In Appreciation

Jim Bad News Barnes (NBA)

NFL New York Jet Co-Captain             

Roy Jefferson, Willie Wood, Sonny Hill & HBell  

John B. Sample Jr. was born and raised in Portsmouth, Va. and was known to friends as Happy, Blade, Reds, and Redball died suddenly in his hometown of Philadelphia in April 2006.  He was sixty-nine years old.  I received a call from Johnny’s close friend basketball legend Sonny Hill with the bad news.  In a recent conversation with Coach Gaines’ wife Clara, she said, “Harold I never thought Gaines would die.”  It was eerie because I had that same feeling about Johnny Sample even though I knew better.  I had just spoken with Johnny before heading south to the memorial service for “Bighouse.”  He said he was going to try to make it, but I didn’t look for him.  Johnny was notorious for not showing up, but I don’t ever remember him giving me his word and not keeping it.  He was always there for all of my celebrity tennis tournaments, media

panel discussions, award programs, radio and television talk shows, etc.  Compared to today’s pro athlete, he was a Saint.

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

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

University was no match for Johnny Sample and his teammates.  It was here that I came away with the impression that Johnny Sample was indestructible.  It would be years later before I would meet Johnny face to face.  It was at a Baltimore Bullets’ (Wizards) basketball game at the Baltimore Civic Center.  He was a member of the Baltimore Colts football team.  He was standing around outside of the bar during halftime laughing and talking with anyone and everyone.  I decided to go up and introduce myself and we have been great friends ever since.  It was easy to like Johnny Sample, he had an outgoing personality and he made you

feel like he had known you all of his life.  There was nothing phony or pretentious about him.  If you didn’t want to hear the truth you didn’t want to be around Johnny Sample.

Michael Cooper is one the greatest running backs to ever come out of Philadelphia and he was one of Johnny’s closest friends.  He played at North East high school and Michigan State.  Michael remembers when he was invited to the Washington Redskin camp in 1964 for a try out by then Coach Bill McPeak.  It looked as though Michael was a sure bet to make the team until one day Coach McPeak decided it best he go on the Redskin taxi squad.  Johnny disagreed with the coach’s decision and let him know in no uncertain terms.  He would run through a brick wall if you were his friend.  Michael recalls his many acts of kindness for his friends.  He says, “Johnny Sample was not a fly by night friend, if you needed him, he was there.”  When his friend and teammate the legendary “Big Daddy” Lipscomb was mysteriously found dead in Baltimore, the

NFL claimed he died of an overdose of drugs.  Johnny knew for a fact he didn’t do drugs.  He said, “Big Daddy was scared to death of needles.”  He sued the NFL for $100, 000 dollars to clear his friend’s name and won the case.

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

collegian Athletic Association (CIAA).  He was the first ever player from a Historical Black College selected to play in the College All-Star game in Chicago.  His NFL career would be controversial, but his athletic skills

were superior.  His mouth often got him into trouble, but his play on the field would often be his ticket out of the NFL doghouse.

During his eleven year NFL tenure he was one of the most feared defensive backs in pro football.   Roy Jefferson a former teammate and All-Pro wide receiver says, “If you caught the football in his territory you were going to pay the price.”  Hall of Fame All-Pro wide receiver Frank Gifford of the New York Giants was so fearful that he once saw Johnny on a New York street corner and ran to the other side against a red light to get away from him.

The Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers, Washington Redskins and the New York Jets were all NFL homes for Johnny Sample.  He earned two championship rings and one Super Bowl ring.  He was the co-captain with QB Joe Namath of the New York Jets when Namath boldly predicted that the Jets would upset the Baltimore Colts and win the Super Bowl.  He is the only player in pro football history to win World Championships in two different leagues (NFL and AFL).

In 1969 Johnny walked away from the game that he loved.  He was much more than a great athlete he was a student of the game.  Johnny could disrupt the flow of a game by calling out the offensive play as the opposing team came out to line up.  The QB would immediately call a timeout and cuss Johnny out as he made his way to the sideline.  There were many who thought he would have been a great NFL coach, but he had burn too many NFL bridges.

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

just a hard clean player?”  His response, “I was never dirty, except when I played against you.”  All Jim could do was laugh.

Johnny was not one to just sit around after his NFL career.  He became an entrepreneur and owned a ticket agency and sporting goods store called, Sample’s End Zone.  He later taught himself the game of tennis and quickly excelled.  He was the number one player in the country in the United States Tennis (USTA), 45 and over category for several years running.  He would later serve as a tennis official for the USTA, Wimbledon, U. S., French and Australian Opens and chair umpire, linesman and referee for the USTA.  His inner-city

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

In 1995 boxing promoter Don King would bring Mike Tyson to the city of Brotherly Love to fight Buster Mathis.

In February of 2004 he was inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame in Raleigh, North Carolina.  This was almost fifty years after he had graduated from college.  The first question he asked when he took the microphone, “CIAA what took you so long?”  Johnny and I had often talked about being “Blackballed” by the system is one thing, but to be “Blackballed” by your own people is a tough pill to swallow.

Johnny Sample’s induction into the Hall of Fame could not have come at a better time.  In this case better late than never.  This was definitely a highlight in his long distinguishing odyssey into the world of politics and sports.  During his induction speech he asked me to stand up and be recognized as the pioneer in sports talk radio.  He was always reaching and giving something back.  Johnny also excelled as a sports talk show host on

W-H-A-T Radio in Philadelphia from 1988 to 2004.  Johnny used his sports talk show as a vehicle to improve the growth of his community.  As a community advocate, he was instrumental in several projects.  The crown jewel was the Million Man March in 1986 when he organized seventy-three buses from Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey to Washington, DC.  In my world he was a special man.  I was pleased to see my name in the program as an Honorary Pallbearer for the great Johnny Sample.  “Redball” it was my honor.

Happy Birthday Bighouse & HB                                                                        

One on One with Dave Bing  

KIT Celebrity Fashion Show

ESPN’s airing of “Black Magic” chronicling the rich history of black basketball in America was a buzzer beating jump shot to win and a controversial foul call at the end the game to lose.   It was also the most watched documentary in the history of ESPN television history.  The first segment aired in 1.2 million homes beating the old record of 1.1 million.

The four hour two-part television show carried black basketball from the playgrounds, high schools, colleges and on to its final destination—the NBA.  This brought full circle the hopes and dreams of most black athletes, a life in the fast lane of professional sports.  For some it was their only way out.

The show’s title, “Black Magic” was the footprints in the sand of the man who revolutionized offensive guard play in basketball—Earl Monroe.  He is also a part-time magician.  I found the show to be enlightening and educational even though I lived most of it as a student/athlete I played football and basketball for the legendary Clarence “Bighouse” Gaines at Winston-Salem State.  During my era (59-63) I was the only athlete under 6’5 he permitted to play two sports.  Tim Autry and Emit Gil my football teammates could not chew bubble gum and dribble at the same time but they were tall.  He called Tim and Emit “My Special Effects.”

My freshman year I scored 27 points in a losing effort in the annual Alumni vs. Varsity basketball game.  My friend and mentor the legendary Jack DeFares had returned to Winston-Salem to finish work on his degree.  He lobbied for me to play for the shorthanded alumni.  It was easy to see why Jack was a New York playground legend and an All-Time great at Winston-Salem.  He simply said, “Keep your eyes on me and follow my lead.”  His slick ball handling and moves to the basket was responsible for me leading both teams in scoring.  Bighouse knew I could do two things well, catch a football and score on a basketball court.   But he made it clear that he had only one basketball and it belonged to Cleo Hill.  Like it or not I had to wait my turn.  I satisfied my hunger for the game by playing at the local YMCA and on the Inter-Mural team on campus called the “DC 5.”

I was in a unique position at Winston-Salem State I was there to compare three of the greatest players to ever play for “Bighouse,” Jack DeFares, Cleo Hill and Earl Monroe up close and personal.

I was there for the return of Jack DeFares, I was there for the departure of Cleo Hill and I was there to witness the arrival of Black Jesus better known as Earl “The Pearl” Monroe among other names.

Black Magic participants Al Attles and Earl Lloyd were two dear friends and inspired me to be all that I could be.  I was in Landover, Maryland when Al and the Golden State Warriors upset and beat another close friend K. C. Jones.  They beat the Washington Bullets in four straight games to win the NBA Championship.  Al and K. C. made pro sports history by becoming the first two Black Americans to face-off in a championship final.

I was there also to encourage the late great legendary Red Auerbach to step in support Earl Lloyd’s induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame.  The NBA had overlooked his career.  Thanks largely to Red the Basketball Hall of Fame finally inducted him in 2002 as a contributor. He was the first black to play in the NBA.

The CIAA barely beat the NBA.  Fifty years after graduating from West Virginia State they finally pulled his number for induction into the CIAA Hall of Fame in 2000. Thanks to an assist from Bighouse Gaines.

Hopefully, Mike Wise of the Washington Post was watching ESPN and received an education on who was the first and last word when it came to “The Improviser” of guard play in the NBA.  Mike and his colleagues are the best examples on why we need to celebrate Black History 365 days of the year.  If we don’t our youth would believe that “Pistol Pete” Maravich revolutionize guard play in the NBA.

Mike wrote those exact words in his column during the NBA All-Star Weekend.  Pete was a great player in his own right.  As Black Americans we must be careful of what we read and who we read.  I will be looking for his column saying “I made a mistake” but I am not holding my breath.

The enlightening stories for me, started with Perry Wallace, Athletic Director at American University and the first black to play at Vanderbilt University, the perseverance of NBA player Bob “Butter Bean” Love and without a doubt the hidden story that Ben Jobes was one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time.  Coach Jobes’ accomplishments and basketball success stayed under the radar of major media for decades.  ESPN’s Black Magic made it perfectly clear he could have easily been a success on any level, but was denied recognition because he was black.

The real story of the NBA lynching of Cleo Hill by the St. Louis Hawks was long overdue.  In Black Magic there was mention of Cleo being the greatest player of his era.  He could have been the greatest player of any area where he was allowed to play.

Cleo had every shot imaginable.  He is the greatest offensive basketball player I have ever seen with the exception of Washington, DC’s Elgin Baylor.  He was “Michael Jordan” in North Carolina long before Michael Jordan.  Jordan didn’t really blossom into a great offensive ball player until the pros.   Cleo was a basketball icon and legend on Tobacco Road long before his pro career.  To believe it you had to be there to see him.  When Cleo played you would have thought the ACC Tournament was being held on the campus of Winston-Salem State.  White folks traveled from all over the state to see him play.

Cleo Hill was worth the travel time and price of admission.  There were times when our own students could not get into the games.  There was nothing Cleo could not do on a basketball court.  His offensive arsenal consisted of left and right hand hook shots, set shots, a jump shot from any and everywhere, a great rebounder when he needed to be, he was fearless driving to the basket and he was an 80% foul shooter.  Cleo could dribble the ball up court to break the press.  He was no slough on defense either, when “Bighouse” needed someone to stop the other team’s hot shooter, he looked no further than Cleo or teammate Tommy Monterio.

Cleo was drafted No. 1 by the St. Louis Hawks in 1961 and everything was uphill from there.  When he arrived in St. Louis the KKK better known as “The Nest” was waiting for him.   The “Nest” consisted of players Bob Pettit, Cliff Hagan and Clyde Lovellet.  They did everything but string him up by his neck.  When Coach Paul Seymour took a stand against “The Nest” the owner Ben Kerner fired him.  When Cleo returned to campus to finish up his classes to graduate after his rookie year he was a beaten man.  He would come around to our room and sit and talk with my roommate Barney Hood and me for hours about life with the St. Louis Hawks.  His story was something out of the 1800’s.   Little has changed black men are still having their ideas and goods stolen and are asked to go in the backdoor and side doors to re-claim them.  Spooks are still sitting by the door opening it for some and closing it for others.

When we start to talk about the injustices of the sports establishment you have to look no further than Coach John McLendon.  White coaches led by the legendary Dean Smith stole his ideas and made them their own.  The basketball establishment led by the white media had fans believing for years that Coach Smith invented “The Four Corners.”  A strategy devised by Coach Mac to take time off of the clock in the closing moments of a game while sitting on a lead.

How can you vote one of the greatest innovators of the game into the hall of fame as a contributor?   Check the records and see if Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith have Contributor before or after their names.  In all fairness if Coach Mac is a Contributor than every coach who followed James Naismith into the hall of fame is also a Contributor.

The word “Contributor” needs to be changed, as it relates to Coach Mac and Earl Lloyd.  If history is the judge “Brothers and Sisters” in media will see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and write no evil.

Johnny McLendon was definitely “An Officer and a Gentleman” he was in a class by himself when it came to having a compassion for helping others.  Johnny Mac was a pleasure to be around.   He is one of the best examples on how one can be a class-act and black folks will Player Hate on you anyway.   Barney Hood and I would often talk about Coach Mac and how he would always be uplifting when talking about his friends and former players.  Fairness is a lesson that never seemed to have rubbed off on some of his colleagues.

The man many of us called “Big Daddy” when others called him Bighouse would sometimes forget we were watching him.   He could be very selfish and self serving.  Bighouse had a big heart but he could also be heartless.  He went ballistic when his friend and colleague Coach Tom “Tricky” Harris of Virginia Union hired a white coach, Dave Robbins (in-focus).  Coach Gaines and Harris were poker pals and shared a lot of basketball history.  When his buddy hired a white coach he felt betrayed.  Bighouse slowly burned when CIAA Commissioner Leon Kerry (out of focus) and his cohorts hijacked the conference right before his eyes.  Some of the things he said about his colleagues and student/athletes made many us wonder whether he really liked himself.  None of us escaped his wrath including me, Cleo and Black Jesus.

In many ways we have taken on the characteristics of the establishment.  When it comes to fairness it is becoming a lost art in the black community.   We have also become more exclusive instead of inclusive.  Black Magic for example; How were the contributions of icons Sam Jones (It is rumored he wanted to get paid), Spencer Haywood, Curly Neal and last but not least Red Auerbach and Walter Brown of the Boston Celtics be overlooked?

Sam Jones is in the NBA Hall of Fame and voted as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest, he could have easily added more insight.  His mentors were two of the greatest coaches of all time, Johnny Mac and Red Auerbach.  Without Red’s contributions “Black Magic” would still be out of focus and a dream deferred.  Spencer Haywood’s contribution turned the plantation mentality of college basketball and the NBA into a “Pay Day Heaven” for today’s NBA players.

In a landmark decision Spencer successfully challenged in court and won his case to enter the NBA draft before graduation.  He became the first ever NBA Hardship case.  Every NBA player making over $5,000 owes him a debt of gratitude.  He should be in the NBA Hall of Fame and a member of The 50 Greatest Players ever, for his play on the court and his legal battles in court.  He was working in the community long before the NBA CARED and he put the POWER in Power Forward.   He is being Black Balled by the NBA for standing up to be a man in America and for his alleged drug use.  If drug use is one of the measuring rods used for his induction, than the hall should be almost vacant.  One of the show’s characters, drug dealer Pee Wee Kirkland is a New York Playground basketball legend and former Norfolk State player.  I saw some his best customers in “Black Magic.”  Curly Neal is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University and his name is synonymous with the internationally known Harlem Globetrotters, he was also out of focus in Black Magic!

How could Black Magic forget New York basketball icons Pop Gates, Jack DeFares and Carl Green?

Sound bites we could have done without:  Some things are better left unsaid, playground and NBA Broadcast legend Sonny Hill describing former Tennessee State and New York Knicks’ guard Dick Barnett was definitely out of focus.  He said “Dick Barnett was a functional illiterate.”  Dr. Dick Barnett graduated from Tennessee State and now holds a PHD Degree.

ESPN NBA studio analyst and Winston-Salem State alumnus Stephen A. Smith and basketball scrub was blackballed from the show for stepping on “Superman’s Cape.”

Bighouse Gaines was having trouble winning games at the end of his career (828 wins) Smith writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer made the mistake of calling for his firing.  He has been out of bounds and out of focus ever since.  What is my excuse for being out of focus?  I walk and march to a different drum beat.

Spencer & friends; Mike Jarvis, Bighouse Gaines, Butch Wilson, Gary Williams and Butch Beard

He grew up in the cotton fields of Mississippi where his mother earned two-dollars a day picking cotton.  He would leave those cotton fields for the city of Detroit and leave behind the mental and physical chains of slavery.

Spencer Haywood left those cotton fields for the city of Detroit where he would become a legend on the playgrounds and high school basketball courts.  Instead of picking cotton he made a career out of picking rebounds off the backboards and scoring baskets in record numbers.

His high school basketball performances earned him a scholarship to Trinidad College where he averaged 28 points and 22 rebounds a game for one season. He returned home to play at the University of Detroit and averaged an eye popping 32 points and 22 rebounds.

Trinidad and the University of Detroit were just warm up stops on his basketball journey.  He would be only 18 years old in 1968 when he led the United States Olympic team to the gold medal in Mexico City.  This was the same year sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made their historical statement against racial segregation in America.  During the presentations of medals they silently raised their black fist signature gloves in protest.  The protest was heard around the world.

George Foreman followed their act of defiance by waving the American flag in the ring after winning a Gold Medal in boxing.  Those were three unforgettable moments and one moment Spencer would later say “I would rather forget.  Tommie and John were putting their futures in jeopardy and were banished from the Olympic Village for their defiant act.  If you were black and you were not going to support them, it was best you kept it to yourself.”

Instead of returning to the University of Detroit Spencer joined the newly organized American Basketball Association (ABA).  In Denver he immediately became the face of the new league when he averaged 30 points and 19 rebounds a game.  He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year.

Despite his basketball glory and bright lights and big cities, Spencer never forgot the cotton fields in his native Mississippi.  He remembered the long hours his mother labored in those fields picking cotton for pennies on a dollar.  His choice to leave college was easy, turning pro he would be able to make those cotton fields just a bad memory.

In 1970 with the support and encouragement of his mentor and high school coach Will Robinson, he decided to challenge the NBA’s volunteer slavery rule, “No college no play.”

The challenge would be a very lonely journey and sometimes it was hard to tell whether his new NBA Seattle Supersonic teammates were playing with him or against him.  The one man he knew was in his corner was team owner Sam Schulman.  Schulman was the NBA’s Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavs) long before Cuban.

He marched to his own drummer; while Spencer was suing the NBA for trying to bar him, Schulman was suing the league for violating anti-trust laws.  If those were not enough headaches for Spencer, the University of Detroit and the ABA was suing him for leaving school early and breach of contract respectively.

Those were difficult times for a young man who had not yet celebrated his 21^st birthday.  There were times when he was served with injunctions just before the tip-off of a game and banished from the arena.  He slept in cars and in the team bus waiting for the game to end.  The injunctions became a guessing game.  It was hard to tell where and when the next injunction would be served.

Spencer played in only 33 games in the 1970-71 NBA season, starting, stopping and starting again with each temporary injunction.

The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled in his favor and he later became “Public Enemy No. 1” in the NBA.

He had to grow up early and he became a “Man Child” before his time.  There will be 24 players playing in the NBA All-Star Game in Dallas, Texas in 2010, 21 of the All-Stars came into the NBA and became instant millionaires thanks to Spencer’s kicking down the door to free agency.

He blazed the path for the likes of Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dywane Wade and Kwame Brown.  But there are too many of them who don’t have a clue to who Spencer is as it relates to them and the NBA.

They don’t know, thanks to the NBA and brothers in so-called major media who refuse to take a stand and have fallen for just anything as it relates to Black History.  It looks like most of them (media) have been brainwashed by the NBA and have followed their lead in pretending Spencer Haywood is just a figment of their imagination.  For proof, do a Google search for “NBA History: African-American Influence and Breaking Down Barriers.”  Spencer Haywood’s name is nowhere to be found.  The sad part of this puzzle is that no one in the media has asked the question why?  Charles Barkley, Michael Wilbon, Stephan A. Smith, etc. all have an opinion on everything else but refuse to address the Spencer Haywood case.

Spencer’s groundbreaking accomplishment was more important than Earl Lloyd becoming the first black to play in an NBA game or Red Auerbach playing five black players for the first time.  Free agency impacted every NBA player black and white.

Earl Lloyd was denied his rightful place in NBA History for 50 years until I asked NBA legendary coach the late Red Auerbach to join me in a campaign to get him inducted into the hall of fame.  Earl was finally inducted in 2002.  NFL Green Bay Packer legendary safety Willie Wood was also ignored for decades.  He stood by and watched as his teammates were voted into the hall of fame one by one.  He was left on the sidelines and reduced to a cheerleader.  In 1985 I started an “Induct Willie Wood” campaign with long time Washington Time sports columnist Dick Heller on my sports talk show ‘Inside Sports.’  Willie was inducted into the hall of fame in 1989.

Boston Celtic coach and benefactor, Doc Rivers was quoted saying, “For the most part, Spencer has just been taken for granted by many of us.  But what he did was huge for everyone.  We should all be thanking him.”

After the court ruled in Spencer’s favor he continued to play heads and shoulders above the rim.  In 1972 and 1973, he was on the All-NBA first team and became a chartered member of the All-Star game.  During that era he was one of the five best players in the league.

I met Spencer Haywood shortly after his arrival in the “Big Apple” New York City.  I was introduced to Spencer by CBS and NBA color analyst Sonny Hill.  Spencer would later become a regular on my sports talk show ‘Inside Sports.’  Sonny Hill played an important role in my success as a sports talk radio personality—he was “All Access.”

The trade to the New York Knicks took Spencer over the top when it came to the fast life and drugs.  He took the Big Apple by storm and made all the rich and famous parties driving a Rolls Royce and with his beautiful wife, Iman on his arm.  She was one of the world’s top fashion models.  Frank Sinatra once said in  song, “New York, New York if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.”  Spencer Haywood had made it!

When Spencer was at the top of his game as a NBA “Power Forward” he was one of the best.  There were several other players who I thought was his equal, Gus Johnson of the Washington Bullets and George McGinnis of the Philadelphia 76ers.  They also put the POWER into the forward position.  They had the finesse of ballet dancers with a linebacker’s mentally.  When they met head to head it was pro basketball at its best.  I would take anyone of these guys and match them with any similar Power Forwards in the NBA’s 50 Greatest (Barkley, DeBusschere, Lucas).  I would bet Spencer, George and Gus would win.

Spencer’s love affair with the Knicks was over before he could say “Where is the next party?”  He suffered a knee injury and that didn’t help his career.  Spencer had more time on his hands than NBA games and depression set in and the drugs were breakfast, lunch and dinner.  In 1979 the Knicks shot an air ball to the Los Angeles Lakers and traded him, it was the beginning of his end.

Evidently, the Knicks thought, with the Lakers Spencer would feel more at home.  The Lakers were known as Drug Central of the NBA.  It was said the best high in the NBA was found in the Los Angeles Lakers locker room.  He hit rock bottom at the end of the 1979-80 season when the team suspended him in the midst of the NBA Finals because of his drug use.  It is rumored that Spencer went to sleep on the court while doing stretching exercise.

The Lakers met the Philadelphia 76ers in game six of the NBA Championship finals, and 6’9 rookie Magic Johnson started at Center in the place of the injured Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  The Lakers defeated the 76ers and Magic scored 42 points, handed out 12 assist and pulled down 15 rebounds.  Spencer never got to see the game because he was high on drugs.  The Lakers released him.  His next stop was Italy, France for a year and he then returned to the NBA to play with the Washington Bullets from 1981 to 1983.

When his contract was up in 1983 I could tell that Spencer had a lot on his mind and he still had a mission to fulfill.  One of the things we talked about was him getting his ring from the Lakers for the 1980 championship season.  He was voted a share of the money but never got his ring.  He was also concerned about his daughter Zulekha now that he and his wife Iman were having their problems.  He seemed to be more concerned about reclaiming his NBA name.

Spencer had a passion for children and had no patience for politicians who used children only as a sound bite.  He was proud of being sober from alcohol and drugs and the constant battle it took to stay that way.  I took him for his word because he never did drugs or alcohol in my presence.  Spencer knew all the athletes and sporting personalities who had drug problems in DC.  The celebrity drug community in every city is a small and close knit group.  The names he gave me I already had because of my street network.  Some these same personalities are still sitting on NBA benches and hiding behind television microphones.

The great Power Forward I once enjoyed watching was now just a shadow of himself, his greatness seldom found its way on to the basketball court at Capitol Centre.  Despite his diminishing skills he was still a great human being and a joy to be around.  He always kept it real.

He cared little about material things.  I remember when he was leaving town for over a week on a road trip with the team.  He wanted to leave his Rolls Royce with me to have it serviced while he was gone.  My wife Hattie almost had a fit and refused to allow me to keep his car.  I called Spencer and told him the bad news about her being worried about me having an accident.  He then asked me to put her on the telephone.  I gave Hattie the telephone and two minutes later she was saying “Okay.”  I don’t know what he said, but Spencer had away with words.  She later told me he said “Hattie I have insurance and Harold has a license, what’s the problem?”

I was disappointed when I read the story by Tim Povtak senior NBA writer for the blog FANHOUSE how the NBA had pimped him and brought him to his knees while he tried to re-claim his name.

The story said that Spencer had tried to lobby the league for several years to name the NBA entry rule after him, like the Supreme Court ruling that still bears his name, but that effort wilted and failed.

I appreciate the writer Povtak being diplomatic and using the word “Lobby” instead of begging, because that is exactly what it sounded like to me.

According to Povtak, the rule has been altered a few times through the collective bargaining agreement with the union, yet the premise has remained the same.  Thanks to NBA Union Representative Billy Hunter, if it ain’t about him you can count yourself out.  The Billy Hunter that I know is not going to stand up for anyone but himself.  He sold Spencer out to the NBA.

Povtak goes on to say “It took the league years to gradually warm up to Haywood after what he had done.  He has been sober now for over 3 decades.  He has spent the last 2 decades as a league ambassador, traveling the world to promote the NBA.  He served as a board member for the NBA Retired Players Association.  He still speaks often to young players about the pitfalls that once swallowed him up.”  It sounds like the NBA made him do community service to re-claim his name and they are now throwing him a bone during NBA All-Star weekends.

I am going to address the first sentence in the paragraph above, “It took the league years to warm up to Haywood after what he had done!”  What had he done?  I am reading between the lines that what Spencer had done was drugs and he fought the system that wanted to keep him from earning a living playing professional basketball.  The so-called crimes he committed, were they crimes enforced across the board?

If the NBA is punishing Spencer for doing drugs and if drugs are the issue then the NBA Hall of Fame should be half empty.

I would hope the NBA is not punishing him for standing up for his civil rights against their bias rule on free agency.  If that is the case according to the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court they were the problem and not Spencer Haywood.

But there is a problem that is Spencer’s and his alone.  When I read he said “I have two daughters who play basketball, they don’t know who I am in regard to what I did once.  There were times when I was beaten down so badly, I felt almost ashamed of what I did.”  That was not the Spencer Haywood the proud black man that inspired me to keep telling the truth, keep my head up and stay strong!

First, Spencer, have you heard of Home Schooling?  Who can teach your children about your history better than you?  Your children are your legacy and you and only you must make sure they are armed with the real story as it relates to you.

Our history is being stolen, ignored and others have used it for their own financial gain for over 400 years, for example; “Inside Sports” was a title my wife Hattie thought of in 1971 for my new radio sports talk show.  John Walsh a writer for the Style section of the Washington Post decided in 1978 to take my title to New York City and discover Inside Sports Magazine.  This is the American way, he followed the same pattern of Christopher Columbus when he discovered America with native Indians already occupying the land.  How can you discover something that is already taken?

This was my fault I should have trademarked the name as I was advised from the very beginning.  I made it easy for him.  Guess who owns the trade mark to Inside Sports, how about News Week Magazine own by the Washington Post newspaper!  When I changed my show title to The Original Inside Sports, Walsh changed the magazine’s title to The Original Inside Sports Magazine!  Walsh left a paper trail that Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could follow.  It is too bad it was not murder he committed in America what he did is called “White Collar Crime,” people like Walsh don’t have original ideas of their own so they take from others.

Spencer, you had a front row seat as the NBA and Billy Hunter proved they could care less about your pioneering efforts and great pro basketball career.  There will be black brothers in media who will congratulate you on your pioneering efforts at NBA All-Star weekend.  The faces will look familiar so ask them “where have you been for the past 30 years?”  See if Billy Hunter can look you in your eyes and say “Spencer I tried.”  Keep it real!

Our history will be overlooked and made out to be a joke if we don’t take charge, for example; Mike & Mike celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday several years ago on their morning show. Th show is heard and seen on ESPN nationally.  Mike Greenberg in a discussion about Rev. King called him out of his name when he referred to him as “Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Coon King, Jr.”  The silence from blacks heard, seen and read at media outlets like PTI, FANHOUSE, AROUND THE HORN, WASHINGTON POST and USA TODAY was deafening.  Not a protested word was heard or read!

Boxing promoter Don King says “Racism is the biggest business in the world.”

Spencer, if we don’t keep our own history it won’t be kept.  Most will celebrate Black History Month the same way NBC television tried to do in New York City several years ago.  The cafeteria’s black chef made up a menu of fried chicken, collar greens, potato salad, chitlings, yams and cornbread and a drink of choice (no desert, watermelon was out of season).  The menu title “Black History Month Menu All You Can Eat.”

What happen to food for thought with names on the menu like, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, William DuBoise, Paul Roberson and the list goes on and on?

In 1993, Jill Nelson penned a book titled “Volunteer Slavery” as it related to black writers and employees of the Washington Post newspaper.  According, to her book when she joined the Washington Post in 1986 she became a Volunteer Slave.  Jill and Spencer have something in common, twenty-four years later little or nothing has changed.

In all honesty and fairness we cannot continue to lay all the blame of racism at the doorstep of the NBA and the Washington Post.  We (Blacks) must take some responsible for not being able to see the forest for the trees!

Check and see who owns and calls the shots at BET, Essence Magazine, Radio One and TV One.  Ebony Magazine recently sold their archives to the Internet giant Google.  This means in the future if we want information about our history we are going to have to buy it from Warner Brothers, Comcast and Google.

In 2010, forty-five years after the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, I have to ask myself why is it we have not developed our own giants in media?  Where are our media outlets that can compare with or challenge, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, etc?

Where are the voices in black media who we can compare with or challenge Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Russ Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Diane Sawyer, Barbra Waters and Katie Couric?

The more things change the more they remain the same.  Mississippi and two-dollars a day are not as far away as we think!

KIT Toy Party                

John & Patrick Ewing 

Sometimes it is best to be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt—meet Fox sports writer“It was Thompson’s all-black, Ewing-led teams a decade before the Fab Five that shook the foundation of college basketball, changed the complexion of starting lineups across the country, opened coaching doors that had previously been closed to blacks and paved the way for black sportswriters at major newspapers.”

He got it all wrong when he claimed in a blog in 2011 that “It was John Thompson’s all-black, Ewing-led teams a decade before the Fab Five that shook the foundation of college basketball, changed the complexion of starting lineups across the country, opened coaching doors that had previously been closed to blacks and paved the way for black sportswriters at major newspapers.”

He must have forgotten the March 19, 1966 NCAA men’s basketball title game when all-white and No. 1-ranked Kentucky faced an all-black Texas Western team?

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

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

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

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

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

He will never tell you he got his first radio experience on The Original Inside Sports.

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

Jason, were you asleep under a rock when Kentucky played Texas Western? Where were you and your self-awareness?

This observation by you was really over the top: “His players were the inner-city black kids who left a legacy of jobs and playing opportunities for other impoverished minorities that exposes the lack of substance in the fads popularized by the Fab Five.”

You must be dreaming!  You put your foot in your mouth again by saying, “Hoya Paranoia is the story that deserves celebration and should serve as a teaching tool. Fab Five is a safe, harmless story celebrating black kids for choosing style over substance.”

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

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

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

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

John’s NBA career was a bigger fraud than his college coaching career. His NBA claim to fame? “I backed up Bill Russell.”

The late Boston Celtic coach, the legendary Red Auerbach, was a dear friend and mentor to me. I know how much backing up Russell he did. It was like sending a sailboat to back up the sinking of the Titanic—one of the same!

Auerbach put John into the expansion draft because he was too soft. Check out how many seven-footers were put in the expansion draft during the Red Auerbach and Bill Russell era.

The “Big Bad John” you see and hear today saw the handwriting on the wall and retired from the NBA.

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

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

As those of us who know the real John Thompson have often said, “If he had his high school teammate Tom Hoover’s heart, he would have been a world-beater.”

Hoover played in the NBA for several years as an “enforcer” and “hatchet man” for the New York Knicks.

Back in the day on the playground, when John tried to play like a point guard, I would banish him from the court and make him sit on the hill. He’d sit there until Sandy Freeman and Bob Grier, his protectors, showed up.

He would dare not raise his voice and use the type of profanity he used as the coach on the Georgetown bench. I have no idea where he picked up that part of his coaching personality (Bobby Knight).

John Thompson’s secret to success: He was big and black, and he used profanity and “the race card” to successfully intimidate his players and white folks!

He gained wide recognition in the sports world when he hugged Hoya player Freddy Brown after he mistakenly threw a pass intended for one of his teammates to North Carolina’s James Worthy. It was the closing seconds of the 1982 NCAA tournament final, and the outcome of the game—an eventual 63-62 loss—was still hanging in the balance.

After the game, Thompson was seen hugging Brown in a picture that went around the sports world. Today, Freddy Brown’s feelings about his old coach are X-rated.

In a Washington Post magazine article, John said, “My mother better not get in my way when a dollar is on the line.”  In that same story, he claimed money could overcome racism in America.

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

Early in his second season at Georgetown, when his job was on the line, in the wee hours of the morning someone hung a banner in the Georgetown Gym that read “John Thompson the nigger coach must go!”

Back then I was his first line of defense in the media.

When he called my home at 3 a.m. explaining what had happened, I was pissed off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Washington Post published Pt. 1 of a two-part series investigation of these undercover discrepancies, but Pt. 2 never appeared. The investigative journalist was Richard Justice. (Note: Justice has since clarified that Pt. 1 never went to print either.)

According to my newsroom sources at the Washington Post, all said the exact same thing: Sports Editor George Solomon killed the series without explanation.

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

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

The lie or rumor is, according to Sports Illustrated, that Thompson threatened Edmond to stay away from his players.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Forgiveness Is…

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

Forgiveness Is Not…

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

March 29, 2014

When I learned of the passing of Washington Post columnist William Raspberry on Tuesday July 16, 2012 I was moved to remember the song “The Way We Were.”

I met Bill along with my mentor and friend the late legendary radio icon Petey Green in Face’s Restaurant in Washington, DC.  This was shortly before the riots in 1968.  Face’s was a hang-out for the so-called “In Crowd” in what was then known as “Chocolate City!”

Petey and I were sitting at the bar debating whether the Redskins would win a game during the upcoming season and he looked over at this little guy sitting a couple of bar stools away and asked “My man what do you think?”  Bill looked up from his plate and said “Man I don’t have a clue I am from Mississippi!”

As only Petey Green could the conversation went from the Redskins to picking cotton.  He made Bill laugh so hard he had to get up and go to the bathroom before he peed on himself.  The three of us would become fast friends and football, kids and politics would be our topic of conversation for the next several hours.

Petey was than working with the self help group the United Planning Organization as a Neighborhood Worker, Bill was working for the Washington Post (he never mentioned he was a writer) and I was working for the DC Recreation Department as a Roving Leader (Gang Unit).

We would meet at Face’s on Friday (lunch or Happy Hour) for its legendary fish fry.  Ms. Booker cooked the best fish in town.  I don’t remember when Bill told us he was a writer but there were two things Petey pretended to hate, the Redskins and anybody who wrote for the Washington Post!  But, Bill passed the smell test because he and Petey got along fine.

My wife Hattie and I founded the Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program and Kids In Trouble in December 1968 (the result of the 1968 riots).  The Center was located at 14^th and W Street s in northwest DC.  The program was housed in the old Turner’s Arena where legendary entertainers once performed and it was the first home of the now world famous WWE and wrestling promoter Vince McMahon ,Jr., (he took over the mantle handed down by his father and James Dudley).  Mr. Dudley lived directly across the street from the arena and was Don King before Don King.  He was the first black to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.  He was also my “checks and balance” guy.

The building was then the Hillcrest Children’s Center.  The Center was run by Children’s Hospital and catered to children with behavior problems.

During the riots there was talk of burning the building down because the neighbor children resented the fact that they were not allowed to use the building.  The center had an indoor swimming pool, indoor and outdoor basketball courts and classrooms.  It didn’t make it any easier when black neighborhood children would see white kids parading in and out of the building during the week.  The building was closed on the weekend (special needs children would sometimes stay over night and into the weekend).

The administrators became concerned when the neighborhood children begin to harass the staff and their clients verbally.  Someone in the community brought me to the attention of Center Director Nicholas Long as “Mr. Fix It!”

A Monday morning meeting was arranged for me to sit down with Dr. Long to discuss how to mend the fences between the center and the neighborhood.  Without my knowledge Dr. Long had already devised a “Game Plan.”

The plan was for me to coordinate and oversee a Saturday recreation program for the neighborhood kids!  I didn’t think much of the idea because it would intrude on me moonlighting as a wide receiver for a minor league football team on the weekends.  The Virginia Sailors was an affiliate of the NFL Washington Redskins.  I still had dreams of becoming a player in the NFL.  I left the office of Dr. Long saying “I would think about it.”   What I was really saying was “No way.”

I could not wait to catch up with Petey and Bill on Friday at Face’s to get their opinions on how to get out of making a commitment to this “Dream Buster” of an idea!  I called Petey and Bill to make sure we were still on to meet because sometimes one of us would be a no-show because of prior commitments.  Petey could not make lunch so we agreed to meet at the evening “Happy Hour.”

Bill had never seen me play for the Virginia Sailors but Petey would come out to the home games played on Saturdays in Reston, Virginia.  He would leave usually at half-time without acknowledging he was there (Hattie would see him coming and going)!  He was a student of the game.  Petey could tell me precisely what pass patterns I had run and exactly when I would be free lancing on my own.  He would always say “You would have made a great actor!”  It was all a part of the on field game that I played with the defensive back to get the upper hand.

The meeting at Face’s took a turn for the worst when both of them jumped on me for putting football ahead of the kids.  I was surprised when Bill said, “You need to do this and we got your back.”  Petey just looked at me and said “Don’t look at me!”  The decision was made and the rest is community history.

My Spingarn high school teammate Andrew Johnson was a DC cop in the neighborhood and my brother Earl both physically covered for me on the weekends when the team was out of town.

Bill Raspberry’s word was good (unheard of today in media), during our relationship he never lied to me.  You could carry his word to the bank.  Folks in media run a close second to politicians when it comes to telling a lie.

Bill and I didn’t always agree, if I brought something to his attention and he didn’t feel comfortable addressing, he would say “Harold I am going to pass on that one you handle it” and I would!

For the next decade Bill’s columns would challenged the DC Police Department when they refused to allow my brother Earl K. Bell employment because of his juvenile delinquent past.  Shortly after his story was published the department back tracked and hired him.  There would be several other stories in his column with me as the focal point.  He really had my back as he followed my trials and tribulations in the community as it related to kids in trouble.

With Bill and Petey showing their support by participating in my community endeavors others would follow their lead (athletes, judges, politicians, entertainers and media personalities, etc. joined the team).  It also didn’t hurt to have their VIP wives Sondra and Judy in their ears as back-ups on my behalf!

William Raspberry’s support allowed me to excel and blossom as a Youth and Community Advocate.  He also gave me an earful when he thought my radio show the “Original Inside Sports” was politically incorrect, but it was always “Constructive Criticism and never Destructive Criticism!”

We went our separate ways over a trivia disagreement and for the past 2 decades we have been like ships passing in the night (never seeing each other).  Much like Petey, Bill died without me telling him how much I appreciated and loved him.

In December 2012 Hattie and I will celebrate and coordinate our 44^th Annual Christmas Toy Party for needy elementary school children (without grants or loans).  The first was held at the Hillcrest Children’s Center Saturday Program in 1968.  It only happened because Bill Raspberry kicked me in the butt and made me get my priorities in order when I truly needed to.

Thanks Bill and Sondra.

Spencer Haywood locked out of the NBA Hall of Fame

He grew up in the cotton fields of Mississippi where his mother earned two-dollars a day picking cotton.  He would leave those cotton fields for the city of Detroit and leave behind the mental and physical chains of slavery.

Spencer Haywood left those cotton fields for the city of Detroit where he would become a legend on the playgrounds and high school basketball courts.  Instead of picking cotton he made a career out of picking rebounds off the backboards and scoring baskets in record numbers.

His high school basketball performances earned him a scholarship to Trinidad College where he averaged 28 points and 22 rebounds a game for one season. He returned home to play at the University of Detroit and averaged an eye popping 32 points and 22 rebounds.

Trinidad and the University of Detroit were just warm up stops on his basketball journey.  He would be only 18 years old in 1968 when he led the United States Olympic team to the gold medal in Mexico City.  This was the same year sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos made their historical statement against racial segregation in America.  During the presentations of medals they silently raised their black fist signature gloves in protest.  The protest was heard around the world.

George Foreman followed their act of defiance by waving the American flag in the ring after winning a Gold Medal in boxing.  Those were three unforgettable moments and one moment Spencer would later say “I would rather forget.  Tommie and John were putting their futures in jeopardy and were banished from the Olympic Village for their defiant act.  If you were black and you were not going to support them, it was best you kept it to yourself.”

Instead of returning to the University of Detroit Spencer joined the newly organized American Basketball Association (ABA).  In Denver he immediately became the face of the new league when he averaged 30 points and 19 rebounds a game.  He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year.

Despite his basketball glory and bright lights and big cities, Spencer never forgot the cotton fields in his native Mississippi.  He remembered the long hours his mother labored in those fields picking cotton for pennies on a dollar.  His choice to leave college was easy, turning pro he would be able to make those cotton fields just a bad memory.

In 1970 with the support and encouragement of his mentor and high school coach Will Robinson, he decided to challenge the NBA’s volunteer slavery rule, “No college no play.”

The challenge would be a very lonely journey and sometimes it was hard to tell whether his new NBA Seattle Supersonic teammates were playing with him or against him.  The one man he knew was in his corner was team owner Sam Schulman.  Schulman was the NBA’s Mark Cuban (Dallas Mavs) long before Cuban.

He marched to his own drummer; while Spencer was suing the NBA for trying to bar him, Schulman was suing the league for violating anti-trust laws.  If those were not enough headaches for Spencer, the University of Detroit and the ABA was suing him for leaving school early and breach of contract respectively.

Those were difficult times for a young man who had not yet celebrated his 21^st birthday.  There were times when he was served with injunctions just before the tip-off of a game and banished from the arena.  He slept in cars and in the team bus waiting for the game to end.  The injunctions became a guessing game.  It was hard to tell where and when the next injunction would be served.

Spencer played in only 33 games in the 1970-71 NBA season, starting, stopping and starting again with each temporary injunction.

The Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled in his favor and he later became “Public Enemy No. 1” in the NBA.

He had to grow up early and he became a “Man Child” before his time.  There will be 24 players playing in the NBA All-Star Game in Dallas, Texas in 2010, 21 of the All-Stars came into the NBA and became instant millionaires thanks to Spencer’s kicking down the door to free agency.

He blazed the path for the likes of Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dywane Wade and Kwame Brown.  But there are too many of them who don’t have a clue to who Spencer is as it relates to them and the NBA.

They don’t know, thanks to the NBA and brothers in so-called major media who refuse to take a stand and have fallen for just anything as it relates to Black History.  It looks like most of them (media) have been brainwashed by the NBA and have followed their lead in pretending Spencer Haywood is just a figment of their imagination.  For proof, do a Google search for “NBA History: African-American Influence and Breaking Down Barriers.”  Spencer Haywood’s name is nowhere to be found.  The sad part of this puzzle is that no one in the media has asked the question why?  Charles Barkley, Michael Wilbon, Stephan A. Smith, etc. all have an opinion on everything else but refuse to address the Spencer Haywood case.

Spencer’s groundbreaking accomplishment was more important than Earl Lloyd becoming the first black to play in an NBA game or Red Auerbach playing five black players for the first time.  Free agency impacted every NBA player black and white.

Earl Lloyd was denied his rightful place in NBA History for 50 years until I asked NBA legendary coach the late Red Auerbach to join me in a campaign to get him inducted into the hall of fame.  Earl was finally inducted in 2002.  NFL Green Bay Packer legendary safety Willie Wood was also ignored for decades.  He stood by and watched as his teammates were voted into the hall of fame one by one.  He was left on the sidelines and reduced to a cheerleader.  In 1985 I started an “Induct Willie Wood” campaign with long time Washington Time sports columnist Dick Heller on my sports talk show ‘Inside Sports.’  Willie was inducted into the hall of fame in 1989.

Boston Celtic coach and benefactor, Doc Rivers was quoted saying, “For the most part, Spencer has just been taken for granted by many of us.  But what he did was huge for everyone.  We should all be thanking him.”

After the court ruled in Spencer’s favor he continued to play heads and shoulders above the rim.  In 1972 and 1973, he was on the All-NBA first team and became a chartered member of the All-Star game.  During that era he was one of the five best players in the league.

I met Spencer Haywood shortly after his arrival in the “Big Apple” New York City.  I was introduced to Spencer by CBS and NBA color analyst Sonny Hill.  Spencer would later become a regular on my sports talk show ‘Inside Sports.’  Sonny Hill played an important role in my success as a sports talk radio personality—he was “All Access.”

The trade to the New York Knicks took Spencer over the top when it came to the fast life and drugs.  He took the Big Apple by storm and made all the rich and famous parties driving a Rolls Royce and with his beautiful wife, Iman on his arm.  She was one of the world’s top fashion models.  Frank Sinatra once said in  song, “New York, New York if you can make it here you can make it anywhere.”  Spencer Haywood had made it!

When Spencer was at the top of his game as a NBA “Power Forward” he was one of the best.  There were several other players who I thought was his equal, Gus Johnson of the Washington Bullets and George McGinnis of the Philadelphia 76ers.  They also put the POWER into the forward position.  They had the finesse of ballet dancers with a linebacker’s mentally.  When they met head to head it was pro basketball at its best.  I would take anyone of these guys and match them with any similar Power Forwards in the NBA’s 50 Greatest (Barkley, DeBusschere, Lucas).  I would bet Spencer, George and Gus would win.

Spencer’s love affair with the Knicks was over before he could say “Where is the next party?”  He suffered a knee injury and that didn’t help his career.  Spencer had more time on his hands than NBA games and depression set in and the drugs were breakfast, lunch and dinner.  In 1979 the Knicks shot an air ball to the Los Angeles Lakers and traded him, it was the beginning of his end.

Evidently, the Knicks thought, with the Lakers Spencer would feel more at home.  The Lakers were known as Drug Central of the NBA.  It was said the best high in the NBA was found in the Los Angeles Lakers locker room.  He hit rock bottom at the end of the 1979-80 season when the team suspended him in the midst of the NBA Finals because of his drug use.  It is rumored that Spencer went to sleep on the court while doing stretching exercise.

The Lakers met the Philadelphia 76ers in game six of the NBA Championship finals, and 6’9 rookie Magic Johnson started at Center in the place of the injured Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  The Lakers defeated the 76ers and Magic scored 42 points, handed out 12 assist and pulled down 15 rebounds.  Spencer never got to see the game because he was high on drugs.  The Lakers released him.  His next stop was Italy, France for a year and he then returned to the NBA to play with the Washington Bullets from 1981 to 1983.

When his contract was up in 1983 I could tell that Spencer had a lot on his mind and he still had a mission to fulfill.  One of the things we talked about was him getting his ring from the Lakers for the 1980 championship season.  He was voted a share of the money but never got his ring.  He was also concerned about his daughter Zulekha now that he and his wife Iman were having their problems.  He seemed to be more concerned about reclaiming his NBA name.

Spencer had a passion for children and had no patience for politicians who used children only as a sound bite.  He was proud of being sober from alcohol and drugs and the constant battle it took to stay that way.  I took him for his word because he never did drugs or alcohol in my presence.  Spencer knew all the athletes and sporting personalities who had drug problems in DC.  The celebrity drug community in every city is a small and close knit group.  The names he gave me I already had because of my street network.  Some these same personalities are still sitting on NBA benches and hiding behind television microphones.

The great Power Forward I once enjoyed watching was now just a shadow of himself, his greatness seldom found its way on to the basketball court at Capitol Centre.  Despite his diminishing skills he was still a great human being and a joy to be around.  He always kept it real.

He cared little about material things.  I remember when he was leaving town for over a week on a road trip with the team.  He wanted to leave his Rolls Royce with me to have it serviced while he was gone.  My wife Hattie almost had a fit and refused to allow me to keep his car.  I called Spencer and told him the bad news about her being worried about me having an accident.  He then asked me to put her on the telephone.  I gave Hattie the telephone and two minutes later she was saying “Okay.”  I don’t know what he said, but Spencer had away with words.  She later told me he said “Hattie I have insurance and Harold has a license, what’s the problem?”

I was disappointed when I read the story by Tim Povtak senior NBA writer for the blog FANHOUSE how the NBA had pimped him and brought him to his knees while he tried to re-claim his name.

The story said that Spencer had tried to lobby the league for several years to name the NBA entry rule after him, like the Supreme Court ruling that still bears his name, but that effort wilted and failed.

I appreciate the writer Povtak being diplomatic and using the word “Lobby” instead of begging, because that is exactly what it sounded like to me.

According to Povtak, the rule has been altered a few times through the collective bargaining agreement with the union, yet the premise has remained the same.  Thanks to NBA Union Representative Billy Hunter, if it ain’t about him you can count yourself out.  The Billy Hunter that I know is not going to stand up for anyone but himself.  He sold Spencer out to the NBA.

Povtak goes on to say “It took the league years to gradually warm up to Haywood after what he had done.  He has been sober now for over 3 decades.  He has spent the last 2 decades as a league ambassador, traveling the world to promote the NBA.  He served as a board member for the NBA Retired Players Association.  He still speaks often to young players about the pitfalls that once swallowed him up.”  It sounds like the NBA made him do community service to re-claim his name and they are now throwing him a bone during NBA All-Star weekends.

I am going to address the first sentence in the paragraph above, “It took the league years to warm up to Haywood after what he had done!”  What had he done?  I am reading between the lines that what Spencer had done was drugs and he fought the system that wanted to keep him from earning a living playing professional basketball.  The so-called crimes he committed, were they crimes enforced across the board?

If the NBA is punishing Spencer for doing drugs and if drugs are the issue then the NBA Hall of Fame should be half empty.

I would hope the NBA is not punishing him for standing up for his civil rights against their bias rule on free agency.  If that is the case according to the ruling handed down by the Supreme Court they were the problem and not Spencer Haywood.

But there is a problem that is Spencer’s and his alone.  When I read he said “I have two daughters who play basketball, they don’t know who I am in regard to what I did once.  There were times when I was beaten down so badly, I felt almost ashamed of what I did.”  That was not the Spencer Haywood the proud black man that inspired me to keep telling the truth, keep my head up and stay strong!

First, Spencer, have you heard of Home Schooling?  Who can teach your children about your history better than you?  Your children are your legacy and you and only you must make sure they are armed with the real story as it relates to you.

Our history is being stolen, ignored and others have used it for their own financial gain for over 400 years, for example; “Inside Sports” was a title my wife Hattie thought of in 1971 for my new radio sports talk show.  John Walsh a writer for the Style section of the Washington Post decided in 1978 to take my title to New York City and discover Inside Sports Magazine.  This is the American way, he followed the same pattern of Christopher Columbus when he discovered America with native Indians already occupying the land.  How can you discover something that is already taken?

This was my fault I should have trademarked the name as I was advised from the very beginning.  I made it easy for him.  Guess who owns the trade mark to Inside Sports, how about News Week Magazine own by the Washington Post newspaper!  When I changed my show title to The Original Inside Sports, Walsh changed the magazine’s title to The Original Inside Sports Magazine!  Walsh left a paper trail that Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could follow.  It is too bad it was not murder he committed in America what he did is called “White Collar Crime,” people like Walsh don’t have original ideas of their own so they take from others.

Spencer, you had a front row seat as the NBA and Billy Hunter proved they could care less about your pioneering efforts and great pro basketball career.  There will be black brothers in media who will congratulate you on your pioneering efforts at NBA All-Star weekend.  The faces will look familiar so ask them “where have you been for the past 30 years?”  See if Billy Hunter can look you in your eyes and say “Spencer I tried.”  Keep it real!

Our history will be overlooked and made out to be a joke if we don’t take charge, for example; Mike & Mike celebrated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday several years ago on their morning show. Th show is heard and seen on ESPN nationally.  Mike Greenberg in a discussion about Rev. King called him out of his name when he referred to him as “Rev. Dr. Martin Luther Coon King, Jr.”  The silence from blacks heard, seen and read at media outlets like PTI, FANHOUSE, AROUND THE HORN, WASHINGTON POST and USA TODAY was deafening.  Not a protested word was heard or read!

Boxing promoter Don King says “Racism is the biggest business in the world.”

Spencer, if we don’t keep our own history it won’t be kept.  Most will celebrate Black History Month the same way NBC television tried to do in New York City several years ago.  The cafeteria’s black chef made up a menu of fried chicken, collar greens, potato salad, chitlings, yams and cornbread and a drink of choice (no desert, watermelon was out of season).  The menu title “Black History Month Menu All You Can Eat.”

What happen to food for thought with names on the menu like, Harriet Tubman, Marcus Garvey, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, William DuBoise, Paul Roberson and the list goes on and on?

In 1993, Jill Nelson penned a book titled “Volunteer Slavery” as it related to black writers and employees of the Washington Post newspaper.  According, to her book when she joined the Washington Post in 1986 she became a Volunteer Slave.  Jill and Spencer have something in common, twenty-four years later little or nothing has changed.

In all honesty and fairness we cannot continue to lay all the blame of racism at the doorstep of the NBA and the Washington Post.  We (Blacks) must take some responsible for not being able to see the forest for the trees!

Check and see who owns and calls the shots at BET, Essence Magazine, Radio One and TV One.  Ebony Magazine recently sold their archives to the Internet giant Google.  This means in the future if we want information about our history we are going to have to buy it from Warner Brothers, Comcast and Google.

In 2010, forty-five years after the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, I have to ask myself why is it we have not developed our own giants in media?  Where are our media outlets that can compare with or challenge, CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox News, CNN, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, etc?

Where are the voices in black media who we can compare with or challenge Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Russ Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Diane Sawyer, Barbra Waters and Katie Couric?

The more things change the more they remain the same.  Mississippi and two-dollars a day are not as far away as we think!

BLACK HISTORY 365 DAYS OF THE YEAR

Rev. Joseph DeLaine

Dr. Martin Luther King                  

Dr. Charles H. Thomas

In 1959 I was a freshman at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N. C.  In nearby Greensboro,  A&T University students were about to under take a movement that would highlight the modern day Civil Rights Movement.  The students would stage sit-ins at downtown restaurants that refuse to serve black customers and the rest is Civil Rights history.  The movement would spread to Winston-Salem where legendary coach Clarence “Bighouse” Gaines found it necessary to call a meeting with all the athletes.  He warned us not to go anywhere near downtown or get involved in any kind of way with the sit-ins.  The warning was directed at the DC and New York contingents on campus.  He said, “the consequences of getting involved and getting caught—a bus ticket back to the ghetto.”  My homeboy and roommate Big Al Mayor, Chicago basketball sharpshooter Barney Hood and his Lynchburg, Virginia teammate Lutheran Wiley met me at the neighborhood deli and we hitched hiked downtown to join the boycott.  The four of us made it back to campus without incident.  Coach Gaines would not let it go, he kept saying, ‘I know you went downtown yesterday.  There are some pictures and I am waiting to see them.’  I was on pins and needles for a couple of days but the photos never surfaced.  I think he was bluffing, he never mentioned it again.

I find it difficult to believe that this is 2015 and we are observing Rev. Martin Luther King’s birthday and the theme song is still “We Shall Overcome.”

Our history and future are still little known black history facts as it relates to the bravery of some black South Carolinians.  They created America’s first civil rights movement.  The pictorial history can be found of the movement in the book “Out of the Box in Dixie”

Photographed and chronicled by civil rights famed photographer Cecil J. Williams (www.freedomjusticesimages.com).The book clearly shows the modern day movement started in Clarendon, South Carolina long before Brown vs. Board of Education, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King’s March on Washington, and the lunch counter sit-ins in Greensboro.  Author Cecil Williams is a cousin of Dr. Charles H. Thomas Jr.  Dr. Thomas was one of the leaders of the movement when it moved from Clarendon to Orangeburg, South Carolina in the 50’s.  Cecil was still in high school but was armed with a camera and he would travel.

The Godfather of the civil rights movement was a spiritual man of God by the name of Rev. Joseph DeLaine.  In 1949 Rev. DeLaine and his friend Harry Briggs organized a group of parents in Clarendon and formed a picket line and challenged school segregation in the county.  The Briggs vs Elliott petition bearing Harry Briggs’ name was the forerunner of Brown vs.  Board of Education.  Their challenge was the first to move to the Supreme Court.  Several years later four other cases would evolve into Brown vs Board of Education.  Famed civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall would                     represent the plaintiffs.  In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional.  My Spingarn high school basketball teammate the late Spotswood Bolling would be the lead plaintiff in integrating the Washington, DC Public School system (Bolling vs Board of  Education).

HBell                          Spotswood Bolling

We thank Harry Briggs and Rev. DeLaine for their sacrifices and courage against all odds.  The Clarendon County police took out a warrant for Rev. DeLaine’s arrest after he returned gun fire defending his family and home from members of the Klu Klux Klan.  The white folks of Clarendon County also thanked Rev. DeLaine by burning his church to the ground.  He would later have to flee for his life to New York City.  It was there in 1956 the First Lady of the United States Eleanor Roosevelt the wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended a rally on behalf of Rev. DeLaine.  The rally was held at Madison Square Garden with actress Tulalah Bankhead in attendance.

The DeLaine family inspect the ruins of their church

With Rev. DeLaine exiled to New York City the Clarendon County Klan thought they had ended the fight for freedom in South Carolina but his neighbors in Orangeburg County had his back.

Attorney Thurgood Marshall would become an advisor to the Orangeburg freedom fighters led by a “Dream Team” of civil rights leaders that included members of the NAACP, clergy, and the late Dr. Charles H. Thomas Jr. a Professor of Psychology at South Carolina State University.  Thurgood Marshall would go on to become the first black judge to be seated on the Supreme Court.

During one student uprising the Orangeburg County police swooped down on protesters and locked up over 350 students.  They were held in an outdoor jail like stockade, it reminded many of Nazi Germany.  The New York Times published a front page picture of students in the stockade.

Dr. Thomas picks up his children from jail (Hattie in shades)

Dr. Thomas and the entire Thomas clan were on the front lines of the civil rights movement.  The Thomas Family without a doubt is the “First Family of Civil Rights” in Orangeburg County.

On several occasions Dr. Thomas had to put up his house for collateral to get his children and other students out of jail.  It was the norm for Atty. Mathew Perry to be summoned to get Hattie, Charlease, Loretta, and Reggie all out of the Orangeburg County jail.  Cops and judges knew the Thomas’ family, they were called “The Thomas Clan.”

It was definitely a family affair. The family participation included Dr. Thomas’ wife Elease, sister Nancy and brother Milbren.  They could be seen protecting his back on the picket line during marches in downtown Orangeburg.  Future sons-in-law Weldon Hammond was a student and Robert Stevenson was teaching at South Carolina State.  They also prove to be a pain in the ass to law-enforcement.

Dr. Thomas, sister-in-law Nancy and brother Milbren bring up the rear

Ann Thomas Riley the youngest daughter would be one of the first blacks to integrate the Orangeburg all white high school and Harold Riley her husband was one the students shot during the “Orangeburg Massacre” School teacher Gloria Rackley was another important member of the Thomas clan she was known to the family as Aunt Gloria.  She was a true warrior where ever you saw the Thomas clan she was just a step behind.  Her ties were so strong to the family and the NAACP the Orangeburg County school system threatened her with dismissal if she did not cut her ties.  She walked away and continued to fight.  When Charlease was arrested the cops tried to separate her from the rest of the protesters because she was Dr. Thomas’ daughter.  It was Gloria Rackley who got between her and the cops and said “no way.”  Gloria’s daughter Lurma would later become the Press Secretary for “DC Mayor for Life” Marion Barry.

The fight for civil rights got so intense in Orangeburg the Rev. Martin Luther King came to a rally organized by Dr. Thomas.  He was a spectator in January 1963.  This was just months before his now famous March on Washington.

Dr. King a face in the crowd

Dr. Thomas would later take over the reins as President of the local chapter of the NAACP.  His advisor and right hand was Attorney Mathew Perry.  Attorney Perry would show up in a courtroom and the white judges would immediately take a bathroom break and sometimes would not come back.  Attorney Perry would go on to become the first black judge to be seated on the South Carolina Court of Appears.

Dr. Thomas started and founded voter registration for the entire state of South Carolina.  He was also known as a “Bad Ass” to the white folks and the Uncle Toms in Orangeburg county.  There were the “House Negroes” who would sit in on the strategy meetings and report the upcoming plans to their white bosses.  It got so bad Dr. Thomas and the other coordinators of the marches and boycotts had to have two meetings.  The first meeting they would give out misleading information and plans for the ‘House Negroes’ to carry back to their bosses.  The second meeting would be held to discuss the true plan.  Sixty years later that type of plantation mentality is still holding us back.

Dr. Thomas helping a student register to vote

The Orangeburg Massacre was the worst murder of students on an educational institution in the history of this country (including Kent State).  White law-enforcement would lead Claflin and South Carolina State students on peaceful daylight marches to downtown Orangeburg but under the cover of darkness they became deadly assassins.  In 1968 highway patrolmen and local cops shot and killed three students and wounded 27 more.  My brother-in-law Harold Riley a native of Orangeburg took two bullets that night and watched his friend Samuel Hammond die.  One bullet is still lodged in his leg. These hideous acts were carried out without provocation on the campus of South Carolina State University.

Police escort during daylight hours

On that fateful night students were at first participating in a peaceful march and demonstration at a local segregated bowling alley just off campus.  There might have been some name calling among the students directed toward law-enforcement.  The cops evidently took it personal and without warning started shooting in the direction of the students who retreated to their campus.  When the smoke had cleared three students were dead.  The cops claimed they were fired on first and forty plus years later they have yet to come up with a smoking gun.  In 2009 there was a black man headed for the White House but still in 2015 there is Justice and Just-Us in America!

The Orangeburg Massacre was the worst murder of students on an educational institution in the history of this country (including Kent State).  White law-enforcement would lead Claflin and South Carolina State students on peaceful daylight marches to downtown Orangeburg but under the cover of darkness they became deadly assassins.  In 1968 highway patrolmen and local cops shot and killed three students and wounded 27 more.  My brother-in-law Harold Riley a native of Orangeburg took two bullets that night and watched his best friend Samuel Hammond die.  One bullet is still lodged in his leg. These hideous acts were carried out without provocation on the campus of South Carolina State University.

On that fateful night students were first participating in a peaceful march and demonstration at a local segregated bowling alley just off campus.  There might have been some name calling among the student directed toward law-enforcement.  The cops evidently took it personal and without warning started shooting in the direction of the students who retreated to their campus.  When the smoke had cleared three students were dead.  The cops claimed they were fired on first and forty years later they have yet to come up with a smoking gun.  In 2009 despite a black man headed for the White House there is still Justice and Just-Us in America!

I read a story titled “The Morning After” in the Washington Post written by black columnist Eugene Robinson.  The story related to the election of America’s first Black President I almost brought up my breakfast of grits, eggs and sausage.  Robinson was interviewing Georgia Democrat and civil rights icon John Lewis and said something like “I think John Lewis is one of the most courageous men of the civil rights crusade.  I thought of the beating he took on the Pettis Edmond Bridge and the scars his body still bears.”  What makes Robinson’s observation so ridiculous is the fact that this brother has roots in Orangeburg, South Carolina.  His father taught at Claflin University during the height of the civil rights crusade and he does not have a clue.  The struggles of the pioneers in Clarendon and Orangeburg counties were never mentioned in his column.

The real heroes of the civil rights crusade were young black men like the three brothers who made the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives.  John Lewis’ contributions are commendable but they are pale in comparison.

Delano Middleton, Samuel Hammond and Henry Smith died like animals with white cops standing over them with guns pointed and yelling “Die nigger die” and they did.  No man or woman in America should ever have to die like that and for Eugene Robinson not to be aware of the sacrifices of those young men is another crime in the black community.  But there he is in the Washington Post and on National television every week claiming to be an expert on Black America.  For this Eugene Robinson was awarded a Pulitzer Prize?  Something is wrong with this picture!  The bottom-line, we must keep our own history.

S. C. State troopers stand over the dead bodies of South Carolina State students 

In the State Capitol of Columbia South Carolina there stands a tall imposing stature of a man who stood and still stands for white supremacy—the late Senator Strom Thurmond.  During daylight hours he was seen preaching hate niggers and at night he was sleeping with one.  He fathered a black child out of wedlock and unlike some deadbeat dads he made sure she was properly cared for and received a good education.  She was enrolled at South Carolina State where he would often visit her to make sure the hired hands were doing their job properly.

Dr. Thomas and Senator Thurmond had several eyeball to eyeball confrontations during the movement.  They would later become great friends out of respect for each other.  He later became a family friend.  Dr. Thomas was finally inducted into the Black South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2006.

Senator Strom Thurmond and the Bells

When Dr. Thomas decided that he had enough of the “Player Haters” and envy and jealous Negroes in Orangeburg he moved to DC.  It was Strom Thurmond who recommended him for a Presidential appointment to the Richard Nixon White House.  Dr. Thomas would accept an appointment to become the Director of Equal Opportunity Employment for the United States Post Office.

Thanks to Dr. Thomas, Senator Thurmond and I became fast friends and he became a big supporter of Kids In Trouble, Inc.  One Christmas he assigned his office staff to help me coordinate my toy party for at-risk children.

Later Barack Obama will take his rightful place as the 44^th President of the United States of America.  There are a lot of people who are claiming they helped lay the ground work for this historical moment in American history and maybe they did.  But I know for a fact that Charles H. Thomas help lay the ground work for his historical election.

Congratulations to the trailblazing Tuskegee Airmen and the Little Rock 9 who all received invitations to the swearing in of President Barrack Obama.  Someone dropped the ball when they failed to invite The Thomas H. Thomas Jr. family.

Singing legend Sam Cooke had a concert in Columbia South Carolina during the height of the Civil Rights movement.  He performed in front of a segregated audience.  It is rumored that experience inspired him to write his classic “A Change Is Going to come.”

Sam Cooke was a prophet:

A CHANGE DID COME–

A CHANGE IN SENATOR STROM THURMOND

A CHANGE IN AMERICA

THE CHANGE——-BARRACK OBAMA BUT MORE CHANGE IS NEEDED!

The out pouring of love showered on Emanuel Steward after his surprising and sudden death was well earned.  His death shocked the boxing world.  He was a genius in the confines and corners of a boxing ring on any given night or day.

He was affectionately known as Manny to some but I preferred to call him Emanuel (I liked Emanuel because it was biblical).

His friend and colleague the late boxing historian Bert Sugar once described him as being “The Energizing Bunny” of professional boxing.  To me he was much like the character starring in the epic television series Richard Boone “Have Gun Will Travel,” instead of a gun he had boxing gloves.  Emanuel was always just a telephone call and plane ride away from his next boxing assignment.

There was always some champion, former or potential champion who needed to have his “Mojo” fixed and he was the man often called on to fix it!

His roots were in West Virginia but his heart was in the Motor City of Detroit.  He moved to the city with his mother when he was 12 years old.

Emanuel easily adapted to the bright lights and big city of Detroit.  He quickly learned the language of the streets.  He became a boxing hustler of young men in the good sense of the word.

He had an outstanding amateur boxing career with 94 wins and 3 losses and he quickly learned pro boxing was not his calling and turned to coaching.  The rest is boxing history.

The three biggest institutions in Detroit in the 70s and 80s were General Motors headed by Lee Iacocca, Motown Records headed by Berry Gordy and the Kronk Boxing Gym headed by Emanuel Steward.

I met Emanuel in the late 70s when he was making his mark as one of the great trainers and forces to be reckoned with in boxing.

U. S. A. amateur boxing.  The first thing that attracted me to him was his outgoing personality which made everyone around him a friend.  It took him a little while to warm up to me.  I was then a friend of Sugar Ray Leonard and he slept with one eye open and one eye closed when I was in the building.

My personal relationship with Emanuel grew out my friendship with his partner Prentis Byrd.  Whenever I would enter in their space Emanuel would yell, “Prentis, here comes your man Harold Bell” and this big smile would break out on his face!

Emanuel accepts the Kids In Trouble, Inc Life Time Achievement Award

There was definitely a distinct difference in the two camps.  The Kronk Gym was built on a foundation of love, family and loyalty. Team Leonard’s foundation was built on one of mistrust, lies, theft and “Player Hating.”

Emanuel was flawed like most human beings.  He was not tall, but he was dark and handsome and two out of three is not bad.

These characteristics along with his taste for fashion, quick wit and infectious smile made him a lady’s man.  He had a girl in every port.  He never saw a crap table he didn’t like and a pipe he could not smoke.

This was the fast and furious world of boxing, but these character flaws did not make him a bad human being, but I do think they shorten his life.  I had his cell phone number and it was very seldom that I called when he was not on the run to an airport or meeting.  It seems like he always had a cold; we would be talking and he would be sneezing and coughing.  I would say “Emanuel you have got to slow down and take better care of yourself.” His response was often, “I am okay.  I will call you when I get back in town.”

His heart was as big as the boxing ring when it came to his fighters and the people he loved.  He would literally give you the shirt off of his back (if he had not already lost it).

I remember after one fight in Vegas when Tommy’s younger brother Billy got a hot hand at the crap table.  Emanuel and Tommy walked away with a bundle (I won over $1,000 betting scared)!

On the way to get something to eat he put another $1,000 in my jacket pocket.

It was business as usual for him to take one of the fighters off of the mean streets of Detroit.  His home would become their home.  According to him, this and other missteps cost him his first marriage.

Television personality Geraldo Rivera once described the world of pro boxing as a place where the rats were bigger than the lions (Don King).

There was a lot of stress connected with Emanuel’s boxing success.  For example; I remember one year in Atlantic City he was working the corner of Mike Tyson for Don King Promotions. After the fight Don had him running back and forth to his room and made him wait in line for his money.

When you work for DK (Don King) there are a whole lot of mind games played devised by him and a lot of going along to get along!

Emanuel often had money problems and during preparation for the Tyson fight he asked DK for and got a “Pay Day Loan.”  Big mistake.  After the fight DK acted accordingly–like a jackass.   Despite his human flaws, Emanuel Steward was one of “The Good Guys.”

His very first champion out of the Kronk gym was Hilmer Kenty (a gentleman and class act).  However, his crown jewel and meal ticket was the warrior known as “The Hit Man” the one and only Thomas Hearns.

I was in Detroit covering the fights when Hilmer and Tommy won their first titles.  Tommy and Emanuel were as close as brothers.  They were like shoes and socks, one could not go anywhere without the other!

Hilmer stopped Ernesto Espana in the 9^th round in March 1980 to win the Lightweight World title at Joe Louis Arena in downtown Detroit.

Five months later I would return to Detroit to watch Tommy knock out Pipino Cuevas in two rounds to win the Welterweight title.

It was during this visit to Detroit I would introduce Emanuel to my friend Wayne Davis who was the Director of the FBI field office in Detroit.  Wayne and I had become fast friends when he was working in DC during the late 60s. It was that same time period I was working in the streets with youth gangs for the DC Recreation Department.

I knew Wayne and Emanuel would like each other because of their outgoing personalities.  Neither man was a phony in any sense of of the word.

Wayne would later write and thank me for introducing him to Emanuel.

When I became a trusted member of the Kronk Family Gym it was nothing for Emanuel or Prentis to call me and say “Harold we are going to be in DC this week and we are bringing Tommy and Hilmer, line something up for us to do in the community!”

I think they got a kick out of coming to DC and pissing Sugar Ray Leonard off and exposing him for forgetting who he was and where he came from!

In 2007 at the 37th Annual Christmas toy party for needy children we honored Emanuel with the Kids In Trouble, Inc., Life Time Achievement Award for his support of Inside Sports and our many community endeavors.

Emanuel had a lot in common with the great boxing guru the late Angelo Dundee.  They both were class acts and generous with their time.  Emanuel was definitely the Godfather of boxing in the Motor City.

When Emanuel’s passing was officially announced, words of love came in from around the world.

HBO Sports president Ken Hershman said, “There are no adequate words to describe the enormous degree of sadness and loss we feel at HBO Sports with the tragic passing of Manny Steward. For more than a decade, Manny was a respected colleague who taught us so much not only about the sweet science but also about friendship and loyalty. His energy, enthusiasm and bright smile were a constant presence. Ten bells do not seem enough to mourn his passing. His contributions to the sport and to HBO will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”

Washingtonian and Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said, “With the loss of Emanuel Steward, we have lost a true Detroit icon.  Emanuel Steward embodied our city’s toughness, our competitive spirit, and our determination to always answer the bell. We are grateful for Emanuel Steward’s many contributions to our city and his impact on generations of young people.”

There were words of condolences from former heavyweight champion, Lennox Lewis and reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Klitschko said, “I will miss our time together. The long talks we had about boxing, the world, and life itself. Most of all I will miss our friendship, rest in peace Emanuel.”

“(My brother) Vitali and I, along with the entire Team Klitschko, send our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Emanuel’s family and friends,” Wladimir Klitschko said in a statement. “It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend. Well I was privileged enough to work with one for almost a decade.

“I will miss our time together,” Klitschko said. “The long talks about boxing, the world, and life itself but most of all I will miss our friendship. You will be greatly missed.

My team and I will carry on with the goals we had set while Emanuel was with us because that is exactly what Emanuel would have wanted. I know he will be with us in spirit along the way and we will accomplish these goals in his honor, until we meet again my friend.”

Klitschko, is training in Austria for a November 10 title defense against Mariusz Wach, knew the gravity of Steward’s illness and was forced this week to announce a replacement for Steward for the fight, tapping Steward Disciple and pro heavyweight Johnathon Banks, a Kronk Gym product.

Emanuel began working with Klitschko in 2004, and their first fight resulted in a knockout loss to Lamon Brewster. But under Steward’s steady hand, Klitschko rebuilt himself into a heavyweight force and one of the most dominant heavyweight champions in history.

He got a lot of the credit for helping Klitschko mentally as much as he did for training him physically. Klitschko and Steward shared a close bond that went deeper than simply trainer and fighter.

The words of Lennox Lewis I think summed up the feelings of those who knew and loved Emanuel Steward when he said:  “I’m completely devastated by the passing of my long time friend, mentor and trainer Emanuel ‘Manny’ Steward, Manny has helped me get through some of the biggest fights in my career and I only regret that I couldn’t return the favor and see him through his biggest fight.

We’ve maintained a close relationship and the last time we spoke he seemed his usual upbeat self so it was very disturbing to hear about his illness and rapid decline. It is with a heavy heart that the realization of what I hoped were just rumors, are now in fact true. Manny always told me I was the best, but the truth is, he was the best and I’m grateful, privileged and honored to be counted among his many historic successes.  We’ve truly lost one of boxing’s crown jewels. Manny was giving, selfless, compassionate and stern. He always gave back to the community and never forgot where he came from. He was an institution unto himself and I’m proud to have had him in my corner for so many years.

I’m extremely grateful for the time that I was given with him and he will be severely missed by all who knew and loved him. I’ll miss his smile, his frank no-holds-barred truthfulness and our discussions on boxing and life. My prayers and condolences go out to his family at this very difficult time.”

In this time where a lot of attention is being focused on sports figures and their struggle with finances, I hope Emanuel’s decade long employment with HBO, his relationship with Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko brothers will mitigate any potential financial woes.

Muhammad Ali, I think described Emanuel best.  I remember asking Ali how he distinguished his true friends.  Ali said:  “Friends are like our shadows they are with you as long as you are in the sun, but once you cross over into the shade your shadow disappears.  A friend is always doing something for you and never expecting anything in return.”  Sounds a lot like my friend Emanuel Steward!