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.

It's in my bloodline. My maternal grandfather was a Baptist minster and early civil rights advocate in the South. This is his story.