington Post is The Plantation on the Potomac.’

For a better understanding of his Trials and Tribulations with George Solomon, I gave Wilbon a copy of the book. I think that he is still without a clue.

My advice to Michael in the Green Room at the time was to take George to lunch away from the paper.

There he could let him know he appreciated his personal attention, but thought that he could manage his column by himself.

I also advised him to leave George with the impression he had no problem calling on him if he got stuck.

It looks like Michael decided to kiss George’s ass instead. He is now saying “Harold Bell, how do you like me now?” I wonder was it worth his peace of mind?

When I see Michael on television playing the “Expert” on anything and everything, I don’t find him believable.

I am thinking much like James Brown, he has been brought and sold several times over. There is a great possibility the system is still telling him how to say it and when to say it.

Much like Jayson Whitlock’s talk show on “My Hero Jim Brown,” Michael Wilbon crossed the line over and over again. For example;  Wilbon, managed to kiss Tiger’s ass and Jim Brown’s ass in the same column.

I read the third paragraph leading into the story ‘Tiger’s Actions Speaks Volumes.’

He wrote, “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve admired Brown’s activism my entire adult life. One of the unforgettable experiences of my life came during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, when Brown through his determination, concern and sheer force of personality, persuaded gang members from the rival Crips and Bloods to call a truce to the violence and talk out their differences at Brown’s Hollywood home.” Would someone please get the toilet paper!

In his next breath he goes on to tell how misguided Jim Brown is when it comes to Tiger’s contributions. He points out all the great things Tiger has done since he turned pro.

He reminds Jim that the Tiger Woods Foundation does not teach golf. He names the foundations activities; the courses taught at the academy such as, engineering, robotics, and marine biology.

Then he cites the 25 scholars the programs has produced and the schools they attend like Georgetown, Florida A&M, Spellman, Penn State, UDC, Marymount, the University of Arizona and the University of Idaho.

The learning center in California has had between 20,000 and 25,000 young people come through the doors.

Would someone please slow Michael down, and fit him for a short skirt and pom-poms. No Cheerleaders in the Press Box.

The bottom line, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Michael Wilbon are nobody’s bargains in standing up for the rights of minorities. Jim Brown is heads and shoulders above the three, but he stands for Jim Brown.

When Tiger was on the pro circuit he never hired a black caddy for the tour.  He had an opportunity to give a Black Man a chance to become a millionaire, but never did.

According to my former high school teammate and college roommate Richard “Jelly” Hansberry, Tiger barely spoke to the black caddies on the tour. 

Jelly once served as the Caddy Association’s Vice-President. He was on the tour for several decades.

Black caddies have become an endangered species on the pro tour (I was one in high school).

When the ruling was made that the tour’s pro golfers had to start paying the caddy a percentage of their earnings, they immediately started to hire people that looked like them (family and friends).

I have no problem with that. Tiger on the other hand, hired people he wanted to look like.

Michael Jordan used to be Wilbon’s go-to guy. He has evidently fell out of a favor since Wizards owner Abe Pollin ran him out of town with his tail tucked between his legs and his foot on the gas pedal crying foul.

On the HBO special, Jim lumped Michael and Tiger in together, but Wibon never mentioned or defended MJ in his column.

Michael Wilbon is a contradiction. He closed his column with “I asked Tiger if it’s possible that a conversation with Jim Brown might be productive, and Tiger answered, ‘That depends on whether both parties show up open minded.'”

Wilbon needs to get his own house straightened out before he can straighten out someone else’s.

In the three decades I have known Michael, he has never made an effort to donate a toy, book, shoes, a dollar or Send A Kid to Camp for my non-profit organization Kids In Trouble, Inc.

But he says “I have not forgotten.” He has made promises but has never followed through.  He is still a lovable guy, but he is mis-guided.

He should not feel like the Lone Ranger: neither have benefactors like John Thompson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Adrian Branch, James Brown, Howard White, and Adrian Dantley (he lost of millions of dollars to David Falk’s miss using his money).

David Aldridge is a “Good Guy” and I thank him for reaching back, and there when I needed him.

There are some champions and some chumps among the group, mostly chumps.

There is one thing that is certain, whatever they are doing in the community or in the media, they are all following my Footprints in the Sand.

Several years ago, Michael had a life and death health crisis. I e-mailed him wishing him well, and a speedy recovery.

He responded with “Harold, I was not surprised to hear from you, and I thank you for the thought. I am just disappointed when you get upset when people disagree with you.”

Wilbon, recently aired a broadcast where he called out his main man, First Take’s, Stephen A. Smith.  His claim, Smith copied programming from ‘Pardon the Interruption’ for his success.

Michael is talking out of both sides of his mouth. He has never expressed to me vocally or in written word about something I had written that he disagreed with.

I e-mail James Brown, Sugar Ray Leonard and Michael, whenever their names appear in my commentaries.

I don’t want them getting second-hand information.  He say, she say, and anonymity are dangerous weapons are often used in the Black community to purposely cause confusion among the natives.

I understand that I am on the firing line every time I pen a commentary or column. My greatest asset is that I can tell the difference between Constructive Criticism and Destructive Criticism. Michael should not take everything personal, but if the shoe fits wear it.

On chance encounters with Michael over the years, for example, there was the time I bumped into him coming out of the Washington Post in 2004.

The first thing he wanted to talk to me about was the book he was writing with Charles Barkley. No mention of any conflict with me.

In our last encounter I went a Wizards’ game to witness the return of Agent Zero aka Gilbert Arenas. The Wizards were facing the best team in the NBA, the LeBron-James led Cleveland Cavaliers.

I met Michael in the press room and you should have seen the surprised look on his face when he saw me. The relief came when he saw I had my wife Hattie with me. She was his comfort zone.

He knew I would not be all over him with her by my side. We smiled and made small talk about his $1,000 suit and $500 pair of shoes.

There was never a word about my commentaries or columns about him or his colleagues.  There is still no defense against the truth.

Michael, I understand the need to have access to Tiger and MJ on your side, but you don’t need to be a cheerleader.  I suggest you try speaking volumes about your own life and let Tiger speak for himself.

The following is an excerpt from an article on the Fox Sports Network by Jason Whitlock about former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson:

“The Fab Five are taking credit for the real accomplishments of John Thompson’s and Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas.

“It was Thompson’s all-black, Ewing-led teams a decade before the Fab Five that shook the foundation of college basketball, changed the complexion of starting lineups across the country, opened coaching doors that had previously been closed to blacks and paved the way for black sportswriters at major newspapers.”

Jason, got it all wrong; he had forgot on March 19, 1966 the NCAA men’s basketball title game when all-white and No. 1-ranked Kentucky faced an all-black Texas Western team?

The game took place at the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House. I was there when Texas Western pulled the biggest upset in college basketball history. That team changed the face of college basketball forever—not John Thompson Jr.

John Thompson and Georgetown University did absolutely nothing to pave the way for black sportswriters at major newspapers  He, in fact, did much like Don King did in boxing—he stunted the growth of blacks in the media by refusing access to his players. He has since become a “know it all” in so-called major media and looking over the shoulder of John Thompson III while he tries to coach the Georgetown University basketball team.

The Washington Post sports editor at the time, George Solomon, and his staff were treated like sports media stepchildren. Former Washington Post sports writers Dave Dupree, Michael Wilbon and David Aldridge all had front-row seats to his sports media charade.

When he could not win a game and had no one in so-called major media to promote Georgetown basketball, he turned to a little black-oriented radio station W-O-O-K and The Original Inside Sports, hosted by yours truly.  I gave him 5 minutes to promo Georgetown basketball every Monday.

When he finally had some winning success, he hired a white man as his play-by-play announcer for Georgetown basketball, at none other than W-O-O-K Radio.

He would never tell how he got his first radio experience on The Original Inside Sports on W-O-O-K Radio with Harold Bell.

Jason, I was also puzzled by your quote saying, “It’s easy to forgive Jalen Rose for his lack of self-awareness.  It’s America.  In this country, self-awareness and common sense are our most rare commodities.”

Jason, must have been asleep under a rock when Kentucky and coaching icon Adolph Rupp played Texas Western, I wonder where was his self-awareness?

This observation by him was really over the top when he said, “John Thompson’s players were the inner-city black kids who left a legacy of jobs and playing opportunities for other impoverished minorities that exposes the lack of substance in the Fab 5’s popularization of college basketball.”

He put his foot in his mouth again he said, “Hoya Paranoia is the story that deserves celebration and should serve as a teaching tool.  Fab Five is a safe, harmless story celebrating black kids for choosing style over substance.”

You really think that the John Thompson and Hoya Paranoia deserves a celebration?

If you interviewed 100 former Georgetown players off the record, I bet 90 will say John Thompson was a fraud!

Georgetown players like star player Merlin Wilson (left) and his teammates serve kids at one of my annual KIT toy parties  

He betrayed both his wife and his lifetime friend, protector and assistant coach Bob Grier (aka “Bat Man”) by stealing the affections of Grier’s girlfriend, Georgetown academic advisor Mary Finley. He also kicked Mike Riley, his former player and assistant coach for over three decades, to the curb and under the bus. The word loyalty to John is spelled O-N-E W-A-Y!

I have known John Thompson since he attended my alma mater, Brown Middle School, in northeast Washington, DC. I was there to watch him develop as a player and a coach, and he was overrated in both.

John’s NBA career was a bigger fraud than his college coaching career. His NBA claim to fame? “I backed up Bill Russell.”  The late Boston Celtic coach, the legendary Red Auerbach, was a dear friend and mentor to me. I know how much backing up Russell he did. It was like sending a sailboat to back up the sinking of the Titanic—one of the same!

Auerbach put John into the expansion draft because he was too soft. Check out how many seven-footers were put in the expansion draft during the Red Auerbach and Bill Russell era.  The “Big Bad John” you saw and heard during coaching career , saw the handwriting on the wall and retired from the NBA.

I already knew what Red had known all the time: You can’t teach and dictate—-heart.

John Thompson could have played the lead role of The Tin Man on Broadway and in the movie The Wizard of Oz.  He had no heart!

As those of us who knew the real John Thompson have often said, “If he had his high school teammate Tom Hoover’s heart, he would have been a world-beater.”  Hoover played in the NBA for several years as an “enforcer” and “hatchet man” for the New York Knicks.

Back in the day on the playground, when John tried to play like a point guard, I would banish him from the court and make him sit on the hill. He’d sit there until Sandy Freeman and Bob Grier, his protectors, showed up.  He would dare not raise his voice and use the type of profanity he used as the coach on the Georgetown bench. I have no idea where he picked up that part of his coaching personality (Bobby Knight).

John Thompson’s secret to success: He was big and black, and he used profanity and “the race card” to successfully intimidate his players and white folks!  He gained wide recognition in the sports world when he hugged Hoya player Freddy Brown after he mistakenly threw a pass intended for one of his teammates to North Carolina’s James Worthy. It was the closing seconds of the 1982 NCAA tournament final, and the outcome of the game—an eventual 63-62 loss—was still hanging in the balance.

After the game, Thompson was seen hugging Brown in a picture that went around the sports world. Today, Freddy Brown’s feelings about his old coach are X-rated.  In a Washington Post magazine article, John said, “My mother better not get in my way when a dollar is on the line.”  In that same story, he claimed money could overcome racism in America.

Sometimes it is best to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Early in his second season at Georgetown, when his job was on the line, in the wee hours of the morning someone hung a banner in the Georgetown Gym that read “John Thompson the nigger coach must go!”  Back then I was his first line of defense in the media.  When he called my home at 3 a.m. explaining what had happened, I was pissed off.  I called the troops (black media) to meet me at Georgetown the next morning for a press conference involving John Thompson.  I was told by John the President Timonthy Healy the man responsible for hiring him had called the press conference.

In  1972 John took over a Georgetown basketball team that had gone 3-23.  In 1973 George town was still having a difficult time winning games.  In the wee hours of the morning after another lost someone hung a banner saying, “John Thompson the nigger coach must go!”

I must admit, he played me like a beaten drum. I later discovered he’d hung the banner himself.

All that mattered to him was the end result: It helped him keep his job.

The University President Father Henley was scared of the institution being seen in the national spotlight as racist.  He assured media at a hastily called press conference that John Thompson’s job was safe.  Mission accomplished, and the rest is tainted college basketball history.

This is the same college coach who took money under the table from his Georgetown-designated player sports agent, David Falk.  The player transactions and kickbacks made him a millionaire before he left the university.

Falk also short changed NBA Hall of Fame player Adrian Dantley out of several million dollars, according to Dantley.

I don’t even want to think about how much money I’ve heard he misused from the bank accounts of Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo.

Former Maryland University and NBA All-Star John Lucas was also one of his suckers. John is one of my favorite people, but he got caught up in the hype.

In a conversation with Dantley on his last visit to DC as an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets, he said, “David was not alone when it comes to laying the blame for misusing my money.  Donald Dell, the CEO and founder of the company ProServe, must share some of the responsibility.”

Dantley learned of the fraud when I called his mother Virginia and informed her of the missing monies from his account. She was at first in denial, but Dantley’s new wife, who was an attorney, had an audit of Falk’s books.

In the meantime, John Thompson’s financial empire continued to grow. There were the slot machines, real-estate deals and the home he shared with his white mistress Mary Finley in Las Vegas. Please excuse “the race card”! This proves that not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

The Washington Post published Pt. 1 of a two-part series investigation of these undercover discrepancies, but Pt. 2 never appeared. The investigative journalist was Bill Brubaker.  According to my newsroom sources at the Washington Post, all said the exact same thing: Sports Editor George Solomon killed the series without explanation.

The Washington Post investigation was inspired by my January 22, 1999 commentary in the Afro-American Newspaper, titled “The Two Faces of John Thompson.”

John Thompson also lied about how he stared down and backed drug kingpin and killer Rayful Edmond into a corner.

The lie or rumor was that Thompson threatened Edmond to stay away from his players.

If you believe John Thompson did that, you also believe Jason Whitlock’s story of how Big John changed the face of college basketball.

I spoke with the late DC police chief, Maurice Turner, and a DEA supervisor friend of mine who was also involved in the case—both said nothing could have been further from the truth.

Chief Turner said, “When John was meeting with Rayful, he called me every hour on the hour to make sure I would have a police presence to protect him.  He was scared to death.”

The lies continue; I have not forgotten the Nike deal that he carved out at my expense.

I was the first ever Nike sports and marketing representative hired here in the DC metro area.  As a rep, my role was to outfit the different athletes, media, entertainers and politicians with the Nike brand.  In other words, I gave away Nike apparel.

Once I became established as the Nike rep, I contacted my college coach, the legendary Clarence “Bighouse” Gaines of Winston-Salem State.  I wanted him to outfit his team with the Nike brand.  But he had an ongoing deal with the great and legendary coach John McLendon.  Coach McLendon was a rep for Converse.

I then took the same proposal to the campus of Georgetown for my good friend John Thompson to look over.  Remember, this is the same brother I gave five minutes to promote Georgetown basketball every Monday on Inside Sports.

He looked over the proposal and said he would get back to me.  I left the campus and started the walk back to the Nike store, which was just a few minutes from the campus.  When I arrived at the store, I received a telephone call from Nike NBA promotions and marketing rep John Phillips.  He was responsible for hiring me.

I returned his call to the home office in Portland, Oregon, only to discover my friend John Thompson had called to cut his own deal!

John Thompson is truly a backstabber in every sense of the word.  His loyalty is only to himself!

The changes that he put me through are nothing compared to the changes he put his family though.  You will never see or hear “The Real Warrior,” his ex-wife Gwen, who is responsible for holding the family together.  I was in attendance at their wedding.

Gwen is the real “Undercover Boss” of the family and she is totally responsible for the three children turning out to be decent human beings.

When she filed for divorce, “Big John” became a stalker hiding behind trees outside of her residence trying to intimidate her.  It got so bad, one of her close friends had her lawyer call me to advise her on how to proceed against his bullying tactics.

The last thing he wanted to do was go to court, where all his skeletons would come out his closet.

My advice to her lawyer: stay the course and keep the threat of a courthouse appearance as a vehicle for an out-of-court settlement.  He settled out of court.

I gave Big Bad John and his Georgetown basketball team their first ever “community presence” as Santa’s Helpers at my annual Christmas toy parties for needy children.  Ronnie would often accompany him to the parties.

Ronnie Thompson, his youngest son and a Comcast sportscaster, is named after his father’s former “best friend,” Ronnie Watts.  Ronnie is a native Washintonian, and played basketball at Wilson High School and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.

He played several years in the NBA with the Boston Celtics.  Ronnie and Bill Russell were great friends and were often seen on television in AT&T telephone commercials together.

Ronnie is a great human being; he disappeared without a trace. It is rumored that John also put him in a financial trick bag.

John’s favorite “bagman” was James Wiggins. Wiggins was a local high school booster. He served as John’s right-hand man for the Urban Coalition Basketball Summer League.  They are no longer friends: Wiggin’s hands are just as dirty as John’s. Rumor has it that these two parted ways because one of the bags of cash came up missing.

David Falk is still operating out of Georgetown for John Thompson III, so that means little has changed—like father, like son. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

John’s old friend Sandy Freeman, at a recent high school alumni summer picnic, told me he had a recent conversation with John and he said, “Harold Bell holds a grudge too long!”

That takes the cake; this is the kettle calling the pot black again. Former DeMatha High School coach and basketball Hall of Famer Morgan Wooten is one of the class acts in all of sports, but John Thompson has been “player hating” on him for decades!

Big Bad John, I have forgiven but I have not forgotten!

Forgiveness Is…

• A journey, rather than an event
• A form of remembering
• An act of empowerment
• The result of a conscious decision more than an emotion
• A denouncing of the wrongful act
• Making right what can be fixed and letting go what cannot
• An acknowledgement of the intrinsic worth of the offender
• A gift, rather than a burden

Forgiveness Is Not…

• Excusing what happened
• Forgetting
• Tolerating continue wrongdoing
• Denying our anger
• Letting people off the hook
• Saying “It does not matter”
• Feeling an emotional “love” for the offender
• Something that can be willed

 

 Top Photo: Dick Heller receives KIT Life Time Achievement  Award from Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood. No. 30 Maury Wills, No. 24 Willie Wood,  No. 11 Earl Lloyd all benefited from Dick’s honest sports reporting when it came to the local athlete.

                                                                                     

When my friend and mentor Dick Heller went home to be with the lord last year he left a void in the integrity of sports reporting.  Dick had watched several of DC’s finest athletes came up on the short end when the powers-to-be were giving credit where credit was due.  He gave credit where credit was due and several DC local athletes benefited including, Willie Wood, Earl Lloyd, Maury Wills and yours truly.   

For example; DC public high school legend and NFL Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood was a Heller favorite.  Willie was left on the outside looking in while his Packer teammates were being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.  He was being blackballed by the powers-to-be.   It was Dick who took the media lead in campaigning for Willie’s induction.  In 1989 almost 20 years after his retirement he was finally inducted into the hollowed halls of the NFL Hall of Fame, thanks to Dick Heller. 

The story of media reach-back continued: 

Alexandria, Virginia native and Parker Gray High School basketball legend Earl Lloyd was all but forgotten for his pioneering efforts in the NBA.  Dick teamed up with NBA legendary Boston Celtic coach Red Auerbach.  They campaigned for Lloyd’s overlooked induction into the NBA Hall of Fame.

It took 53 years after his NBA debut on October 31, 1950 before the NBA finally remembered Earl Lloyd.  He was inducted as a contributor in 2003. 

The Boston Celtics’ Chuck Cooper was the first to sign an NBA contract but Earl was the first to play in a game.  He beat Chuck by one day!  Thanks again Dick Heller.

The beat goes on, DC Public high school legendary all-around athlete, Maury Wills (aka Sonny) revolutionized the art of base stealing and changed the way Major League Baseball played the game from first base to home plate. His legs changed the game from power to speed.

In 1962 he actually ran the great Ty Cobb out of the record books.  Cobb was considered the King of the stolen base before Sonny entered baseball in 1959 after spending 8 years in the Dodger farm system. 

It was at Busch Stadium on September 23, 1962 that he stole his 97th base of the season.  He  shattered the major League record held by the immortal  Cobb.  The record had stood for 47 years.”  

In a story written by Dick in the Washington Times in September of 2003 he said, “It was a game against the St. Louis Cardinals that I saw Maury running with the pitch from right-hander Larry Jackson.  Catcher Carl Sawatski’s hurried throw got past shortstop Dal Maxvill as he slid safety into second. 

According to Dick, “there was no great uproar compared with that of a year earlier when Roger Maris surpassed Babe Ruth’s 1927 total of 60 home runs. 

Sonny was 26 years old in 1959 and he took the Dodgers from 7th place to first and won the World Series! 

The 8 years he spent in the Dodger farm system he became all that he could be.  He taught himself how to hit from both sides of the plate (switch hitter).  He stole 50 bases in 1960 and 35 in 1961, leading the National League both years.  1962 would be his breakout year.

The eyes of baseball were on him and the Dodgers fans were wondering how many bases would he steal in the 62 season!  He finished the year with 104 stolen bases in 117 attempts.  This gave him a success rate of of 89% that shattered Cobb’s record of 71% (96 of 135) in 1915.  His record has since been surpassed by former Cardinal great Lou Brock and the “How great I am” Ricky Henderson (twice).  But it was Sonny Wills who put the excitement and flash of the stolen base back into baseball after several decades where a total low of 15 once led the league (Dom DiMaggio in 1950). 

 After his great season (208 hits, .299 BA to go with his stolen base record and a anemic $30,000 salary, he was looking for a hefty raise for the upcoming 1863 season. 

Sonny said, “I went into (vice-president) Buzzi Bavasi’s office looking to cash in and I came out 15 minutes later happy that I was still on the team.  Buzzie had an unfriendly way of negotiating, he finally gave me a $20,000 raise and told me not to tell anyone.” 

Sonny Wills was from “Parkside” the same NE housing project I grew up in.  Confidence was not in short supply in the Wills’ household. There were 12 other siblings and he was not even the best athlete or best baseball player in the family. 

I lived on Kenilworth Terrace and his family lived on Kenilworth Avenue one street over.  His father was a minister and he ran a tight but a close knit family ship.

 Sonny is definitely one of the greatest all-around athletes to come out of the DC Public School system (Cardozo).   I admired  and looked up to him growing up.  He was a great running back in high school and played with the Stone Walls A. C. a top notch DC amateur football team.   My Spingarn high school coach Dave Brown would often arrange for us to scrimmage against the Stone Walls.  I had an opportunity to see Sonny up close and personal.  It was definitely men against boys!

His brother Donald (QB) and I (WR) were the touchdown combination at Spingarn HS.  Donald (aka Duck) and I decided to continue our education at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina to play for the legendary coach, Bighouse Gaines.

In 1962 during Sonny’s record breaking year I remember joining the Wills family on a bus trip to see the Dodgers take on the Philadelpia Phillies in Philly.  Donald and I had a plan to ask Sonny for some money to help support us in school.

We waited for him at the visitors exit after the game.  First, there were hugs and kisses with family and friends.  I don’t remember how we got him by himself for a minute, but Donald did ask him for some money to help us in school.  He cried broke. 

He explained he was broke in the life style he was living and not really broke in our lifestyle.  I walked away in disbelief.

I now understand exactly where he was coming from after reading the story in Dick’s column about how cheap the Dodgers were after his record breaking year and how he had to beg for a $20,000 raise.   

He did not forget us, he eventually send a $25,000 check down to Winston-Salem.  The check came from a sponsor of the MVP Award that he received for his record breaking year. 

The award came with strings attached.  The player receiving the award had to donate it to a non-profit organization. Enter; Winston-Salem State University.

The money went directly into the school’s athletic fund, I am sure Bighouse gave Duck some money off the top.

Sonny’s stats and winning ways as a Dodger during a brilliant career screams “Hall of Fame!” The Dodgers won pennants in 63, 65 and 66.  They just missed in 1962 losing to the Giants in a play-off. 

There is no argument that he revolutionized the game with his legs.  He changed the game from power (home run) to speed (stolen base).

He had a brief run with the Pirates before returning to finish his career with the Dodgers in 1972.

Sonny Wills was a outspoken and stong-minded individual.  He was not always the most popular of players (sounds familiar).  He dated the cream of the crop, white Hollywood stars like Doris Day, and anybody else he wanted.  He thumped his nose at the media when questioned about his life style.

His drug and alcohol abuse along with tabloid news about disputes with his son “Bump” Wills also a major league baseball player won’t help. His fling with Doris Day and his Major League managerial record (26-56) with the Seattle Mariners, all of this will give the naysayers an excuse not to nominate for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

During his career Sonny found little reason to come back home accept for death in the family and sometimes he didn’t make some of those funerals. 

He did comeback to have Banneker Baseball field located across the street from Howard University  named after him.  All this was around the same time Major League Baseball was returning to the Nation’s Capitol.  He was searching for a job but there were no takers!

Dick Heller’s campaign to get Sonny inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame does not look promising, but I wonder what is keeping him out of the DC Sports Hall of Fame?  Could it be the same “Good Old Boy” attitude has spilled over into the local hall of fame? 

Sonny and I have not always seen eye to eye. There were times when I thought he was too selfish when it came to family and friends, but that has become a normal trait in our community. 

We went our separate ways when he forgot to call Dick Heller and thank him for the outstanding column written on his behalf.

Despite the misgivings he deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  He earned it the hard way—hard work!

Dick might just have to settle for two out of three (Wood and Lloyd).  Michael Wilbon was just inducted into the DC Sports Hall of Fame (for what?).  What is the criteria?  I would guess Tony Cornhiser and Chuck Brown are next up!

This type of “Blackballing” sounds like the 1800’s when they tried to crucify the first black Heavyweight Champion of the world, Jack Johnson. 

The Powers-To-Be came up with “The Mann Act.”

This was a law drummed up by some racist stating “A black man could not transport white women across state lines for immoral purposes.”

The more things change the more they stay the same.

There have been recurring proposals to grant Johnson a posthumous presidential pardon.  A bill requesting President George W. Bush to pardon Johnson in 2008, was passed in the House, but failed to pass in the Senate. In April 2009, Senator John McCain, along with Representative Peter King, filmmaker Ken Burns (all white men) requesting a presidential pardon for Johnson from guess who, the first black President of the United States.

Barack Obama, President of all the people?  He has yet to move on the recommendation.  How can we as black folks bad mouth George W. Bush?

On July 29, 2009, Congress passed a resolution calling on President Obama to issue a pardon.

Remember, this is the same President who had a beer in the Rose Garden with a white racist Boston cop and recently took the time out with Tiger Woods to play a round of golf, but has not had time to sign off on a pardon for Jack Johnson.  Come on MAN!

What’s the problem, is Johnson too black?  Yea, I know the “Race Card” but does it count when it is black on black crime?

Maury Povich, Bob Addie, Tom Callahan, Byron Rosen (Washington Post), *Mo Seigel (Washington Star/Times) were the cream of the crop when it comes to honesty, integrity and calling a spade a spade.  They were all great writers—Dick Heller belongs in that same class.

*Mo Seigel could sometimes be brutally honest