We all strive to be the best and on Thursday evening, Georgia Trend Magazine recognized me and 39 of my colleagues as Georgia’s best and brightest.  We are Georgia Trend’s top 40 under 40.  Click here to learn more.

My good friend and L.E.A.D. advisory board member Steve White told me not to deflect the recognition from this award as I normally do.  Being humble is a characteristic that I am proud of but tonight was a night that allowed L.E.A.D. to shine.

With the support of my family, close friends, my board and advisory board members, we continue to launch educational opportunities for inner city males.  We continue to use baseball to provide access to college for 100% of my Ambassadors.

I walked up to receive a beautiful award for the over 200 inner city males that L.E.A.D. will impact for 2011-12.  With God as the head of my life, I will continue to lead the way for some amazing young men and families.

A consultant is usually an expert or a professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the subject matter.[2] A consultant usually works for a consultancy firm or is self-employed, and engages with multiple and changing clients. Thus, clients have access to deeper levels of expertise than would be feasible for them to retain in-house, and may purchase only as much service from the outside consultant as desired. A consultant is usually an expert or a professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the subject matter.[2] A consultant usually works for a consultancy firm or is self-employed, and engages with multiple and changing clients.

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.