This evening, my beloved city Atlanta paid tribute to a living legend, R. Charles “Charlie” Loudermilk Sr.

Charlie Loudermilk borrowed $500 in the 50’s to start Aaron’s Rent and today he is partly responsible for Atlanta being a revered city.

Today was undoubtedly a special day for a special man. How could I be anywhere else but in that room? Myself and my L.E.A.D. Ambassador Wesley Clement shared the same space with so many great men that have spent decades giving of themselves and empowering others.

Officially, Mr. Loudermilk was being honored by the Council for Quality Growth as a recipient of their annual Four Pillar Tribute.

Mr. John Schuerholz, President of the Atlanta Braves paid tribute to Mr. Loudermilk with the pillar of QUALITY. Know body in their right mind will argue that Mr. Loudermilk exemplifies the meaning of quality.

Mr. Herman J. Russell, Chairman of H.J. Russell and Company delivered a heartfelt tribute with the pillar of RESPONSIBILITY. I am personally reminded of the responsibility that I have to next generation of leadership in my city.

Mr. John C. Portman, Chairman of Portman Companies made a statement about the third pillar of VISION that I will never forget. “Self doubt is the death to vision.” Almighty God has me on this earth for a reason and I will not doubt his plan.

The integrity of a man is based on how he handles situations when nobody is looking. Ambassador Andrew Young made it clear to the crowd of hundreds that Mr. Loudermilk is a man of INTEGRITY.

Mr. Loudermilk is an icon and it became clear to me that I can also be iconic. I will make my time on earth meaningful. I will also have a rich legacy like Mr. Loudermilk. ICAN be ICONIC.

This has been a great start to the fall Legacy League season.  Everything is going right as planned.  As a coaching staff, we came into the fall development season with a curriculum.  Now it is time to get dirty.

We began our first games of the Legacy League on Saturday, October 1st at the beautiful Perkerson Park with a 10:00AM Middle School Development League game and a 12:30PM High School Development League game.  We have two middle school development teams in the league as well as two high school development teams and one prospect team.

The middle school game included good pitching by Elijah Richardson (Sylvan Hills Middle School) and lots of strong bats.  All of our games are instructional based which allows us as a coaching staff to create offensive and defensive situations.  We really have to spend more time on 1st and 3rd defensive situations.  Team defense is new to a lot of our Leaders.  No problem, that’s why the Legacy League was created.

The Legacy League is America’s first fall instructional league that targets inner city middle and high school age males and provides baseball development for college baseball scholarships.

The high school development league showcased solid pitching by Marquese Sinkfield (Henry Grady High School). Rhandal Jackson (Benjamin E. Mays High School) was 2 for 3 and was the starting catcher for the Legacy League White Team.

The Legacy League Prospect Team lost 2-1 in a good game on Saturday to the East Cobb Patriots.  We scored lots of runs on Sunday against the Nelson Baseball School team but we also gave up quite a few.  Sunday’s game ended with an 11-11 tie.  The Prospect Team received stellar pitching from Julian Phiffer on Saturday.  Julian “JuJu” is a right handed pitcher from Booker T. Washington High School and only threw 29 pitches in three innings.  Wesley Clement (Benjamin E. Mays High School) made great adjustments to his swing this weekend and got some key hits.

I’m looking forward to a great upcoming week of practice with our Leaders.  Development isn’t always fun because development includes failure.  Funny how you can fail on a baseball field 70% of the time yet you are considered successful.  The reward for our success in the classroom and on the baseball diamond is a college baseball scholarship.

1, 2, 3, L.E.A.D.!

We are in the third week of the Legacy League fall instructional season. The first baseball games are this upcoming weekend. Several blogs have been posted by our Leaders recording their Legacy League experience. Coaches have developed life long relationships with young men and their family. Baseball skills have been developed that will provide access to college.

It is an honor to be the founder of L.E.A.D. because I play a major role in the future success of hundreds of inner city African-American middle and high school males every month throughout the entire year.

Our young men are called Leaders because that’s what Atlanta needs them to be. L.E.A.D.’s four pillars of excellence are academics, athletics, service and exposure. We achieve success because we are available to our Leaders and our programming is consistent. They are assets to this city. They only lack a sense of belonging and investment to the city

I know that they aren’t all great students. I know that some have disciplinary issues at the school. On this past Saturday, they were all called young men of greatness because they were able to serve.

L.E.A.D. has adopted Section 8 of the Atlanta BeltLine and our Leaders were responsible for maintaining it. For some, it was their first time being involved with service. Through their involvement with L.E.A.D., it won’t be their last because we offer service to the city of Atlanta once per month every month throughout the year. Last year alone, we recorded over 2.200 hours of community service as an organization.

Atlanta’s own Dr. Martin Luther King once said that everybody can be great because everybody can serve. Join our Leaders for October’s day of service. Check us out at Lead2Legacy.org for our upcoming game/practice schedule, blogs, service projects, enrichment opportunities and more.

Leadership is an action word. It is also a commitment that requires sacrifice. L.E.A.D. provides countless amount of leadership opportunities that we measure throughout the entire year.  As an organization, we easily record over 2,000 hours of community service annually since 2007.

Our student-athletes are required to participate in a service opportunity at least once per month every month throughout the year in order to remain eligible as a L.E.A.D. program participant. You can’t be an effective leader if you aren’t serving others.

Leadership is mentorship.  To date, 28 L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have graduated from our program and are currently enrolled in college. They are more than names in our history book. They remain engaged. In order for our young men to understand the road ahead, they must ask those coming back.

L.E.A.D. offers a pipeline for youth development that starts with elementary school and goes all the way to top to me. Our college alumni mentor the high school Leaders.  The high school Leaders mentor the middle school Leaders and the lives of Atlanta APS elementary students are enriched by our middle schoolers.  Leadership is an action word. It is also a commitment that requires sacrifice.

The “D” in L.E.A.D. reminds us as an organization to direct our student-athletes using the historical journey of past African-Americans as the roadmap. Is there a better city in America with such a rich legacy of leadership than Atlanta – the home of the Civil Rights Movement?

At 6:00PM today, I along with my wife Kelli Stewart will be officially introducing 60 Legacy middle and high school League Leaders to the city of Atlanta at the Atlanta Public Schools Main Office. These young men represent their families, the Atlanta Public School System and their community with great pride.

They will have the opportunity of a lifetime to develop this fall professionally both on the field and off. L.E.A.D.’s four pillars of excellence are Academics, Athletics, Service and Exposure. You can bet your last dollar that we are excellent!

I will follow up at 9:00PM after the ceremony.

I couldn’t help but break down with tears when I gave the end remarks. To look out in the audience into the eyes of 60 student-athletes that have committed to my vision of L.E.A.D. was overwhelming.

We were joined by APS School Board President Brenda Muhammad, Atlanta Braves Director of Community Affairs Ericka Newsome-Hill, Georgia’s Own Credit Union Business Development Manager Julee Brunson, Georgia’s Own Credit Union’s Vivian English, APS Athletic Director Jeff Beggs and APS Middle School Program Director Rendell Jackson.

Special thanks to our parents, board members, supporters, staff and of course our Legacy League Leaders for making this a memorable night.

Come join us for an upcoming practice, game, enrichment activity and/or service project. We are always looking for energetic members for our L.E.A.D. Tailgate Club. For more information, click here..

L.E.A.D. Today…Change Tomorrow!