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DEL.ICIO.USEx-Hawk Glenn honors African-American heroes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nothing causes eyes to bulge more around Mike “Stinger” Glenn than when the old player and broadcaster for the Hawks uses his new role as philosopher and historian to tell the truth about Babe Ruth.
Let’s just say that whenever the conversation involves baseball’s all-time elite trio regarding home runs, Glenn doesn’t bother to mention the slugger who made pinstripes famous.
“The three guys with the most home runs are Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Barry Bonds,” said Glenn, defiantly but pleasantly, before recalling what he usually hears after such a statement. “It gets people shouting, ‘Oh, Babe Ruth. You forgot him.’ And I’ll quickly say, ‘Nah. I’m talking about in integrated play. Babe Ruth played in a white league. I don’t think anybody should forget any of [Ruth’s] accomplishments. At the same time, we also have to acknowledge the great accomplishments of [African-American] forefathers and foremothers, including the father of athletics in America.”
He wasn’t Babe Ruth, by the way. He was Tom Molineaux, Glenn’s wonderful obsession these days. Molineaux was a freed enslaved man from Virginia who fought for the heavyweight championship of the world in London around the turn of the 19th century. We’re talking about 1810. Not only that, since Sunday is the 195th anniversary of Molineaux’s bout, Glenn will commemorate it all by launching a national tour of his rare collection involving African-American sports heroes with a free exhibit called “From Molineaux to Michael.”
That’s Michael as in Jordan, not Vick. The exhibit will take place at 3 p.m. inside of historic Ebenezer Baptist Church. Glenn laughed when thinking of the gathering, which will include local dignitaries, and said, “We’ll even have a cake with Molineaux’s picture on it and words of gratitude. This man impacted overall history, because there was so much slavery in the world and talk that blacks were inferior, and then, boom. Here was this guy fighting for a world championship from America during the Colonial period when this country wasn’t respected in athletics. It put us on the map.”
If you’re wondering, Molineaux battled Englishman Tom Cribb for 31, 32, possibly 33 rounds (the records are incomplete) and was robbed. Thrice, if not more. Most strikingly, during the 19th round of what was a bare-fisted mix of boxing and wrestling, Molineaux pinned Cribb against the ropes for the longest time. A mob rushed the ring to pry Molineaux’s hands from the defending champ. At the end, a groggy Cribb was declared the winner over a groggy Molineaux.
Even so, Molineaux’s legacy lives, with an assist from Glenn, more noted for his shooting than his passing. During his decade as an NBA guard that included four seasons with the Hawks, he was as cerebral as he is now, but in a different way.
It was in the business way. “My last year with the Knicks, I got my stockbroker’s license and worked for Merrill Lynch, and I also got my MBA during the offseason,” said Glenn, a Snellville resident after growing up near Rome, where his parents were educators. In fact, he was his mother’s student in the third, fourth and fifth grades, and he had to recite quotations of historical figures on a daily basis.
Such memories resurfaced during Glenn’s broadcasting career with the Hawks when he spent his free time on the road in ways other than dissecting the Wall Street Journal. “I began to go to museums, rare book stores, auctions, and I was constantly reading about these different events in the past involving African-American athletes. I also started collecting items,” said Glenn, with items from the noted, such as Jesse Owens, and also from the obscure, such as Isaac Burns Murphy, the first jockey to win three Kentucky Derbys.
Glenn will take those items from Ebenezer, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s home church, to college campuses and elsewhere. When the tour ends, Glenn wants to have revolutionized how folks put sporting events into perspective.
“In a lot of cases, black athletes are made to be invisible, like they don’t have a history beyond a certain point,” Glenn said. “Folks will talk about the White Sox winning their first world championship since 1917. But why not mention, ‘Oh, by the way: The Chicago American Giants won 100 games that same year?’ They challenged anybody who would play them, and they may have been the best in the world.”
Folks could mention that.
Just like they could mention that Josh Gibson was better than Babe Ruth.
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
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By Max Sizemore
December 16, 2005 08:25 PM | Link to this
I remember Mike Glenn’s last prep game when he played for Coosa. It was at the state tournament at Georgia Tech, and he fouled out when he was called for charging in the backcourt. I mention that because Mike is still charging ahead in life, and that’s an awfully nice thing to see.
By War Eagle
December 16, 2005 08:48 PM | Link to this
I remember Mike Glenn playing days at Coosa High school, great player and person.
By Max Powers
December 16, 2005 09:00 PM | Link to this
So, if you collect sports trinkets and regurgitate passages from books, you are a “philosopher and historian “? Well I got a closet full of old baseball cards in my closet, does that make me a “historian”? Furthermore Terrence, according to “Dr. Snapper”, wouldn’t the fact that Josh Gibson played in a black league discount his statistics? I mean if Babe Ruth’s numbers don’t hold up over time because he didn’t play in an integrated league, wouldn’t the same stern rule apply to Negro Leaguers? Just wondering…
By A Real Fan
December 16, 2005 09:59 PM | Link to this
I think Max Powers attitude has proven Mike Glenn’s point!
By Pete
December 17, 2005 09:06 AM | Link to this
Thanks Terence. A wonderful article about a very nice man. I have met Mr. Glenn and have a great deal of respect for him. You may want to follow this article up with another one describing Mr. Glenn’s volunteer activities with underprivileged youth, which are extensive. He is a credit to his parents and to the state of Georgia. He exhibits the type of citizenship that I hope never goes out of style.
By M Poole
December 17, 2005 10:09 AM | Link to this
Though I do not know Mike Glenn extensively, I have met and spoken with him on several occassions. We shared mutual friends who played basketball with him at Southern Illinois, Wayne and James “Corky” Abrams from Douglas High School.
He has always been a gentleman and great person so I am not surprised with his love and appreciation of black history. Knowing what I know of him, he will continue to enlighten people with his historical facts. Great job Mike!!!
As for Max Powers, the issue was that Blacks were prohibited from playing with White baseball players so that White player’s records were viewed as official records. Black player’s records were overlooked for years even though they were as good or in many cases exceeded those of White players. Therefore, to say that Josh Gipson’s record should be overlooked also would be incorrect because Blacks welcomed the idea of competing with Whites to prove that they were just as good as the White players. They had no chose!!!
By J Owens
December 17, 2005 11:02 AM | Link to this
people like terence moore and his candid interview subject mike glenn are ,however intelligent they tell you they are,getting to be quite redundant in the fact that they seem to only be able at most times to only talk about race related issues. the points he made about the black fighter are well recieved but why? all of the other? predujice is a two way street and until everyone realizes this we are all fighting an uphill battle.
By RT
December 17, 2005 11:43 AM | Link to this
This is an article about race not sports. It doesn’t belong in the sports page.
By EL
December 17, 2005 01:02 PM | Link to this
Interesting point by Mike on Babe Ruth. One does have to wonder about the course of baseball history if blacks had been allowed to play in that era. It really does call into question all records from that era, since a large portion of the talent pool was restricted from playing. Ruth would have been great, but how great?
Mike Glenn’s camp for deaf kids was held at the church at which I used to work. He is a very humble man that seemed totally unaffected by his celebrity status.
By Terence Moore likes men
December 17, 2005 01:18 PM | Link to this
Especially ones named Bruce.
By SR
December 17, 2005 05:46 PM | Link to this
I agree with RT. This article does not belong in the sports section. But then how many of Mr Moore’s articles do ?
By Ken Stallings
December 17, 2005 06:20 PM | Link to this
Nice job, Terence, went off just like you planned, partner. Stir the coals of racism and see what comes up. Lead off what should have been a nice column about a nice man with an inflammatory degradation of a charter member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, and sit back and watch the fun.
One day, you might get that race chip off your shoulder. I suggest reading something of note from another gentleman, Morgan Freeman.
I’m sure like Freeman, Mike Glenn has more on his plate than wondering what history says about George Herman Ruth. But, in the final analysis, for baseball, Ruth means more to the sport because of his influence on the sport.
Can’t re-do the past. Wish we could, but we can’t. What we can do is get on with life in the here and now. And the first requirement is to stand in the mirror and ask oneself, “What am I going to do today to help make a positive difference.”
If you asked yourself that question the morning before you wrote this column, you would have re-written it to focus on Mike Glenn’s charity work. You would have written one of those gems that Furman Bisher is noted for, one of those pieces that focuses on fond memories of a real pro who was even more a real man.
Sadly, you didn’t write that column!
Ken Stallings
By Sue D Nym
December 17, 2005 11:10 PM | Link to this
If you ignore the annoying, unecessary racist shout out fo the day, an interesting question is generated from the article..
Which had a more significant impact on baseball history in terms of statistical impact.
or