“Ray Leonard, Jr.: “I Am Not My Father!”

By Harold Bell – HB Sports Legends

In the 1980’s Sugar Ray Leonard, Jr., also known as “Little Ray” was the cute little kid appearing in soft drink commercials with his father and boxing rival Roberto Duran and his son. 

It is now 2011 and “Little Ray” is all grown up and speaking out as Ray Leonard, Jr.

In the meantime Sugar Ray Leonard, Sr., shows up in his hometown of Washington, DC to promote his new book titled, “Sugar Ray Leonard: The Big Fight in and out of the Ring.”

Sugar Ray Leonard kicked off the tour in New York City and then moved on to the ESPN studios in Bristol, Conn. where all of his charm was on display.

Ray Sr. was first seen earlier in the studio giving dance lessons to one of the ESPN female reporters.  During the interview with a different female reporter there was little or no conversation about the book. The interviewer touched briefly on the sexual abuse issue.

The 10 minute interview was spent talking about his performance on “Dancing with the Stars” and if the eventual winner of the contest Pittsburg Steelers’ WR Hines Ward and whether Ward could beat him in a street fight!

When he made it to DC the media cheerleaders were in rare form.  The first stop was the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Radio Show.

When I listen to morning talk radio (rarely) I listen to The Tom Joyner Show.  I try not to ever miss the Huggy Bear segments of the show.  Huggy can usually start my day with a smile.

I have been honored on the show during Black History Month as a “Little Known Black History Fact” and there was a story written on my community exploits.  But there is talk in the black community that Tom and his crew take the black community as a joke and seldom discuss the issues that are important to them, everything is always a joke!

The departure of Tavis Smiley caused many listeners to think of him as a selfish ego tripping personality that took him self too serious.  That school of thought has since changed.

I made sure I e-mailed Tom my blog on Sugar Ray Leonard and the lies Ray has been living throughout his boxing career.  He continues to live those same lies in and out of the ring.  http://hbsportslegends.com/?p=1716

This was the opportunity to prove whether Harold Bell was a liar or was Sugar Ray Leonard perpetrating a fraud!

Tom starts the interview by asking “Ray why did you put in the book the part about the sexual molestation by one of your boxing trainers?  I could have lived with just knowing of your success as a boxer!”

The response was pure B. S.  Ray claimed he didn’t fight the sexual advances off because one of the perpetrators was giving him money and the other held his Olympic future in his hands.  His response proved he was involved in homosexual acts before the 1976 Olympics.  Tom never pressed the issue of who the perpetrators were!

A good reporter or interviewer would have to know or should have known there were more than two trainers/ boxing coaches involved in Sugar Ray Leonard’s early career.  Ray’s cop-out by not naming the perpetrators leaves his other coaches/trainers with question marks as it relates to their sexual preference!

There are those who were in the inner-circle who remember one of Ray’s trainer/coach picking him up late at night and they would go for long rides not to return until the wee hours of the morning??

The two trainers/coaches Pappy Gault (House of Champions) and Jim Merritt (Hillcrest Boxing Club) are both dead.

Tom Joyner asked Ray to respond to Atlanta Pastor Eddie Long’s homosexual charade, he paused and said “No comment.”  I thought he was going to apologize for asking the question.

Tom sheepishly replied, ‘okay’ and moved on to the next non-enlightening question, ‘How is little Ray?’

Ray: “little Ray is 37 years old and has given me 4 grandchildren. He is a sharp and smart young man and doing real well.”

Tom: What about Juanita?

Ray: Tom this book has given me the opportunity to make amends and apologize to her because I was not a good husband or a good father (talking about an understatement).

Tom: What is happening with your boxing promotions?

Ray: It is on the back burner for the time being but I am going to get back into it and I am thinking about bringing you in!

Tom: I am ready lets do it, Ray Leonard’s new book it is in the stores!

Sad commentary, but that is par for black news in the black community.  It is either one or two things, you are either getting it a week late or when you get it LIVE it is filtered.  Sounds all too familiar!

Next stop is Fox 5 Morning News and they open up the Ray Leonard segment with him dancing with the female reporter who just happens to be doing the interview.

Ray puts his foot in his mouth several times, once he claims he didn’t have a girlfriend until he was 20 years old but the fact remains that Little Ray was born when he was 17!  What was Juanita lunch meat?

It gets worst at W-U-S-A TV 9 where the interviewer is sports anchor Bret Haber who is so infatuated with Ray I thought he was going to lean over and kiss him.  He is definitely no Warner Wolf or Glenn Brenner!

The weatherman Topper Shutt was heard on set saying, “I wanted to ask Ray to sit in for me but I was scared he might be too good.”  The only thing missing from the set was anchorman Derrick McGenty wearing a short skirt and waving pom-poms.

Ray was last seen at a book store on Connecticut Ave NW it was here the Usual Suspects showed up to pay homage and kiss his ring.  Boxing/trainer Janks Morton was the first in line followed by his two brothers, Kenny and Roger and long time friend Claude Boger.

Missing in action were Team Leonard members, Dave Jacobs, Irving Millard and Julius “Juice” Gathling.

The young child whose picture Sugar Ray Leonard worn on his socks in the 1976 Olympics is now a 37 year old independent young man raising a family of his own.

On Wednesday June 8, 2011 Ray Leonard Jr. read my blog account of his mother Juanita and he allegedly pulling a gun on his father and this was his response:

“I have never pulled a gun on my father.  I am a great father and husband to my wife and I have not followed the same path.  Please do not slander my name by saying something that is far from the truth.

Thanks,

Ray Jr.

My follow-up response / Wednesday June 8, 2011

Dear Ray Jr.,

I am happy to know that you did not pull a gun on your father and you have not traveled in his path of self-destruction.

It was also great to hear that unlike Sugar Ray Leonard Sr., Sugar Ray Leonard Jr., is a great father to his children and a great husband to his wife.

The pulled gun story came from a family member who should have known.  I will not ID that person because to exasperate another problem in the family serves no purpose.

A son should not be blamed for the ill-will that was perpetrated by his father!  I promise to drop the gun story line upon any further oral or written conversation as it relates to you and your father.

I know first-hand the uneasy feeling of seeing your name in print (Sporting News, Washington Star, Washington Post and LA Times newspapers) and being accused of something that was never said or acted upon.

Your father’s bogus book gave me an opportunity to re-visit those lies that were planted by him and Mike Trainer and read around the World.

It cuts deep when the one telling the lie is the one who turned to you when he could not turn to anyone else.

Janks Morton, Dave Jacobs and Ollie Dunlop didn’t have a clue on how to help him in 1976 and Mike Trainer and Charlie Brotman where nowhere to be found.

Ray Jr., when you tell one lie it leads to another and another lie.  A LIE will change a thousand times but the TRUTH never changes.  Your father has told so many lies he has no idea where one lie ends and the truth begins.

The next time you talk with your father face to face ask him “Did Harold Bell ever ask you for a job or for money during your pro career?”

It was your father who called me on my radio talk show “Inside Sports” in December 1979 after he had won the Welterweight Championship of the World by beating Wilfred Benitez.  He said, “Harold I am the Welterweight Champion of the World today because you were there when no one else was.”

When I took your father under my wing as his mentor in 1976 he was a “Kid in trouble.”  He didn’t have two-dollars or a pocket to piss in or a window to throw out!

It was HAROLD BELL who kept hope alive and jump-started his professional career but according to his book I never existed.

Today your father is considered to be of the greatest boxers of all-time, according to Mike Trainer he has earned over 100 million dollars but that does not count what Trainer took to the bank.  Ray is now a member of the Boxing Hall of Fame.

My question to you and your father—where is the beef?

Ray Jr. I am hoping that when you decide to write the book to clear your name, suggested title “Sugar Ray Leonard, Jr. I am not my father.”  It is either that or change your name.  Peace of mind is not for sale!

In closing, I thank you for wanting to set the record straight.  I wish you nothing but the best in your endeavors and may God continue to bless you and your family.

As Always,

Harold Bell

Ray Jr.’s Response / Wednesday June 8, 2011

Thanks My Brother,

I can not go back and change the transgressions of my father, but I can stop the cycle and not put this burden on my kids.  My father is still a deeply troubled man, and the scars from what I went through as a kid, and still deal with as a grown man will stay with me forever.  We all have a responsibility to be good people and produce better people.  My entire family is a mess, and I moved way out to where I live to get away from it all.

I was going in that same destructive path for some time, with the women, drinking, and since of entitlement, I woke up and decided to stop the cycle anyway possible.  I have been married for almost 9 years and have been with my wife for 13 years.  I have 4 wonderful children, 2 girls and 2 boys.  My oldest will be headed to UCLA or Stanford in a year and I couldn’t be happier.

I am actually in the process of meeting with a writer to write my own book, because I am the only one not under contract to never be able to write anything negative about SRL.  Even though I have enough things to say that would shock many people, I will not be airing my family’s dirty laundry in the book.  I will speak the truth on the things that have already been said and hopefully give a road map to others that end up following in the path of their destructive parents.

I am far from a perfect man, but I can look my self in the mirror and face my family everyday with no regrets.

I appreciate your contribution to sports journalism and hope you continue to speak on what you feel is right.

I have attached a picture of me and my family, which is the reason I strive to be a better man every day.

God bless.

Ray Leonard Jr.

I had heard years ago that Sugar Ray Leonard Sr. had made each family member sign agreements not to ever write anything negative about him with the threat of cutting off the dollars!  I commend Ray Jr. for having the courage and strength to write this response to me.  It proves that a good apple can fall far away from a bad tree!

Note Worthy:

There is an annual contest at Duke University for the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term.

This year’s term was: “Political Correctness”

The winner wrote:

“Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end.” 

Sounds like the winner knew Sugar Ray Leonard, Sr. 

Harold Bell is the Godfather of Sports Talk radio and television. Throughout the mid-sixties, seventies and eighties, Harold embarked upon a relatively new medium–sports talk radio with classic interviews with athletes and sports celebrities.  The show and format became wildly popular. Who better than Harold Bell to put together classic interviews with his legendary celebrity friends.

Will The Real Sugar Ray Leonard …Please Stand Up

By Black Men In America.com

In his forthcoming autobiography, “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring,” Hall of Fame Boxer Sugar Ray Leonard reveals that he was sexually abused by unnamed “prominent Olympic boxing coach.”  Whoops!  This revelation comes after Ray writes of his cocaine use, growing up in a home with alcohol abuse and domestic violence, luckily surviving a car wreck with his mother at the wheel, almost drowning in a creek as a child who was unable to swim, and fathering a son at 17.

In the book, Leonard describes sitting in a car in a deserted parking lot with the coach who was talking about how much a gold medal at the 1976 Olympics would mean to his future.  Filled with hope about winning a gold medal Leonard writes the following about the sexual encounter:  “Before I knew it, he had unzipped my pants and put his hand, then mouth, on an area that has haunted me for life. I didn’t scream. I didn’t look at him. I just opened the door and ran.”

Leonard also writes that when he first decided to share the incident he was not going to tell the entire story and write that the coach had stopped short of any contact.  However, after watching actor Todd Bridges tell his story of abuse on the Oprah television show about how he was sexually abused as a kid, Ray decided to tell the whole story, saying that he would never be free unless he revealed the whole truth.

As you might imagine, this revelation has generated some controversy.  A number of people were shocked to hear this story.  Modern day boxing’s original “golden boy” was Ray Leonard, not Oscar De La Hoya, who is suffering from his own addictions.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard that, and I’ve known Ray since he was just a kid,” Dave Jacobs, who was Leonard’s first trainer as an amateur and later served as assistant trainer for many of his professional fights, said in a telephone interview.  Similar responses have come from those who claim to be in Ray’s inner circle.

This revelation also brings up dirt from Leonard’s past and increases the chances of his current image being tarnished in front of a generation fans who only know him from reality TV shows like “The Contender,” and “Dancing With The Stars.”

Leonard’s book details his travails with drugs, alcohol, infidelity and domestic violence in hi marriage.  One time Leonard pal Harold Bell has a commentary about Leonard on his web site that is over 20 years old written by Terrence Moore who wrote the article for the Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper.

Photo:  Harold Bell and Sugar Ray Leonard

Bell and others are scratching their heads about some of the revelations in this book.  They see Leonard as self serving and throwing a deceased Olympic coach who is not alive to defend himself being “thrown under the bus.”

Leonard admits that his relationship with Juanita and their sons, Ray Jr. and Jarrel, suffered.  Ray re-married, started a second family and appears to be doing well.

Why do people care what Ray writes in his book?

Is Ray not telling the whole truth?  Or is an innocent man’s reputation being ruined?  Ray never mentions the coach’s name but insiders believe they know who Ray is talking about and some don’t like this revelation.

At age 55, it seems that Ray Charles Leonard is attempting to set the record straight and some folks have a problem with him doing that or perhaps they don’t like the way he’s doing it.

Click here to read Terrence Moore’s article on Ray Leonard on Harold Bell’s  HB Legends web site.

What do you think?

A Mixed Bag: Devil, Angel and Mayor!

By Harold Bell

In the month of April I watched three friends of Kids In Trouble, Inc., and Inside Sports profiled on local and national television.  First there was former boxer Derrick Holmes and singing phenom Stacy Lattisaw stories aired on Fox TV 5 News.  On Sunday April 25^th Dateline NBC spotlighted Mayor Dave Bing and how he plans to save his “Dead On Arrival” adopted hometown of Detroit.

All three stories are the spiritual rewards of people reaching out to help others.  In the 70s and 80s Dave, Stacy and Derrick were all affiliated with Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports.  One was a kid in trouble, and the other two were just reaching out and back to help kids in trouble.

Back in the day (any time before the 90’s) a do-wop vocalist group out of Washington, DC calling themselves The Clovers released a classic titled “Devil or Angel,” which inspired the title for this story.

The interviews on Fox 5 television with Derrik and Stacy brought a smile to my face and memories of days gone by.  The Dateline story on Dave Bing made me a proud mentor and friend.  In the 70s and 80s Derrik and Stacy were at the top of their games and professions and Dave was an NBA All-Star.

Inside Sports was the #1 sports talk show in DC and Kids In Trouble, Inc., was the #1 community based youth advocate group.  The two programs were the first to encouraged pro athletes, entertainers and radio and television personalities to get involved to help improve the plight of inner-city children.

Celebrity tennis and golf tournaments and fashion shows sponsored by Kids In Trouble, Inc., and Inside Sports evolved from the two programs.  Derrik and Stacey were two of the program’s fashion show models and Dave reached back to take several kids in trouble to his basketball camp in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania.  All three were the faces of hope for Kids In Trouble.

Other personalities and participants included Red Auerbach, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Sonny Hill Adrian Dantley, Sam Jones, Austin Carr, Adrian Branch, Len Bias (NBA), Roy Jefferson, Freddy Scott, Tim Baylor, Doug Williams (NFL), Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard (Boxing), Johnny Gantt (Boxing), Robert Hooks (Actor), Martin Wyatt, Fred Thomas, Paul Berry, Maureen Bunyan, Jim Vance (TV Media), Donnie Simpson (Radio), John Thompson (Georgetown U.) and the list goes on and on.

WETA television producer Jacqueline Toldt  produced “Washington in the 70s” during Black History Month 2010.  The show was misleading in that it had nothing to do with Black History.  In fact, it appears that she made every effort to exclude Black History.

Ms. Toldt must have had her head in the sand.  The content of the show proved she knows nothing about “Washington in the 70s.”  Anyone living in DC during that era (black or white) was aware that the Nation’s Capitol was known all over the world as “Chocolate City.” It was never mentioned during the hour long program.  The impact and contributions made by the above personalities were never cited.

How could you be in DC during the 70s and not know that WOL Radio was the flagship station with WHUR running a close second with “The Quiet Storm” radio show host Melvin Lindsey? WHFS FM in Bethesda, Maryland was not even on the radar screen.

How could you not know that Kids In Trouble was making a difference all over the city with Washington Redskin players Larry Brown, Roy Jefferson, Harold McLinton and Ted Vactor? Warner Wolf (TV 9) and Harold Bell ruled on air sports talk in the 70s!

It looks like the only qualification to be an Executive Producer at WETA is to have a driver’s license!  She is further proof we must keep our own history.

In the 70s, Derrik Holmes and Sugar Ray Leonard were the darlings of amateur boxing in the DC area.  Derrik was a champion right out of the box.  He won the Junior division of the Golden Gloves in 1969 his first year on the boxing scene for the Kentland Boxing program.  He then moved from Kentland to the Palmer Park, Maryland program.

His success led his friend and now boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard to join him on the team.  Ray’s brother Roger Leonard was also a member of a program that was considered one of the best in the country.  Derrik and Roger were considered the best boxers on the team during that era, but Ray was coming on fast.

According to boyhood friend Irvin Millard the workouts between Sugar Ray Leonard and Derrik Holmes were toe-to-toe knock down and drag out classics.  There were many times Derrick gave better than he received.  There was little or no animosity or jealousy among the fighters during this era.  They were just two great competitors who were close friends in and out of the ring.

Derrick was riding high after winning a Gold Medal at a pre-Olympic tournament in Montreal in 1975, but his life would never be the same after the 1976 Olympic trials.  He would make a bad decision that would turn his world upside down.

The name Charles Mooney an Olympic hopeful will forever be etched in the mind of Derrik Holmes.  Derrik would lose a controversial decision to Mooney leading up to the U. S. Olympic Games in 1976.

The devastating lost to Mooney still haunts Derrik today some 34 years later.  He keeps the photo that shows Mooney looking like the loser that he was but miss guided officials gave him the decision anyway.

One bad decision would lead to another.  The next bad decision by Derrik was of his own doing and would cost him 23 years of his life in jail.  He turned to drugs after losing to Mooney and the drugs would become his sparring partner, trainer, friend and his biggest opponent.

In the meantime Derrik along with Ray got involved with Kids In Trouble and Inside Sports via celebrity fashion shows.

The lost to Mooney was nothing compared to watching his close friend and sparring partner Sugar Ray Leonard go on to win a Gold Medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.  Sugar Ray’s boxing success would lead him into the boxing Hall of Fame and Derrik’s boxing failure would lead him to jail.

Sugar Ray Leonard had his own problems after his fairy tale win in Montreal.  On his return to his home in Palmer Park newspaper headlines screamed and read “Sugar Ray Leonard has baby out of wedlock with high school sweetheart.”  Ray hid in his home for weeks and refused to come out until I went over and coaxed him out.

Derrik’s problems led him to drugs and he became a kid in trouble.  He had a flair and confident air about him and he took pride in being one of the fashion show’s top dressers.  In 1983, all hell broke loose when I heard he had been arrested and charged with attempted murder and armed robbery in Clinton, Maryland.  I called his friend and promoter Nat Williams and he confirmed the story.  I felt responsible because I never saw it coming.

He was found guilty in 1984 and he would spend the next 23 years in jail, 5 of those years would be served in the Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore, MD and 18 years in the Maryland Correctional Center in Hagerstown, MD.  Baltimore and Hagerstown are in the top ten of the worst penal institutions in America.  He has really been to hell and back.

The sentence never made sense to me.  I have seen some first degree murder convictions and the accused were never given half the sentence Derrik was given for attempted murder.  This is known as Just Us and Justice in America’s judicial system.  Money buys Justice and a court appointed attorney buys jail time for Just Us.

Black men in America make up over half of the inmate population and we are only 13% of the entire population!  America has the highest prison population in the world and black men are the backbone and foundation of the penal system.

Derrik wants to try to save kids in trouble by giving advice and teaching lessons in the Game Called Life using boxing as a vehicle.  He does not want children to experience the hard knocks that await them in the criminal justice system.  He has already been there and done that.  There are not many of us who could survive 23 years in two of the toughest prisons in America.  His story can save lives.

He believes by going up stream to fish the children out he will save and catch more children than having to wait to fish them out at the river’s end.  Derrik says, “We must be more about prevention instead waiting around and re-acting after the fact.”

Long before Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Rihanna there was Stacy Lattisaw.  She was a star at the tender age of 10 and at the age 12 she had signed a recording contract.

She was never a kid in trouble thanks to her two parents (Jerome and Saundra Lattisaw) who had her back.  Jerome and I grew up together in a housing project in Northeast DC called Parkside.  Stacy’s success never carried her far away from the NE community her father grew up in just to the other side of the railroad tracks by choice.

Jerome and Saundra are the prototype parents who are missing from our homes today, parents who have their children’s best interest at heart.  Stacy has found peace of mind in the spiritual sounds of gospel music.  Stacy’s first big hit was “Let Me Be Your Angel” and she has been that and more.

Dave Bing grew up in a tough Northeast DC neighborhood and barely escaped the pitfalls (drugs and jail) of many of his friends.  Today he is the Mayor of a city in crisis but he thinks he can make a difference and bring a dying city back to life.  His task can best be described in basketball terms, he is driving to the basket and there is Bill Russell on one side and Wilt Chamberlain on the other!  Don’t count Dave Bing out.  He has always found a way out of no way.

Dave, Stacy and Derrik are role models in the Game Called Life.  They are reaching back to help others in their own way—each with the style of a champion.