Into the Big Leagues

Black capitalism is progressing at a disappointingly slow pace, but one group of Negro businessmen is moving ahead at a near sprint. They are athlete-entrepreneurs, and they are scoring as handsomely in business as they have in baseball, football, basketball or track. "It could be that black athletes are setting the pattern, building the momentum," says Ernie Banks, the Chicago Cubs first baseman, who is a partner in a flourishing Ford dealership on the South Side. Though the appearance of black athletes in force is a fairly recent phenomenon, already about 1,000 black-owned enterprises are run by past or present stars of sport.

The accomplished athlete normally starts his business career with important advantages: a well-known name, quite likely a college degree, and a bankroll. "The black athlete has an opportunity to get closer to capitalism than other black men," says Meredith Gourdine, a onetime Olympic long jumper who now heads his own scientific research and development firm in New Jersey. "He has been around money longer, seen how it is made and how it is used."

Yardage from Football. In addition to being a defensive end for the Boston Patriots, Melvin Witt, 23, works as a salaried consultant to Boston's Office of Human Rights and heads a small advertising and public relations firm. Erich Barnes, a Cleveland Browns defensive back, readily admits that his Barnes Enterprises, Inc., a public relations firm, has gained considerable yardage from his football background. "You can get in the door if they've heard of you," Barnes says, "and that is half the battle." Once inside, Barnes tells white businessmen that "if they want the black man as a consumer, they are going to have to encourage him as a producer." Barnes and his nine-man staff primarily help big companies find black firms that can supply goods and services.

Customers obviously enjoy buying Mutual of New York policies from former Boston Celtics Ace K. C. Jones, now head basketball coach at Brandeis University; he has earned membership in the insurance industry's "Million-Dollar Round Table." Maury Wills, the Dodgers' speedy shortstop, does a brisk business at his six Stolen Base Cleaners in the Los Angeles area; he is currently expanding the chain into a nationwide franchise operation.

Black athletes are capitalizing on their star value in the fast-growing field of franchising. Wilt Chamberlain has a Diners Fugazy Travel franchise in Los Angeles, and Lou Brock holds a Dodge dealership in East St. Louis. Retired Celtics Forward Willie Naulls, who now lives in Los Angeles, has a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise and a shopping center in the Watts-Compton area. He plans to open his own chain of Soulville, U.S.A., take-out food stores, which are to be designed along the lines of the shack he lived in as a child in Texas. Brady Keys, a former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back, is president of "All-Pro Chicken," which he set up in 1967 with the help of the First National City Bank. Keys has sold 150 franchises--many to other black athletes --in eleven cities.

Some of the athletes give non-athletes an assist in business. The Cleveland-based Black Economic Union, founded four years ago by ex-Fullback Jim Brown and some of his Browns teammates, has offices in six cities to help blacks find jobs, business advice and capital. Brown, who worked off-season promoting Pepsi-Cola before he went to Hollywood, thinks that the next goal will be to encourage black businessmen to sell common stock and build large public corporations. "The black businessman does not want to give up 10% of his stock," Brown says. "He does not quite understand what it means to have control rather than the whole pie. Going big is an experience most black people never had." When black capitalism joins the big leagues, black athletes may be among the leaders.

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