A DC AMERICAN HISTORY FACT–THE PETEY GREENE STORY!

I met Petey Greene in 1957 at the Burning Tree Golf Course in Bethesda a suburb of Maryland. On the weekends I would catch a bus from my NE DC housing project, Parkside, with my mentor Jody Waugh to caddy for the movers and shakers of American politics. They included a President, Vice-President, Senators, Congressmen, actors, and entertainers from Broadway to Hollywood.

No blacks or women were allowed membership. This was a strange phenomenon to me. The black caddies were allowed to play on Mondays, but their white wives never. It was a different World.

Petey and I carried golf bags to earn money. I was there because I was interested in helping my single-parent mother make ends meet financially. Petey came to the golf course to host and organize dice and card games deep in the woods in the evenings.

I was warned by my homeboys to avoid him by any means necessary, he was a cheat. I learned the hard way. It is often said, “Curiosity killed the cat”, one dumb evening I was the cat!

He broke me and then gave me two dollars for my bus fare and to buy 10 cents Little Tavern Hamburgers for the ride home. I thought he was being really generous until he said, “You owe me four dollars next week.” He was also a “Loan Shark.”

As I was trying to leave the golf course before my homeboys discovered I had lost all my money, the golf pro, Max Elbin called out to me to return to the caddy shack. He had two golfers who were interested in playing nine holes and he wanted me to be their caddy. It was a no-brainer, I could recoup some of the money I lost to Petey.

As I walked to the first tee, a voice yelled, “Harold are you ready for an adventure?” I turned to see who was calling out to me, and to my surprise, it was Vice-President Richard Nixon. He would change my life.

Petey and I would become great friends after I paid him his four dollars, never to gamble with him again.

My mom was born and raised in Sumpter, SC, and she was a graduate of Cardozo High School in NW DC. My father was a Dead-Beat Dad in every sense of the word.

My mother’s parents were educators in Sumpter. My father was a native Washingtonian. His parents were church founders, my great-grandfather laid the first brick to help build Mt. Airy Baptist Church in 1893.

The church is located in the shadows of the Nation’s Capitol at North Capitol and L Streets NW. Two blocks north of the church is a senior residence, The Tyler House named after my great uncle, the Rev. Earl Tyler.

When my mother graduated high school, she was hired as a clerk typist at the Water Department in downtown DC. The new job helped her to qualify for SECTION 8 Housing and move us from Grandma Bell’s house to the housing project named, Parkside. Two years later she was unemployed. It seemed to her, that there was an unwritten code in the government for blacks, the last hired would be the first fired!

She grudgingly applied for welfare, my two brothers and I needed to be fed and clothed. I felt it was my duty to help her financially. My grandmother and hero Amy Tyler Bell raised my older brother, Bobby.

In 1958 Nixon was leaving for a tour around the World, starting with the Soviet Union. I was hopefully headed to college. He made me promise I would graduate and go to college. He loved talking about sports but thought education was more important. He was right, I would learned the hard way.

I thought I was the straw that stirred the drink as a high school athlete. My attitude got me kicked off two of the three teams I played. For the third team, I was locked on the school bus at half-time as the football team won without me. I was on the way to hell in a hurry, until Coach Brown suggested I apologize to my teammates and I did.

I still got kicked to the curve on the basketball team for my selfish behavior. Mad at the World I transferred to our rival Eastern High School to finish the season, but a protest against me killed that move.

My former coach Dave Brown found me hanging out in the pool hall and convinced me to finish my senior year in Prince George’s County. In the summer of 1959, Nixon went to the Soviet Union, I went to college and Petey went to jail for armed robbery.

In 1965 Petey, singer Marvin Gaye, and I returned to DC around the same time. Marvin had joined the Air Force in 1956. He had been singing with several do-wop groups since his discharge in 1957. The three of us met by coincidence in front of a DC landmark, the Howard Theater. We spent the rest of the evening trying to figure out our next move.

It did not take Marvin long to make up his mind, He wanted out of DC fast and in a hurry. Petey and I wished him luck, kissed, hugged and he was gone.

I needed a job, and Petey introduced me to Mr. Jim Banks CEO of the United Planning Organization.  The organization was a self-help entity in the NW Shaw-Cardozo Community.

Mr. Banks hired Petey and me as Neighborhood Workers. This was my first job after dropping out of college to chase my dream of playing in the NFL.

Our job descriptions read: Work in the schools and on the playgrounds with at-risk children and youth gangs.  We spent as much time in the DC Superior Courts as we did in the schools.

In 1967 UPO gave a grant to the DC Recreation Department. The grant was to hire Roving Leaders to help fight youth violence in our schools and in the DC community. The stipulation, the department had to hire me.  Petey chose to stay behind with Mr. Banks and UPO.

In the summer of 1967, I was meeting Petey for lunch at Bens’ Chili Bowl. When I arrived, he told me that Muhammad Ali was on the campus of Howard University.  I left him immediately with my sights on Howard University to meet The Greatest.  It was the most important journey I had made since the Burning Tree Golf Course in 1957.

1967 was a good year, Petey Greene’s Washington radio talk show made its debut on WOL Radio.  He gave me 5  minutes to talk about sports every Sunday evening. Petey Greene’s Washington led to my trailblazing pioneering sports talk show, “INSIDE SPORTS.”  

Thanks to Petey and Muhammad Ali, they opened doors in sports media I never thought possible.  Inside Sports changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond.

In November 1967 a white fan, listener, and businessman at the Eastern Market in NE DC called Petey and donated 50 turkeys for the needy.  We could not believe our ears.

Petey gave me 10 turkeys for family and friends. He and his friend “Mego” borrowed a van from Capitol Caddilac and delivered turkeys to the needy callers on his Sunday talk show. 

Today’s media Thanksgiving turkey giveaways started with Petey Greene.  He is the footprint in the sand for Inside Sports and the turkey giveaways adopted by radio and television stations in the DMV. 

Petey and I became the Pied Pipers regarding REACH-BACK into the community. Petey Greene’s Washington and the turkey giveaways became his signature landmarks, Kids In Trouble’s annual Christmas Toy Parties for elementary school children and Inside Sports became my signature landmarks. Many have followed our lead, and our community reach-back efforts have been copied but never duplicated.

The Kids In Trouble’s first Christmas toy party December 1968. My Virginia Sailor football teammate, Linebacker George Kelly was Santa’s Helper. I am seen in the background assisting him.

Petey won two Emmy Awards for “Petey Green’s Washington.”

1972 Super Bowl in L. A. Sylvia, Jean, HB, Petey, Judy, and Hattie T,

Washington Post columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner, Bill Raspberry, Dewey Hughes, and Ollie Johnson join me for a Kids In Trouble basketball fundraiser at GT University against the NFL Washington Redskins.

Fatty Taylor (NBA), Larry Brown (NFL-MVP 1972 ) & Petey hanging out with me at a Hillcrest Saturday Program’s community outing.

“Talk To Me”, the Petey Greene movie was a fraud. It was the Dewey Hughes story. The story never involved Petey’s wife Judy or their two children, Petrie and Pine. The movie was shot in Canada to avoid family and friends in DC who really knew the late Petey Greene. Petey would always remind me to never trust Dewey and Cathy Hughes. He was preaching to the choir.

Dewey misled actor Don Cheadle and Hollywood that he was the know it all behind Petey’s success. He never sought out Emmy Award winner, broadway, and movie star Robert Hooks. Petey and Hooks grew up together in Foggy Bottom in Georgetown.

There was no DC premier of the movie, unless it was held underground. When the movie made its way to the Magic Johnson theater in Landover Mall, I took my wife Hattie and my mother-in-law, Mommy T to check it out. Petey, use to hang out with me at Mommy T’s house in Suitland, Maryland. He kept her laughing, she loved him.

When the lights were turned on and the movie was over, we made our way out to the parking lot, Hattie and Mommy T were very quiet. I never muttered a word. Suddenly, Mommy T often soft spoken yelled, “That was not the Petey Greene I knew!”

Hattie, looked at me and asked, “Where was Judy, Petrie and Pine, and where were you?”

Every time I see Dewey or Cathy at a DC function and try to get an update, they disappear before I can work my way across the room.

THE BIG LIE AND DEWEY HUGHES.

Meet the Thanksgiving Turkey Dewey Hughes, sometimes turkeys dress in dark glasses and Hollywood white!

Richard M. Nixon was the Vice-President of the United States when we first bonded at the Burning Tree Golf Course in 1957. Burning Tree was an exclusive all male and all white private club located in a suburb of Maryland in Washington, DC.

I was a caddy there in the late 50s working on the weekends to help my single parent mother to help make ends meet financially. I lived in a housing project in NE Washington, DC–it was two different worlds.

One late Saturday evening the Club pro, Max Elbin hollered out to me as I was making my way to the parking lot to look for a ride into DC. This was a ritual the caddies often use to catch our bus back home, whether we lived in Foggy Bottom in Georgetown DC, Cabin John in Maryland or my housing project in NE DC. The white members were often our mold of transportation back into DC.

On that particular Saturday evening, I was in the right place at the right time. I had just lost my day’s earnings on the golf course to the notorius, Petey Greene. My homeboys had warned me to avoid the crap and cards games organized by Petey in the evenings. I was a knucklehead and did not take their advice.

I ended up dead broke. Petey, lend me two dollars for my bus fare and Little Tavern Hamburgers (10 cents each) for the ride back to the ghetto. He charged a dollar on a dollar–he was also a loan shark.

As I approached, Mr. Elbin, he explained he had two bags for me to carry and the players were only going play nine-holes–that was music to my ears, darkness was fast approaching.

As I starting to walk to the tee, I heard a voice yell, “Harold are you ready for an adventure?” I turned to see where the voice was coming from, to my surprise, it was the Vice-President of the United States, Richard Nixon. There was a smiling face walking beside him, he would later introduce himself as Bill Rogers (Attorney General). He was an excellent golfer, he was teaching the Vice-President how to play.

It would take me only two holes to discover what the adventure Mr. Nixon was talking about. His ball spent more time in the woods and trees then, the birds and bees. On top of that it was a hot evening sun bearing down on every hole. Mr. Rogers was a class act and a very patience man.

When we arrived at the ninth and final hole, Mr. Nixon hit another ball in the woods, and when he emerged, he called out to Mr. Rogers, “Hey Bill, lets go nine more.”, I could believe my ears!

Those nine more holes and the ride to Westmoreland Circle to catch my bus would change my life forever.

During the adventures on the golf course and the rides to the bus stop turned into discussions of my prowness as an athlete and the games of life. He stressed that I should pay more attention to my books than, balls and strikes. He reminded me, that my education would pay more dividends than, football, basketball or baseball.

We went our separate ways in 1958, he would be heading to South America and other countries to talk with World Leaders.

Mr. Nixon would become the President of the United States in 1969. I also believe he would have been a great sports writer or a sports talk show host.

In the summer of 1969 our paths would cross again, this time it would not be on a golf course, but on the streets of Shaw/Cardozo. The President was touring the riot area of 1968. I was working as a Roving Leader for the DC Department of Parks and Recreation. My assignment, working with at-risk children and youth gangs. This encounter would lead to a Presidential appointment for me.

Antonio Logan-El at the age age of 10 leading the way making sure we leave no child behind.

Every election cycle the favorite cry of a politician, “Make Children First.” It never happens.

Former Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi was recently seen on comedian Bill Maher’s cable television show, CNN. She was promoting her new book. The discussion centered around the danger of being a politician in America.

Pelosi said, “This is what I signed up for.” Maher’s response, “Are you sure.” Pelosi quoted President Teddy Roosevelt, “He said, you are no longer a spectator when you are in the public arena. You have to be ready to take a punch and throw a punch for the children.”

I watched in disbelief, when those words came out of her mouth! I have yet to hear a politician utter those words, and carry them to Capitol Hill.

No punches were throwed for the two children and two teachers at Wider High School in Georgia on September 2, 2024. This was just weeks after the new school year had started.

Since December 1968 Kids In Trouble has tried to make thousands of children FIRST. The benefactors of Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports who tried to help me make children FIRST read like a WHO’S WHO.

WASHINGTON STAR-NEWS DECEMBER I, 1974

ROBIN ‘SUGAR’ WILLIAMS

photo / Fred Sheperd

(top photo) Robin sings the classic “Hero” at the Grand Hyatt in DC. The occasion, annual KIT toy party. ‘We Remember Muhammad Ali’ at the Miracle Theatre on Capitol Hill (2019)

Robin is a native Washingtonian and a product of the DC Public Schools. Eastern High School choir Director with Robin were considered the No. I high school choir in the nation. She is a graduate of Howard University and came back to teach music in the DC Public Schools.

Robin has traveled the World as a gospel artist and performed at the White House. Her work and contributions to Kids In Trouble are legendary. She reached back with the late NFL greats, Jim Brown and Duane Thomas, and dozens of pro athletes, Judges, and media personalities. Their support helped me try to enhance the lives of thousands of inner-city children across the DMV, Atlanta (John Hollins) and Philadelphia (Sonny Hill).

MILES CLARKE

I met Miles when he was three years old hanging out in a Bowie Senior Residence with his General Manager Grandmother, Gloria Gaddy. One day he followed me to the elevator and we have been friends ever since. I watched him go from Pee Wee football to high school football and band to the Bowie State College band and on to co-hosting a campus radio talk show. He can now be found in the new state-of-the-art studios of the Bowie Department of Communications. Miles Clarke is now a junior with his eyes on the prize.

ANTONIO LOGAN-EL

ANTONIO LOGAN-EL went from sitting on a baby Grand Piano in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown DC to being named to the National High School All-American football team. He is a graduate of Towson State College, he returned to serve elementary school children pizza and hotdogs at the annual KIT toy party at the Marriott Hotel in Greenbelt, Maryland.

ROBERT GLEN went from shooting hoops with me to become a Moorehouse Man. There he met billionaire Robert Smith, Mr. Smith paid the tuition of Robert Glen’s entire class.

YOU WIN SOME AND YOU LOSE SOME-MEET WILLIAM WALKER, JR

William Walker, Sr. and I had been friends for over 3 decades. I remember when William Walker, Jr. was born. William senior showed up at a gathering place in SE DC called The Little White House, it was a hangout place for community advocates and wannabes. Every Thursday morning breakfast was served with expert advice on how to save our children and our community. They are still trying to figure it out!

After breakfast William passed out cigars. I didn’t smoke and did not take one. He insisted I take one anyway in appreciation of his first born. I kept that cigar for about 5 years until it just disappeared.

William was a man’s man and we sometimes disagreed and fell in and out of love. We would go for months without speaking while sharing the same space in the community.

He would show up at my community events with little William and smile like everything was cool and it was as far as I was concerned. The one thing that kept us together, we both wanted what was best for our children. And if there was a serious disagreement, we would pick up the telephone and make the call. Unlike most player-haters and naysayers in the DMV, we never talked behind each other’s backs. The arrival of little William I think made that more important.

Like those of us who were not hustling the children, he became disenchanted with leadership in the community from top to bottom, especially the hustlers who pretended it was all about the children, when it was all about “The Bemjamins.”

William Sr. was a Navy veteran, he served his country. He was also a multi-talented writer, actor, and producer in front and behind the camera.

William Walker and I had different opinions over the years on how to monetize my exclusive one-on-one of a kind Muhammad Ali interview. We kept hitting and missing.

We would talk about little William’s basketball skills as a ‘Little Big Man’ in a sport of giants. He was barely over five feet tall; he was a great little ball-handler, ball hawk and leader on the floor. I would attend practices at Woodson Middle School on Minnesota Avenue in NE DC. There were times I would attend games to watch him in action to check out his progress.

Walker’s main concern was little William who was now a teenager (Red Flag) and his mother’s health. A consistent income had become a problem. He saw no future with Chappelle.

Despite, “Now you see me and now you don’t” frauds in our community, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Little William’s future was looking bright, and the 50th Anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle was on the horizon. We could plan on getting little William a basketball scholarship if his academics were up to par. Walker convinced me he had a game plan to keep little William focused and how to help me put the finishing touches on my Ali project.

I was already working with an experienced editor; he was keeping hope alive with my classic one-of-a-kind interviews with some of the greatest athletes of the 20th century. Ali was the jewel in the crown.

After a meeting of the minds, Walker and I went to meet my editor for an introduction. They were aware of each other’s work. In June 2022 the decision was made for the three of us to work together to make the project a reality.

July 11, 2022 William Walker, Sr. was called home to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 65 years old and left behind his mother and a teenage son William.

William Walker, Sr. unexpected passing left me wondering what was to become of his only son, and his ailing mother. I had never met his mother or any other member of his family, only William, Jr.

He did introduce me to a close old friend, and homeboy, O. J. McKee. O. J. was living in Raleigh, N. C. and teaching at the University of North Carolina. William introduced us via telephone conference call a year before he passed, their common denominator, film production.

I had no clue who to contact about his final arrangements until O. J. called with an update. William’s homegoing service was held at Jenkins Funeral Home in Landover, Maryland. O. J. drove from North Carolina to the funeral and we met face to face for the first time.

On my arrival at Jenkins Funeral Home, I was shocked to see William, Jr and O. J. were the only familiar faces I recognized in attendance. It didn’t take long for me to understand why there were so few friends of William’s in attendance. Felicia Chappelle from Cleveland, Ohio, had taken charge of the homegoing service.

I found it strange there was no one from The Little White House in attendance. He was a regular at the breakfast for years and this was the last place I saw Felecia Chappelle. I let go and let God and kept my distant as I did the last time I saw her at The Little White House.. Maybe she and brother Dave were a blessing in disguise for the Walker family.

O. J. would be driving back to North Carolina in the morning, we shook hands and promised to stay in touch and keep an eye on little William. If only we had known where this journey would lead us!

Thanks to O. J.’s uncle befriending little William at the homegoing service, there was a contact number for him. O. J. led the way and had little William to call me for a follow-up.

Little William called and we talked about his plans for the future, William Sr. would be happy to hear college was on his drawing board. His college of choice would be Central State in Wilberforce, Ohio.

One of the things he mentioned, “I need a job to help me earn enough money to buy a car to drive to school.” It sounded reasonable, but this was August heading into September, some young folks were already on their campuses. He made it clear, he needed something that paid better than McDonald’s.

I called a friend Bob Lewis; he was the manager of the Giant Food Store when I was living in Bowie. He had been a great supporter of Kids In Trouble when I was living there. William was a kid in trouble.

Bob was out the door and into retirement when I caught him at home. I told him the story of little William. He promised to check around and see what he could find if anything at this late date.

It took a few days but Bob came through with flying colors. He found William a job in a Giant Warehouse making Top Dollar. William went online and successfully filled out the application. He was given a reporting date to start work–he was a no-show. Bob called me with the bad news and I was at a loss for words. He said, “HOWARD, I would do it again if you called, because it is what you do.”

I never tried to reach out to little William again. I called O. J. to tell him what had happened with the job at Giant. He said, “Man you tried, I heard he is in Ohio looking for a job so he can enroll in school and Felicia is trying to help him.” I was happy and disappointed all at the same time. I had to let go and let God.

My birthday falls on May 21st and on May 21st 2024, I had a rude awaking. Instead of celebrating my birthday with a bowl of Cherrios and some fruit, I was confronted with the morning news of a car chase across the DC-Maryland lines with police cars from DC and PG County in hot pursuit.

The occupants of the vehicle being chased had taken shots at an off-duty DC Police Captain while driving recklessly through DC streets. They resented the officer taking a video of their reckless driving, and the chase was on.

They finally wrecked the automobile and were pulled from the wreckage. The young man I thought was in school in Ohio, William Walker, Jr I saw in handcuffs sitting on the curb with two cops standing over him. My first thoughts were, “What is he doing home and how did I fail this young man?”

William Walker, Jr in handcuffs and wearing braids with conspirator. They both were arrested for reckless driving and, attempted murder of a police officer.

I immediately called O. J. McKee, when I told him the bad news, he was also in disbelief. He said, “I thought he was still in Ohio preparing for the next school year. I was under the impression he was working and doing well. I would have never known if you had not called me.”

LOOKING BACK:

Little William was a problem child when his father was living. DC court records revealed he had been arrested for two illegal gun possessions. His father, being a protective dad, covered up for him trying to keep hope alive for his only child.

He lived with an uncle/friend of his father’s before heading to Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. According to the uncle/friend little William was very disrespectful.

There was a warrant for his arrest when he left Central State University.

I remember the late NFL great Jim Brown’s thoughts after I spoke out regarding a brutal act by a cop trying to discipline a female student in a classroom. He threw her across the classroom and then dragged the child across floor by her hair. His response, “Harold, children don’t vote.” From all indications there are many politicians who feel that exact same way.

There are two exceptions I know: They care about children

BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2024

PG COUNTY EXECUTIVE ANGELA ALSOBROOKS (D-MD)—CONGRESSMAN STENY HOYER (D-MD)

NOVEMBER 5, 2024 VOTE KAMALA HARRIS & ANGELA ALSOBROOKS

KAMALA AND ANGELA: SISTERS IN BLACK AND WHITE

State Farm has nothing on Kamala Harris and Angela Alsobrooks when it comes to “Good Neighbors.” From Angie’s house in Prince Georges County, Maryland to Kamala’s White House in Washington, DC, it only takes minutes and not hours.

Where and how did these two dynamic women become “Good Neighbors and Good Friends” with one living on the East Coast and the other living on the West Coast?

The story goes according to WTOP Radio, “Alsobrooks won her election in 2010 — the same year Harris elevated her profile by winning the race to become California attorney general. One of the first calls Alsobrooks received after the election was from Harris.

“Congratulations,” Harris told her. “How can I help you?”

Despite the old saying that has been floating around in our community for decades, “Crabs in the Barrel”, Kamala Harris decided she was not going to play that game and pulled a Diana Ross. She reached out and touched Angela Alsobrooks, unheard of in our community especially, among black men.

In 1970 Diana Ross, had just left the Supremes after a decade as the group’s lead singer. She went through difficult times trying to piece a solo album together, with Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson writing  and producing for her.

Ross recorded “Reach Out and Touch”, which carried a heavy gospel influence, and was one of the few songs the singer recorded to express her social conscience, previously experimented with the Supreme’ s singles such as “Love Child” and “I’m Living in Shame.” While the song’s initial success fell short of expectations, “Reach Out and Touch” became one of Ross’ most popular and notable songs.

During her concert performances of the song, Ross often had the whole crowd turn to their neighbors, and “Reach out and touch hands.”

“Angela said, “I was totally floored, “I didn’t know this woman when she reached out to touch me!”

From that point on, they kept in regular touch, Alsobrooks said. Frequently, when Harris came to Washington, D.C. for official business and for political fundraisers, the two would get together.

“It’s been a mutually supportive relationship ever since,” Alsobrooks said.

On the weekend before the 2016 California primary, Alsobrooks traveled to Golden State to stump for her friend, who was competing in the race for U.S. Senate. She toured the state by bus with a group that included Harris, her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), visiting businesses, churches and community meetings.

To Alsobrooks’ surprise, Harris invited her to sit next to her on the bus between every stop, but instead of talking about the California race, “she really grilled me — and I mean grilled — to find out what I was doing here.”

Shortly after Harris was sworn in to the Senate, she and Alsobrooks got together at a Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill, as Alsobrooks contemplated running for Prince George’s County executive in 2018. Sitting together in a booth, with Harris scribbling on a yellow legal pad, “we sketched out my race, issue by issue,” Alsobrooks said. Throughout that campaign, Harris continued to dispense advice, recommending consultants and talking strategy.

When Harris launched her campaign for president, it was inevitable that Alsobrooks — now county executive — would help her. She traveled to Detroit to lend moral support during one of the televised presidential debates last winter, bringing her teenage daughter along. This is what friends are for!

“When I see her out there, people have no idea” how supportive Harris can be for her friends. “She’s very focused on helping women — especially minority women in elected leadership.”

OUR HOPE-SISTER TO SISTER IN THE STRUGGLE TO WIN IN 2024

Alsobrooks said she is now ready to be dispatched wherever Harris, whom she describes as “the quintessential big sister,” needs her. But it may turn out that she’s needed at home.

Every presidential election year, it’s assumed that Democrats in Maryland, a Democratic stronghold in federal elections, will be traveling out of state to help their nominee. This time, Alsobrooks isn’t so sure.

She’s been publicly critical of Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr.’s decision to hold a facsimile of a standard election this fall — “I’m very irate about it,” she says — instead of sending ballots to every voter’s home. And with questions being raised about the U.S. Postal Service’s ability to deliver completed ballots to elections officials on time, Alsobrooks believes leading Maryland Democrats need to be vigilant and work to ensure that their constituents vote.

“We have to make sure we oversee a fair election, here in Prince George’s County, here in Maryland,” she said. “This time it’s a real thing, it’s not a ceremony.”

Angela while making her national debut at the DNC Convention. As a speaker during the convention she repeated how the surprised telephone call from Kamala asking, “How can I help?”

The call is similar to the one I received from the Heavyweight Champion of the World late one night in 1974, Muhammad Ali. The question, “Do you still want to do that interview?” Sounds like, how can I help!

Prince George County Executive Angela Alsobrooks at Q Ball’s Pool Room on Central Avenue in District Heights, Md. Looking on as she takes aim, L-R ?-Toya Blake-HBell and proprietor Larry Steele. She is no stranger to a pool room. She was hanging out in the poolroom on Benning Road in NE DC with her father at the age of 7.

Angela Alsobrooks has roots in ‘The Hood,’ her father, James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks grew up in Langston Terrace in NE DC.

Langston Terrace Dwellings opened in 1938 as one of the nation’s earliest federally funded public housing projects for lower income residents and only the second one to be built for African Americans. Planned during the Depression, with its housing shortages,

Langston Terrace offered working-class families a decent and affordable place to live at a time when the federal government, court system, real estate industry, and banks all denied African Americans equal opportunities in housing. Barry Farms in SE DC was built in 1941 and Parkside was built in 1943.

The common denominator for Mac and me, I grew up in Parkside in NE DC, both were historical housing projects built off of Benning Road with the Anacostia River separating the two. The only difference, there is no history that Parkside ever existed in the 1940s.

You GOOGLE Mayfair Mansions it reads, “Mayfair Mansions is an apartment complex in Washington, DC that was built between 1942 and 1946 and is considered a significant development in fair housing for African Americans. The complex was designed by Albert I. Cassell, one of Washington’s first professionally trained African American architects, in the Colonial Revival style. 

The 17 three-story buildings are arranged around a central mall space on 28 acres of land, with the remaining space dedicated to landscaped areas, courts, and play areas. Mayfair Mansions was one of the first federally subsidized housing projects for African Americans in the United States and was built on the site of the former Benning Race Track.  Mayfair Mansions was not a Federal Funded Subsidized Housing Project.

When my mother and my brother Earl left Grandma Bell’s house in 1945 for the Parkside Housing Project, there was no Mayfair Manions in sight. I remember Hayes Street leading into Parkside was a dirt road. It was built on a former race track in the middle of a dump. If you are looking for a history essay for Parkside there is none. The only reminder is Naval Thomas Elementary School. How does one lose the history of entire community? In 1945 there was no Mayfair Mansions until around 1948.

The question, who is writing our history, middle class Black Americans were living in my Parkside Housing neighborhood before Mayfair was built?

I remember the architect for Mayfair Mansion, Mr. Cassell riding around the community in his chauffeur driven black limosine. His driver’s name was “Peanuts.” We gave him the name, he often shared his peanuts with the kids, while Mr. Cassell was taking care of the business of building Mayfair Mansions.

Sudsidizing housing like Parkside gave the city the great Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He revolutionize MLB in the 60s and 70s with the stolen base, he made the homerun obselete, while leading the Dodgers to the World series. He was named the MVP in 1962. He stole a record 104 bases to break the old modern era mark of 96, set by Ty Cobb in 1915.

He has been “Blackballed” from MLB Hall of Fame along with Curt Flood, Dick Allen, and Barry Bonds. Detroit sports talk show host, Rod Parker was recently given a “Seat at the Table” on the Basebal Hall of Fame Election Committee. It is the only sports hall of fame committee that votes by “Secret Ballot?”

The question, does Rod Parker become a part of this “Politics as Usual Mentality” while pioneers like Wills, Flood, Allen, and Bonds remain on the outside looking in?

Bannecker Field is now named Maury Wills Field

Parkside also gave us a trailblazing radio sports talk show pioneer, Harold Bell. Inside Sports changed the way we report and talk sports world-wide. Muhammad Ali made him “The Chosen One” in sports media.

Dave Chappelle and his mother, Yvonne during a tribute to comedian Dick Gregory.

Mayfair Mansions gave us his father my friend, William Chappelle. William is a graduate of Spingarn High School class of 1957. William and his wife Yvonne were educators much like Williams’ father. William Chappelle lll, was the President of Allen University in Orangeburg, SC. Dave broke the mold and became a comedian.

William was a nerd and the bullies in the Parkside neighborhood would try to pick fights with him on the bus ride to school in the mornings-until I stepped in.

Federal subsidizing housing like Langston Terrace, Barry Farms and Parkside has produced residents who have made a difference in the way we walk and talk in America.

In Parkside there were teachers, postal workers, lawyers, government workers living next door to many of us. My mother after losing her good government job, she iron clothes for one of my teachers, Ms. Margaret Selden. She later became a member of the DC Board of Education.

We owe many thanks to the DC Recreation Department, it was housed in Naval Thomas. The Playground/Rec Directors, Bootsey Harris, Nick Turner, Walter Brooks and Jaky Mathews were excellent coaches. We traveled in and out of Langston, playing 12 and under and 13 and 14 baseball.

After graduating from Naval Thomas, I attended Brown Middle and Spingarn High SchoolS in the Langston Terrace neighborhood.

“The Hill” was the most unique education plot of land in America. No other city could claim they had four public schools in walking distance of each other. Spingarn High School was located at the bottom of 24th and Benning Road, Phelps Vocational High School was in the back of Charles Young Elementary and Brown Middle School was the anchor of the “Big Four.” The outdoor basketball court across from Brown was the home of legends.

Some of my life-time friends and teammates came out of Langston Terrace, Andrew Johnson, John Edwards, Irving Brown, Teddy Atcherson, Mickey Freeman, Hobo, Jimmy Reid, and Rhoma Battle to name a few. There were older guys who led the way and kept the peace on the basketball court, like Chester Beck, Sandy Freeman, Bob Grier, Earl Richards, Henry Gill, Glasses, Louie Carroll and Gerald ‘Tapole’ Little.

James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks, was one of younger guys who would hangout around the basketball court and baseball diamond–he understood it was okay to be seen and not heard.

He came out of LangstonTerrace. I remember him as a teenager, his mentor Henry ‘Dog’ Haywood was was the bagman for Rips’ Poolroom. He was like a big brother to me. ‘The pool room was a popular hangout for Spingarn and Phelps students. It was adjacent to Langston Terrace and “The Hill.”

Mac, hungout with some knuckleheads, but he managed to stay above the fray, thanks to ‘Dog’ and a concerned look and kind word from me. I never knew until years later I played a small role in his young life.

The lessons he learned growing up in Langston Terrace and hanging out in the pool room served him well in The Game Called Life. Mac, worked for the Washington Post for a couple decades as a distributor.

The time he spend in the trenches in Langston Terrace, in the pool room on Benning Road and as a distributor in the different corridors of the city prepared him for his most important role to date, helping guild his daughter Angela through the turbalent political waters in her campaign for the U. S. Senate.

His legendary role as a member “The Alliance of Concerned Black Men” is known and respected through out the DMV. He and Pat give Angela the upper-hand when comes to reaching out and back into the grassroots community.

We need to wake up and smell the flowers. Do we understand the November 2024 election is a matter of life and death in our community. Donald Trump and Larry Hogan are not options.

For example, if Larry Hogan wins who will he turn to when there is a crisis in our community and there will be times when there will be a crisis. How great it will be to know we can look to Kamala Harris, Governor Wes Moore, Angela Alsobrooks and Steny Hoyer on “The Hill” to make sure there is Justice and not Just-Us.. Kamala pointed out in her acceptance speech, there will be no “Guard Rails” when it comes to people of color in a Larry Hogan and Trump Administration.

There have been times that Mac and I were like passing ships in the night, we would blow our horns. We have not always been on the same page when it came to trying to curve youth violence. Still we were never too busy to reach out via a late night phone call to talk shop when it came to our children.

We must remember, no one is playing fair but us, especially the Republicans, and Larry Hogan is a Republica sitting on the fence pretending to be a Democrat.

There are times in our community when we cannot “See the Forest For The Trees.” For example, the problems we are having with our children, starts and stops in our homes.

I remember in the 1970s I had NBA Hall of Fame player, Spencer Haywood on my Inside Sports talk radio show. The discussion centered around youth gangs and kids in trouble.

He said, “If a child has to look beyond their dinner table for their heroes and sheroes, you can bet they are going to be kids in trouble.”

Angela Alsobrooks did not have to look beyond her dinner table, when she stumbled and fell as a child or as a young woman, her parents sat across the dinner table in front of her–sometimes with Hard Truths.

The proud family of Angela Alsobrooks, Mac,Pat and Alex.

It was Easter Sunday and Hattie was traveling south to have dinner with her family. Mac called to wish us a Happy Easter. I told him I was home alone and I was going to have my favorite goumet meal-hot dogs and beans. He said, “No way, come and join us for dinner,” I tried to take a ‘Rain Check’ he insisted. I joined him, Pat, Angela, Alex and several other friends and family. It was an enjoyable and relaxing evening. What I enjoyed most, was watching Angela relaxing on the floor and playing with a friend’s baby. It was great to know during stressful times, her family would be just across the table.

Hogan during stressful times will have his family sitting across the table. None of them will look like us and none has ever walked in our shoes.

I remember Larry Hogan well, on September 10, 2015, I wrote the Governor requesting help with “Cowboy Cops” patroling the streets of Suitland, Maryland. In broad daylight they could be seen harassing people of color. Sometimes there were two cars and other times three.

I have been living in Prince George County for 50+ years and I have never seen a county cop stop and pull over a white driver until three years ago. It was on Suitland Road on a hot summer day. The guy was on the ground in handcuffs and one of the officers was giving him a cold drink of water, it was that hot.

Several days later I am in the McDonald’s on Silver Hill Road ordering hotcakes for breakfast when I heard a customer shout, “There goes those cowboy cops again.” There were two cars in front of the 7-11 with a black motorist pulled over. I asked the customer why he called them “Cowboys?” He said, “This what they do when they get bored. They have gotten bolder, harassment is no longer a nightime thing.”

One week later, I stop at the Esso Gas Station on the corner of Silver Hill and Suitland, Road to check my tires out for air. I notice there were two cop cars and they had pulled over a black man in the station. The brother did not seem stressed and the officers were not out of line from my advantage point.

They got my undivided attention when they open the trunk of his car. I was not sure the driver had given them permission to search his car. I pulled out my cell phone and started to record the incident.

The manager of the station came over and told me, if I did not watch myself they would arrest me. I kept recording and one of the officers pulled out his cell phone and started to record me recording them.

They wrote the brother a ticket and pulled off without incident. I went over and spoke with him, and he told me he was from Mississippi and was visiting family when they pulled him over. It sounded like they had called in his license plate and discovered he had a expired registration. The ticket was $140.00.

Prince Georges County cops have a long and brutal police history when it comes to minorities.

The brutality continues, Officer Steven Tucker in 2020 was caught on camera (2024) brutally punching a drunken handcuffed suspect for spitting on him. The suspect was riding in the front seat with the officer. Not good judgement. What happen to paddy wagons to transport prisoners?

I find it difficult to blame the officer, but Tucker has had 37 incidents in the last two years of physical force (Red flag). Tucker’s was fined 5 days without pay. Just when I thought the new Chief, Malik Aziz had things under control-he is avoiding the media-that spells trouble. The media has no clue, what it takes to be a cop, regardless, the chief cannot say one thing and do another.

My Priority Mail letter with a requested signature to Larry Hogan never got a response, I spoke with his PR Department and they confirmed he had received my letter and the Governor would be contacting me sooner than later, famous last words.

The racism was so bad in the department, cops were scared to show their faces and wore mask to protect their ID, just to go on television to discuss how bad the racism was they had to face 24/7.

If police officers with guns and badges are scare of their colleagues-what chance do we have?

Several millions of dollars were paid out for wrongful death at the hands of the cops. Everyone was suing the department within, Blacks, Hispanics and women officers.

County Executive Alsobrooks said, “Enough was enough,” and the problem chief retired.

In November, hopefully we all will be able look back and claim a one of a kind Langston Terrace history. Angela Alsobrooks, becomes the first black female Senator in the state of Maryland. Her father grew up in Langston Terrace. She is the daughter of James and Pat Alsobrooks.

All we need to do is “Reach Out and Touch Someone” and remind them to vote for the dynamic duo of Angela Alsobrooks and Kamala Harris. As we prepare to vote in November, remember who we are and where we came from, too often we have forgotten!

Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day, the State of Maryland could usher in 2025 with the most dynamac group of politicians representing the state in its history on “The Hill,” Governor Wes Moore, Steny Hoyer, Angela Alsobrooks and Point Guard, President Kamala Harris. I will see you at the polls.

DNC MICHELLE OBAMA IN THE WORDS OF MUHAMMAD ALI 1974 HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK!

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/20/politics/video/michelle-obama-speech-dnc-chicago-digvid

P. S. Steny get well soon.

“WE ARE FAMILY-HAROLD-GENE AND NORMAN.”

NORMAN SMITH-MR. PERSONALITY AND GOLDEN GLOVE CHAMPION

I first met Norman Smith in the 1950s at Turner’s Arena. My cousin and next-door neighbor Sylvester ‘Monk’ Stevens, introduced us at Turner’s Arena. We were in our teens, and would hang out on the weekends on Black Broadway, Turner’s Arena, Howard Theater, Bannecker Field, etc.

Monk later became a professional boxing referee. He is seen here declaring Jerry Ballard the winner as House of Champions CEO, the late Norman Smith proudly looks on. Sylvester ‘Monk’ Stevens belongs in the DC Boxing Hall of Fame.

You could find us at the Howard Theater, Turner’s Arena, or the Bannecker Field on Georgie Avenue across the street from Howard University. Bannecker plaground was the home of great teams and great athletes. There was the Stone Walls AC Football team on the weekends, I could watch my Parkside Housing Project hero and homeboy, Maury ‘Sonny’ Wills play baseball and football on a field that today is named after him.

On the basketball court I could watch future NBA Hall of Fame players like Elgin Baylor and Earl Lloyd trade baskets. For a young teenager like me, I lived for the weekends, Black Broadway, and the Georgia Avenue corridor were popular hangout spots. They could be trouble spots-without guns!

Turner’s Arena was the name given to the 1,800 seat arena, located at 1341 W Street, NW, originally owned by a local wrestling promoter named Joe Turner.  This venue was an early home to the Capitol Wrestling Corporation a precursor to the WWE which was started by Vincent J. McMahon, Sr.  

McMahon in January 1953 took over the arena from Gabe Menendez, who had succeeded Turner after his death in 1947.  In addition, the arena hosted top professional boxing matches promoted by James Dudley (the first black boxing promoter) featuring fighters, Holly Mims, Jimmy Cooper, B.B. Washington, Little Dynamite, Gene Smith, and Sonny Boy West.

It was also the birthplace of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) annual basketball tournament, as well as the host to top country music acts and jazz artist from around the country.

 In 1956 Capitol Wrestling Corporation began broadcasting a syndicated weekly wrestling show from the arena every Thursday night. The arena had several names before it was demolished in 1965. It was Capitol Arena, and Turner’s Arena.

When the arena became so busy, Mr. McMahon hired my mentor James Dudley to become the first black General Manager of a Corporate Arena in America. Mr. Dudley was honored again when Vince McMahon, Jr. personally inducted him into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994, making him the first black inducted.

Holly Mims was one of the most talented and feared fighters to ever come out of DC. He ducked no one. He had 102 pro fights: Record: 68 wins-28 losses and 6 draws. He was stopped only two times. He was so feared, the great Sugar Ray Robinson wished he had avoided him when he thought the 22 year-old would be just a tune-up fight in 1951.

Robinson just had fought a brutal 13 rounds with rival Jake LaMotta to win the middleweight title. Holly Mims would prove to be anything but a tune-up (see story below). Ray spend the rest of his career avoiding Holly Mims (see story below).

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/holley-mims-the-middleweight-who-might-have-beaten-sugar-ray-robinson/174864

Sugar Ray Robinson was a party animal. He would travel anywhere for a good party, avoiding DC, thinking he might run into Mills. Ray never gave Mims a title fight and neither did anyone else in pro boxing.

He died at the young age of 42 of kidney failure in 1970-a lost treasure in the annals of DC boxing history.

The sports media never captured the greatness of Washingtonians like Holly Mims and Gene Smith. The legendary Sam Lacey was the Afro-American Newspaper sports editor, the sports pages were devoted to Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Jackie Robinson and, Negro League baseball.

The greatness of fighters of the ‘Sweet Science’ like Mims and, Gene Smith never made it on to the sports pages of the Washington Post, Star News and Afro-American news papers.

In 1972 “INSIDE SPORTS” made its debut on W-O-O-K Radio in Washington, DC, sports reporting and sports talk would never be the same.

Harold Bell takes his seat at the table among sports media boxing legends.

I remember having breakfast one morning at Florida Avenue Grill and Ham Johnson, a Youth Advocate and boxing coach came over and sat down. Ham and I had high school history together-Spingarn and Phelps.

He made me an offer I could not refuse–breakfast was on him. Ham was the leader and Godfather of Ham AC Boxing Club in NE DC. He congratulated me on my new talk show and explained the goal of his boxing club.

The offer included, he wanted to help me save some kids and he needed me to help him save some kids! He made it clear the business of boxing was being neglected in our community and he wanted to use my talk show Inside Sports as a platform to promote boxing in the inner-city.

He said, “I have a couple a of sons, James, and Mark who I think have the potential to be World Champions.” It never got to “Deal or No Deal.” It was a done deal.

No one else in boxing had written anything on the local boxing talent before Inside Sports. James Brown (CBS) worked for Don King, he was a contributor for REAL SPORTS (INSIDE SPORTS) and Bryant Gumble. He never uttered a word about the local boxing talent in his hometown of Washington, DC.

INSIDE SPORTS’ SPOTLIGHT ON DC LEGENDS

INSIDE SPORTS TRIBUTE-DC native and NFL Hall of Fame player Willie Wood

INSIDE SPORTS TRIBUTE TO DC boxing legends-Keith Holmes-Ken Scribling-Jim Finley-James Dudley-Johnny Gant and Mark ‘Too Sharp’ Johnson.

I remember Adrian Davis was preparing to meet the popular Johnny Gant for a fight at the DC Armory. He turned to Ham to train him. I was at ringside when he knocked Johnny out in the 3rd round.

Turner’s Arena, the first home of the WWE, CIAA, boxing and black entertainment in DC

JAMES DUDLEY HANGING OUT WITH ME IN FRONT SAM K’S RECORD STORE ON 7 & T STREETS

Once I became the first black to host and produce my own radio sports talk show on W-O-O-K, Turner’s Arena pioneering promoter and WWE Hall Famer, James Dudley guilded me through the media and the DC community.

He was my first guest. Frauds in the media and the community were a dime a dozen. Dudley and Ham had my back. They could not protect me from all the frauds, I was a sucker for a kid with a sad story.

Sugar Ray Leonard was a kid in trouble in 1976 when I took him under my wing.

The sad stories include Leonard. When he came home with his Gold Medal from the 1976 Olympic Games expecting a ticker-tape parade. The news media made him a front-page story regarding him having a baby out of web-lock with girlfriend Juanita.

Ray hid out in his house thinking he could escape from the glare of the media. He had lost his self-esteem. Janks Morton did not seek out his brothers, head cheerleaders, Juice, J D Brown, Dave Jacobs, Mike Trainor, Charlie Brotman, etc. He came looking for Harold Bell. He found me in Anacostia playing my favorite game-tennis.

I could not believe my ears when Janks told me the reason for his visit. He said, “Ray has lost his self-esteem and won’t come out of the house. I need you to go and talk to him-he will listen to you.”

I got him out of the house and drove him to Harrison Elementary School at 14th and V Streets NW to speak to a group of children. I made him my co-host on Inside Sports and the rest is boxing history-he forgot.

I played no role in Ray signing with Mike Trainer and no role in trying to get him to sign with Don King. Neither one was worth writing home about. Morton, thought, Mike Trainer’s ice was colder!

The media gives Mike Trainer credit for steering Ray away from the Don Kings and Bob Arums to become the “Cash Cow” of boxing. Trainer and cheerleaders like J D Brown and Juice also deserve credit for Ray becoming a drug and domestic violence abuser. They were there every step of the way.

After Janks Morton and Mike Trainer understood I was not going along to get along, they planted stories in the media trying to tarnish my name. Joe Brody, his ‘Best Man’ in his wedding, called me fearing that Ray was going die as a result of a drug overdose.

Ray avoided me, once I was told he was beating up on Juanita, I called him out on Inside Sports. I hoped it would save his life. He left Joe Brody, his best man and best friend in the hospital to die alone–Brody was the only one who really cared.

The Washington Post finally decided to follow my lead and wrote a front-page story on Ray’s drug use and womanizing. The story got national coverage and he finally sought some help. His lies will be much more difficult to overcome. Ray Jr. is now an eye-witness.

He was the only one in the family who refused to sign a non-disclosure Agreement not to discuss anything negative about his fathe’s pro boxing career. Ray, Jr. reminded me, “I am not my father.”

I was exiting from Black Men in America” an online magazine and podcast after 20 years as the No. 1 writer of the most popular read content/blog on the websie for FREE. The founder, Gary Johnson stabbed me in the back as a favor (rumor) to Sugar Ray Leonard, the cost $10,000. Against All Odds, I have survived.

This is a story Janks Morton and Mike Trainer planted in the L A Times after I saw Ray slap Juanita in the back of a Las Vegas hotel before his second fight with Thomas Hearns. I found out later she discovered Ray had his other women sequestered in rooms on the strip.

The story was written by legendary sports columnist Earl Guskey, “Harold Bell was left behind (like I was a member of his entourage), because he asked Ray for a job and a donation to his favorite charity!”

Nothing could be further from the truth; I have never asked Ray for a job or a dollar. Money was the first thing he offered me when he arrived back home after beating Wilfred Benitez for his first title.

He called me live on the air at WYCB during my radio talk show with my co-host, comedian Chris Thomas in studio. He said, “I am the welterweight champion of the World today because you were there when no else was.” When I needed some financial help, he never answered the phone. He is still living that LIE!

It is impossible to ignore his lies because they were written in a national newspaper and read by millions who had no clue who I was, except I was another jealous player-hater. The TRUTH will never be written in the L A Times–Earl Guskey the writer is dead and gone.

Ray Leonard seems to have forgotten when Trainer disrespected his parents during a training session, I pulled him aside and reminded him he should remind Trainer and Janks Morton, those were his parents.

He also seems to have forgotten, when I discovered that Mike Trainer was seeing his checks before he was, I reminded him that should never happen. I suggested that he put his sister Bunny in Trainer’s office to open all of his mail. He followed through on my suggestion, Bunny had an accounting background.

My wife Hattie, Bunny Leonard and I together in the Bowie Town Center Mall. She and brother Kenny were always class acts.

A LIE will change a thousand times–the TRUTH never changes.

Boxing greats, the late Kronk Gym founder, Emanuel Steward, Larry Hazzard, NJ Boxing Commissioner and Jones during my annual Kids In Trouble “MAN OF THE YEAR GALA” at the Grand Hyatt in NW DC.

The frauds are too many to mention in this story but I would be remised if I did not mention a recent one, Discobobulating Jones.

I became a friend in the early stages of his ring announcing career. He was employed by the DC Government as a social worker. I introduced him to all my boxing contacts, reaching out to promoter Don King asking him to consider giving Jones an opportunity to be on his boxing card as an announcer.

Jones and I use to sit around and discuss the naysayers and backstabbers in the business and how difficult it was to get a foot hole. I invited him to all my community endeavors, toy parties, celebrity fashion shows, Police and Community Youth forums. Our families broke bread together!

It was much easier for me to crossover, Inside Sports ruled the sports talk radio ‘NEST’, it changed the way we talked and reported sports in America and beyond.

The active media benefactors read like a Who’s Who, James Brown, Mike Wilbon, Cathy Hughes, Dave Aldridge, Kevin Blackistone, Monica McNutt to name a few.

Inside Sports was a sports talk and political format that had never be used before. I broke the mold. Inside Sports is now copied around the globe.

The only thing Jones brought different to a boxing ring, is a black face and an imitation of Michael Buffer-nothing ORIGINAL.

Sugar Ray Leonard, Janks Morton and Rock Newman, did not lift a finger or good word to support him. They spoke no evil, heard no evil, and saw no evil when it came to Jones’ chosen profession. For whatever reason, Don King, Bob Arum, Mike Trainer and Rock Newman, were all locked into Michael Buffer-his ice was colder!

King, Newman, and Morton could all teach Trainer and Arum lessons in racism. King, had no blacks in position power on his press-relations team for decades. It was not until I confronted him about his racist PR staff, he relented and hired New Amsterdam Newspaper Sports Editor, Howie Evans to run the office.

I am hanging out at the CIAA Basketball Tournament with the great Howie Evans

Howie and I both knew it was not for long, Don would eventually disrespect him with his plantation mentality and Howie would tell him to take the job and shove it.

Boxing historian, Bert Sugar and I had a bet on how long Howie would last. Bert guessed a year, I guessed one week. Howie, did not last the year.

In December 1995 Mike Tyson fought Buster Mathis after returning home from jail at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I arrived at the hotel on Friday evening the night before the fight. Media colleagues were congratulating me of a story I had written in the program. I had no clue to what they were talking about.

I went to the media press room and found a program for the fight. I could not believe my eyes. There was a story in the program I had written in the Afro-American Newspaper.

The story spoke on the double standard major media was using to write on Don King. Their stories exposed and highlighted his criminal past and nothing about how he had brought a flamboyancy and BIG paydays for himself and sometimes his fighters to boxing. It had never seen or done before. Criminals and the Underworld had always run boxing-Don King was a perfect fit.

As I got on the elevator back to the lobby, there is King. I asked, “DK who gave you permission to add my column from the Afro-American newspaper to the program? He laughed and said, “Harold baby, I did not know you could write like that. My response, “DK I need to be paid” his eyes got big and he asked, “How much I owe you”, I said, “$5,000”, he walked away saying, “I got you baby.”

I am still waiting for my $5,000. DK never made a donation to my non-profit organization, Kids In Trouble, but he would come to DC and make donations to other non-profits.

I think he was waiting for me to kiss his ring and his jackass. Thanks to the late Connie Harper, he is still waiting. She forewarned me to never take any money from him unless I earned it–thank you Connie (RIP).

In 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio, he said similar words, “Harold Bell stick with me baby, we are going places.” Famous last words, I am overjoyed, I never played his ‘Game!’

During that courtship I was seen on national television with Geraldo Rivera, Jack Newfield (author of the Life and Crimes of Don King) and Boxing Historian Bert Sugar. It was three against one, I am on the show defending Don stealing from his fighters. I cannot get over, I was defending his criminal acts.

King would later promote boxing cards in DC and there would be no fighters on the cards from the DMV. I had a problem with that. It was not just Jones being passed over it was the talented Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson among others.

I also went to bat for Adrian Davis. He went from fighter to trainer/manager of local fighters. He came to me to ask if I would speak to Don about money owed to him ($10,000) from a recent Don King Promotion.

I had breakfast with Don after one of his promotions in Landover, Maryland. We met at the Hilton in downtown DC, and after breakfast we went to his room for a sit-down interview. It was after that interview I asked him about the $10,000 Adrian claimed he owe him.

He laughed it off saying, “Harold baby you know I pay-off my debts. These guys come to me during these promotions asking for advances on their salaries. I give them the money, they don’t see me writing anything down, forgetting I was a number backer. I remember everything. Adrian, got it all wrong.”

I met with Adrian later and gave him the bad news. He stop speaking to me for years. Lesson learned, I stayed away from King’s money transactions-exception, my own.

Discobobelating Jones didn’t speak to me for well over a decade, after he made a mistake thinking I had bad-mouthed him in a story written in a community newspaper.

In April of 2024 my wife and I were shopping in a Giant Grocery store in Suitland and we bumped into Jones. We were standing in line together. He paid for the two or three items we had purchased.

On the way out of the store, I mentioned I had seen his son a couple of times in Bowie (we had bonded), but it was a long time no-hear from him. It was then, he dropped a bomb on me. He claimed I had written a negative story on him in a community newspaper 14 years ago. I was stunned.

I said, “Jones you know that ain’t my style. If I had anything to say about you, I would say it to your face first, and then write about it.” He insisted and claimed, “I still have the newspaper.” I bet him a hundred-dollars to one-dollar he was wrong. Two-weeks later we meet back at the Giant and sit-down at a table.

He slides a white evelope across the table to me. I open it and there is a one-hundred-dollar bill.

Fourteen years of player-hating that could have been squashed with a telephone call or “HB can I speak to you for a moment?” This kind of player-hating and back-stabbing, goes on and on in our community.

Unlike others in the media, I was a risk-taker. I led and not followed as a radio sports talk show host, and as a youth advocate. I discovered early, you don’t changes things “Sitting On the Fence” waiting for King, Trump or Larry Hogan to reach out and save you-it ain’t happening.

Voting in November for Angela Alsobrooks and Kamala Harris is not an option! Angela will do the Right Thing-thanks to her “KITCHEN CABINET!” https://studio.youtube.com/video/Fkafk63frbg/edit?o=U

ESPN “The World Wide Leader in Sports” copied my format until the ESPN President of programming emailed the memo heard around the sports media WORLD.

THE ISIDE SPORTS FORMAT FORBIDDEN-COPIED BUT NEVER DUPLICATED.

Jones like many of those seeking my advice, I never mislead them on how dificult it is to progress in the sports media and entertainment fields with a black face. Cheerleader, was the only other alternative!

Trump claims immigrants are taking black jobs, I don’t see any immigrants managing Major League Baseball teams, coaching in the NBA, NFL or NHL and ownership is out of the question.

For example, black ownership in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL is far few, in-between and non-existent in pro sports. Jackie Robinson gone too soon. I often wonder, are the sacrifices he made listening to the N word, black cats released on the field of play all for nothing?

The annual charade on his birthday of all major leaugue players, black and white wearing his number 42. When in reality, in 2024 Black Americans playing Major League Baseball is below 6%. On several teams (32) there are no Black Americans. The immigrants are not our problem. Wake-up everybody!

Margie B hanging with the late WRC TV 4 News Anchor Jim Vance and sportscaster Martin Wyatt at annual Kids In Trouble toy party at the Foxtrappe. She was also a model in my Inside Sports Celebrity Fashion Shows.

As a 4th generation Washingtonian I had the best of all worlds growing up in NE DC and having Eastland Gardens as an important part of my historical journey in this Game Called Life.

My father Alfred Bell, was a native Washingtonian and my mother Mattie Smith was born and raised in Sumpter, SC.

They became friends with benefits in the late 30s. I was born in Brooklyn, New York in Kings County Hospital. My mother was 6 months pregnant with me when she followed my father to the Big Apple.

The name on the certification of birth was-Male Belle.

It was three years later after hanging out with my Aunt Ertis in the Bronx, my mother and I took a midnight train home to DC. She found a one room shack and an outhouse on Douglas Street NE in Eastland Gardens near the Lilly Pond (now a historic landmark). We lived two blocks off of Kenilworth and Eastern Avenues NE, the highway led to 295 north to Baltimore/New York City.

This was the highway that my Great-Uncle Attorney William “Billy’ James, my mother and her siblings traveled when the KKK chased them out of Sumpter with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Uncle Billy was the first black allowed to practice law in Sumpter. He wanted change and he wanted it yesterday. The KKK responded with a burn cross on his lawn and he got the message. He was inducted into the Black South Carolina Hall of Fame in 2000.

Douglas Street NE, Lilly Pond, The housing project run by community activist, Kimmy Gray and DC Mayor for life, Marion Barry.

One year later the shack went up in flames. Mommy B aka Mattie Bell, revealed to me years later, it was me or my dog Billy that accidently knocked the keroscene lamp over to start the fire.

The story, she left the shack early one cold January morning thinking I was asleep, my dog standing guard and the keroscene lamp to keep us warm. Thinking everything was secure she left for the corner store to pick up milk and bread.

On her return, fire trucks were all over the street. The one room shack was completely burned to the ground. She found me sitting on the cold ground crying with my dog Billy standing over me. The only other thing left standing was the outhouse.

Mommy B thanked the fire figthers for pulling me out of the shack. They said, “He was sitting here in the yard when we arrived with the dog.” To this day, I have no clue how I got out that burning shack–my dog Billy never said a thing!

It was off to Grandma Bell’s house, my father’s mother. There I would join my older brother Bobby. He had been dropped off by Mommy B two years earlier.

I have often said, “My Heroes were not Black athletes, my heroes were Black Women. None could throw a football 60 yards in the air, hit a baseball 400 feet, or shoot a jump shot. To me they were still Super Stars in The Game Called Life, the most important game being played in America today.“

The lessons learned at Grandma Bell’s house relating to God, church, family and the truth, has lasted me a life time. When Mommy B came to reclaim her boys, Grandma Bell made her an offer she could not refuse.

She said, “Mattie, you can take Harold and Earl, I will keep Bobby.” Earl and I cried our eyes out, we did not want to leave Grandma Bell-but she had spoken case closed. It would be years later I would learn why she favored my brother Bobby. He was the first grandbaby to cross the doorstep at 5539 Jay Street, NE. Grandma had become attached to Bobby and refused to let go. He would later claim she was his mother.

Once Earl and I reached our new home in the housing project in Parkside we were good, leaving Grandma Bell’s house felt like a jailbreak. No more curfews, no church during the week and a break from Aunt Sara’s backhands when we crossed the lines and forgot “The Rules of the House.”

We were still in the zip code of Eastland Gardens and in blocks of Kenilworth and Eastern Avenues. Our new address was 715 Kenilworth Terrace NE. My mother’s cousins (they were like sisters) lived within blocks. My favorite, Aunt Doretha lived 5 minutes away in Mayfair Manions Apartments and Aunt Evelyn aka Miss B lived 10 minutes away at 1204 42nd Place in Eastland Gardens. I had come full circle without leaving the zip code of all my early heroes.

Black Eastland Gardens has been the best kept secret in DC for decades. Historians claim black architechs built the first homes in 1928-I think it was much earlier.

Mommy B was a graduate of Cardozo High School, home of the Clerks. After graduation she was hired at the Government Accounting Office in downtown DC as a clerk typist. The job made her eligible to apply for public housing in the District of Columbia.

My cousins, Roland (Aunt Doretha) and Tommy (Miss B) were my “Big Brothers.” Earl and I were around 7 and 8 years of age when Mommy B came to claim us at Grandma’s house in 1945.

Eastland Gardens, Parkside, and Mayfair were truly “A Village.” Our mother was a single parent in every sense of the word.

She worked an 8 hour job, came home cooked dinner, made sure we kept up with our school work, and checked on our school attendance. This was lot for single parent with two knuckleheads like me and Earl.

We were lucky we came along during an era our next door neighbors were our Naval Thomas Elementary teachers, postal workers, lawyers, nurses. They made up our Village. They had no problem knocking on your door to let your mother know there was a problem with her child.

They were “The First Neighborhood Watch aka Snitches.” They enhanced the lives of untold children in the projects.

Mommy B’s “Good Government job didn’t last but 2 years before she lost it. Losing her job had something to do with, “The last hired, the first fired.”

Mommy B kept it moving, she went on welfare, it was called “Relief” during the 40s and 50s. She was an independent soul and marched to her own drum beat. She dispised the welfare system and its restrictions.

These were some difficult times, Grandma Bell and Mount Airy Baptist Church help keep us afloat. The church family was truly a blessing. My Great-Grandfather, the Rev. Alfred Tyler Johnson laid the first brick to build the church in 1893. The church is located at North Capitol and L Streets, NW in the shadows of the United States Capitol.

The Tyler House located two blocks north of North Capitol Street and New York Avenue is a residence for Senior Citizens. It is named after my Great Uncle, the Rev. Earl Tyler. After leaving Grandma Bell’s house, the church was still our sanctuary. Grandma Bell was the matriarch and the Boss of Bosses!

I am paying homage to my Great-Grandfather in the church lobby. Grandma Bell and grands L-R Cousins, Brenda, Ronnie & Tommy ‘Red’-Top Row: Cousin Carole-the brothers HB-Earl and Bobby Bell.

Things got kind of rough for Mommy B after she loss her job, despite Welfare restrictions, she bounced back. Her business instints kicked in as an entrepreneur. She came from a family of educators, and great cooks. Cousins Miss B, Dotie, and sister Mary all were at home in front of a stove.

First, Mommy B started selling chicken, chitlins, and fish dinners on the weekends. Her potato salad, candied yams and collar greens were the talk of the neighborhood. On Fridays and Saturdays folks in the neighborhood started to line-up at our door as early as 4 pm. Earl and I had to come home from school to help her out.

She took it to the next level and the card games of poker and pittyy-pat would follow. Mommy B would cut five to ten cents on every dollar won in the card game. The nickle and dimes added up and things got a lot easier. She even sold half-pints of bootlegged wiskey.

It got so good her luck extended to playing and hitting the street numbers. She could dream a number one night and hit it the next day or the day after.

A number backer who did not live in the neighborhood by the name of Billy Jackson, he lived on Sheriff Road on the other side of the railroad tracks. He would drive to the projects almost everyday to take the number bets from the residents. Mommy B would frequently be his biggest winner.

Mr. Jackson, one day offered my mother a part-time job she could not refuse-her own number book for the neighborhood. She would get a percentage of every winning bet and a percentage of the numbers played. She took the job. The money was coming in from everywhere, my dead beat father even showed up a couple times to help her.

I knew he was taking advantage of her kindness and forgiveness. She would help anyone out who was down on their luck, especially family.

With success and money comes envy and jealousy. Suddenly, the cops was raiding our home in the wee hours of the morning on the weekends. Earl and I would sit on the steps and cry watching our mother carried out of the house in handcuffs. She would say, “I will be back in the morning for church.”

Someone was snitching and mother called a moratoriam on the card games and bootleg liquor. The dinners continue to sell. She waited a couple of weeks and moved the games to Ms. Bee’s in Eastland Gardens, everything went well no trouble from the boys in blue.

It was back to Parkside for the next game of cards. Like clock work, the boys in blue were back. Mommy B waited another two-weeks for her next game, but this time when the cops came in, the card games in progress were Bid Whist and Pinochle-no money in sight.

I remember a sharp black detective, his name was Gulf. He ordered a chitlin dinner, with potato salad and greens to go-mother said, “No Charge.” He said, “Thanks Mattie” and walked out the door, that was the end of the card games at 715 Kenilworth Terrace.

I was a junior at Spingarn High School when mother had a mental breakdown. She would spent the next 30 years in and out of St. Elizabeth’s Mental Hospital.

My brother Earl, Billy and I went in three different directions. Our next door neighbor Ms. Winniefred Powell adopted Billy, Earl was sent to Cedar Knoll Receiving Home for juveniles. I was homeless sleeping from pillow to post. I was determined to continue my role as a student/athlete, inspired by my athletic accomplishments as an All-Around Athlete.

Selected to the 1958 First Team All-Star East Football Team for the DC Public High Schools

In Parkside I spend the nights in the home of Rudy, and Earl Thorpe, Sacky Lee, the Smiths, the Powells, all on Kenilworth Terrace. Some times I would have my meals with Sacky and his mother. Ms. Powell and her sons Gaylord and Sonny. They always had a place at the table for me and my little brother, Billy.

Enter Eastland Gardens, when there was nowhere else to lay my head. I would join my cousin Tommy in the basement of 1204 42nd Place, NE, Washington, DC 20019.

He would leave the basement door unlock for me. I would get up early in the mornings and catch the bus or hitch a ride to Spingarn High School to start my day.

The Billingsleys, aka Uncle Charlie and Aunt Evelyn (Mr. Bee and Ms. Bee) went along with the program. My cousins, Charlita and Margie were around the ages of 10 and 12 years-old. I was 17 years-old during those difficult times, but God was on my side.

In Parkside or Eastland Gardens I would join my extended family for dinner, if I got there in time after practice (football-basketball-baseball). They were truly my “Village.”

The recreation center at Naval Thomas Elementary School in my Parkside housing project, I developed my athletic skills. I owe Bootsy Harris, Nick Turner, Walter Brooks and Jaky Mathews, all great teachers and coaches for my success as an athlete and human being.

When I heard my high school coaches describe me as being a great athlete, I would just smile. There were some brothers in Parkside, I could not carry their jockey straps as an athlete.

They just never got an opportunity to showcase their skills at the next level, high school and college. There were circumstances beyond their control.

I grew up around my big cousins, Tommy Mathews and Roland Gaines. Through them I was able to enhance my athletic skills. Tommy was the fastest guy in Eastland Gardens. He and Roland would race other neighborhood guys from one end of the street to the other. We would shoot hoops and play baseball at the nearby playground.

My Uncle Charlie aka Mr. Bee was a part time comedian and truth teller/ my cousin Tommy kept me on my toes. They both drove home the importance of my education.

Sleeping and eating from pillow to post would come to an end once my favorite aunt and “Guardian Angel”, Doretha Gaines found me sleeping in her car in her Mayfair Mansions parking lot early one morning. Coincidently, Mayfair was just a 5 minute walk to Eastland Gardens, once I crossed the creek.

Aunt Dotie was my mother’s cousin, Ms. Bee’s sister and Roland’s mom. This pillow to post journey turned out to be a ‘Family Afair.’ Aunt Dotie invited me to live with her, Roland was working and had found his own place to live. There I was in the right place at the right time.

Birds of a feather flock together-THE JAMES FAMILY TREE hanging out at club 1204 in Eastland Gardens. Family matriarch, “Uncle Billy” (glasses) kneeling next to New York cousin, Frankie.

Against all odds I graduated from high school and earned an athelitic scholarship to Winston-Salem State University. I left before graduating to chase my NFL dreams-the dream never materialized.

Instead, I became a Presidential appointee, and a legendary youth advocate working with youth gangs and at-risk children in the DVM. I also became a trailblazing sports talk radio pioneer, “Inside Sports” changied the way we report and talk sports in America and beyond. The Greatest, Muhammad Ali named me “The Chosen One” in sports media.

KIDS IN TROUBLE INC. 50+ years of CONSISTENCY saving as many children as possible (1974-2024)

I carried my little cousin Margie B via Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports along for the ride on my historical journey in this GAME CALL LIFE. Marching to my own drum beat-I am who I say I am!

I traveled full circle, I went from a NE Outhouse in Eastland Gardens to a NW White House. All the glory goes to God. Margie B (RIP).

This photo has been seen around the world. It is worth a thousand words. Read the unknown story behind this one of a kind photo of “The Greatest” and the telephone call that shook up the boxing world. What led Ali to choose Harold Bell for his first and last one-on-one interview of his pro boxing career with a never seen before black eye.

As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the Rumble in the Jungle Thursday October 30, 2024, this photo of Muhammad Ali, Pat Patterson and me was taken at the champ’s Deer Lake boxing camp in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsyvania.

It was a rainy cold night in DC when Muhammad Ali arrived at Laguardia Airport in New York City. It was five nights after he made boxing history and truly became, “The Greatest.”

This is the beganing of the end for George Foreman in Zaire, Africa. The fight is now known as the Rumble in the Jungle.

Against all odds Ali knocked out the undefeated and undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World George Foreman in the 8th round in Zaire, Africa. He stunned the Boxing World and the naysayers who covered boxing.

For 50-years sports writers from around the world have been trying to figure out, who was Harold Bell? Why did he deserve to receive the first call from the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World?

This is my story and I am sticking with it: In July 1974 I said, “NO” to an invitation to travel with Ali to Zaire, Africa. Our journey began on the campus of Howard University (HBCU) in 1967. He was touring the country to speak with students on different college campuses to explain why he refused to to be drafted into the United States Army. Howard University would be one of those stops.

I happen to to be in the area to have lunch with my partner in crime, the notorious Ralph ‘Petey’ Greene. Petey was a legendary radio and television talk show host from Washingtington, DC. Through no fault of his own renowed actor Don Cheadle was the leading man for the Petey Greene story.

The movie was a lie fabricated by Dewey Hughes. He was Petey’s producer at WOL Radio in the 60s. It was really the Dewey Hughes story.

The movie was shot in Canada out of sight of Petey’s wife Judy, children and close friends who knew the real Petey Greene. I was his side-kick and sportscaster for “Petey Greene’s Washington“, his no holds barred talk show heard on W-O-L Radio. I had a two-year run in 1965 until 1967.

Petey and I met at the Burning Tree Golf Course in the late 50s when I was a student/athlete at Spingarn High School caddying on the weekends.

In 1965 Petey help me get my first job as a Neighborhood Worker for the United Planning Organization. The organization was a self-help group located in the NW U Street corridor. In 1967 I moved on to work for the DC Department of Recreation and Parks as a Roving Leader (Youth Gang Task Force), thanks to a grant made available by UPO.

On a beautiful bright sunny day, Petey and I were to meet at Ben’s Chili Bowl for lunch, it was there he brought to my attention Muhammad Ali was on the campus of Howard University. When I suggested we head for Howard, he begged off, saying he had a meeting with his boss at UPO, James Banks.

Petey, wife Judy and my wife Hattie with friends, Sylvia and Jean at the 1972 Super Bowl in LA.

When I arrived on campus there were hundreds of students gathered in front of the Administration Building, Ali had their undivided attention. His tale of woe about the unfair treatment by the United States Government relating to the draft and his exemption for his religious beliefs were very compelling.

In the meantime, I worked my way through the crowd of students, to the point I was almost nose to nose with him. He paid no attention to me what so ever. He continued on his soapbox for at least another 20 minutes before saying, “I need someone to show me around the campus.” Before one of those pretty little students could volunteer, I grabbed him by his arm and told him to follow me.

I led him off campus down the Georgia Avenue corridor walking in the direction of 7th and T Streets and the legendary Howard Theater. As we walked past the Wonder Bread Company, I turned to look back up Georgia Avenue, it looked like we were leading a parade and the pretty little girls were walking beside us.

As we walked along the Georgia Avenue corridor, he asked, if I was a student at Howard–I explained, I worked with at-risk children and youth gangs for the District Government. He seemed to be impressed and told me to keep up the good work, they needed me.

Men and women motorist were stopping their cars in the middle of the street just to run over and give him a hug or shake his hand–Ali loved it!

When we arrived at 7th and T Streets my buddy Harvey Copper aka ‘The Oldest Teenager’ jumped out of the crowd and started shadow boxing with Ali. The crowd loved it.

I was given “Street Credit” for the Ali crusade down the NW corridor. Washington Post sports columnist, Donald Huff later wrote a column ttled, “Harold Bell Gets His Ratings from the Streets of DC.”

Sam K a legend on the Georgia Avenue corridor and the owner of Sam Ks’ Record Store came over with a bottle of cold water, and gave it to Ali. I left the champ to fend for himself and went back to work.

I would not see the champ again until 1972 in Cleveland, Ohio. I was invited to ride with JD Beathea a sports columnist for the Washington Star Newspaper and Attorney Harry Barnett. Ali was headlining a fight card that would benefit Children’s Hospital for sick children. R & B King, Lloyd Price a good friend of the champ’s convinced him to fight an exhibition for the hospital. Promoting the event was Don ‘Bad News’ King an ex-convict who served jail time for manslaughter.

This was a great opportunity for me, 1972 was the year I became the first black to host and produce my own radio sports talk show, Inside Sports in Washington, DC.

When JD, Harry and I arrived in Cleveland at the hotel headquarters for the fight, there was Ali holding court with a group of reporters hanging on his every word (aka Howard Universary students). We tried to quietly slip around the reporters sight unseen. Suddenly, Ali hollered out, “Harold Bell what you doing this far away from home boy.”

I was in a state of shock all eyes were on me, I had not seen or talked to this brother in five years. All I could say was, “Hi Champ” and kept it moving.” I would realize later it was there he made me, ‘The Chosen One.’ Before heading back to DC, he invited me to his Deer Lake boxing camp.

In 1973 I became a regular visitor. The camp was only a 2 hour drive from DC. His brother Rahman (his only sibling) and I became great friends. He was one nicest guys in the camp, he had his brother’s back.

It was the summer of 1974 the champ was holding one of his press conferences when Rahman whispered in my ear, “The Champ wants you to come and sit with him on the rock.” I orchestrated the press conference for the next 30 minutes. I was then invited into the cabin for lunch of hot dogs and beans.

Ali broke camp and asked me what was it I wanted to do with him, my response, “Champ I want to do a one-on-one interview with for television.”

He said okay, “You know I am going to Africa to fight that chump George Foreman for the heavyweight championship. Why don’t you come to Chicago so we can talk about it.”

Done deal, my producer, Rodney Brown and I flew into Chicago in hot July to meet with Ali. Pat Patterson a former Chicago police officer and now head of security for the champ picked us up at the airport.

When we arrived at the gym it was packed with members of the media and folks who just wanted to see The Greatest. The champ worked out for about an hour with his sparring partners, hitting the speed, and heavybags. He suddenly called it a day and disappeared into his dressing room.

I was left standing around making small talk with some reporters when Rahman came out of nowhere and said, “The Champ wants to see you in the dressing room.”

When I walked into the dressing room he was lying on a table getting a massage. There was a chair sitting in front of the table. He motion me to sit down.

He skipped the small talk and said, “Okay Harold Bell, tell me again what is it you want to do.”

My response, “Champ I want to do a one-on-one interview with you for television.” He never looked up and said, “Man is that all, we can do that in Zaire when I fight big George Foreman.”

I could not believe what he had just said, he wanted to do the interview in Zaire, Africa! My response, “Man I ain’t going to no Zaire.” This time he looked up from the table and said, “Boy what is your problem?”

I held my position and I repeated myself, “Man, I ain’t going to no Zaire to interview you.”

He said, “Boy, what is wrong with you?” I blurted out, “I am scared to fly across the ocean.”

Ali sat up from the table and started to laugh and calling me a chicken and making sounds like a chicken. I just looked at him and said, “I still ain’t going.”

We had dinner later that evening and as I was about to leave the restaurant for the airport, he slipped up beside me and whispered, “When I knock Big George out, you will be the first to interview me when I arrive back in the United States.” I just said, “OK Champ, we will talk then.” Ali at times can say some outlandish things, and I thought this was one of those times.

I was wrong, Ali was a man of his WORD. Five nights after he shocked Don King and the world of boxing, he returned home to shock the American news media when he called an unknowed radio sports talk show host in Washington, DC for the first interview. Fifty-years later the media is still in disbelief.

The call shocked my wife Hattie, when the phone rang on that rainy night in DC. I was sleeping good and refused to answer it, until she hit me with an elbow in my back.

I picked up the phone and asked, “Who is calling man, thinking it was Petey Greene, John Thompson or one of my other crew who thought nothing of calling after midnight.”

When the voice on the other end said, “Let me speak to Harold Bell”, I said, “Who is calling man.” The voice on the other end said again, “Let me speak to Harold Bell, and I said again, “Who is calling man?” This time the voice on the other end said, “Fool, this is Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight champion of the whole wide world.”

I sat up straight in the bed and said, “Congratulations champ” and he said, “Do you still want to do that interview?” I said, “Yea champ, I sure do.” I thought I was having a nightmare or dreaming. Hattie turned and looked at me and whispered, “Who is it?” I whispered, “Its Muhammad Ali.” She turned over and went back to sleep, never beliving a word I said.

I left for New York sometime after midnight with Rodney Brown, Will Williams and the cameras from PBS. When I called Rodney, he and Will were in the PBS studios shooting a segment for Black History Month.

We rolled into New York City around 6 am had coffee and donuts and went to Ali’s hotel room. We video taped one of the greatest one-on-one interviews of my sports media career. The interview contained only two-minutes of sports talk (Boxing). The rest of the interview was about “The Game Called Life!”

It was Thanksgiving went I called my friend sports columnist JD Beatea about my exclusive interview with Ali in New York City. He wrote the best column ever on my work with children and youth gangs in the streets of DC. He never mention my interview with Muhammad Ali.

When I asked him later why no mention of Ali in the story. He said, “Your work with children is more important to me than your great interview with Muhammad Ali.”

The Children: JD Beatea’s column December 4, 1974

Fifty-years later I am still in awe after the late night call from Muhammad Ali. And the 8 brutal rounds of something he called the Rope-A-Dope, it was the best kept secret in professional boxing.

Thanks to the late WRC-TV-4 anchor Jim Vance, a loyal partner of Kids In Trouble in the community, I became the first ever Black American to host and produce a television sports special in prime time on an NBC affiliate in the country. The 30 minute alloted time was seen in three segments:

WHUR Radio’s Melvin Lindsey and WRC TV 4 Anchor Jim Vance lending a helping hand during Black History Month

The First Segment the interview is with Mr. Hayes Brown, the first Black Official with the Maryland State Horse Racing Association. The interview takes place at at the Laurel Race Track. The discussion is centered around the status of Black America in horse racing. We were once the dominant riders (4:00 min)

The Second Segment NFL All-Pro wide receiver Roy Jefferson talks with Washington Redskins’ QB Billy Kilmer about his relationship with QB Sonny Jurgerson during their run to the 1972 Super Bowl (3:10 sec)

The Third Segment was my exclusive one-on-one interview with Muhammad Ali after his 8th round KO of the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight champion of the World in Zaire, Africa (12:00 min)

As the 50th Anniversary of The Rumble In The Jungle nears, plans are being made to celebrate this historical event World-Wide. The question still on the minds of sports media especially in the United States, who is Harold Bell and why was he granted the most sought after interview in boxing history?

The same question has crossed Harold Bell’s mind also-why me? I had heard in bits and pieces about one of Ali’s heroes disrespected him and he never forgot it!

Before his fame and forture Muhammad Ali was just a young kid with hopes and dreams of becoming the Heavyweight Champion of the whole wide world. His idol and hero was the great Sugar Ray Robinson.

This blog was inspired by the recent story I read of how Ali for the first time decided to introduce himself to the great Sugar Ray Robinson. Robinson own a night club on 125th Street in Harlem. One day Ali woke up and went to the club and wait outside for Robinson to arrive.

He waited outside of the club all day. Robinson finally arrived around 10 pm. Ali told Robinson, “I am going to be the heavyweight champion of the world one day.”

Robinson ignored him turned his back and walked into the club. Ali admits he was shaken and promised he would never treat his fans like Robinson treated him. Looking back on the reason I received the first telephone call from Ali 50 years ago-I owe thanks to Sugar Ray Robinson for ignoring Muhammad Ali.

Kiss and Making Up: The Greatest Sugar Ray Robinson ask Ali to forgive him for the snub.

Ali boarded a private jet back to the United States from Zaire. There were three other passengers on the flight with him, his brother Rahman, his wife Khalilah, the other woman, Veronica Porcshe and a million dollars in a black brief case. The Champion had a whole lot on his plate for him to remember a promised he made to me in Chicago.

The private jet, Ali, brother Rahman, wife Khalilah and Veronica Porcshe arriving at Laguardia Airport in New York City with a million dollars in a black briefcase. Harold Bell–standby.

The Informer has been a tabloid hustling newspaper since 1964 when the founder the late Calvin Rolark rolled into DC in the 1950s from Texarkana, Texas, he discovered DC was where fools rushed in and made their home. DC was much like “The California Gold Rush.”

The California gold rush was a peroid that began in January 1848 and lasted until 1855. It all started when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold “In them hills” brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

There were a lot of fools who rushed-in and many discovered it was a dead-end street. The Gold Rush led to violence against Native Americans, tens of thousands of whom are estimated to have lost their lives in clashes with white settlers. Immgrants from China experience the same type of discrimination. Blacks were nowhere to be found, they were still in chains and gold was the furthest thing from their minds.

The Calvin Rolarks and Marion Barrys are the examples of fools who rushed in and laid their claim to fame and fortune at the expense of Black Native Americans/Washingtonians. They joined the rest of the fools who laid claims as the saviors of the black men and women in Chocolate City, still today a plantation on the Potomac-Taxation without Representation.

When Calvin Rolark died in 1994 he was hailed as a civic leader, a civil rights activist, entrepreneur, humananitarian, and philantropist. They forgot to add his secret life in the community after dark.

I met Rolark when I was in high school at a backyard picnic at my Aunt Mary’s house on Bass Place SE. DC I was introduced by my Great-Uncle William James aka “Uncle Billy.”

Uncle Billy was the first black attorney allowed to practice law in Sumpter, South Carolina. He worn out his welcome early and the KKK chased him out of Sumpter along with my mother and her siblings in the dark of night with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They landed in DC. Uncle Billy would receive a Presidential appointment from Franklin Roosevelt.

My mother would connect with my father Alfred Bell. He was a native Washingtonian and came from a church family. My Great-Grandfather Alfred Johnson Tyler laid the first brick to build Mt. AIRY Baptist Church in 1893. The Tyler House a senior living residence is located on North Capitol and New York Avenue NW, one block from Mt. Airy. The residence is named after my Great Uncle, the Rev. Earl Tyler.

I pay homage honoring my Great-Grand Father in the lobby of Mount Airy Batist Church

The next time I met Rolark face to face was in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. I was working as a Roving Leader assigned to the youth gang task force for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks. We shared a room on the campus of Michigan State University along with Sam Jordan also a Roving Leader.

The DC Department of Recreation received grants for Roving Leaders to attend a youth summitt on the campus of Michagan State. Rolark talked his way into receiving one of the grants to cover the summitt.

The first night Rolark rolled into the room the next morning just before breakfast complaining his cuff links and watch had been stolen. Sam and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. We wondered how could someone steal your cuff links and watch unless you were asleep.

The late Sam Jordan became the Director of Emergency Management for the DC government. He is seen standing next to NFL legend Jim Brown during a KIT Police Youth Gang Forum at Bible Way Churh in NW DC.

Butch is seen sitting behind the late Mayor of U Street John Snipes taking notes at the forum.

In 1974 Washington Star sports columnist JD Beathea wrote, “Harold Bell maybe the only black guy living who grew up in a ghetto in real poverty, but still never learned to play the game, that great American pasttime. If Bell had given his drive and single-mind of purpose, he probably would have been dangerous.”

The recent story written in the Informer on the sudden passing of coach Butch McAdams is another example of poorly written and misleading stories they have been writting for the last several decades.

It is also a media type of disrespect that include pimps in the pulpit, judges and community advocates. Checkout the Informer’s Guest Columnist and see how many have been cited for embezzlement of company funds. I have encountered them through out my pioneering sports media and community careers. When you are the Captain of your own ship and the Godfather of all you have surveyed in sports media, this kind of jealousy and disrespect is a part of the landscape.

See columns written from LA to DC trying to tarnish my name and image

LA TIMES / EARL GUSKEY (SUGAR RAY LEONARD) 1978)  

Ray had the late Earl Guskey write, “I left Harold Bell home because he asked me for a job, and to donate to Kids In Trouble.”

He pretended I was a part of his entourage.  I have never asked Ray for a job, ticket or a dollar–outright lies!  He invited me over to the new home he had just purchased for his mother. He offered me money after he beat Wilfred Benitez for his first title, I said, NO! He has too many skeletons in closet. His son Ray Jr. recently went public and confessed he watched his father beat his mother Jaunita bloody. Fame, forture and cocaine has Ray Sr. living a lie. The only difference between P Diddy and Sugar Ray Leonard, P Diddy was caught on camera. I watched Ray slap Juanita around behind the hotel before the second Thomas Hearns fight. She discovered Ray had other women stashed away in hotel rooms on the Las Vegas strip. The one thing Ray Jr. made clear, “Mr. Bell, I am not my father.”

NORMAN CHAD AND THE WASHINGTON POST

The Washington Post wrote two stories on me in the same 1989 edition (unheard of) after I said, “NO” to their first proposal.  The first story on page one included all the blacks in sports talk radio in DC.  The story on page three was on me alone. In that story Norman Chad the writer tricked Glenn Harris into commenting on my trailblazing journey in sports talk radio. 

Glenn’s response, “Harold Bell thinks someone owes him something. Don’t anyone owe him anything”  I was pissed, this was their old trick, “Divide & Conquer” and Glenn fell for it.  Chad never asked me anything about Glenn, he knew better!

On Saturday Inside Sports aired on W-U-S-T AM Radio, I dissected the page three story.   When I got through describing who Chad was, he was not a happy camper.  He wrote me a dear John letter–I still have in my archives.

What makes this story puzzling, it was witten a decade after the Washington Post had kidnapped my INSIDE SPORTS radio tag and fled to New York City to publish Inside Sports Magazine.

CITY PAPER / DAVE MCKENNA

McKenna wrote a story on me that was full of outlandish lies and he never interviewed me. Guskey and Chad did interview me before they tried to tarnish my name.

Harold Bell’s Black History Mouth

INSIDE SPORTS MAKING A DIFFERENCE:

Inside Sports: changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond

Inside Sports: the first sports talk show to discuss sports and politics on the same format

Inside Sports: was the first sports talk show to play message music

Inside Sports: first to host a media Roundtable

Inside Sports: the first to cover track and field meets and Tennis Tournaments world wide via cell phone

Inside Sports: host was the first sports media personality honored as “Washingtonian of the Year.”

Inside Sports: Benefactors before their 15 minutes of fame read like a Who’s Who: John Thompson-Sugar Ray Leonard-James Brown-Michael Wilbon-Dave Aldridge-Tracy Jackson-Adrian Dantley-Adrian Branch-Cathy Hughes-Tim Baylor-Dave Bing-Oden Polyniece-Tony Paige-Kevin Blackistone-Darryl Hill-Jim Vance, Maureen Bunyan-Randall Kennedy-Alex Williams-Christy Winters-Scott-Monica McNutt-Bishop Vasti McKenzie, Roland ‘Fatty’ Taylor, etc.

Inside Sports: before Vasti McKenzie became the first black female Bishop of the AME Church, she was the co-host on Inside Sports evening drive time news. The show aired on WYCB Radio in the late 70s.

Inside Sports: campaigned successfully to get two blackballed pro athletes inducted into the hall of fame. NFL Willie Wood (1989) and NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd (20003).

Boxers and boxing personalities whose names or stories could no get their names or stories written about them in the local papers or added to boxing cards promoted by Don King–their only outlet was “Inside Sports.” The champions whom are now hall of famers include Ray Leonard, Johnny Gant, Mark “Too Sharp” Johnson, Shamba Mitchell, Adrian Davis and boxing ring annoncer Discombobulating Jones.

Inside Sports: campaigned to get several athletes jail terms shorten, include, playground basketball legends, Bernard Levi, JoJo Hunter, NFL great Jim Brown, etc. where is the the beef?

When it comes to media frauds in DC meet Calvin Rolark’s daughter Denise, she proves, “An Apple Does Not Fall Too Far From The Tree.”

To understand how a tabloid like the INFORMER survives you have to look no further than the community frauds who have been bankrolling the tabloid. I have all of them in my archives, politicians, doctors, pimps in the pulpit, lawyers, bankers, judges and dam fools like Ed Hill.

The INFORMER use nickle and dime minor-league reporters and Guest Columnist to distribute messages of hate and bad news in our community. Compare the story written in the Informer and my Inside Sports Blog.

INFORMER: LIE No. 1 “In 2011 rather to sit back and enjoy the benefits of retirement, McAdams decided to enter a new and UNCHARTERED territory, radio broadcasting!” UNCHARTERED?

LIE No. 2, “McAdams learned the broadcasting business from legends such as Joe Madison, Bernie McCain, Larry Hicks and most notablely, Cathy Hughes.” NOWHERE IN SIGHT IN 1972?

LIE No. 3 “In 2013, McAdams was one of 12 men who met weekly to create the infrastructure of DMV-Athletes in Action, Inc.” Adams and Lloyd Mayes were nowhere in sight in the first group. The first couple of meetings took place at Horton’s Funeral Home in NW DC.

I am one of the founding members along with Reds Horton, and William Brockenberg. There were several other brothers in the house but their names escape me at the moment. The fact remaines, Lloyd Mayes and Butch were not among them.

The meetings were moved to a restaurant on H Street, NE and it was then I noticed the WANNABEES in attendance-I made my exit.

LIE No. 4 Hill also claimed, “Bernie McCain, Joe Madison and Cathy Hughes were his mentors, when I met Butch as a teenager on the basketball court at St. Paul and Augustine Church they were nowhere in sight.”

FACT: Butch wanted to name his new show “The Legends of Inside Sports.” My response, “No Way, you won’t last a week with Cathy Hughes with that title.” He decided on “INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF SPORTS!” Sounds like “INSIDE SPORTS” to me.

Inside Sports was the first ever sports talk show to cross the line and add politics and music to its format. ESPN the so-called world leader in sports reporting copied my format and could not stand the heat my format brought with it–their broadcasters like Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon are no longer allowed to talk sports and politics on the ESPN format. To discuss issues outside of sports, they had to established a Podcast. They learned Freedom ain’t FREE.

ESPN and the Washington Post: The Original Inside Sports copied but never duplicated.

Read the INFORMER and count the LIES–Read my blog for the TRUTH!

Remembering ‘The Coach’: James ‘Butch’ McAdams Leaves Behind Lasting Legacy

www.theoriginalinsidesports.blog / The legacy of Butch McAdams

THE TRUTH CAN OVERCOME A LIE–BUT A LIE CANNOT OVERCOME THE TRUTH!

FACEBOOK MEMORIES JULY 1, 2024

“Harold Bell thanks for being my friend and mentor.” Butch McAdams July 1, 2013

MY BOY

“A careful man I wanted to be; A little fellow followed me. I did not dare to go astray, for fear he go the self same way. I could not once escape his eyes, what he saw me do he tried. He thought that I was good and fine, he believed in every word of mine. The bad in me I did not want him to see, the little fellow that followed me. I had to remember as I go, thru summer’s sun and winter’s snow. I was building for the years to be for the little follow who followed me.”

Harold Bell, Kids In Trouble, and Inside Sports Black American History

In 1980 Washington Star radio and TV critic William Taaffe wrote:

“Most radio sports shows do not contain intimate verse set to music, as Bell’s show did on WYCB-1340 last week.

Neither do most shows feature stimilating discussions about drug use in sports, racism within the NFL, the abuse of naive athletes by agents, and stimulating messages about life on 14th street. But then Harold Bell is unique-sports announcer, former athlete, youth leader and social critic all rolled into one.

Lets say it right at the top, Inside Sports is a jewel of a program-easily the most reflective and provocative radio sports show in Washington. Its guest actually say something. The other shows are bland by comparison.”

In 1974 Washington Star sports columnist J. D. Beatea wrote a lionizing column about my work in the streets of the inner-city with youth gangs and at-risk children-no Hughes-Madison-McCain in sight.

In all due respect to my mentee the late Butch Adams. The player-haters and back stabbers have come out of the closet despite his untimely death–to compare to him to a man anoted as the Godfather of Sports Talk, according to legendary sports columnist, Dick Heller of the Washington Times and Washingtonian Magazine.

Read the two columns above regarding sports talk radio in Washington, DC and youth advocacy in the Nation’s Capital. It is truly amazing how the crabs in the barrel syndrome is alive and well in the black community, especiall in the news media. You cannot find one of the naysayers who ever sat down and interviewed, Muhammad Ali, Red Auerbach, Jim Brown, Bert Sugar, Hank Aaron to just name a few of the legends of Inside Sports.

None have ever walked in communities like Simple City, Potomac Gardens, Barry Farms, Mount Pleasant in DC, Charles Houston Rec Center in Alexander, Virginia or Homer Avenue in Suitland, Md. to quell gang violence.

Participants in the Kids In Trouble Youth Violence forum at Bible Way Baptist Church in NW DC. The late Jim Brown (NFL) and Congressman Tom Davis (R-Vir) were the co-host. Butch McAdams is seen sitting in the audience taking notes behind the late Mayor of U Street, Carton Snipes.

Inside Sports changed the way we talk and report sports in America and beyond. Every radio and television sports talk show seen has copied the Inside Sports format, including the so-called world-wide leader, ESPN.

Community Reach Back’s foundation can be found at the doorsteps of Kids In Trouble, Inc. The NFL-NBA-MLB and NHL all followed Kids In Trouble’s format when it came reaching back into the inner-city.

The benefactors of Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports read like a Who’s Who led by John Thompson, Sugar Ray Leonard, Cathy Hughes and her foster child, Alfred, Adrian Dantley, Tony Paige, Mike Wilbon, Adrian Branch, James Brown, Monica McNutt, Christie Winters-Scott, Alex Williams, Howard White, etc.

Lonnie Taylor is one of my proudest moments in regards to the Hillcrest Saturday Program’s tutorial program. He later became the first Black American Chief of staff for a white Congressman on Capitol Hill (see letter).

The Inside Sports format was so powerfu and influentia the Washington Post kidnapped the tag, “INSIDE SPORTS.” Their sports editor George Solomon and his writers were sitting in the studios of WYCB Radio as owners Catherine as Donald Graham were plotting the plans to just take INSIDE SPORTS. The writers under a cover of darkness took a midnight train to New York City to publish the ill-fated “INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE” in 1978.

IF YOU CAN MAKE IT IN NEW YORK CITY YOU CAN MAKE IT ANYWHERE!

THE INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE NEVER MADE IT IN NEW YORK CITY

The magazine failed in the Big Apple, simply because Tony Kornhiser and crew had no clue on how to transfer my successful talk show into print. Catherine and Donald Graham said, “No Mas” and closed down the whole operation. They cut their losses of several million dollars and ordered the writers back to DC, but not before trademarking and getting the copyrights to “ISIDE SPORTS.”

THE CRITICS

“Harold has always been a voice for people who didn’t have a voice.  He has always called it as he saw it.  He has been an inspiration and motivation for me and a lot of other black broadcasters.” James Brown (NFL/CBS Sports)

NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd was a guest on the ESPN Radio talk show with John Thompson and co-host Doc Walker. Big John mentioned the name Harold Bell. Lloyd’s response, “Harold Bell maybe controversial but I have yet to hear anyone call him a liar.” It was so quiet in the studio, you could have heard a mouse pee on cotton.

When the great Willie Wood and Earl Lloyd were blackballed from their Hall of Fames, Harold Bell asked Red Auerbach, Dick Heller, and Congressman John Lewis to join him in a campaign to get both men inducted. Willie was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989. Earl Lloyd was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2003. Blackballed, Maury Wills, Dick Allen, Vida Pinson, Bobby Bonds, Curt Flood and Pete Rose are still waiting with no help in sight.

The voting is done by secret ballet! Detroit sports writer Ron Parker was recently added to the secret ballot brigade. The question, will his secret ballot help the above worthy inductees? Don’t hold your breath.

Sometimes it is best to be thought a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt-I rest my case.

The recent sudden passing of popular WOL Radio sports talk show host, Butch McAdams begged to question radio sports talk show history in the Nation’s Capitol. Poorly written stories and accounts of sports talk radio history in Washington, DC gave me pause for reflections on the topic. No reflection on Butch’s sports talk history, but for clarification on the bogus stories written and the real path he followed.

THERE WAS A SONG TITLED: “MOMMY DON’T LET YOUR SONS GROW UP TO BE COWBOYS!”

THERE IS A NEW SONG ON MY HIT PARADE: DON’T LET YOUR SONS GROW UP TO BE IDIOTS IN SPORTS MEDIA!

MLB Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa was asked by a player what were the qualifications for someone to be a member of the sports media-this was after La Russa kept trying to answer some dumb-ass questions during a press conference. His response. “It looks like all you need is a drivers’ license and a car to get you to the ballpark.”

Let me introduce you to Howard University historian and Informer Tabloid News reporter, Ed Hill and his sidekick who are dumb as rocks when it comes to Black American History. We always want respect–but we don’t want to earn it.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qDknSGmsJ3k

SPREADING IGNORANCE FROM A HBCU CAMPUS & BEYOND

BIRDS OF A FEATHER FLOCK TOGETHER: TWO WANNABE FOOLS WHO BELONG TOGETHER!

There were no black sportscasters on radio or television in 1965 when legendary radio talk show host Petey Greene, chose Harold Bell to be the voice of sports on “Petey Greene’s Washington.” The show aired every Sunday evening and it became the talk of the town, and won several Emmy Awards.

Petey was a one of a kind talk radio show host and those who followed him would never match his comedian wit, historic roots all found in Georgetown (Foggy Bottom) in the Nation’s Capitol.

I met Petey in 1957 at the Burning Tree Golf Course in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC. We caddied on the weekends for the rich and the political powerbrokers in the Nation’s Capitol and beyond. Petey went to jail and I went to college.

We did not meet again until 1965 in front of the landmark Howard Theater, home of some the greatest entertainers in Black American History.

Petey was just getting out of jail, I was a college dropout who failed chasing his NFL dreams in Charleston, West, Virginia playing minor league football. Joining us on the corner would be our friend, do-wop crooner, Marvin Gaye. He was returning home after a stint in the United States Air Force.

There we were standing on the corner reflecting on time spend in the military, in college and in jail. Petey had the best stories and had us laughing all night with his tales of woe behind bars.

When the laughter ceased we were left trying to figure where do we go from here? Marvin knew exactly what his next move was, “I am getting the hell out of DC”, he said. Petey and I gave him a hug, shook his hand, and wished him well.

The next thing I knew the theater was letting out and Petey looked at me and said, “Harold Bell, what is your next move?” My response, “Man, I have got to find a job.” Meet me at 10th & U Streets Monday morning at the United Planning Organization at 9:00 am”, he said. And he was gone.

I would meet with Petey and CEO of the United Planning Organization, Mr. James Banks. I was hired as a “Neighborhood Worker” in the Cardozo/Shaw Community. I followed Petey’s lead as we worked the playgrounds, schools, courts and homes of at-risk children and their families.

Petey proudly holding his Emmy Award for his talk show, “Petey Greene’s Washington.” Washington Redskin banner hangs on the wall of the team he loved to hate.

Sylvia-Jean-HB-Petey-Judy-Hattie T and Ed arrive in California for the Super Bowl showdown between the undefeated Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins. The Redskins loss 13-7, our buddy Marvin Gaye was sitting behind us–back together again.

My first encounter with Butch McAdams was on the outdoor basketball court at St. Paul & Augustine. Petey and I were walking in the neighborhood when we spotted Butch and another young man shooting baskets. Petey decided he wanted to go in the Directory and say hello to Father Bouchard.

I hung back with Butch and the young man shooting baskets. They looked to be young teenagers, thirteen or fourteen years-old. I was 25 and still smelling myself as an athlete. I missed my first four or 5 shots when the young brother with Butch asked, “Sir, do you know anything about this game?”

Petey came out of the Directory and saved me from any further embarrassment. The next time I went to the court, I had my tennis shoes on. We played several games of H-O-R-S-E, Butch did not not win a game. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

I remember I had to use the same basketball one on one tactic to get Anacostia HS/American University grad and hotshot players Johnny Lloyd and McNamara HS/Morehouse grad Robert Glenn’s undivided attention.

Johnny was a knucklehead trying to go to hell in a hurry. My Spingarn high school coach, Dave Brown called and asked if I could come to the school and talk with him. He needed to get him on the right track. Coach Brown knew a knucklehead when he saw one-he had me at Spingarn for three-years.

I watched Johnny play in a couple of games before I approached him. There was no doubt he could shoot the ball. I made an appointment to go by his house and meet his mom and dad. After the meeting we headed for the basketball court in Anacostia Park.

We shot around for about 10 minutes, as I dribbled and shot everything with my left-hand, letting him think I was lefthanded. He finally asked, “Mr. Bell you want to play one, you can take it out?” I said, “Ok, the first to 10 win by two.”

I took the ball out and hit a jumper behind the foulline, I drove to the basket for my second shot. He was down 4-0 before he got the ball. He took the ball looking for his patent jump shot, I stole the ball from him and drove to the basket for a 5-0 lead. The final score 10-2.

He wanted play another game, I said, “Not today. Let us wait to next week.” I now had his undivided attention and next week never came. He made All-Met and won a scholarship to American University.

Mentees Basketball 101: Johnny Lloyd & Robert Glenn

Robert was a neighborhood hotshot with a basketball rim attached to his garage. My wife Hattie and I watched from the front porch of her mother’s house across the street on a cuda-sac in Suitland. He challenged the neighborhood kids one by one. He was King of the block. I would just look and smile, and he would smile back. There were times I would cross the street and shoot baskets with my left hand until his next victim arrived.

I knew it was coming and one evening it did, he asked if I knew anything about the game of basketball? He sounded like the young man with Butch at St. Paul & Augustine. This was at 35 years after Johnny Lloyd and I was playing tennis. I accepted the challenge and beat him 10-8, and I crawled back across the street feeling my age.

Robert wanted to play me again and I said, “No Mas.” He was among the Moorehouse students who were the benefactors of billionaire, philantropist and alumnus, Robert F. Smith. He paid off the student debt of of Robert’s class of 2019.

When Butch retired from Maret High School in Washington, DC after three decades of teaching and coaching, the school held a retirement tribute in his honor. He thanked me for my friendship and being his mentor.

In my radio sports talk journey I invited and included him in all my community endeavors. When I successfully campaigned to get Earl Lloyd the first black player inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, I invited Butch, Andrew Dyer, Christie Winters-Scott to join my wife Hattie along with Sam Jones, and James Brown to Union Station for lunch. We met to stratigize the tribute to Earl Lloyd during the 2000 NBA All-Star Game in DC.

Butch broadcast the tribute from the landmark House of Jazz on Black Broadway, the Bohemian Caverns on 11th & U Streets, NW. He also broadcast his show from Union Station for one of my Kids In Trouble toy drives-for a flooded out black town in Pinehurst, NC.

He was there for my Hillcrest Saturday Program, Christmas Toy Parties, Celebrity Fashion Shows. I introduced him to Sonny Hill, Red Auerbach, Sam Jones, James Brown, John Thompson, Dave Aldridge, Mike Wilbon, Petey Greene, Roy Jefferson, Lenny Moore, Jim Brown, Dick Heller, Dave Bing and the list goes on and on. They all loved him.

Much like my wife, he only saw the good in people like Father Raymond Kemp of St. Paul and Augustine, and Radio One’s Cathy Hughes. I experienced their jealousy and envy up-close and personal. I could not protect him from all the liars and frauds even though I tried. My protection, sometimes caused a strain in our relationship. I remembered during one of those conversations, I asked him, “Butch have I ever misled you or lied to you?” His response, “Not that I can remember.”

On June 20, 2024 DC native and former high school and college basketball Coach, A. B. Williamson’s home going service was being held at First Baptist Church of Holland Park on Sheriff Road in Glen Arden, Maryland. I had a 9:30 am appointment with my car mechanic. His place of business was 10 minutes from the church, after he got through checking my car around 10:30 am, I headed for the church.

I decided to go to the service and pay my respect, A. B. He was a Spingarn alumnus and he grew up in NE DC near Kelly Miller Playground. During his tenure at Spingarn as a student, coach at Eastern HS and Howard University we were like ships passing in the night. I never saw him on the basketball court at Kelly Miller. We were on speaking terms, it was nothing personal to my knowledge-I was guessing.

To be honest, I thought that at his home going service I would see a lot of the coaches, especially Butch McAdams. I waited around making small talk with Ron Harris (Glenn’s brother) until the service started.

The last one I saw come into the church was Spingarn basketball and playground legend, George ‘Dee’ Williams. We exchanged greetings and shook hands on my way out.

Fast forward to Sunday June 23, 2024. I am sitting home after church and I received a telephone call from Danny Lewis. Nothing out of the ordinary, Danny and I communicate pretty regularly. He was one of my guys from Harrison Playground and the Hillcrest Saturday Program.

I answered the phone and he says, “HB are you sitting down?” I hesitated, and said, “I am good.” His response, “Butch is dead!” I said, “What Butch are you talking about?” He said, “Butch McAdams.” I went numb and asked Danny could I call him back and hung up.

Fast Forward: Monday morning, I go to my car to add two-quarts of oil as my mechanic had reminded me to do on Thursday. I pop the hood and my cell phone rings, its Mac (James Alsobrooks) calling, I figured he was calling me about Butch. His first words, “Did you hear about Butch?” My response, “Yes I did.”

The conversation turns spiriture after we exchange those words, Mac says, “I spoke with him on Friday. I had never met his wife Andrea, he put her on the phone and we talked for about 15 minutes before Butch came back on the line.

He asked, when was the last time I had spoken with you. I explained it had been a couple of months, but we usually stay in touch, I had been rather busy with doctors’ visits for my wife and I. My daughter’s campaign for the senate has also been a priority.

I asked him what was up with you and him? His response was, “Nothing but some BS.” He was right on the one, nothing but some BS!

When I told Mac that I was looking for Butch on Thursday at A. B. Williamson’s funeral and he was asking about me on Friday. He died on Sunday. Mac, was lost for words.

That was a hell of a coincident, taking place on Thursday June 20, 2024, the same coincident taking place with Mac and Butch on Friday June 21, 2024. Only God, knows what was truly going on. The only thing I could figure out, we were both looking for each other to cut the BS.

Another coincident, God, chose another one of my mentees to deliver the message, James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks. This was truly a time, “We had to let go and let God.”

I was inspired and started writing this blog on your birthday, July, 21, 2024-happy belated, heavenly birthday (RIP).

Standing: Sam Jones-Rockhead-Sam Jordan-Jim Brown-Tom Davis-Pastor Silver-Spencer Haywood-HB-Richard Evans-Sonny Hill-?-Tom Blackburn-Kneeling: Thurston McLain-?-Malik Farrakhan-?-Luis Cardona

Butch is in the audience for the youth forum sitting behind the the late Mayor of U Street, John Snipes.

Standing: Butch McAdams-Bert Sugar-Sam Jones-HB-Lenny Moore Sitting: Jim Bad News Barnes-George Nock-Lamont Jordan-Lawrence Wade and Roy Jefferson

All radio and TV sports talk shows today copied the Inside Sports talk format.

Footprints in the Sand

There were nights I dreamed I was walking along the beach with
the Lord. Scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene, I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were
two sets of footprints; other times there was only one.

During the low periods of my life I could see only one set of
footprints, so I said, “God, you promised me, that you would
walk with me always. Why, when I have needed you most,
Why have you not been there for me?”

God replied, “The times when you have seen only one set
of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.” Thank you God!