The Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League baseball teams was owned by Thomas Henry Hayes, Jr., a Memphis, Tennessee businessman and Watkins family friend. My early exposure to this business icon fueled my passion as a child to own a major league sports team. "If you can see it, you can be it." This article tells the incredible story of the first professional sports team owner I met.

This modest one-story home at 2401 Morgan Avenue in Parsons, Kansas, was the first launchpad for the children of Levi and Lillian Watkins.

The kindness of a stranger gave me enduring hope for a better world.