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!

BUTCH AND THE KIDS IN TROUBLE REACHBACK TEAM AT UNION STATION: RAISING FUNDS AND CLOTHES FOR THE FLOOD VICTIMS IN PINETOP, NORTH CAROLINA 1999.

L-R BAD NEWS BARNES-GEORGE NOCK-LAMONT JORDAN-?-ROY JEFFERSON

BACK ROW: BUTCH-BERT SUGAR-SAM JONES-HB AND LENNY MOORE

On Sunday evening June 20, 2024 a former member of the Harrison Playground sandbox crew, Danny Lewis called. I was not surprised. He is one of a handful of young men who have be in and out of my life, and stayed in touch for the past 55 years.

This call was a little different, he started the conversation saying, “You are not going to believe what I am getting ready to tell you.” My response, “What’s up Danny?” It seem like he wanted me to guess what he was going to say, but instead he blurted out, “Butch McAdams is dead.”

I hollered, “Oh no man.” I held my cell phone silently for several seconds before telling Danny, “Man I will call you later.” I hung up the phone without asking where and when? My thoughts went to his wife Cathy.

Hattie and I were getting ready to have dinner. The time was close to 7:00 pm, on Sundays, we like to have dinner just before ’60 Minutes’ aired. She was in the bathroom and never heard the exchange between me and Danny. I was left trying to figure out how I was going to break the bad news to her. She was very fond of Butch, like many others who had the chance to meet and get to know him.

I made the decision to tell her before we sat down to have dinner. She screamed and said, “Oh no.” She started asking me questions about where and when–I could not answer. I don’t recall what was on “60 Minutes” or what we had for dinner.

I did remembered I left home on Thursday morning around 9:00 am to have my car checked out by my mechanic. Julius lived off of route 202 in District Heights. I arrived at his home around 9:30 am. He checked my air-condition, the oil and the thump I was hearing when I put my 1997 Mercedes in reverse. His advice–don’t spend any more money in this car.

It was around 10:30 am when I started to head back home when I remembered the homegoing services for basketball coach A. B. Williamson was being held at First Baptist Church of Highland Park on Sheriff Road. I was less than 15 minutes away from the church. I decided to pay my respects.

A. B. was a native Washingtonian, a graduate of Spingarn HS, he coached at Eastern HS and Howard Univesity. I was thinking this might be a good time for me to run into Butch, since many of his colleagues in the coaching fraternity might be in attendance. I saw a few familiar faces, but not Butch.

I waited in the lobby talking to Ron Harris, Freddy Howell, Carlton Calloway, Earl Mayor, Allan Chin and Cheese Holloway until service started. The last familiar face I greeted coming to pay his respects was George ‘Dee’ Williams. Dee was a graduate of Spingarn and a playground basketball legend in DC. He was a frequent guest on Butch’s sports talk show on W-O-L, “Inside & Outside of Sports.”

The weekend was uneventful except for the 100 degree heat. Then came Sunday, and the call from Danny Lewis. I was up until the wee hours of Monday morning trying to write some on my relationship with Butch. I went to bed without writing a word.

When I finally woke up on Monday, I went out to my car to add the two quarts of oil my mechanic, Julius had advised me to add before I hit the road again. While trying to wrestle with unscrewing the top to add the oil, my cell phone rang. It was James ‘Mac’ Alsobrooks.

I started not to answer, but Mac was one my guys from back in the day, and we don’t get to talk as much anymore. I figured he was calling about Butch.

Our conversation would leave me saying, “All the Glory Goes to God.” Mac would tell me he had spoken with Butch on Friday for about an hour. He had never met Butch’s wife Cathy. He introduced her to him over the phone. This was the day after I left the church looking for him. I found a shady spot in the parking lot and took a seat on the payment.

Our conversation was something out of the Twilght Zone. The definition says the twilight zone is an indefinitely boundary between fantasy and reality. That is exactly how I felt during my conversation with Mac.

He said, “I was on the phone with Butch for over an hour. I had never met his wife Cathy. He introduced us over the phone. We must have talked for about 15 minutes. He asked me, went had I talked with you? I told him not lately because of doctor’s appointments and helping my daughter with her campaign.

“I then asked, what was up?” His respose, “We have not talked in a minute.” What is the problem?” “Nothing just over some B. S.”

He was right on the money. The bottom-line, I had people calling me or stopping at Wizards’ games asking me questions about the format of his show? I would tell them since he had a call-in show to call-in and ask him what was going on–it was his show and not mine.

There was one of his shows he had a group of Spingarn players as his guest. I received several calls asking me to check-out the show. Since I was familiar with the guest-I tuned in.

One of the guest was Dave Bing a Spingarn grad and All-American (NBA Hall of Fame). He had several of his cheerleaders from back in the day. It was hard to tell since it was on the radio whether they had pom-poms and were wearing short skirts.

I was surprised to hear the outlandish lies they were telling about their status as playground basketball legends. I think they must had forgotten I was still alive. They were taking advantage of Butch because he didn’t know and he had never seen them play, but I had.

Dave Bing, Bernard Levi, John Thompson, Fatty Taylor, Ollie Johnson, Donald Hicks, some were legends in their own time and others were legends in their own minds. If they played on the basketball courts of Brown, Blow and Kelley Miller I was there.

The next time I saw Butch I told him some of his guests on his shows were lying about their legendary status when it came to playground basketball. I reminded him he had my number if he had any questions about certain guest regarding their legendary status. There was nothing wrong with saying, “I don’t know.”

Every radio and television sports talk show format seen or heard today is a copy of THE ORIGINAL INSIDE SPORTS!

I met Butch when he was a young teenager and I was Roving Leader for the Department of Recreation and Parks. One of my domains was Cardozo/Shaw and the U Street corridor. Harrison Elementary, Garnett Patterson, Cardozo HS, Harrison Playground and St. Paul & Agustine Parish were hideouts for me.

I found Kids In Trouble, Inc in 1968 shortly after the riots: Out of the ashes came, The Hillcrest Children’s Center Satrday Program.

John Thompson and Officer Friendly at Hillcrest Saturday Program

NFL Films video Redskins’ RB Larry Brown and LB Harold McLinton teach water safety to Hillcrest Saturday Program participants.

In the 70s, 80s and 90s I was blessed to be able to cross the isle and break bread with politicians who really cared about the welfare of our children and senior citizens. They never asked if I was a Republican or Democrat. Today only Steny Hoyer is the only thing close to a brother from another mother.

THIS WAS CONGRESSMAN GLENN IVEY 20 YEARS AGO–YOUTH VIOLENCE IN HIS SPACE IN 2024 AT SUITLAND HIGH SCHOOL. HE WAS MARYLAND STATES ATTORNEY. HE WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND-YOU THINK HE HAS LEARNED?

He is is still trying to figure out the difference between a “Jigaboo and a Bigaboo!”

Summarizing: What Menendez really wanted to say to a CNN reporter when asked, why was it appropriate for him to be admitted to a classified briefing when he has been accused of sharing U. S. classified files with China and he is being indicted for bribery and corruption. His response, “Man, do you know who the F— I am, I am a United States Senator and I can do whatever the F— I want to do.”

“It is best to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Meet New York City Governor, Kathy Hochu.

“Mississippi University being Mississippi-taking care of business”, according Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Ga). This is a photo of a Black protester on the campus being taunted by White on-lookers and students. The young man on the far right is jumping up and down making ape sounds toward the protester. He was suspended by the university and Congressman Rogers apologized.

The White protester pretending to be an ape did not come out of his mother’s womb using the N word, with a AK47 rifle or wearing a KKK robe. The young man’s behavior was taught. “They say what they mean and they mean what they say.”

Black folks have to stop blaming racism and Donald Trump for all the ills of Black America. We are surrounded by racism in the DMV. We have to look no further than Prince Georges County, Maryland. They have been living a lie for decades,“It is not us!” White folks don’t have the copyrights on racism in America. Divide and Conquer is done with a dollar bill. It may be the key to the ballot box in Prince Georges County and that is a sad commentary.

When was the last time Prince Georges County had a white County Executive? Let me count the years: The last was Parris Glendening (1994)-for the past two decades the County Executives have all been Black like me. Are we better off today than we were in 1994? Where is the beef with White folks?

The problem, as soon as we get two dollars and a title in front of our names, we forget, who we are and where we came from.

Trump, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Larry Hogan, David Trone, Mike Rogers, and Kathy Hochu, all they did was remind us who they thought we were, giving the bigots permission to come out of the closet.

Here we are in America in 2024, asking why are black babies dying from gun shots in our streets and why are we still trying to teach our kids to read– you cannot read a bullet. We should be teaching them how to stay alive.

This pretty and precious three-year old Ty’ah Settles was shot and killed in Washington, DC while sitting in a park car in SE. Another three year-old toddler was shot and killed in lakeland, Florida while sitting in a car in March.

Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Teddy Roosevelt persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim National Teachers’ Day in 1953.

This is TEACHERS APPRECIATION WEEK IN AMERICA–it runs from May 6, to Friday May 10, 2024.

As we celebrate Teachers Appreciation Week, we must remember these are not the same teachers of the 50s and 60s and these are definitely not the same children.

“The Teachers are scare of the Principal. The Principal is scare of the Superintendent. The Superintendent is scare of the School Board. The School Board is scare of the Parents. The Parents are scare of the Children, and the Children ain’t scare of nobody.” We have to change this mentality.

In the meantime, our children are still trying to learn to read, write and count, while teachers across the country are still struggling for a fair wage in schools that have become war zones.

In 1978 my high school teammate and childhood friend, Andrew Johnson and I came up with the bright idea we should honor our Spingarn High School Principal, Dr. Purvis Williams, his team of teachers and staff with a “Thank You Luncheon.”

Andrew and I were working in the streets in Shaw/Cardozo. He was a cop and I was Roving Leader for the DC Department of Recreation and Parks (Youth Gang Task Force).

In 1975 Andrew moved from the DC Police Department as an honored and decorated homicide detective to the DEA Task Force. I moved on from the White House to become a sports talk show host, Youth Advocate, Nike shoes Rep, and Budweiser Beer Promotions & Marketing Rep.

The luncheon was a homerun-we knocked it out of the park. Our host was Spingarn track and field star, Bill Lindsey. He was one of the founders of the in-crowd, Foxtrappe night club. He was now the owner of Mingles Restaurant, located at 14th Eye Streets, NW. Everything was first class-thanks to Nike and Budweiser.

Our Heroes: Spingarn Head Basketball Coach, Dr. Rev. William Roundtree-The Chief Operating Police Officer on “The Hill”, Ray Dixon-HBell-Dave Bing and the King of the Hill, Principal Dr. Purvis Williams.

DC’s first Black Mayor, Walter Washington and I pay tribute and say thanks to the legendary Spingarn High School coach, Dave Brown on his retirement.

I often wonder where did we lose our humanity–don’t forget to vote.

I don’t know David Trone, but he recently shown his true colors during a buget hearing regarding tax rates. he used the word, “JIGABOO” a word I consider as distastful as the “N” word. He later claimed he got JIGABOO confused with BUGABOO?

I googled the definition for, JIGABOO, the definition read, “A degrading racial term used to describe black people.”

The definition for“BUGABOO” read, ‘A imaginary monster to frighten children-synonyms: bogeyman, booger, bugbear, a type of monster.’ What is the difference?

Trone later issued a lame written statement to apologize. The statement, “While attempting to use the word ‘Bugaboo’ in a hearing, I use a phrase that is offensive. The word has a long dark terrible history. It should never be used anytime, anywhere, in any conversation. I recognize as a white man, I have priviledge. And as an elected official, I have the responsibility for the words I use–especially in the heat of the moment. Regardless of what I meant to say. I shouldn’t have used that language.”

If you believe that, I have a great real-estate deal for you in New York City–Trump Towers.

The truth of the matter is whether he meant to use BUGABOO or JIGABOO there was no place for either word in the context of the matter of taxes and real-estate he was addressing in the hearing.

I do know he has plenty of money and he is spreading it around in Prince Georges County. He thinks its enough to buy a U. S. Senate Seat! His media ads are running on W-H-U-R Howard University Radio, the ads are are getting more air time than Beyonce’s new country western hits.

The blacks who will give him their blessings in this campaign will be the ones that he has already paid-off.

The Villages where most of us grew up can no longer be found especially in the DMV. Prince Georges County is known as one of the most affluent Black counties in America, but whatever happen to the popular political battle cry, “Make Children First?” It has been replaced with, ‘Make a Dollar First!’

MEET ANTHONY BROWN-AISHA BRAVEBOY AND THE NOTORIOUS JOANNE BENSON. IMFAMOUS POLITICAL PIMPS IN PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY.

THEY HAVE NEVER SEEN A $100 BILL THEY DIDN’T LIKE.

The Line-Up: Anthony Brown was Lt. Governor for two terms under the leadership of Governor Martin O’Malley from 2007-2015. He was known as, “The Invisible Man.” When Black, Hispanic and female officers of the Prince Georges County Police Department made a complaint about racism in the department on his watch. He was nowhere to be found. He saw no evil, spoke no evil and heard no evil.

When I called and wrote his office about the poorly run nursing home facilities in Prince Georges County, I got the same run around and same non-response he gave the Prince Georges County police officers.

Today, he claims, “The American legal system is facing a crisis of trust in communities around the country, with people of all races and across the political spectrum.

He said, attention to long standing discrepancies in the administration of justice. For others, criticism of perceived conflicts of interest in the judiciary, as well as on the attacks on the integrity cast by former President Donald Trump and others on the independence of judges and law enforcement, have further damaged faith in the rule of law among broad swaths of the public.”

It is statements like these that make you wonder what “Rabbit Hole” has he been living in for the past several decades.

Braveboy is a newbee to the political circus and charade in Prince Georges County. Her ego and personality has raised eyebrows in the county. Many see her using her office as a “Bully Pulpit.”

There is the rumor that Joanne Benson recently reached out to Trone asking him for $10,000 to bury her sister–other than churches, Black Funeral Homes have been the most Philanthropist Institutions in the black community for as long as I can remember, Hortons’, Jenkins and Frazier Funeral homes have been among the leaders in reaching back to black families when there was a need for home-going services for loved ones. I think anyone of them would have reached back to help her.

I never thought I would see Black America in the chaos it now finds itself in 2024–its more like 1924. The plight of Black America cannot get any worst than it is. Racism has become the norm, truth, integrity and honesty in the Black Community has become a lost art.

CONGRESSMAN STENY HOYER AND ANGELA ALSOBROOKS ARE THE PRIDE OF MARYLAND POLITICS

I remember, I asked a young brother that grew up in my Parkside Housing project NE DC, what was next for him after serving 10 years in prison for bank robbery? He didn’t miss a beat, his response, “I am going to run for office or become a preacher.”

I looked at him in disbelief, without cracking a smile, he said, “I am never again going to put a gun in my hand to rob anyone. I can get a license to steal as a politician and preacher. He chose political office.

Many politicians and preachers in the DMV have followed my friend’s belief (not all), “You don’t need a gun to rob and steal when you become a politician or preacher.”

My DNA can found in Mount Airy Baptist Church in NW DC. The church was built in 1893 and my Great-Grandfather, Rev. A. J. Tyler laid the first brick to build the church. I received a Presidential Appointment from Richard M. Nixon in 1969. Despite my pedigree, I never longed to be a preacher or politician.

My goal was to be a better athlete and a better human being. I think the better human being won.

AMERICAN HISTORY: ANGELA ALSOBROOKS AND STENY HOYER GOT IT RIGHT IN 2024!

I have worked with youth gangs and at-risk children from Barry Farms in SE DC, to Homer Avenue in Suitland, Maryland, to Charles Houston Rec Center in Alexandria, Virginia. My credentials, character and commitment have never been challenged–only whispered by the naysayers and backstabbers.

My Presidential appointment allowed me to cross the ailse on Capitol Hill. I broke bread with Black and White politicians who never asked, “If I was a Republican or Democrat.” Some were aledged racist and others were alledged Black Power Advocates. The common denominator–they put Children First.

For the love money you have politicians and preachers voting for David Trone and not someone who has walked the same path and sometimes in their shoes.

Angela Alsobrooks is flawed like most human beings, and I don’t agree with her all of the time. I never agreed with my coaches or my wife all of the time!

The thing I do know is her pedigree. When the going gets tough and it will get tough when she becomes our Senator, she has to look no further than her parents, who both “Have been there and done that.”

In closing, let me remind you of the Black NFL Players who didn’t take a knee with QB Colin Kapernick. They missed a MAJOR-MAJOR opportunity to make the NFL an EVEN PLAYING FIELD. They allowed the 1% to use the dollar bill to divide and conquer the whole. The Black Players wasted and opportunity they will never see again–control of their destiny. Black voters are headed in that same direction, if they vote Trone. You will have Trone or Larry Hogan–they are both one of a kind.

It is a “DEAD END STREET” if you vote for David Trone and not your your ‘Next Door Neighbor.’ A JIGABOO or BUGABOO could never be a next door neighbor to Trone.

The Mayor of Dolton, Illinois, Tiffany Henyard, is currently under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for alleged misuse of her authority.

My friend and mentor, Luke Moore and I are hanging out with his homeboy, Chief Judge Gene Hamilton.

Luke and I are at the Foxtrappe Club in DC hanging out with Roy Jefferson (NFL), Judges, Ted Newman and Henry Kennedy at one of my annual Christmas toy parties for elementary school children.

Many Americans are familiar with the now iconic images of James Meredith, the black student who desegregated the University of Mississippi in October 1962, surrounded by white U.S. marshals assigned to protect him and ensure that a U.S. Supreme Court desegregation order be enforced.  Few of us are aware of the critical role that U.S. Marshal Luke Moore and other black Deputy U.S. Marshals played in that episode.  The first-time historian, author, and former U.S. Marshal, Robert Moore discusses the role of the black marshals in his new book, The Presidents’ Men: Black U.S. Marshals.  Robert Moore (no relation to Luke Moore) describes that role below.

When James Meredith sought to legally become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), the duty of upholding the federal law, that would allow him to do so, fell upon the shoulders of United States marshals and deputy U.S. marshals who risked their lives to make his dream a reality.  Meredith, a U.S. Army veteran and native of Mississippi, had been dissatisfied with race relations in the South and in a calculated move, applied for admission to Ole Miss.  The university, repeatedly citing administrative technicalities, refused his application numerous times over a twenty-one-month period between January 1961 and October 1, 1962.

The continued rejection of his application prompted Meredith to write to Thurgood Marshall, then head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund.  Impressed by Meredith’s determination to integrate Ole Miss, Marshall and the Legal Defense Fund attorneys, filed a lawsuit on his behalf on May 31, 1961.  The case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court which decided on Monday, September 10, 1962, that he should be admitted.  

Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett, an ardent segregationist, vowed to block his admission despite the Supreme Court ruling, and in a statewide television broadcast, called that effort “our greatest crisis since the War Between the States.”  He then added, “Schools will not be integrated while I am your governor.”  Attorney General Robert Kennedy would later call the confrontation the last battle of the Civil War.”  

Barnett’s defiant stand now set up a major challenge to President John F. Kennedy who was required to uphold the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.  The President sent deputy U.S. marshals to Oxford, Mississippi, the locale of Ole Miss, to ensure that Meredith was safely enrolled and protected until he graduated.  After three attempts by Chief U.S. Marshal J.P. McShane, who led a small contingent of marshals to enroll Meredith, were blocked by Mississippi politicians and state troopers, President Kennedy ordered a much larger group of deputy U.S. marshals, a 127-man contingent, to carry out the court order and to protect Meredith. 

These U. S. Marshalls are seen escorting James Meredith to class at the University of Mississippi

After Meredith successfully enrolled on October 1, this larger contingent was supervised by U.S. Marshal Luke Moore.

Luke Charles Moore was born in Collinsville, Illinois on February 25, 1924, but resided in Memphis, Tennessee where he attended local public schools and entered Lemoyne College in 1942.  His college career was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943.  Moore was assigned to the 92nd Infantry (Buffalo) Division and saw combat in Italy in 1944 and 1945.  After his discharge from the Army in 1946, Moore enrolled in Howard University and graduated with honors in 1949.  In 1950 he entered Georgetown University Law School and graduated near the top of his class in 1954.

Moore was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1955 and joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Cobb, Howard & Hayes where he remained until 1959 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  In 1962, President Kennedy appointed Moore Chief United States Marshal for the District of Columbia.   With that appointment, Moore became the first African American to serve as Chief Marshal in any Federal District since President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed Frederick Douglass as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia in 1877.  Moore’s appointment came just months before the Ole Miss Crisis.

Under orders from President Kennedy, over 300 U.S. Border Patrol agents were made special deputies, bringing the total number of federal law enforcement officials to 538.  They were soon tested.  On October 1, ten days after his admission was first blocked by Mississippi officials, Meredith finally became a student at Ole Miss.  Later that day rioting broke out on the Ole Miss campus.  The marshals and federal troops were called up to restore order.  By the time the violence ended two men were killed including a French journalist and 28 deputy marshals were wounded by gunfire.  

Following the initial confrontation, Marshal Luke Moore worked directly under Chief Marshal McShane and U, S Attorney General Robert Kennedy, supervising, coordinating, and monitoring the U.S. Marshal’s activity in Oxford.  In his supervisory capacity, Moore traveled to Oxford on numerous occasions although few knew of his role and his visits at the time.  

Moore was not the only African American Marshal involved in the Ole Miss integration.  Black deputy U.S. marshals were not allowed to participate in the initial integration confrontation but soon afterward they became a regular part of the Meredith security detail.  The Kennedy Administration did not send these marshals in September and October 1962, fearing that their presence would further inflame the crowds opposed to the integration of Ole Miss.  In this regard, the Kennedy Administration was following a precedent established by President Eisenhower during the 1957 Little Rock Crisis, when he called out the 101st Airborne to the city to enforce a desegregation order and protect the nine black high school students designated to integrate the school.   Eisenhower ordered that only white soldiers of the unit be sent to Little Rock.

Once Meredith was enrolled, however, African American marshals were assigned to his security detail at Ole Miss.  Eight of these marshals, Richard Kirk Bowden, James Palmer, Howard Riley, Oscar Spearman, Joseph Robinson, Cleveland Braxton, Frank Lamondue, and Braxton Harris, all rotated in and out of Oxford and Jackson along with a much larger contingent of white U.S. deputy marshals in October, November, and December 1962.  Initially, even these federal law enforcement officers were subject to Mississippi segregation.  When they were in Oxford, they were housed by local black beauticians Thelma Boone Price and Cecilia Nelson, who were active in the civil rights movement. By Christmas, 1962, they were accommodated, along with white deputy marshals at the Oxford Holiday Inn.

Luke Moore remained Chief U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia after President Kennedy’s assassination and through the administration of his successor, President Lyndon Baines Johnson.  In 1969 Moore was reappointed to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C.  Three years later President Richard Nixon appointed Moore Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.  Judge Moore remained on the bench until his retirement in 1987.  

Judge Luke Charles Moore died in Atlanta, Georgia on December 18, 1994.  He was 70.

THE GREENSBORO 4-IMMORTALIZED ON THE CAMPUS OF NORTH CAROLINA A & T (1960). TWO SURVIVORS.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE STUDENTS BRUTALLY MURDERED BY STATE TROOPERS (1968)

GEORGE McGINNIS-NBA / FIRST PRO ATHLETE TO PROMO INSIDE SPORTS ON THE RADIO.

MELVIN LINDSEY “THE ORIGINAL QUIET STORM” AND TV 4 ANCHOR JIM VANCE CO-HOST A KIDS IN TROUBLE TOY PARTY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN AT THE GRAND HYATT IN DOWNTOWN DC.

EMANUEL STEWARD-BOXING TRAINER OF CHAMPIONS-A PRINCE AMONG THEIVES.

CORA “PEACHES” BROWN

HAROLD BURKE-NATIVE WASHINGTONIAN / PRODUCER & PR FOR KIT-GONE TOO SOON.

DR FRANCES CRESS WELSING-CLINICAL PSYCHIATRIST AND GRADUATE OF HOWARD UNIVERSITY. EXPERT ON RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA.

MENTOR-SENATOR DECATUR TROTTER (MD-5th DISTRICT). HE KNEW HOW TO REACH BACK.

DARYI PENNINGTON-CONSTITUENT SERVICES REP FOR CONGRESSMAN STENY HOYER (D-MD)

ROYAL HEIGHT DC NATIVE / DOP WOP AND GOSPEL LEGEND. HE GAVE MORE THAN HE RECEIVED.

DAVE HARRIS (SCORED WINNG TD IN 1954 FIRST DC HIGH SCHOOL INTEGRATED ALL-STAR GAME)

WILLIAM WALKER NATIVE WASHINGTONIAN-KIT YOUTH ADVOCATE-PRODUCER “THE CHOSEN ONE”

DICK HELLER-WASHINGTON TIMES LEGENDARY SPORTS COLUMNIST-TRULY COLOR BLIND.

JOHN CHANEY-TEMPLE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL COACH

MENTOR-JAMES DUDLEY-WAS A CATCHER IN THE NEGROE BASEBALL LEAGUE. HE WAS A PIONEER. FIRST BLACK PROMOTER FOR A MAJOR ARENA IN THE U. S.-TURNERS ARENA HOME OF WWE IN DC.

NBA JIM “BAD NEWS” BARNES AND THE GREAT NFL ALL-PRO CORNERBACK JOHNNY SAMPLE.

WAYNE DAVIS-FBI PIONEER. FIRST BLACK DIRECTOR IN-CHARGE OF THE DETROIT OFFICE OF THE FBI.

THE CHIEF-NFL

RICHARD JONES-AVIATION PIONEER. ONE OF THE FIRST BLACK AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS

EARL TILDON-EDUCATOR-FRIEND-POET

MAURY WILLS- MLB / “THE ART OF THE STEAL” HE REVOLUTIONIZED THE GAME IN THE 60s & 70s.

DOTIE & RED AUERBACH-FRIENDS & MENTORS

K. C. JONES-NBA / ONE OF THE NICEST AND KINDEST BROTHERS I HAVE EVER KNOWN.

SAM JONES-NBA / A LOYAL FRIEND AND MAN OF HIS WORD.

DC SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE LUKE C. MOORE / FIRST MODERN DAY U. S. MARSHALL-IN-CHARGE

WILLIE WOOD-NFL / HOMEBOY AND FRIEND. HE KNEW HOW TO SAY “THANK YOU.”

EARL LLOYD-NBA PIONEER. ”THANK YOU” WAS NOT IN HIS VOCUBULARY.

RED AUERBACH & BOSTON CELTICS’ OWNER WALTER BROWN. THE ARCHITECTS OF NBA EQUAL OPPORTUNITY ACROSS THE BOARD.

JIM BROWN-NFL / THE GREATEST PLAYER IN PRO FOOTBALL HISTORY.

DC ELGIN BAYLOR-NBA / IN MY TOP 5 GREATEST PLAYERS OF ALL-TIME. 

GRAMBLING COACH EDDIE ROBINSON. HE WAS A CLASS ACT-AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN.

MY COACH CLARENCE GAINES-AT WINSTON-SALEM STATE THEY CALLED HIM “BIGHOUSE”

HANK AARON-MLB HOMERUN KING. HE WAS A QUIET MAN BUT CARRIED A BIG STICK. HE CALLED A SPADE A SPADE.

WILT CHAMBERLAIN-NBA / I HAVE SEEN ALL THE GREATS SINCE THE 50s. THE ORIGINAL G-O-A-T.

“THE GREATEST”

DAVE HARRIS-KANSAS UNIVERSITY RUNNING BACK

He grew up in NW DC and attended Cardozo High School. Dave, excelled in football, and track. All-Met in both sports. His coach and mentor was the great, Sal Hall.

In 1954 he was named to the first integrated high school All-Star Football Team to be played at the iconic Griffith Stadium, the home of the Washington Senators baseball team and the Negro Baseball League.

This was a big game in my Parkside NE housing project. My neighbor, Thomas ‘Shorty’ Sumlin was playing in the game. Shorty lived directly across the alley from me. I lived on Kenilworth Terrace and he lived on Kenilworth Avenue in NE.

Shorty was a senior at Phelps Vocation High School and I was attending Brown Middle School located on the same 24th street corridor. There were many mornings we would ride the bus together to 24th and Benning Road NE. He was the Law and Order guy when things got out of hand on the bus. Shorty was like my big brother. 

The stretch of 24th and Benning Road NE would begin with Langston Golf Course, Spingarn High School, Charles Young Elementary, Phelps Vocation High School, and last but not lease, Brown Middle School.

Brown was located at the very end of the 24th street corridor. It was the best kept secret in the country and the most unique parcel of education landscape in the United States. We called it, “Education Hill.” Gentrification has since made ‘The Hill’ almost a ghost town. 

Those schools in the near future will eventually become town homes, the golf course will become a country club and the Anacostia River will house the boats and yachts of the rich and powerful. 

The river will be use for their nights out to the MGM Casino to gamble, have dinner in Prince Georges County, Maryland and back home via the Anacostia River to the Golf Course to park their boats.

All the schools are in a 5 minute walk of each other. My friends and teammates living in Langston Terrace, like Andrew Johnson, Irving Brown John ‘Turk’ Edwards, and Teddy Atcherson never had to leave the neighborhood to complete their education until college.

Some evenings after school I would watch the Phelps football team practice and other evenings, I was watching Spingarn two minutes away.  I loved football and I was caught in middle of the two schools. 

My pick was usually the Spingarn practice. My hero was Spingarn running back, George Carlos Williams. He use to let me carry his helmet back to the school after practice.

He was selected to play in the high school All-Star Game along with teammate, Olin Robinson. Shorty and Peasy Jordan of Phelps were also named. 

THE LEGENDS OF THE INTER-HIGH / STANDING TALL THIRD FROM THE LEFT-DAVE HARRIS.

Shorty and Peasy were were offensive linemen and George was one of the great running backs selected along with Dan Droze from Anacostia High School. Dave Harris was selected, he had speed to burn.

I could not wait to see this game between the Catholic Schools and the DC Public Schools. It was the talk of the town and it was history making. 

What made this game so special, it was all an all white undefeated St. John’s High School against a diverse group of black and white All-Stars from the DC Public Schools. The DC Public School team was the underdogs (no surprise).

I remember sitting on the doorssteps of the elders in Parkside late in the evenings and listening to them describe the trials and tribulations of the great black athletes including, Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, and Jackie Robinson. 

To me this game was similar to the trials and tribulations of those black athletes. Especially, Heavyweight Champion, Joe Louis and his two encounters with Germany’s Max Schmeling.

To my surprise my mother benched me for the game. The reason, I was late getting home to watch my little brothers. I made her miss her hair appointment. I held that against my brothers Billy, and Earl for years. I missed the game of the ages.

The DC All-Stars upset the undefeated Catholic All-Stars 12-7. Cardozo’s All-Met end, Dave Harris caught the winning touchdown pass from Anacostia’s tailback, Dan Droze-never to be heard from again.

Dan returned to the white side of Anacostia and Dave returned to the black side of Cardozo–business as usual.

I would meet Dave several years later at the Florida Avenue Grill. The grill was a popular soul food restaurant, located at corner of 11th street and Florida Avenue NW, across the street from his alma mater.  

He was coming out of the restaurant with his former All-Star teammate, Willie Wood attended Armstrong High School. I was with my older brother Bobby. He was Willie’s baseball teammate at Armstrong.

Bobby introduced me to Willie and Dave. Dave had already enrolled at Kansas and Willie had decided to go the junior college route in California.  My brother was now a student/athlete at Maryland State in Princess Ann, Maryland.

In 1957 I was in my junior year at Spingarn and making a name for myself as an all-around athlete. 

I look back now and I say, “What a coincident”, in 1955 Spingarn would meet Armstrong at Cardozo Stadium for the DC Public High School East Division Championship. The Armstrong quarterback, was the great Willie Wood.

If you think the DC Public High School All-Stars beating the undefeated St. John’s team 12-7 was an upset–I have some news for you. 

In 1955 Spingarn was the underdog big time, all because of the great Willie Wood. He was considered to be the best high school football player in the city. 

Spingarn upset Armstrong 13-7, almost the identical score of the first ever integrated high school All-Star game played in Griffith Stadium in 1954.

I remember going into the 4th quarter, we were trailing Armstrong 7-6 in the closing minutes. All hell broke loose when Willie turned to pitch out to his running back moving to his left. Our outside linebacker, Maurice ‘Smack’ Lucas picked off the ball and went the other way for the winning touchdown 13-7. 

Almost the identical score of the All-Star Game. This was one game I did not miss. I had a front row seat on the Spingarn bench. 

I was about 5’6 inches end weighting about 140 pounds with bricks under my shoulder pads. I never got off the bench–still it was the defining game of my high school football career.

This is ironic, guess who would be our opponent for the championship of the DC Public Schools–would you believe Cardozo at Griffith Stadium?

We had talent galore–it was a defensive struggle. The game ended in a 0-0 tie. Cardozo won the right to meet guess who-St. John’s in the city championship game.

There was a ruling on the books that stated, “If a play-off game ends in a tie, the Penetration Rule is used to determine the winner. The team that crosses the others’ 50 yard line more times than its opponent is declared the winner.” Cardozo won 2-1.

Willie Wood and I became great friends later, I never reminded him I was on that Spingarn team. I heard him in an interview with TV 9 sportscaster, Warner Wolf, he asked Willie about his high school playing days in DC, his response, “That Spingarn game still hurts.”

In 1957 I was pissing teammates and coaches off with my selfish, “Give me the ball attitude.” I wanted the ball when the game was on the line. I never thought of it as selfish-I just hated losing.

The Spingarn quarterback for that big win over Armstrong was, Donald ‘Duck’ Wills. We became the TD combination in 1957 despite my, “Give me the ball attitude.”

Willie Wood was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1989 after an outstanding 12 year NFL career. As a player he won several Super Bowls. He was named to the All-Pro team 9 times and played for the great Vince Lombardi. 

Lombardi said, “Willie Wood was my coach on the field.” Willie died in February 2021 in his hometown of Washington, DC.

Maurice ‘Smack’ Lucas died in Hawaii in 2023. It was his home for the past several decades.

It has often been said, “Death takes no holidays.” On Tuesday morning I received a call from my long time friend, Lester Lewis with some sad news, my friend and hero, Dave Harris had died.

Dave and Dan would make football sports history that will never be forgotten.

Dave Harris and Dan Droze meet face to face for the first time since the Griffith Stadium All-Star Game in 1954. The occasion-Inside Sports Black History Month. They are truly an important part of American History.

DC All-Star, Dan Droze and I would become friends and teammates on the Virginia Sailors, a minor league football team for the Washington Redskins. 

The Virginia Sailors: We are celebrating “We are the Champions” in Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Dan Droze is on the back wall center. He is the guy that looks like he has no hair.

The late Senator Decatur Trotter (D-MD 5th District) honor young men of distinction during a Kids In Trouble tribute. In the background are my support team, the sons of Dave and Teresa Harris.

The interview with Dave opens with McKenna a writer for the Grantland.com blog describes Wilt Chamberlain’s new car, a blood red Oldsmobile convertible on the campus of Kansas University:

“Chamberlain had just gotten the flashy car, at the finish of his sophomore year at Kansas and his first as a varsity basketball player — the NCAA didn’t allow Division One freshmen to play at the time.

Chamberlain pulled into D.C over Memorial Day weekend in 1957 behind the wheel of a red-and-white Oldsmobile convertible with his roommate and DC native Dave Harris with the top down.

NOT TRUE: DAVE HARRIS DID ALL THE DRIVING IN DC–WILT WOULD HAVE NEVER GIVEN ME THE KEYS TO PARK THE CAR-THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME MEETING WILT.

“Dave Harris, grew up in D.C. and was a revered athlete back home. He’d been a football star at all-black Cardozo High School, and had gotten attention for being on the receiving end of the first integrated touchdown pass in the history of D.C. high school football. That came at Griffith Stadium on December 5, 1954, in the waning minutes of a game matching an all-star team made up of players from the city’s all-white or all-black public high schools against the all-white powerhouse squad from St. John’s College High School, a private prep. Along with its historical significance, Harris’s touchdown catch, on a pass thrown by quarterback Danny Droze of all-white Anacostia High, gave the integrated squad a 12-7 upset win over the previously undefeated Johnnies.

Harris earned a football scholarship to Kansas, and met Chamberlain during their freshman year in Carruth-O’Leary Hall, a dorm where a lot of Jayhawks athletes resided. They also lived together as sophomores in the Kappa Alpha Si house. Harris made the trip to Kansas City to cheer on his frat brother during the KU-UNC title matchup, and saw the emotional funk the loss put Chamberlain in. After his last exam for the spring semester, Chamberlain told Harris he didn’t want to leave his fancy car on campus over the summer so he’d be driving back to Philly and could use a companion.

Harris went along for the ride.

We all now take the Interstate Highway System for granted, but the ribbon cutting to open up the very first stretch of federal pavement, a section of I-70 in Kansas, had been held in November 1956. With the new thoroughfare, Chamberlain and Harris planned on making the 1,115-mile trip to D.C. straight through.

Funny noises started coming from under the hood just outside Indianapolis, on the weekend the town was hosting the Indy 500.

“So we coasted into this gas station in Indianapolis, and Wilt gets out of the car,” recalls Harris, now 75 and living in D.C. “A guy comes out of the garage and says, ‘Goddamn! Wilt the stilt!’ And he’s yelling at people in the shop, ‘Get Wilt’s car right up on the rack!’ And they fixed it right there, something with the carburetor, and the guy says, ‘Wilt, this is on us! Keep on going!’ I said, ‘Wilt, they know you everywhere you go!’ Wilt hated being called ‘Wilt the Stilt.’ Hated it. But he liked being taken care of like that.”

When they got back on the road, and started talking about their plans for the summer, Chamberlain confessed he had some downtime. Harris suggested Chamberlain stay a few weeks in D.C. at his family’s home. And he made Chamberlain an offer he knew his buddy couldn’t refuse.

“I said, ‘You know, Elgin Baylor’s going to be around,’” Harris says.

Wilt didn’t know Baylor personally. Baylor now recalls only meeting Chamberlain once before their playground matchup, at a brief gathering of top college players in New York put together by Look magazine for the March 24, 1957, broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show.

But Chamberlain, like all serious ballplayers, knew a lot about Baylor by then. Baylor had just finished his redshirt sophomore season playing for Seattle University, and was the only player in the country to put up better overall numbers than Chamberlain. Baylor finished fourth in the NCAA scoring race, with 29.7 points per game to Wilt’s 29.6. And Baylor led the nation in rebounding percentage, regarded as a major basketball stat at the time, hauling in .235 of the total rebounds taken by both teams in all his games; Chamberlain’s .227 was good for fourth place.

Baylor’s college season, like Chamberlain’s, ended with March sadness. Seattle, which was viewed to be as much a one-man gang as Kansas, was ranked fifth in the country at the end of the regular season, but bypassed the NCAA tournament to accept a bid from the then-esteemed National Invitation Tournament. In the days leading up to the New York–based event, Baylor got more coverage from the mainstream press than he’d ever gotten. Bob Feerick, coach of Santa Clara, told the New York Daily News that Baylor was “absolutely the greatest, the best I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve seen Chamberlain and [Columbia All-American Chet] Forte and [West Virginia All-American Rod] Hundley and most of the other hot shots,” Feerick said in the NIT preview piece. “Wrap ’em all up in one, and I’ll still take Baylor.”

But despite being the top seed in the NIT and getting a first-round bye, the Chieftains got blown out in their first game by St. Bonaventure.

Harris, being a football guy, only knew Baylor by reputation. But, especially after the NIT loss, he had a hunch where Baylor could be found: On the courts at Kelly Miller Junior High in Northeast D.C., which at the time was the hottest spot for basketball players in the city.

“I told Wilt we could set up some games,” Harris says.

Wilt agreed to stay. Baylor was the draw. Chamberlain wouldn’t go home to Philadelphia until two weeks later, Harris says. He came back to D.C. after a few days at home and spent “about 10 more days” as Harris’s guest, playing Baylor on the playgrounds day after day.

To that point in basketball history, there were only two cities with pickup basketball scenes with any reputation: Philadelphia, which stocked the historically robust Fab Five college programs, and New York, which produced talent for colleges across the country — all five starters on the North Carolina team that had just beat Kansas came off New York’s courts.

Chamberlain’s decision to forego Philly and Haddington Rec Center to spend so much of his break lacing up his Converse high-tops on D.C. playgrounds was a huge stamp of approval for the ball being played in the nation’s capital. And for Baylor.

“In the summer of 1957, Wilt Chamberlain came to Washington, D.C., on the promise he’d get to play Elgin Baylor on the playground.

A few hours after Dave Harris and Chamberlain hit D.C., the shiny Olds, with its top down, pulled over on 49th Street NE, beneath the fenced-in court on the hill at Kelly Miller playground. Baylor was already there.

KELLY MILLER DID NOT SIT ON A HILL / IT SAT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS 49TH STREET!

And they played. Over several weeks, Chamberlain, a Philadelphia kid and the first 7-footer who mattered, scrimmaged Baylor on his home blacktop, just as the local phenom was introducing playground flair to the hoops realm. Chamberlain would return to D.C. a year later for an encore of their pickup games, shortly after which both he and Baylor would turn pro and put up numbers that will be drooled over for as long as the game is played — 61,798 points, 41,024 rebounds, and 24 NBA All-Star Game appearances between them.

But, before any of that, there was this street ball series for the ages.

Chamberlain and Baylor went at it in five-on-five encounters on various D.C. playgrounds around town. The city’s top young black ballplayers played alongside the headliners, making for an ungodly assemblage of future NBA first-round picks, NCAA tournament MVPs, and Hall of Famers. Flash mobs created entirely via analog social media appeared wherever Chamberlain and Baylor played.

NOT TRUE: THERE WAS NO STREET BALL SERIES AND THE ONLY PRO SPORTS HOPEFULS AND POTENTIAL HALL OF FAME PLAYERS ON THE BASKETBALL COURT THAT DAY WAS WILLIE JONES AND WILLIE WOOD. THERE WAS NOTHING RESEMBLING A FLASH MOB!

“It was people hanging on the fences, on the rooftops, everybody there to watch Elgin and Wilt,” says Ernie Dunston, who in 1957 was a sophomore at Spingarn High School, and who would later follow fellow Spingarn alum Baylor to Seattle University.

TRUE: ERNIE DUNSTON WAS A SOPHOMORE AT SPINGARN AND PLAYED ON THE JAY-VEE TEAM. SPINGARN VARSITY BASKETBALL AND KELLY MILLER PLAYGROUND WERE MY DOMAINS. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO CLAIM THEY WERE IN ATTENDANCE AND HUNDREDS CLAIM THEY PLAYED IN THE GAME-I WAS ON THE SIDELINE WHERE I BELONGED! 

No newspapers reported on these Eisenhower-era faceoffs. No movies or photos of the action are known to exist, and, obviously, no box scores of their pickup games were ever kept.

Baylor was as careless a caretaker of his legend as he’s ever been. What should be a fantastical chapter of basketball lore has never gotten any attention from anybody other than the now sixty- and seventy somethings who had a hand in it. And, if left up to Baylor, the games would remain in obscurity.

THE TRUTH BE TOLD ELGIN AND WILT WOULD HAVE PREFERRED PLAYING IN A GYM WITH DAVE AS THE ONLY SPECTATOR.

THE REAL NB G-O-A-T-S

DAVE HARRIS, ELGIN BAYLOR-WILT CHAMBERLAIN-WILLIE WOOD AND MAURY WILLS TOGETHER AGAIN-THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES!