Miracle Theater 2919 / The Butler Family-Poochie-Nel-HB and Prince. Prince was college-bound.
Poochie-and Prince join Hattie T in wishing Aunt Elaine a happy 100th birthday in 2019. Aunt Elaine is the Angel in Red. Miracle Theater tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Prince Butler enrolled at the University of Alabama via football scholarship in 2019. In 2025, he graduated with a degree in business-next stop “GRAD SCHOOL.”
William ‘Poochie’ Butler, and his wife, Nel are the real heroes in The Game Called Life! They packed their bags and moved from Northern Virginia to Florida so they could be close to drive to all of Prince’s home games and some away games.
I was a mentor to Poochie when I found Kids In Trouble, Inc. in the U Street corridor in the 60s and 70s. He was one of my knuckleheads in the community. It takes one to know one.
When Prince became an All-Star athlete in the Northern Virginia school system, he and Nel asked me and Hattie to come to Virginia and check him out.
Prince was already a star when we arrived. He was all over the field on defense. I had trouble figuring out what position he played.
There were some plays, he was a linebacker, a defensive end, and then a safety. There was one thing you could count on, when the ball was snapped, he was going to be around the ball.
This was Prince’s senior year and they wanted us to help them make the right college selection. He was an Honor Roll Student his entire high school life-grades would not be the problem.
We were already family. Poochie’s grandfather, a legendary athlete, entertainer, and sports promoter, James Dudley, was my mentor. Mr. Dudley lived directly across the street from The Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program on 14th & W Streets, NW. The center was my domain, under the watchful eyes of Mr. Dudley. He had children in the program.
Hattie and I found the program in 1969, after the riots almost destroyed DC. The program was designed to provide indoor recreation (swimming and indoor basketball) and mentor programs for neighborhood elementary school children.
Hillcrest Chilren’s Center Saturday Program, NFL Films capture NFL players RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton teaching water safety to neighborhood children.This was a first ever promo (1971).
The building was once Turner’s Arena, the home of great jazz, and R & B music. On weekends, you could often find, great wrestling and boxing matches in the arena.
The man in charge was James Dudley. The arena was owned by WWE founder Vince McMahon, Sr. The business grew so fast, Mr. McMahon asked Mr. Dudley to take over. His role made him the first Black General Manager of a major sports arena in America.
Mr. Dudley was inducted into the WWE HOF in 1994, making him the first black inducted. CEO Vince McMahon, Jr. reminded all in attendance, there would be no WWE without James Dudley.
The Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble legacy continues in 2025 NBA style. Monica McNutt is the latest NBA analyst for ESPN with local ties. She joins Christy Winters Scott from The Round Ball Report, a local TV program focused on local basketball. The show was produced in Prince George’s County, Maryland, by Andrew Dyer.
However, the show had problems getting press credentials for reporters to attend Washington Wizards home games. The show needed to provide a professional basketball presence, and the Wizards fit the bill.
Monica McNutt & Christy Winters Scott on the Round Ball Report
Monica McNutt, ESPN NBA analyst & Donovan Mitchell
The problem, the Wizard’s PR team was playing ‘The Race Card’; and refused to cooperate. It was nothing new with the organization; old habits die hard. In 1976, press table racism followed the Bullets from Landover, Maryland, to 7th Street NW in Washington, DC.
The organization changed its name to the Washington Wizards but found it difficult to make the press table racism disappear despite their new name.
In 1972, during halftime, my white friend, sports writer Frank Pastor, and I went upstairs in the Capitol Arena Landover and walked the concourse to see who we could see. Before we knew it, half-time was over, and we were still upstairs on the concourse.
We had to wait there until the action on the court was halted after a foul call or a timeout out stopping action on the court; only then could we return to our seats.
While standing upstairs I noticed for the first time, that Frank and the white media were seated on the left side of the half court line and blacks were seated on the right of the half court line.
In a split decision, Frank and I decided to switch seats; I would sit on the left side in his seat, and he would sit on the right side in my seat. It was quietly done without a harsh word or a sign with ‘BOYCOTT’ written on it. Our message was loud and clear, ‘NO MAS.’
The late Ron Sutton, talk show host for WHUR Radio in DC. We share a laugh at a Washington Bullets’ game in Landover, Maryland.
In the photo above you can clearly see whites seated on my left and blacks on the right of Ron and me. The TV monitors marked the half-court line. It was truly a separate but not equal opportunity mentality.
This was the calm before the storm. I was later labeled a “Trouble Maker.’ Like Congressman John Lewis said, “Make GoodTrouble.” Sounds like Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports were making good trouble back in the day.
Years later, the Round Ball Report and its reporters would be the beneficiaries, credentials would be issued for them to attend Washington Wizards’ home games and NBA All-Star Games.
This was thanks to Brian McIntye (retired NBA VP PR) and ‘Trouble Maker’, Harold Bell, after I made a phone call to his office.
NBA pioneer, Earl Lloyd, was also a benefactor. He was the first Black to play in a game in 1950, and a starter on the NBA Champion Syracuse Nationals in 1955. Lloyd was also the first Black assistant coach for the NBA Detroit Pistons, for some reason, he was ‘Blackballed’ from the NBA Hall of Fame.
The HOF plaque presented to him read “CONTRIBUTOR?” What kind of back-door designation was that?
Lloyd made the right decision when he called Harold Bell and not ‘Ghostbusters’ I had organized a similar campaign for my friend, the all-time great NFL defensive back and DC native, Willie Wood of the Green Bay Packers.
Wood’s credentials were undeniable. His crime, he saw something and said something. He was an assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers. The something he saw was drug use among the players.
After the Washington Times sports columnist Dick Heller had written several lionizing columns and I had been on every radio and television talk show beating the drum for Willie. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989.
Lloyd was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2003, thanks to the team of, Red Auerbach, Sports Columnist, Dick Heller, Congressman John Lewis and ‘Trouble Maker’, Harold Bell!
Willie never forgot to say “Thank You” to Dick and me for our successful campaign on his behalf.
Rev. Dr. William Roundtree was my Spingarn High School Coach in the DC Public School system. He also coached NBA Hall of Fame player and Mayor of Detroit, Dave Bing.
Spingarn High School is the only public high school in America with two NBA Hall of Famers, and both were named two of the 50 best players in the NBA. Meet Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing. The school no longer exists (CRT).
My senior year, I thought I was the straw that stirred the drink. I had just been named to the DC Public High School All-Star football team. My next move was to join the basketball team for my senior year.
I decided to become a shooter instead of the designated defensive stopper Coach Roundtree had assigned me to be the previous year. And Elgin Baylor, I was not, or even a Dave Bing. I became a distraction. Coach Roundtree, kicked me to the curb. He decided to win or lose without me. This became my DNA in high school.
Baseball Coach Leo Hill kicked me to the curb for similar behavior, and my football coach, Dave Brown, locked me on the school bus at halftime for a bad attitude. He heard me demanding my Quarterback to “Throw me the dam ball, I was open.”
Only an apology to my teammates saved me to play another day. My problem, I wanted the ball when the game was on the line. There was no doubt I could shoot the ball, and little doubt I could catch any football in my airspace, steal any base, catch any fly ball hit in my direction.
There were harsh lessons I was taught, no one was indispensable, and the ME helped to spell the word TEAM!
Coaches, Brown, Roundtree, and Hill taught me well. When all was said and done, they became my heroes in this Game Called Life.
In today’s dog-eat-dog mentality, I have been getting mixed messages regarding The Game Called Life:
For Example:
“No one is indispensable, but there are some people more necessary than others,
Harold Bell is one of those people.” Washington Star Newspaper Editorial Board (1980)
Harold,
“You helped prepare me for the NBA.” Dave Bing (1967)
Hey Harold,
“Continue being who you are, you are appreciated more than you know!!” Dave Bing (2022)
Sent from my iPhone
FIRST STUDENT/ATHLETES TO HONOR PRINCIPAL-TEACHERS & STAFF(MAY 1976)
L-R Coach William Roundtree–Officer Ray Dixon-HBell-Dave Bing and Principal Purvis Williams (Not in photo-coordinators Andrew Johnson and the late Bill Lindsey)
Best Quote heard on the Pat McAfee show ESPN 5/7/25
“We are surrounded by cowards. Meeting behind closed doors, scared to take risks!”
BIG GEORGE THE KNOCKOUT MACHINE. HE WAS FEARED BY ALLINCLUDING MUHAMMAD ALI.HE DIED MARCH 22, 2025.
I met Muhammad Ali in 1967 in Washington, DC on the campus of Howard University. He was touring the country visiting college campuses, and talking to black and white students about racism in America. He explained why he refused to join the United States Army to fight in a war against the Viet Cong. Ali made it clear, he had nothing against the Viet Cong, they had never called him a nigger!
TOMMIE SMITH AND JOHN CARLOS 1968 MEXICO CITY
In 1968, there were medal winners who were unhappy with Big George Foreman walking around the ring waving an American flag after winning a Gold Medal. This was especially true after Tommie Smith and John Carlos, America’s track and field athletes were sent home after famously raising their black-gloved fists at the Summer Olympics during the playing of the National Anthem and medal ceremony in Mexico City.
This was a powerful act of protest against racial discrimination and in support of the Civil Rights Movement in America. The protest was comparable to Ali saying, “Hell No, I Won’t Go” to the U. S. Army.
Big George walked around the ring celebrating with a USA shirt and waving an American flag. The act did not set well with John Carlos and Spencer Heywood (basketball). They were just two of several medal winners who were not “Happy Campers.” This was Big George doing it his way.
I met George Foreman in Washington, DC in 1969, shortly after he just turned pro. My attorney Harry Barnett was representing him. Harry called me one evening and asked me to meet him at his office there was someone he wanted me to meet. It was Big George.
He celebrated his first professional win with a three-round knockout in New York City. I joined Harry, Bob Wayne, Mo Taylor, and several other friends at ‘The In Crowd’ Duke Zeiberts’ Restaurant on Connecticut Avenue in NW DC. We celebrated, Big George’s successful boxing debut.
DC became his second home. He worked out at Billy Edwards’ Gym at 9th & S Streets, just a few blocks off of Black Broadway (U Street corridor) in NW DC, landmarks: Howard Theater, Bohemian Caverns, Ben’s Chili Bowl, etc.
I hung out at the gym with a few regulars like Petey Greene (Emmy Award winner, radio and TV), and boxing legend, Calvin Woodland. I was working as a Roving Leader for the DC Parks & Recreation Department with youth gangs and at-risk children. Some days after school I would take a couple of kids to the gym to let them watch Big George and other fighters work out.
George would always say to me, “I used to be a knucklehead like those kids you are working with!”
I did not realize how big a knucklehead he must have been until I took him to Harrison Elementary School one day to meet Mr. Cuzzins, the Principal. The school was directly across the street from the old Children’s Hospital at 13th & V Streets, NW. He told Mr. Cuzzins, and the kids his life story.
Harrison Elementary was the school I took Sugar Ray Leonard to when he had lost his way!
We were walking back to the gym, and I asked him about his celebration in the ring in 1968. He looked at me, smiled, and said, “Man did you hear where I came from? I was in Mexico City participating in the 1968 Olympic Games, and I won the Gold Medal. I could have been in jail or dead. I was proud of Tommie and John, my celebration had nothing to do with disrespect.”
I understood George’s celebration. I was invited to the White House in 1969 to meet with President Richard M. Nixon. We met at the Burning Tree Golf Course in 1957; I caddied for him from 1957 until 1958. The golf course relationship changed my life forever. I look back to 2025, and I am still honored by that invitation and the thousands of young people I have touched in this Game Called Life!
Comedian/TV host Bill Maher has been one of the loudest critics of President Donald Trump, he was invited to the White House by Trump for a one-on-one sit-down.
Maher’s said, “It is the White House and he is the President of the United States. I am honored.”
I went from a one-room shack and an outhouse on Douglas Street in NE DC to a White House in NW DC. I understood George’s celebration in Mexico City. How many of us can pick ourselves up by our bootstraps (no boots), win a Gold Medal, or be invited to the White House by the President of the United States. I was honored!
President Richard Nixon and Harold Bell hanging out in the Oval Office
“Harold Bell may be the only black guy living who ever grew up in a ghetto, in real poverty, but still never learned to Play the Game, that great American past time. Everybody plays the game to some degree. That’s what success is all about. Playing the Game. Being alternately malleable and assertive with the right people at the right time. Bell never learned. If he had, given his drive and single-mindness of purpose, Bell would have probably been dangerous.” J. D. Bethea/Washington Star News (1974)
Big George and Bell hanging out at the Job Corps Center in SW DC
It would be 1972 when Harry Barnett, and Washington News sports columnist J. D. Bethea would let me hitchhike to Cleveland, Ohio with them for a charity boxing exhibition. Muhammad Ali was the headliner. I was in the car before they could say, “OK!” This would be the ride where Ali would open doors for me, I never thought possible.
When we arrived in Cleveland, at the hotel, Ali was surrounded by media, Harry, J. D., and I tried to walk around the noise when Ali yelled, “Harold Bell what are you doing this far away from DC?”
I was stunned, that Ali remembered me. It had been five years since we first met in DC. All eyes were on me, I waved and kept walking. The first thing that crossed my mind was, “I have got to get him on Inside Sports.” I never dreamed it would be Inside Sports and a one-of-a-kind exclusive interview after The Rumble in the Jungle.
PIONEER AND TRAILBLAZER: INSIDE SPORTS
Ali’s shoutout introduced me to all of ‘The Usual Suspects’, his brother, Rahman (my favorite person), Lloyd Price, Howard Bingham, Don King, Gene Kilroy, and others.
In the meantime, Big George was moving up the ladder to boxing immortality. He was knocking out everyone who had nerve enough to get in the ring with him. He and Ali were on a collision course.
THE FOREMAN BROTHERS IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS
In the meantime, brother Roy and I became great friends after my trip to Cleveland we would cross paths in Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and other fight towns.
In 1974 I bypassed Ali’s invitation to Zaire, I was scared to fly over the ocean. It was my best decision yet.
After retiring from boxing in 1977, after his devastating defeat to Ali in Zaire, Africa difficult times followed. He experienced financial hardships. Life became a boxing ring again, but everytime he was knocked down, he found a way to get up.
That’s when George realized there was only one way to get the money he needed. He had to get back in the ring.
George set out to comeback and become the world heavyweight champion once again, but it was not just for him, it was for all those kids who depended on him at the youth center he built and his own children and their future. Fighting for them gave him the strength and the motivation he needed to come back and make it.
It would be 20 years later, in November 1994, that Roy and I were at the fight in Atlantic City. Big George made boxing history. He was in the right place at the right time: Atlantic City, N.J.
Against all odds, George shocked the boxing world with a stunning 10-round knockout of Michael Moorer. He knocked out Moorer in the 10th round to become the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history. He never looked back after that.
It was a tough night for another friend, Prentis Byrd (Kronk Gym), who was rooting big-time for Moorer. It looked to me like Moorer had the fight won. He was ahead on all three judges’ cards into the 10th round. I still have no clue, who advised him to stand with Big George and slug it out.
Unlike most,George never forgot. He was a regular on Inside Sports and recorded promos for my talk shows.
ENTER THE GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL
The George Foreman Grill, was not the brainchild of George Foreman. An inventor by the name of Michael Boehm designed the grill with a floating hinge and slanted grilling surface to accommodate various food thicknesses that drain fat.
Big George became the face of the grill through a successful endorsement deal, making it a household name. It is estimated, he sold 100 million grills with his newfound personality and smile.
THE THREE KINGS
Nothing should ever surprise us what comes out of a boxer’s mouth, but I was surprised to hear Mike Tyson say, “I can never forgive George Foreman for the way he treated Muhammad Ali.” I was waiting to hear him call the name of, the notorious Don King.
My message to Mike; “George sold 100 million grills and Don King stole $100 million from you. You are hating on the wrong one!”
Mike, is there a look of hate in this photo–these two brothers loved and respected each other!
In his early days, George was just an arrogant young big-mouth athlete still on training wheels learning how to become an adult.
Ali and I met in Washington, DC in the summer of 1975. He was named “The Athlete of the Century” by the DC Chamber of Commerce. We sat in his room for over an hour talking about the people he wanted to apologize to for saying terrible things about them during his career, Sonny Liston, Malcolm X, Joe Frazier, and George Foreman were all in his top 10.
Ali was always full of surprises, it was a sold-out Sheraton-Park Hotel Ballroom with 5,000 standing-room-only crowd. He asked me to stand up and introduced me as his friend to DC Mayor Walter Washington.
His definition of a ‘Friend’, was “Someone who was always helping others and never expecting anything in return.”
I would love to be a fly on an Angel’s Wing when Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Eddie Futch, Angelo Dundee, and Emanuel Steward meet to break bread and talk about ‘The Game Called Life.’ They all did it their way, and I was an eyewitness!
KENDRICK LAMAR-PULITZER PRIZE AND GRAMMY AWARD WINNER!
Kendrick Lamar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) are three leaders walking in Muhammad Ali’s footsteps. They are leaders without fear or boundaries. America and our children need them like never before. The measures to suppress our history and the lies being told are like I have never witnessed or heard (Critical Race Theory).
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth was born in Compton, California in 1987. He’s considered one of the greatest rappers of all time, and the first non-classical or jazz musician to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018.
The award recognized his 2017 album DAMN., which was critically acclaimed and helped bring mainstream recognition to hip-hop’s artistic depth. Lamar was also the first hip-hop artist to solo headline the Super Bowl halftime. His 13-minute performance will go down in history as, the greatest half-time performance of all time. The Super Bowl Hidden Messages for Black America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ajnW0k0dM0
He was born Kendrick Lamar Duckworth on June 17, 1987, an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Kendrick is also known as K.Dot, Kung Fu Kenny, Petty Pendergrass Dot, and TheBoogeyman. He is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time.
Kendrick has received various accolades, including 22 Grammy Awards (the third-most won by a rapper), a Primetime Emmy Award, a Brit Award, 4 American Music Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, 11 MTV Video Music Awards (including 2 Video of the Year wins), and a record 37 BET Hip Hop Awards.
Time Magazine listed Kendrick Lamar as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. Kendrick is also the first non-Jazz or Classical artist to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 3rd album “DAMN” in 2018. Lamar is known for his thought-provoking lyrics, unique storytelling, and innovative musical style.
He is the Muhammad Ali, Gil Scott Heron of this generation, a voice and leadership that cannot be bought and sold. I was honored when King Shaza, “The Godfather of Go-Go” who opened for Gil Scott Heron on his European tour added my photo to his poster titled, “The Four Kings–They Never Played The Game.”They heard and saw something and said something.”
Muhammad Ali-Harold Bell-Gil Scott Heron and Kendrick Lamar.
I have had poems written about my exploits in the community and an appearance in King Shaza’s “Traditions” video, this poster was truly an honor. Definitely, voices that have called them as they have seen them!
I was introduced to Gil by our mutual friend, Norris ‘Brute’ Little. Gil made DC his second home. Brute was an outstanding football player at Cardozo High School in DC. It was there he got the nickname, Brute. He was a hard-running bruising fullback.
I remember the Virginia Sailors a minor league affiliate for the Washington Redskins were holding tryouts. I looked up at one of our practices and there was Brute, and H Rap Brown trying out for a spot on the team. I was not surprised that H Rap was there, I had invited him. Brute was a walk-on.
H Rap and I worked for the United Planning Organization (A self-help organization) as Neighborhood Workers in the Cardozo/Shaw Community, along with the legendary, Petey Greene. One day we were hanging out at Harrison Playground at 13th and V Streets NW watching several youngsters play catch with a football.
Rap walked up to the youth and started to show one of them how to drop back and throw the ball accurately. Petey, then urged me to run a couple of pass patterns with Rap throwing the ball. It was difficult trying to run a pass pattern in tennis shoes, but I could tell he knew what he was doing. He had a strong, and a shotgun arm.
I discovered he had played QB at Southern University. He was cut for disciplinary reasons. Rap had football in his DNA. I invited him to try out for the Sailors.
His tryout was amazing, in the passing drills his balls were on the one. The coaches were impressed but wary of his attire during warmup. Rap wore a black Tam and sunglasses, they did not invite him back for the next day’s tryout.
I am not sure how Brute and Gil met, but he would show up to watch our practices in Anacostia Park in SE DC.
This is a photo of players from DC trying out for the Virginia Sailors. Norris ‘Brute’ Little No. 25 standing on the right and I am standing next to him No. 82.
Gil penned several rap songs about DC this is my favorite “It’s The Nation’s Capitol-Washington, DC.”
LYRICS
Symbols of democracy, pinned up against the coast Outhouse of bureaucracy, surrounded by a moat Citizens of poverty are barely out of sight The overlords escape in the evening with people of the night Morning brings the tourists, peering eyes and rubber necks To catch a glimpse of Reagan making the world a nervous wreck It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.
In 2025 the black community is surrounded by racism, especially in social media. Instead of having our own NBC-ABC-CBS-FOX News-CNN, we depend on social media, Facebook-X-Twitter, Tic Tok, to read and distribute our news. It is there, that 1% control the narrative. Everyone who has followed us into this country owns something but us.
We think we are free on Facebook, X, Tic Tok, and other social media platforms. My hashtag for decades has been, “WAKE UP EVERYBODY” but this self-hate, jealousy, and envy continues to divide.
I was in FACEBOOK jail and I could not wait to get on Tic Tok only to discover the Chinese are just as racist as Facebook, X, and Twitter. For example; I tried to post the poster, “We Never Played The Game” with the soundtrack “Traditions” by King Shaza, the Godfather of GO-GO! Tic Tok refused to post it.
It got worse when Forestville, Maryland, trainer/coach Ty Barnett tried to post his 6-year-old student’s inspirational poem, “I am Malcolm X” on Tic Tok. He received the same denial message as I did.
The DENIAL READ: ORDER DETAILS-NOT DELIVERING
Your video was rejected because it didn’t meet our eligibility standards for promote. We maintane content eligibility standards for the For You (FYF) that prioritize safety and are informed by the diversity of our community and culture norms. We make ineligible for the FYF certain content that may not be appropriate for a broad audience related to: (1) Behavioral Health, (2) Sensitive and Mature Themes, (3) integrity and Authenticity, and (4) Regulated Goods. Content that is ineligible for the FYF can still be discovered ways, such as through search tools or by following an account. SEE COMMUNITY GUIDELINES. Contact us for questions feedback. Go to Profile-Settings and Privacy-Report a problem.
“MUHAMMAD ALI, HAROLD BELL, GIL SCOTT-HERON, KENDRICK LAMAR
Harold K. Bell’s Video-Order ID 1826144443072517 / Order time-March 9, 2025 15:04
These are the positive messages and thoughts Ty Barnett tried to post from a six-year-old.
“As-Salama alaykum, my sisters and brothers, I am Malcolm X. I am a Muslim Minister and human rights and community activist. I believe we must be forceful in demanding to be treated equally. We must declare our rights on this earth as human beings in this society, by any means necessary- We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary.
The Chinese are being led by the 1% rules and regulations to keep a strangle hold on minorities, and making sure there will never be an “Even Playing Field.” Forty Acres and Mule-never to be!
The Chinese are going to have to shut down and accept Trump’s buyout offer or walk away with nothing but a platform. If they take Trump’s offer, Musk, and Trump will become partners on Tic Tok.
The voices that are speaking the loudest for Black children and our community are Kendrick Lamar, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas). When Cortez arrived on The Hill in 2019 she was on fire and the fire still burns bright. Young Americans, black and white, love her nose-to-nose combated style. Colleagues are suggesting she run for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s seat and I concur. Schumer’s decision to support the Trump Spending Bill has him on the hot seat with his colleagues.
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), followed Cortez to DC, and she ain’t just talking the talk, she is walking the walk. There will be no sitting on the fence waiting to see if the issues of our children and community are safe for her to attack (GOOGLE Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett).
Congressman Al Greene (D-Texas) was recently escorted from the State of the Union address, for standing during Trump’s speech and yelling, “You have no mandate.” Greene was called back to the House to be officially censored by Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson. While he was being censored by Johnson, a handful of Democrats stood around Green singing “We Shall Overcome” too little too late.
“We Shall Overcome” has been our theme song for almost sixty years, we need a fresh version, the 1% are laughing at us. Maybe Kendrick Lamar can come up with a rap version!
Johnson appeared on Fox News, ‘The Home Court’ for everything Republican, and said, “This was really a sad day for our institution.” Moments before the vote, he told ABC News, I took no pleasure in making history like this. and I hope Green will acknowledge his mistake.”
The more I hear Johnson speak, he sounds like a recipient of “White Privilege.” He added, “Green chose to deliberately violate House rules in a manner that we think is probably unprecedented in history. He interrupted a message by the president of the United States, who was an honored guest.“
Evidently, the Republicans have selected memories, have they forgotten a member of their party Joe Wilson stood up, yelled during a State of the Union address, and called Obama a lie? And then there is Majorie Taylor Green at a State of the Union address, she yelled to Biden, “Call her name.” There was no censor!
Crossing the aisle and making a difference, no one did it better!
Everyone wants to make Trump the bad guy. Trump’s first time in the White House, he showed us who he was, a poor businessman who declared bankruptcy six times, a slum landlord, now a convicted felon (34 counts), meet the President of the United States of America. Who zoomed who!
The problem in the black community is self-hate, who can we trust, we own nothing we can leave our children (generational wealth) and our WORD means absolutely nothing. While we are pointing fingers we need to look in the mirror.
The Democrats are in total disarray, ten of them voted with the Republicans to censor Al Green. The latest bombshell, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer supported the Republican back funding bill keeping the government open for six more months. Some Democrats are calling for him to step down. There is a suggestion that Cortez run for his seat in the next election, and I concur.
Kendrick Lamar, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, and Jasmine Crockett will need a little help. God help us all!
UPDATEDLYRICS–GIL SCOTT HERON
Symbols of democracy, pinned up against the coast Outhouse of bureaucracy, surrounded by a moat Residents of poverty are barely out of sight The overlords escape in the evening with the ladies of the night Morning brings the tourists, peering eyes and rubber necks To catch a glimpse of Trump making the world a nervous wreck It’s a mass of irony for all the world to see It’s the nation’s capital, it’s Washington D.C.
In 1969 President Richard Nixon made me a Presidential Appointee. He changed my life forever. It was in 1957 that we met at the Burning Tree Golf Course in Bethesda, Maryland. It was there I became his caddy and friend. In 1969 we reconnected, he was on a tour of the 7th Street Corridor in NW DC after the 1968 riots and the rest is American History.
I was an all-around athlete at Spingarn High School in NE DC. I was trying to go to hell in a hurry until my Parkside Housing Project neighbor, Jody Waugh invited me to ride to the golf course one weekend to become a caddy. The Buring Tree Golf Course was another world compared to where I lived. All the caddies were Black and everyone seemed to be comfortable in their skin. It was a tight fraternity.
Today in most upscale golf courses in America, the Black caddy does not exist. They were kicked to the curb much like like Black jockeys. Isacc Murphy was the No. 1 jockey in the 1800s, he won several Kentucky Derbies, no one was even close. When it became mandatory to pay the caddy 10% of the player’s purse when they won a tournament, the players decided to make their sons, daughters, wives, and next-door neighbors became their caddies.
For example, if a player won a tournament purse of $100,000, his caddy would take home $10,000. Tiger Woods was no exception. He was never accused of being color-blind by Black caddies.
When Muhammad Ali shocked the world in Zaire, Africa in 1974 with a stunning 8th-round knockout of the undefeated and undisputed Heavyweight Champion George Foreman, there were hundreds of media waiting around the world to interview him.
He chose Harold Bell, an unknown sports radio talk show host in Washington, DC. It was his first and last exclusive interview. Fifty years later, the haters and fake news media still have not gotten over the Ali snub. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY5qVuUrDQY/
Ali’s Business Manager and confidant, Gene Kilroy once said, “Harold if you had been white you would be a millionaire and we would have been calling Howard Cosell, the Black Harold Bell.”
Dale Hansen, Dallas sportscaster voted the No. 1 sportscaster in America said, “Harold everything you have done makes my little bit look like the peeling off of the cover of ‘White Privilege’ and seemed rather insignificant.”
Nixon and Ali were two of the most controversial personalities in American history and they made Harold Bell “The Chosen One.” There was never, he says, she says, they were up close and personal–it is Black American History whether the haters and media like it or not.
Congressman John Lewis was a “TEAM PLAYER”
THE HONORABLE LUKE C. MOORE: “HERE COMES THE JUDGE”
Robin ‘Sugar’ Williams sings “My Hero” to Judge Moore on his birthday
Judge Moore and his homie, Chief Judge Eugene Hamilton
Judge Hamilton hanging out with Larry Brown and Harold McLinton at Bolling Boys Base
Judges, Ted Newman and Hamilton presenting Larry Brown with “KIT Man of the Year Award.”
Judge Alex Williams
Judge Williams at W-U-S-T Radio (Inside Sports)
Judge Henry Kenney (KIT Youth Forum)
Judge Harry T. Alexander-Santa’s Helper KIT toy party.
Judge Henry Kennedy brings his racket to Inside Sports Celebrity Tennis Tournament.
Judge Moore thanks Santa’s Helpers, Roy Jefferson (NFL), and Judges Newman and Kennedy for coming out to support the Kids In Trouble Annual toy drive for elementary school children at the Foxtrappe.
The DC Superior Court once set the standard for fairness, thanks to men like Chief Judge Harold Greene, Judges, Harry Alexander, Luke Moore, Eugene Hamilton, Ted Newman, and Henry Kennedy, Jr.
In Washington, DC in 1968 I was up close and personal during the riots as a Roving Leader for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks’ Youth Gang Task Force. The riots in Ferguson, Missouri brought back bad memories. I was in the middle of the chaos in the U Street NW corridor. My co-worker and former Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood and I teamed up with the late U. S. Marshall, Luke C. Moore, and undercover FBI agent Wayne Davis. We tried to bring peace back to the streets in DC.
Luke was the first black modern-day U. S. Marshall in charge in 1967. He was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson and later President Richard Nixon appointed him to the DC Superior Court in 1969. Abolitionist Frederick Douglas was the first black U. S. Marshall appointed in 1877, he was appointed by President Rutherford Hayes.
The White House ordered all businesses to shut down during the riots, but Luke had a street corner meeting in front of Ben’s Chili Bowl with owner Ben Ali. He then called The White House and asked to reconsider and allow Ben’s Chili Bowl to remain open for first respondents, including police, fire departments, doctors/nurses, and youth advocates like myself.
The request was granted, when the dust, tear gas, and military personnel had cleared the streets, Lee’s Flower Shop, Industrial Bank, and Ben’s Chili Bowl on the U Street corridor were the only remaining black businesses.
Luke, Willie, and I had walked arm and arm through the tear gas streets of NW DC trying to save lives. Luke would later become a DC Superior Court judge and Willie Wood would be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989.
Out of the riot ashes Kids In Trouble, Inc. was born. Luke Moore’s contributions to Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports can never be measured in time or money.
He helped me get the Bolling Boys Base for juvenile delinquents off the ground on Bolling Air Force Base in SE DC. After I got the go-ahead from the Pentagon, Luke went directly to DC Mayor Walter Washington and the Department of Human Resources Director, Joe Yeldell, and all said “Let’s do it!”
It was the first ever juvenile facility on a military installation in the United States. Bolling Air Force Base was located in SE DC, The home of “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry (Ward 8).
The District facilities were badly overcrowded and added housing was needed. The success of Bolling Boys Base and the Kids In Trouble Christmas Toy Party (1968-2013) can be directly attributed to Judge Luke C. Moore.
It wasLuke who encouraged other judges to get involved including, Chief Judge Harold Greene. He and Luke were in attendance for the grand opening of Bolling Boys Base. The athletes, politicians, radio & television personalities would all follow Luke’s lead when it came to community involvement.
We had a great staff of judges from the DC Superior Court, and the perquisites for fairness could be found in their courtrooms. They included “The One of a Kind”, Harry T. Alexander, Eugene Hamilton, Ted Newman, Henry Kennedy Jr, and Luke Moore. They put the community and children First and they led by example.
Kids In Trouble, Inc. kept my wife Hattie and me in and out of the DC Superior Court with troubled kids and their parents. The courthouse became our home away from home. I watched people of color and the poor get fair trialsand respect.
Judge Alexander demanded all attorneys, police officers, and prosecutors to address all defendants as Mr and Mrs in his courtroom. This was unheard of in any court of law anywhere in the country.
I was in Judge Alexander’s courtroom one morning when he warned a white cop to address the defendants as Mr and Mrs. The cop kept calling the defendant a boy. Judge Alexander warned him again. The next time was the last. time. The judge banged his gravel on his courtroom desk and yelled, “Case dismissed, Mistaken Idenity.” Everyone in the courtroom stood up and applauded.
Yes, there was a time when there was, Justice for all and not Just-Us in the courtrooms of the DC Superior Court and I was an eyewitness.
Judge Luke Moore and I talked about what was ahead for minorities and people of color in our courtrooms after the passing of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Tough times ahead!
Judge Moore made my day when we were closing the show, I thanked him for being on Inside Sports, and I was honored to be his friend. Judge Moore was one of the most respected judges to wear a robe in a DC Courtroom, bar none. He said, “I am always ready to join your program anytime. You have always done something in this community. You have been our voice in the media, and we love you for it.”
THE GAME PLAN FOR MAKING OUR CHILDREN & COMMUNITY GREAT AND SAFE AGAIN!
AVOID: Politicians and preachers with a history of lying, cheating, stealing, and when their WORDS have meant little or nothing when you needed them. Beware, especially of those who will cry, “I have mademistakes, and I have changed.” If they were a snake in another life, their bite will be poison in this life!
My second book titled, “For Whom The Bells Toll” I will rate the judges accordingly, The Good-Bad & Ugly (AMAZON June 2025).
QB Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens was seconds away from taking the game into OT against the Buffalo Bills, when tight end Mark Andrews usually sure-handed dropped the ball with 93 second left on the clock, losing a chance to secure a two-point conversion and tie the score. The 27-25 loss ended the Ravens’ season.
Jackson also lost the opportunity to lock up his third NFL MVP award. Despite, out playing QB Joe Burrows in every offensive statistic in the league, passing yards, rushing yards, 41 touchdown passes, and only 4 interceptions. Evidently, the voters thought the two-point win in Buffalo was reason enought to give Burrows the MVP Award.
To understand why I am saying the 2024, NFL season is the year of the Black QB, in 2024 in a league of 32 teams, fifteen had black starting QBs.
Never in the history of the league, have they had that many blacks starting at the QB position. The NFL is 70% black, but the QB position was the last to open the door for the black QB.
In 2017 the New York Giants benched Eli Manning and started Geno Smith, when the season ended every NFL team had started a black QB at least once.
We who followed the NFL knew the loss would cost Lamar his third MVP Award. Burrows was named the MVP of the 2024 NFL season during NFL Awards Night in New Orleans, the site of the LIX Super Bowl.
The loss to Buffalo cost Lamar a piece of NFL Black America History. He would have been one of four Black QBs to start and play in the playoffs. There would be Jaylen Hurst (Eagles), Patrick McHolmes (Chiefs), Jayden Daniels (Commanders), and Lamar Jackson (Ravens).
Since this is Black/American History Month, black athletes will be showcased in the Super Bowl in New Orleans and the NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, has anyone asked the question where did this history of the Black Quarterback begin?
Fritz Pollard was born and raised in Illinois in a predominantly white neighborhood. He was an eyewitness to racism up close and personal. He escaped by becoming a great all-around athlete in high school. He was headed to Dartmouth College to continue his education by train. The train stopped in Providence, RI, and there he fell in love with Brown University.
The GREAT Fritz Pollard
During the 1915 and 1916 Brown football seasons, Pollard, achieved legendary status, compiling “firsts” as frequently as he gained first downs. He was the first black to play in the Rose Bowl (1916), Fritz was also named to Walter Camp’s All-Americaa Team, and was the first African American named to Camp’s backfield. Nicknamed “the human torpedo,” Pollard had almost single-handedly defeated Yale and Harvard (Brown’s first win over the Crimson) in 1916. The Bruins were the first college team to defeat, both Ivy League powerhouses in the same season. His exploits at Brown earned him election to the National College Football Hall of Fame in 1954 — the first African American ever chosen.
As a professional player, Pollard continued to garner “firsts” despite the overt racism of the period. He was among the first African-Americans in the APFL and NFL leagues and, along with Jim Thorpe, was the major gate attraction. A Black man playing football in a predominantly white environment was a novelty in the 1920s. Fritz Pollard was the first African American to play on a championship undefeated team (1920), as well as the first Black quarterback (1923) and coach (1919).
In 1978 Doug Williams of HBCU Grambling College became the first black college QB to be drafted in the first round of the NFL (17th). His road to the Super Bowl would take 10 years, his journey was not a bed of roses.
Being a pioneer in America (being first) especially in pro sports, the scrunity can be unbearable for the black athlete. The black athletes who have been kicked to the curb and never received a fair shake are too many to count. There is and never will be an “Even Playing Field” as long as there is ‘White Privilege’ standing in front of the door.
Black QBs have come and gone in the NFL since Doug Williams became the first Black to start and win a Super Bowl and MVP in 1988. There was one man and coach who was determined that Doug Williams was not going to fail as a player in the NFL-Joe Gibbs!
In 1988 the pride of DC was Washington Redskin coach Joe Gibbs and winning Super Bowl QB and MVP Doug Williams. Williams was the first black quarterback to start and play in a Super Bowl, Gibbs made it happen. Gibbs was color-blind and saw Doug as a humanbeing, not apiece of cattle.
1988 would be Doug’s last year as a starting QB in the NFL. He lost his starting job to QB Mark Ripken. In 1990. He was due one million dollars if he made the team, he was waived and the Redskins signed Philadelphia Eagle QB Jeff Rutledge as the backup QB at a discount. No team claimed Doug after he was waived. He became an angry black man and cried “Racism.” The more things change, the more they remain the same in America and the NFL.
He had forgotten in 1977 Gibbs was the only NFL Coach to visit him at Grambling when all others cared less. Doug led the NCAA in total yards from scrimmage (3, 249), passing yards (3,286), touchdown passes (38), and yards per play (8.6). He finished 4th in the Heisman Trophy voting.
Again, it was Joe Gibbs who thought it was important to travel to Grambling to interview Doug Williams, the black QB. This was 1977 instead of 1877! Joe Gibbs made it happen!
In 1978 Doug was the only black starting QB in the NFL. Still, he encountered racism from the fans and a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ coaching staff. The QB coach Bill Nelsen thought it was okay, to talk down to the No. 1 draft choice and starting QB.
When Nelsen began talking down and berating Doug in practice, Gibbs the Offensive Coach heard the exchange on the opposite end of the field. He sprinted to Nelsen and confronted him.
He threw his clipboard down, pointed his finger in Nelsen’s face, and said, “Don’t you ever talk to him like that again, is that clear?” According to Doug, Nelsen never confronted him in that manner again. Joe Gibbs was there.
In each successful phase of Doug Williams’ pro career, his ‘Guardian Angel’ was his color-blind coach, Joe Gibbs. Fritz Pollard and Colin Kaepernick never had a Joe Gibbs to lean on.
During his time with the Buccuneers, Doug was paid $120,000 a year, the lowest salary among starting QBs and less than the salary of 12 backup QBs in the league. After the 1982 season Doug asked for a $600,000 contract. Bucs owner Hugh Culverhouse bucked and said, “My offer of $400,000 stands.” Head Coach John McKay agreed that Doug should be given a raise to $600,000. Culverhouse refuse to budge.
Doug’s next move took courage, he gambled and sat out the 1983 season. That year, the Bucs went 2-14 and did not make the playoffs again until the 1997 season, this was 14 years after Doug said, “No Mas!”
Talking about cutting off your nose despite your face meet NFL owner Hugh Culverhouse and today’s NFL owners who still refused to allow a Black American to join their “Good Old Boys” ownership club.
Doug’s gamble paid off, guess who came to the dinner table in pro football in 1984, the upstart United States Football League. Guess who was ready to sit down at the dinner and eat-Doug Williams.
He signed with the Oklahoma Outlaws and they brought in NFL Hall of Fame coach and QB guru, Sid Gilman out of retirement as director of football operations. Gilman made Doug his highest-profile player to sign a contract. Doug signed a 3 million dollar for three years, with a 1 million dollar signing bonus. making him easily one of the highest-paid players in all of pro football.
Years later, Doug recalled, he was won over when Outlaws’ owners William Tatham Sr. and Bill Tatham Jr. “Treated me as a human, rather than a piece of cattle in a stockyard.” How soon he forgot!
Doug had moderate success in the USFL, the league folded in 1986. Guess who was there to scoop him up and sign him with the Washington Redskins, Joe Gibbs, his former offensive coordinator with the Buccaneers, and the rest is pro football history.
Washington, DC, is known for eating black athletes up and spitting them out. Doug’s friend and confidante, Bob Piper, was an alumnus of Grambling.
Piper was an outstanding high school basketball coach in the DC Public School system at Western High School High School in the 80s. He won a city championship. Piper was a frequent guest on Inside Sports and supported my non-profit Kids In Trouble.
Piper advised Doug to connect with me to help him avoid the naysayers. We connected, and I was introduced to other Grambling alumni. Coach Eddie Robinson was an Officer and a Gentle-Man.
GRAMBLING LEGENDARY COACH EDDIE ROBINSON-TRULY AN OFFICER AND A GENTLE-MAN.
While I watched the NFL Awards show, I reminisced about the NFL players who were a part of community outreach long before the NFL, and the Walter Payton ‘Iron Man Awards.’
There were Washington Redskin players, Harold McLinton (LB), Roy Jefferson (WR), Larry Brown (RB), and Ted Vactor (DB). Lenny Moore (RB/WR), Johnny Sample (DB), Lydell Mitchell (RB), Joe Washington (RB), Freddie Scott (WR), Sanders Chivers (LB), and Doug Nettles (DB) from the Baltimore Colts joined the Kids In Trouble team. They were the original “Iron Men of the NFL.” in the 70sand 80s.
Bob Piper, introduces and welcomes Doug to DC. L-R Senator Decatur Trotter-HBell and Sam Jones (NBA) during a luncheon for Kids In Trouble.
Doug Williams is Santa’s Helper with HBell and Jim ‘Bad News’ Barnes (NBA) at W-U-S-T Radio Hall in DC.
Inthe 70s, the late Washington Redskin’s LB Harold McLinton was Santa’s Helper (The Original Iron Man) for Kids In Trouble elementary school children at the Hillcrest Saturday Program in DC.
Harold proves, “NO ONE IS TOO TALL TO STOOP TO HELP A CHILD!”
NFL Films videotape the first-ever National Television promo for the league in 1972. The Hillcrest Children’s Center and Kids In Trouble Saturday Program in DC were the benefactors. Larry Brown (RB), MVP of the NFL, and Harold McLinton teach water safety to inner-city kids.
Roy Jefferson No. 1 draft choice of the Pittsburg Steelers, All-Pro WR for Super Bowl Champions Baltimore Colts, and Washington Redskin All-Pro WR is a Santa’s Helper during an annual Kids In Trouble Toy Party in DC. He looks to be in shock!
THE LATENFL LEGEND JIM BROWN WAS A ADVOCATE FOR KIDS IN TROUBLE, AND FREQUENT CONTRIBUTOR TO INSIDE SPORTS.
Jim Brown is a co-host for a Kids In Trouble Police/Youth forum in DC with Congressman Tom Davis (R-Va)
THE ORIGINAL NFL IRON MEN: ROY JEFFERSON, WILLIE WOOD, AND JOHHNY SAMPLE.
Thousands will attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans and millions will watch the game around the World. I hope QBs, Doug Williams, Jalen Hurst, Patrick Mahomes, and Colin Kaepernick remember, Fritz Pollard, and THE ORIGINAL IRON MEN of the NFL. Hopefully, they will know a change is coming, but it won’t be at Super Bowl LIX.
In February 1972 Inside Sports made its radio debut on W-O-O-K Radio in Washington, DC, radio and TV sports talk shows have never been the same. The Inside Sports format changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond.
I was on the airwaves for almost a decade before local media discovered Inside Sports and Harold Bell. JD Bethea a sports columnist for the Washington Times was the first to write a lionizing column regarding my work with inner-city children, titled, “HAROLD BELL.”
Donald Huff a native Washingtonian and High School Sports Editor for the Washington Post, followed JD Bethea with a column titled, “Bell Gets His Ratings On The Streets.”
AGAINST ALL ODDS: In 1980 William Taaffe, the Radio and TV critic for the Washington Times writes ‘Talk Show Host Harold Bell Blazes a Path ‘Inside Sports.’
This leads me back to the birthday celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King, and Muhammad Ali. Their January birthdays lead us to February and Black History Month.
The month brings to the forefront, the pimps in the pulpit, hustlers, and politicians who are responsible for the sad state of Black America. In 2025 we are last in peace and war, and seldom do we go from WORSE to FIRST. Blocking our path is ‘White Privilege and Spooks Who Sit by the Door.’
In February, the XLI Super Bowl will be played in New Orleans, the city of America’s recent terrorist attack. The Super Bowl is a reminder there has been little or no progress in Black America. The NFL team owners have made a mockery of The Rooney Rule.
The rule wasnamed after Pittsburg Steeter owner Art Rooney. The late Mr. Rooney was considered a man of integrity and inclusiveness.
The rule was established to ensure that NFL teams interview blacks and minorities for head coaching and administrator jobs in the NFL (black ownership was not excluded in the agreement).
The closest we have come to fair and equity hiring was when the Divide and Conqer Wall was threatened by QB Colin Kaepernick taking a knee in 2016. He was protesting against racism and police brutality in American cities.
The bickering among the players over the petty cash offered by the owners for community endeavors killed the movement. Kaepernick took the money and ran a QB sneak. He is living happily ever after.
He and the players were unaware they were just one Sunday’s boycott of NFL games from Blacks getting their ’40 Acres and a Mule.’ NFL style. When one owner said, “Let’s offer them Money“, all hell broke loose among the players-money was ‘The Game Changer.’ The money offered was petty cash, 32 million dollars to the NFL Players Association for community endeavors. Divide by 32 teams, one million dollars per team. “A Change is Coming”, don’t expect it in Super Bowl Sunday 2025.
In Taaffe’s 1980 column, he wrote, ‘Most radio sports talk shows do not contain intimate bits of verse set to music, as Bell’s show did on WYCB-1340 last week.
Neither do most shows feature stimulating discussions about drug use in sports, racism within the NFL, abuse of naive athletes by agents, and inspirational messages about life on 14th Street. But Harold Bell is a unique-sports talk show host, former athlete, youth leader, and social critic all rolled into one.
Let’s say it right at the top: “Inside Sports” (Fridays, 10 p.m. to midnight) is a jewel of a program-easily the most reflective and provocative radio sports talk show in Washington. Its guests actually say something. The other shows are bland by comparison.”
Taaffe, was right 45 years ago, “THE ORIGINAL INSIDE SPORTS” has never been duplicated only copied!
Taaffe, mentioned in his column, that I talked about naive athletes allowing agents to rip them off, two of the biggest thieves were sports agent David Falk and Coach John Thompson of Georgetown University. Big John would funnel Georgetown basketball players to Falk and Falk would pay him under the table.
I discovered Falk had ripped NBA Hall of Fame player Adrian Dantley off for several million dollars from his account. Adrian was out of the country at the time of my discovery on his honeymoon. I called his mom, Virginia. I had known her since he was not as big as a basketball.
GOOGLE: SUPER AGENT SHOWS HE’S A SUPER SNAKE / by Peter Vecsey New York Post March 9, 2004.
This was 20 years after I exposed Falk for the crook he still is. NBA Commissioner David Stern, John Thompson, the sports media, and the NBA players kept Falk a secret while he ripped off the black athlete, (MJ, John Lucas, Alonzo Morning, Patrick Ewing, and Dikemba Mutombo were all included in the scam). Allan Iverson was spared; someone had given him the 411 on Falk. He avoided the financial trap.
I still cannot understand today why Andrian’s mother, Virginia found it difficult to believe Falk was not ripping her son off. I remember her saying, “David just named Andrian, his daughter’s Godfather!
Falk had played Andrian and his mother. He had blinded side them with a ‘Family’ gesture making it easier to steal him blind.
Andrian Dantley sued Falk in court for the millions of dollars missing from his account. Several years later I found Falk hanging around the Denver Nuggets locker room after a game with the Washington Wizards. Dantley was an assistant coach with the Nuggets!
I asked Dantley if Falk was waiting to see him and what was going on? He muttered something about Falk was not the only one to blame, his partner was a part of the rip-off! That was enough for me to say, “I surrender!”
I always tried to ignore the excuse that Adrian was sometimes a little slow and an introvert because he grew up without a father.
Andrian Dantley never fooled me, I had figured him out long before that jackass explanation regarding the reason Falk gave him for stealing money out of his account.
Adrian’s elevator never left the first floor in “The Game Called Life.” The bottom line, he was a selfish young man, not slow and introverted as some had claimed.
I have known hundreds of young black men who grew up without a father, including me. There were four of us, my mother raised three and my hero, Grandma Bell raised my older brother Bobby.
My brothers and I had our problems and disagreements, but we still made a difference in the lives of others. My older brother was a U. S. Marshall for 20 years, and my brother Earl ‘Bull’ Bell served in the United States Army for two tours as a Military Police Sergeant and heavyweight Boxing Champion.
Racism forced him to leave the Army. He was also a DC cop for 14 years with the rank of sergeant. He discovered the hard way, that you can run from racism, but you cannot hide from it in America.
Sgt. Earl K. Bell: A Black GI’S Tale Of Racism In The Army
The youngest, William aka, Billy, Puddin, Tyrik served as a U. S. Marine and worked as a photographer for the notorious boxing promoter, Don King.
Growing up without a father is never an excuse for being a selfish man (James Brown-Mike Wilbon-Sugar Ray Leonard-Tony Paige-Lamont Jordan-Bill Rhoden).
I remember my last contact with Andrian. I was walking down the Georgia Avenue corridor near Howard University in a drizzling rain. A tan Rolls Royce pulled over to the curve and the driver blew his horn to get my attention, it was Andrian. He asked me if I needed a ride, and I said, “No Thanks!”
I remember, he never said, thanks for my alerting him about David Falk. He was there for my celebrity tennis tournaments, fashion shows, and benefit basketball games for Kids In Trouble. Andrian never sent a kid to camp or donated a toy for a needy child.
Andrian is seen with DC Superior Court Judge Eugene Hamilton during a celebrity basketball game fundraiser at GT University for Kids In Trouble. He was being honored as the KIT High School Basketball Player of the Year. In the next photo, he is seen receiving the KIT College Player of the Year Award from TV 7 Anchorman Fred Thomas, at the Inside Sports Celebrity Fashion Show held at the Foxtrappe in DC.
In the last photo, Andrian is standing on the left during a photo shoot of the Inside Sports Celebrity Tennis Tournament in Anacostia Park in SE DC. Among the celebrity participants, Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe (NBA), TV 7 Anchor, Renee Pousant, Donnie Simpson (BET), Bernie Bickerstaff (NBA), Phil Chenier (NBA), Freddy Scott (NFL), Timmy Newsome (NFL), Adrian Branch (NBA) Jim ‘Bad News’ Barnes, and Carlos Terry (NBA).
He was last seen working as a Crossing Guard for Elementary School Children somewhere in Maryland-nice cover!
Despite, Virginia Dantley’s reluctance to believe Falk was extorting money from her son, forty- five years after William Taaffe described my calling out the naive Black Athlete regarding the misuse of their funds by crooked agents. There is ‘Some Light at the End of the Tunnel.’
We are heading into Black History Month and ‘Super Bowl 59’ and ‘Black Mothers’ with sons playing in the NFL have said, “Enough is Enough.” They are now ‘The Agents’ who will be counting the money and representing their NFL sons.
The NFL and Black America were just one dropped pass in the closing seconds of the Bills and Ravens game from having four Black Quarterbacks as starters in the final four games of the NFL playoffs. It would have been a first.
Let me introduce you to three of the four mothers whose sons will start in three of the four playoff games in the final week leading to the Super Bowl:
Regina Jackson is Jayden Daniels’ mother, and she is much more than a cheerleader and spectator when her son is on the field. She is an educator with a Bachelor’s Degree in business and a Masters Degree in Counseling. Jayden is the Heisman Trophy winner and was the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft. Mom has his back and a seat at the table for all things NFL and community endeavors’ earmarked Jayden Daniels. The Commanders are on a mission many thought was impossible. He made the NFL Final Four leading the Commanders to a 12-5 record. There were wins over the NFC Champions, Philadelphia Eagles, and the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions on their home field. The Eagles and QB Jaylen Hurts beat the Commanders 26-18 in their first meeting in Philadephia. Jaylen Hurts was injured in the first quarter in their second meeting. He missed the entire game. The Commanders won 36-33.
Pamela Hurts, the mother of Jaylen Hurts QB for the Philadelphia Eagles. She also pursued a career in education. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s Degree in Counseling. When Jaylen was drafted in the second round by the Eagles, she immediately took the NFL Agents’ Exam. Despite not being his agent, she went through the process to help guide his career both on and off the field.
Regina Jackson and Pamela Hurts have similar educational backgrounds and they are “Spot On.” when it comes to protecting their sons.
The Commanders and Eagles will meet in Philadelphia on Saturday for ‘The Rubber Match’ and the winner will travel to New Orleans to meet the winner of the Chiefs and Bills in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday,
One of these moms will be the first Black female ‘Sports Agent’ to have a ‘SEAT AT THE TABLE’ representing her QB son.
Filicia Jones is the mother of Raven QB Lamar Jackson a former athlete. She played college basketball. She was also her son’s first football coach and took it to the next level when she became his agent. When Lamar decided to let his mother negotiate his first NFL contract. The Player Haters And Know it Alls came out of the woodwork, saying he needed a ‘Real Agent.’ Lamar signed a 4-year contract for 9 million dollars per season. His last contract negotiated by his mother broke the NFL Player’s Bank. He signed a 4-year deal worth 260 million dollars making him the highest-paid player in NFL history. Lamar should win his 3rd NFL MVP award for 2025. The naysayers may use the Ravens’ loss in the last seconds of the game to the Bills as an excuse to give the award to QB Joe Burrows. Lamar led the NFL in every QB category.
Congratulations to Filicia Jones for raising a REAL BLACK MAN and for being a pioneer in the Black Community that is short on pioneers, as we celebrate the birthdays of Muhammad Ali and Dr. Martin Luther King.
The NFL will be giving out its “IRON MAN” award to an NFL player who has reached back into his community to enhance the lives of young people and the poor and disenfranchised.
The award should be named after Washington Redskin/Commanders’ linebacker, the late Harold McLinton. Harold and his Washington Redskins/Commanders teammates, WR Roy Jefferson, RB Larry Brown, and DB Ted Vactor were the first NFL teammates to reach back into the community in 1970.
McLinton was helping a stranded motorist in Washington, DC on 495 in front of Bolling Air Force Base. He was hit by another driver and died a few days later. He is the “ORIGINAL IRON MAN” of the NFL.
NFL Films videotape its first-ever community promo with Washington Redskns/Commanders players RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton. They are teaching water safety at the Kids In Trouble Saturday Program in NW DC.
Harold McLinton is Santa’s Helper at the annual KIT toy party
Harold McLinton proves no one is Too Tall to Stoop to help a child
THE MOST FEARED AMONG THE KINGS-THEY BOXED HIM OUT!
THE WINNER-“THE HITMAN”
THE WINNER “THE HAWK”
IN THIS CORNER DAVE JACOBS
IN THIS CORNER EMANUEL STEWARDA PRINCE AMONG THIEVES
THE WINNERS-THE CHILDREN
AMERICAN BOXING HISTORY 101
Muhammad Ali made Harold K. Bell “The Chosen One” in 1974 when “The Greatest” stunned the World when he knocked out, the unbeaten and undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, George Foreman in the 8th round in Zaire, Africa. The fight is now known as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle.’
On Ali’s arrival back in the United States, he stunned the sports media when the first and only call to them was to Harold Bell an unknown radio sports talk show host in Washington, DC.
In 1967, Ali met Bell on the campus of Howard University, an HBCU. The champ was on a college tour around the country, explaining why he refused to be inducted into the United States Army.
First, he was a conscientious objector. His Muslim Religion exempted him from serving in the military. He decided he would rather go to jail than fight an enemy who had never called him, the N-word. After his speech, Bell took him on a tour of Georgia Avenue, the NW corridor of DC.
One year later Bell was on that same Georgia Avenue corridor trying to help save lives during the riots of 1968. He worked in the streets as a member of “TheRoving Leader Youth Gang Task Force,” for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks.
Literally, out of the ashes, he founded Kids In Trouble his non-profit organization in November 1968 shortly after the riots almost destroyed his DC hometown.
Ali and Bell would not meet again until five years later when he traveled to Cleveland with his friend, Washington Times sports columnist J. D. Bethea.
Ali was the headliner for a charity boxing exhibition for Children’s Hospital.
The timing was perfect, Bell had just made his debut on W-O-O-K Radio as the first Black to host and produce his own sports talk show in the Nation’s Capitol, Inside Sports. The show’s format would change sports talk and reporting in America and beyond.
When Bell entered the hotel headquarters for the fight, he said, “Ali hollered my name. I had not seen him since we walked together in DC. He surprised the hell out of me. It was then I knew I had arrived.”
For the first time, pro athletes, with names like, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Red Auerbach, Bert Sugar, George Foreman, Al Attles, George McGinnis, and others were heard on the airwaves in DC promoting his Inside Sports talk show. Their support and collaboration made him the talk of the town.
Every radio, television, and podcast you see or hear all copied the Inside Sports format in America, and globally.
MEET THE COPYCATS
THE WASHINGTON POST / INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE
ESPN/ USE THE INSIDE SPORTS FORMAT FOR TV
INSIDE THE NBA
INSIDE THE NFL
INSIDE MLB
INSIDE THE NHL
REAL SPORTS
COMEDIANCOREY HOLCOMB PULLS THE COPYCATS OUT OF THE BAG
In 2022 Harold Bell was one of the voices for Showtime’s 4 KINGS.” In a journey back to boxing’s most exciting era after Muhammad Ali retired. The 4 Kings+One helped fill the boxing void left by ‘The Greatest.’
Six “LITTLE” guys took over the spotlight, Sugar Ray Leonard (The Cash Cow), Roberto Durant (Hands of Steel), Thomas Hearns (The Hit Man), Marvin (The Enforcer) Hagler, Aaron Pryor (The Hawk), and the classy Alexis Arguello
BOXING MEDIA LEGENDSWHO CARRIED THE SPORT IN THE 70s & 80s
WILLIAM TAAFFE / Media Critic for the Washington Star Newspaper wrote in 1980,
“Most radio sports talk shows do not contain intimate bits of verse set to music, as Harold Bell’s show did on WYCB 1340 last week. Neither do most shows feature stimulating discussions about drug use in sports, racism,within the NFL, abuse of naive athletes by agents, and inspirational messages about life on 14th Street. But then Harold Bell is unique- sports announcer, former athlete, youth leader and social critic rolled into one.
Let’s say it right at the top: ‘Inside Sports ‘ (Fridays, 10 pm to midnight) is a small jewel of a program-easily the most reflected and provocative radio sports show in Washington. Its guest actually say something. The other shows are bland in comparison.”
Once again, Happy Birthday (RIP) to my friend and brother in the struggle, Muhammad Ali. Thanks for the memories and thanks for taking me along for the ride.
MARYLAND STATE SENATOR ANGELA ALSOBROOKS MAKING CHILDREN FIRST.
In 1969 white students were bussed in from a Seventh-Day Ventists Takomac Park, Maryland high school. The students were volunteer tutors for the Kids In Trouble Saturday Program in DC. They became the standard-bearers for high school students nationwide receiving college credits for volunteering in their communities. (Afro-America Newspaper)
Boxing Champions from the Kronk Gym in Detroit, Michigan, Thomas ‘Hit Man’ Heans and Hilmer Kenty participate in a Kids In Trouble Fight Night in DC.
Cardozo High School swimming coach Hattie T teaches survival training to her students.
NFL Films video tape Washington Redskins football players, MVP RB Larry Brown, and LB Harold McLinton teach water safety at the Kids In Trouble Saturday Program for a nationally televised audience.
Kids In Trouble’s first Christmas Toy Party for elementary school children (1968). My Virginia Sailor football teammate LB George Kelly was Santa’s Helper. The party was held at the old Turner’s Arena in NW DC.
KIT Santa’s Helpers are Super Bowl MVP QB Doug Williams and Jim ‘Bad News’ Barnes (NBA)
Former Spingarn High School basketball coach, the late Rev. William Roundtree looks on as former student/athletes, HBell and Byron Kirkley assist as Santa’s Helpers for his youth center.
HBell and youth on a tour of the Charles Houston Recreation Center in Alexandria, Virginia. They are standing in front of a statue of NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd. The first Black to play in an NBA game in 1950.
“Some time ago, there was a man who had a dream that sparked a plan, he took one Hattie as his wife and ventured forth, fulfilling life.
Then came along a certain morn and “Inside Sports” was born. Yes, Harold Bell would bring his show of sports of sorts to radio.
His moral strength would play its part with gifts to kids to inspire and give them heart! The obstacles that lined the course he fought with fury and force!
Today, with Hattie standing tall he answers life toughest calls. With love for all along the way. It is for whom the Bells toil for everyday!“
Author / May 1980
Murray Brooks (Doris)
A GRIEVING MOTHER’S TEARS
Who is Harold Bell? From where I sit, a man obsessed with youth and children’s plight. He is a man who walks swiftly away from compromise, aggressively wanting things right. Who is Harold Bell? From where I sit, he is an arrogant rebel with youth as his cause. He keeps raising their issues without fear or pause.
Why does Harold Bell do what he does, and why does he do it his way? It may be because many others who did it are longer doing it today. It may be that those who have risen to the heights don’t quite remember any more. For once they have left the place of their birth they throw away the key that once opened the door. Harold Bell is no diplomat; perhaps he doesn’t know how the game is played! Perhaps he is naïve to think that “Superstars” are coming back where he stays. Could it be that it is not vogue to court the poor, or not want a black child to die, or maybe it is politically incorrect to ask the question why?
Maybe Harold Bell speaks up too much, or perhaps he is far too crude. Or maybe he has spoken out against the establishment, or maybe he has just been rude. But Harold Bell didn’t invent rudeness nor does he speak as loud as some, for leaders have known through the ages that justice goes to the beating drum.
Harold Bell perhaps understands that silence somehow appears to be consent. And he knows that our oppressors flourish when our heads and backs are bended. He also knows that children maybe homeless or parentless or in pain. He also knows that their need to survive is real and to reach out to our children the World gains.
Thank God Harold Bell has access to the media so that we can read and listen to his candid outspoken word. Thank God for readers and listeners who understand motivation is what we need. Thank God for those like Harold Bell, who speak out against “Kids killing kids,” crack, heroin and speed.
It is hard for me to understand why some may dislike Harold Bell! He is such a nice guy it is hard to believe some would turn him off while little children die. There may have been a word that even Harold Bell could say that would have caused the listener to save a child along the way.
But such is life we can’t always please, so why expect it of Harold Bell? He did not create today’s problems and who are we to judge we do so little well? At least he is study on the course and he is consistent from year to year. We need more Harold Bells who understand our plight and “A Grieving Mother’s Tears!”
Dr. Harry Edwards is considered the 20th and 21st century’s most outspoken advocate for civil and human rights in sports arenas across America. The jewel in his crown is the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The 200-meter dash was his platform for the demonstration that would stun the world of sports. The trio of sprinters who finished one, two, and three were Tommie Smith (USA), Peter Norman (Australia), and John Carlos (USA).
The two Americans shocked the sports world as they raised their black glove fists on the podium in protest of racism in America! Their lives would never be the same. Dr. Harry Edwards, Tommie Smith, Peter Norman, and John Carlos would be joined together in life and death forever. No prenuptial agreement or divorce was imminent.
In the Washington Post on December 11, 2024, Dr. Edwards revealed he is fighting three terminal cancers–in his bone marrow, prostate, and thyroid. The three are ravaging his body, leaving him in frequent pain and fatigued. Still, he has denied any medical treatment, combating the struggle with an upbeat attitude and the occasional Tylenol.
I have known Dr. Edwards for 50+ years through my radio talk show Inside Sports with our friend the late NFL legend Jim Brown. Those one-hour shows were some of the most educational and enlightening discussions in the DMV on Saturday mornings on W-U-S-T AM Gospel radio. As the host/student, I sat in the “Cat Bird’s Seat.” I soaked in their words of wisdom and enjoyed every minute. The shows are classics in my archives.
DR. EDWARDS SPEAKS OUT ON THE ROLE OF BLACKS IN SPORTS MEDIA
“Harold, congratulations, your archives are valuable and should be given the broadest possible exposure. Your discs and videos of your programs belong in the new Smithsonian Institution of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). A wing of the new museum will be dedicated to the struggle in sports and will be titled “Leveling the Playing Field”. Over the years, your work has been a major force in leveling the playing field, especially in the struggle to define and project “Our Truth!” Dr. Harry Edwards.
John Carlos’ thoughts on Harold Bell and Inside Sports’ role in trying to level “The Playing Field.”
This was Dr. Harry Edwards’ take on TNT’s Charles Barkley and ESPN’s Michael Wilbon: “I love Charles Barkley (aka famous last words of Stephen A. Smith when he is getting ready to criticize a pro athlete) as long as he is sitting on the sports desk at TNT trying to explain why the Clippers will never win a championship as long as their toughest, most consistently competitive player is a 6’1″ point guard. But when he begins to offer jaw-droppingly ignorant and uninformed opinions on issues from Obama’s Syria/ISIS policy to the “criminal” predispositions and proclivities of the Black community, I find something more productive to do like taking out the garbage or cleaning up my lawn.
And the saddest part of it all is that he apparently doesn’t realize that the networks and interviewers are just flat out CLOWNING HIM!!! It’s “What crazy crap can we prompt Barkley to say. And all the better if it is an attack on Black people. ”The “guess what Charles Barkley said on CNN?” factor is incentive enough for the networks to persist in presenting and promoting this clown show– long past the time when it is not either funny or even remotely engaging. Now both Barkley and Wilbon look like clowns– and justifiably so.”
Mike and I share a laugh during a gathering at Ben’s Chili Bowl in DC.
I have seen James Brown in that same light during his climb to the top in TV sports, at the expense, of Inside Sports, Kids In Trouble, and brothers like Chuck Taylor. The best way to describe James Brown is “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” of Inside Sports! Like Wilbon, Brown talks out of both sides of his mouth-one lie after another!
Sam Jones-James Brown-HBell-Earl Lloyd at a tribute to Black History Month on Bolling Air Fore Base.
For example, for a man who has never kept his word to me, he said; “Harold Bell has always been a voice for people who didn’t have a voice. He has always called it as he saw it. He has been an inspiration and motivation for me and a lot of other black broadcasters. James Brown (Inside the NFL/CBS)
During the 80s and 90s Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble were the toast of DC. My talk show was No. 1 and my reach-back endeavors, Christmas toy drives, celebrity fashion shows, and tennis tournaments became the BIBLE of Community Outreach in America, despite the acts of sabotage in the media.
Inside Sports Celebrity Fashion Show Curtain Call: L-R Sonny Hill (NBA) Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing) Ricky Jenning (NFL) HBell (Inside Sports)-(Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe (NBA)
There were police and youth community forums. Pro athletes and celebrities from near and far participated, including non-celebrities like James Brown. The doors to Inside Sports and KIT were open to everyone who was interested enhancing the lives of inner-city children.. Washingtonian Magazine named me “Washingtonian of the Year” making me the first sports media personality honored.
James’ closest encounter with pro sports, he got cut by the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA!
Let the games start, he returns home to work as a sales rep for the Xerox Corporation.
James was like Howard White (Nike) and Glen Harris (WHUR Radio), hanging out at my community events and trying to enhance their careers. James convinced me to let him model in one of my celebrity fashion shows.
CELEBRITY TENNIS:Standing L-R Bob Ferry (NBA)-Fred Scott (NFL)-Bad News Barnes (NBA) TV 4 Weatherman-Donnie Simpson (BET)-Jim Vance (TV 4 Anchor)-Ken Beatrice (WMAL Sports)-Kneeling L-R H Bell-Bob Zuflur (NBA)-George Solomo (Washington Post) and Howard White (University of MD)
My tennis partner, television anchor Jim Vance told me that TV 4 was looking for a weekend sports anchor. I told him I was not interested. He reminded me there was a story in the Washington Post about a lack of black television sportscasters, and I should think about it.
SPEAKING OUT: “BLACK SPORTS CASTERS” LACK OF JOBS IN DC MARKET (1989)
I did the audition and it was a disaster. The producers sat me down at a desk in the newsroom in front of a teleprompter to read an introduction. I had no clue which camera I was to look into. I was glad when it was over.
Several days later I called Jim and said, “Thanks for nothing!” He asked me, if I had alerted James Brown to the audition and I said, ‘No.’
James had somehow found out about the audition and shown up at the TV 4 studio. He also failed!
In the meantime, he became interested in a sports media career, and I thought it was great. Chuck Taylor a black brother had just been hired by the NBA Washington Bullets as a television color analyst. Chuck’s background included teaching and coaching high school basketball in the DMV.
He was knowledgeable and had a great personality. We were all rooting for his success. The next thing I knew, Chuck was gone and James Brown had replaced him. It seemed like everyone thought I knew what had happened. I had no clue!
I called Bullet owner Abe Polin’s right-hand man, Community Advisor, Hymie Perlo. Nothing moved around Capitol Centre without Hymie knowing. When I spoke to Hymie, he asked me to come out to the arena so we could talk about the situation regarding Chuck. I did not like the way he sounded.
I learned that James Brown had gone to Bullet Captain Wes Unseld and asked Wes if he could put in a “Good word for him to Abe about replacing Chuck Taylor.” James Brown showed his true colors early in his career, “Success by any means necessary!”
JB’sNEXT MEDIA STOPS: WETM Sports Talk Radio-WUSA TV 9 weekend sports-BLack American Forum-1995HBO & REAL SPORTS/INSIDE SPORTS as Bryant Gumbel’s correspondent. He hid in the closet pretending he had no clue. The show won 37 Emmy Awards copying the Inside Sports format. He and Gumbel left footprints that Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could follow.
There are hundreds of Bryant Gumbel photos with guests, and celebrity participants on the show but no photos of him and James Brown! I Googled James Brown and HBO and, found one photo of him and Gumbel. What were they hiding for 29 years? When I asked James why he never invited me on the show his response, “I have nothing to do with the scheduling.” I finally got his message.
Having me as a guest on ‘Real Sports’ would blow their cover caught using my Inside Sports format-awarded 37 Emmys!
I remember in 1974, my colleague Frank Pastor and I were standing at the top of the Washington Bullets Arena waiting for a pause in the action so that we could return to our seats. I said, “Frank do you see what I see downstairs at the press table?” His response was, “What are you talking about Harold Bell?”
The Bullets PR Department had divided the press table at the half-court line of the arena. The white media sat on the left of the line and blacks sat on the right.
We ended the misguided PR Department’s attempt to divide and conquer, without an angry word or a poster reading “Boycott.” Frank and I switched seats at the table. The next home game the table was fully integrated. James Brown would benefit from Frank Pastor and me switching seats at the Bullets press table in 1974.
The late WHUR Radio personality and talk show hostRon Suttonand I sat on the black side of the half-court at a Washington Bullet’s game. The photo is worth a thousand words, look to my left.
REAL SPORTS-‘THE USUAL SUSPECTS
JB & THENEXT LEVEL: NFL Studio Host FOX Network-NFL Studio Host CBS-Ministry Pimp in the Pulpit-The Great Pretender (Minority owner MLB Washington Nationals)-Community Advocate-AARP Senior Ambassador.
In the 1970s DC homeboy NFL and Green Bay Packer great Willie Wood was an Assistant Coach with the San Diego Chargers’ football team. He exposed drug use among the players. He was blackballed and banished to the Canadian and World Football Leagues to find work in pro football. Ironically, he became the first Black Head Coach in both leagues. Willie Wood was an eight-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro. He played in six NFL Championship games and was a winner in five.
In Willie’s later years, his health began to fail, and his induction into the “NFL’s Pro Football Hall” did not look promising. Time was running out when he asked me for help. I turned to our friend the legendary DC sports columnist, Dick Heller of the Washington Times. I called USA Today’s newspaper NFL Editor, Jarrett Bell for support. His response was, “I am on vacation!” Bell was, also claimed he was on vacation when I called to tell him Willie had died in February 2019. The paper USA Today never covered his death.
Willie Wood is one the greatest safety’s to ever play in the NFL, He was selected to the John Madden 10th Anniversary All-Pro team. He played on five NFL Championship teams. He was named to five All-Pro teams, and nine Pro Bowl teams during his 12-year NFL career, but Jarett Bell was on “Vacation?”
The last call was to NFL Studio Host, James Brown. I got just what I deserved, Brown promised to visit Willie in his Assisted Living facility in NW DC and write him a check to help pay his bills, it never happened.
Comcast Spotlight on Sports Host, George Johnson and media guest talk college football bowl selections L-R HBell-George Johnson-Dave Elfin (Washington Times) and newcomer Jarret Bell.He has successfully been, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door” for three decades at U. S.A. Todaysupporting CRT!
Willie Wood after his 1989 NFL Hall of Fame induction, says thanks to Dick Heller and me for our support.
Despite, James Brown and Jarret Bell’s lies and politics, I held out hope they would eventually use their influence to try to help someone in need beside themselves.
In 1999, Earl Lloyd the first Black to play in the NBA asked me, “If I would start a campaign similar to the Willie Wood campaign for him.” Earl grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, it was a 15-minute drive across the NW 14th Street bridge. I considered him a friend and homeboy.
I was a glutton for punishment, the first call was to James Brown to suggest we have lunch at Union Station with Sam Jones (NBA), Andrew Dyer, and Christie Winters-Scott, (The Round Ball Report), the late radio sports talk show host, Butch McAdams and my wife Hattie. I tried to be a mentor to other young adults interested in sports media and invited them to participate in my community endeavors.
During lunch, I suggested we organize an Earl Lloyd Day during NBA All-Star Weekend. The plan, on Saturday morning there would be a basketball clinic in Earl’s honor at the Charles Houston Rec Center. A tribute would close out the festivities in his honor at the historic jazz club, the Bohemian Caverns on the U Street corridor once known as Black Broadway.
James and Sam agreed to co-host the weekend. As we were leaving the restaurant James asked me, “Harold did you check with Abe Polin?” I took a deep breath, and said, “JB, I don’t work for Abe Polin.” James Brown was a no-show for the weekend.
I contacted Red Auerbach and Congressman John Lewis to join the KIT Team and they accepted.
Congressman Lewis’ congratulations letter to Earl Lloyd
Kids In Trouble youth are on a tour of a statue of Earl Lloyd, now on display at the Charles Houston Rec Center in Alexandria, Virginia, Lloyd’s hometown. West Virginia State University, Lloyd’s alma mater, has a similar statue on display.
In 1978 I was the Nike Shoe rep on the East Coast, I traveled to New York City with Nike NBA rep John Phillips to meet with NBA former player and now head of NBA Personell, Rod Thorn, Chief Counsel, Gary Bettman and Security Chief Horace Broaneck.
The meeting was called to get a better understanding of why the NBA was against a Nike sponsored All-Star Team going to the Nassau Bahammas, the Island home of LA Laker player Myhcal Thompson. The players would articipate in a charity game for the Island. Myhcal and several other NBA players had played in a similar game the year before without incident.
The meeting did not go well, it was ‘Smiling Faces Telling Lies.’ It got heated when Bettman claimed the players would not be allowed to participate because the NBA owned them, all hell broke loose in the room when he said, “Owned the players!”
My response was, “Was the NBA a Plantation”, the room erupted again, and Ron Thorn called a ‘Time Out’ for lunch for cooler heads. We were to meet back in the room at 1:00 pm. The NBA never came back.
The players who were to participate disappeared and changed their numbers. I have been on the NBA’s ‘Hit List’ ever since. John and I figured out the problem, it was all about control, and the NBA had the upper hand.
Note Worthy: Gary Bettman would become Commissioner of the National Hockey League. A post he has held since February 1, 1993. His longevity of 31 years has made him the longest running commissioner of a pro sports franchise in North America.
When I think of Gary Bettman, I think of those words he uttered in that NBA Conference Room in New York City in 1978. “We Owned the Players.” Now that he is the Commissioner of the NHL in 2025, the one thing he has never to worry about is owning the black players in the NHL, he would be bankrupt. Blacks make up only 3% of the league.
Washington Capitals forward Devante Smith-Pelly sat in the penalty box during a game at Chicago’s United Center in February 2018, he listened as a group of white fans chanted, “Basketball, Basketball, Basketball” in his direction. The Blackhawks fans taunting Smith-Pelly, who is Black, were making their position clear: “Hockey isn’t for everyone, and it’s especially not for Black people.”
Google, this story is a must-read! It is bad enough we have racism like the fans in Chicago, and other places in the U. S., still we have to look over our shoulders for James Brown, Howard White, Jarett Bell, Mike Wilbon, and the beat goes on and on.. The TRUTH-it is not just whites, some blacks are killing us softly.
The Roundball Report a cable TV talk show in Prince George’s County was denied press credentials to attend the Washington Wizards’ home games by various members of their PR Department. Andrew Dyer the Roundball Report producer did not call ‘Ghost Busters’, he called Harold Bell to intervene.
I remember the Roundball Report crew was on the outside looking in at the Wizards game in Washington, DC. before I was asked to be their ‘Trouble Shooter.’ Seated L-R HBell-Monica McNutt-Andrew Dyer and Christie Winters-Scott. Not in the photo Jemel Hill (Emmy Award winner), Scott, and McNutt among others went to the next level, (ESPN and beyond). Like most benefactors of Inside Sports and Kids In Trouble-they forgot!
Dave Aldridge was the exception-he reached back until it hurt!
Congressman John Lewis said, “If you are going to make trouble, make good trouble.” I agree!
This brings me back to James Brown, he was a no-show for the Earl Lloyd tribute. Red Auerbach made the tribute to Earl Lloyd the only event he would attend that weekend.
Lloyd would be inducted into “The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame” in 2003. NBA All-Star Weekend 2001 will be the year Harold Bell crashed the NBA All-Star Game party with the historic tribute to Earl Lloyd in Washington, DC.
THETRAILBLAZING TALK SHOW HOST WHO REFUSED TO SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE!
This DC sports legend won’t kiss your jackass / Dave McKenna 2010
How the Washington Post discovered INSIDE SPORTS, was similar to how George Washington discovered America. The trailblazing show had been on the airwaves for almost a decade. Still, owners, Catherine and son, Donald Graham decided to just take INSIDE SPORTS. It did not matter sports editor George Solomon and writers Dave Dupree, Michael Wilbon, Byron Rosen, Tom Callahan, and Dave Aldridge were in the W-U-ST studios talking sports and politics.
In 1978 the Grahams arrived in the ‘Big Apple’ to publish their newfound magazine INSIDE SPORTS, only to discover they were in over their heads. Google “The Sunday Long Read” for the Albert and Costello ‘Whose On First’ comedy skit of Inside Sports Magazine in New York City.
In 1980 they returned to DC after losing several million dollars never really figuring out why they failed.
The failure was because their writers and braintrust could not figure out how to put my successful radio sports talk show to pen and paper. They thought they needed only their Ivy League and Harvard degrees, and it was New York here we come! They lacked creativity, common sense, and street sense for print media success, especially in New York City, the Media Capitol of America.
Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns were the cover boys for Inside Sports Magazine for their second fight in Las Vegasin June 1989. Their first fight was in Vegas in 1981 when Sugar had to rally from behind to KO the “Hit Man” in the 14th round to win the Welterweight Championship of the World! Sugar Ray now “The Cash Cow” of boxing avoided Hearns for eight years, the second fight was billed as “The War.”
The irony, the two ducked the most dangerous man in their weight class, Aaron “The Hawk’ Pryor. I watched Aaron beat Thomas in a Golden Glove Championship (on YouTube) in 1976.
After failing in New York City the Washington Post tried covering their tracks unsuccessfully. Bill Rasmussen the founder of ESPN had a better idea. Why not copy the Inside Sports format and make it a television magazine show? ESPN became the worldwide leader in sports reporting.
After decades of success, ESPN’s bottom line was not keeping up with the times and the Inside Sports format. Politicians did not like having their names hollered and screamed out on the morning and evening news. Sports and politics had suddenly become strange bedfellows.
ESPN’s new President, Jimmy Pitaro sent a memo to all broadcasters operating under the ESPN banner, it read, “JUST STICK TO SPORTS.” Freedom of speech will no longer be practiced on the ESPN Network.
The Washington Post hijacked the INSIDE SPORTS tag to New York City in 1978. The magazine failed and the hijackers returned home two years later. The staff with immunity and ‘White Privilege’ as their guilds penned a blog story in THE SUNDAY LONG READ titled, INSIDE SPORTS: THE ORAL HISTORY. Owner Donald Graham wrote me a check asking for ‘Anonymity.’
His note left me not quite understanding his request for anonymity, especially, since he allowed members of his staff to write a blog story, documenting how he and the Washington Post just took my tag Inside Sports and were making a joke out of my career as a trailblazing and pioneering sports talk show host.
The beat will go on according to Dr. Harry Edwards. We will have to wait until women can lead us out of this mess! The one percent will never give up Power or Money to level the Playing Field (remember 40 Acres and a Mule).
Dr. Edwards as we head into the NEW YEAR 2025 I disagree with “NO FINAL VICTORIES.” God is still in charge. There will be more victories long after we both are gone-I am confident, the children will have the FINAL VICTORY & FINAL VOTE.
HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THANK YOU DR. HARRY EDWARDS!
photo credits: Chuck Akins-Don Baker, King Shabazz & Fred Shepard
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