Featured

Joe Morgan and Clem Daniels Pray and Campaign for More Black Bone Marrow & Blood Donors

Published

7 years ago

June 5, 2017

By Fred Turner
Members of Brother-to-Brother, an interdenominational Christian/ Community organization of 70 (+) African American men who meet weekly for prayer and study, witnessed a conversation last week between two African American sports icons, Joe Morgan and Clem Daniels.

Both were outstanding athletes, both were MVPs (Most Valuable Players) and both were born in Texas. Joe was born in Bonham and Clem in McKinney, just 40 miles from each other. They have been friends for over 62 years and have traveled throughout the country golfing, dining and just having pure fun.

Although they were both from Texas, their acquaintance came later and they became fast friends. Joe recalls, “I always admired Clem. He and Art Shell, and Gene Upshaw were fine players and men of integrity. They were always outstanding community people.”

Joe, a baseball Hall of Famemember, also agrees with theirmutual friend Bill Patterson that Clem should also be enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame. The Brother to Brother organization is launching a community drive to have Clem honored.

Through their instant friendship they became political allies and used their celebrity status to help elect Lionel Wilson as Oakland’s first Black mayor. Both Clem and Joe also worked on several alliances with other Black men. When Joe played for the Houston Astros, he was well-known for giving something back to the Houston community.

And when Clem played for the Oakland Raiders, he volunteered and contributed his time and money to those in need.

They both became very successful in their business ventures. Joe was the first African American to own a Coors distribution company, and Clem from his End Zone sports bar and restaurant became the President of Cal PAC, an organization that scored more than a million dollars in college scholarships for African American students.

Getting together this time was like a long overdue reunion because in the past year, at the age of 72, Joe had become extremely ill with MDS, a form of leukemia and a precursor to cancer. Fortunately, Joe became a participant in a trial program that required the participant to be paired with a blood donor with matching bone marrow.

After Joe’s siblings had volunteered to be tested and discovered that none of them were a suitable match Joe’s faith was tested. Holding back his tears, Joe smiled as he told how he had not known that his daughter Angela Morgan-Logan, an attorney in Dublin, had signed up on the registry more than 20 years ago. At that time, she had no idea that her selfless decision would be the saving grace for her father.

When she was contacted by the hospital to see if she was still willing to donate her blood, without hesitation she agreed.

Since the hospital’s confidentiality requirement didn’t reveal the name of the donor or the recipient, Angela had no idea that the recipient was her father. And when Joe was informed that there was a match, he had no idea that it was his daughter.

It was not until they got together and began to discuss the good news of the match did they realize that they were the donor and the recipient.

The goodness and graciousness of this family had come full circle! Joe and Clem both then pledged to continue to talk about the scarcity of and the need for more African American donors to join the registry. They promised to use their visibility and celebrity status to help create more “blood match makers.”

After eight months of excellent health, Joe feels better than ever. He smiles and says, “I have the blood of a 43-year-old. I am a new man because of my beautiful, selfless daughter, a wonderful committed wife, and the grace of God.”

Joe told the group of men who held hands in their circle of prayer “Be as good as you can be, especially when helping others.”

Clem said, “Document the good things in life, be aware of what’s going on around you, and be willing to stand up for what is important.”

Herbert Lofton, President of Brother-to-Brother said, “Both men had been blessed to have met each other and to share such a strong friendship bond. They both epitomize the mantra “I am My Brother’s Keeper. We will launch an effort to get our community to become bone marrow donors.”

Post Publisher Paul Cobb told Joe Morgan and the gathering of brothers that his story would be spread throughout more than 700 churches in the Bay Area. The Post News Group will help establish a network of those who will serve their communities with life-saving registration.

“If we can trust the saliva swab to discover our DNA roots, surely we can trust our blood to be available to save and extend each other’s lives,” said Cobb.

(Next: How we can be the match for some family member or neighbor. How our blood can be someone’s amazing saving grace.”)

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Post Editor Ken Epstein Wins State Award for Education Reporting

Don't Miss

UCSF Seeks to Raise $200,000 in AIDS Walk San Francisco

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of November 20 – 26, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 20 – 26, 2024

Published

12 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

PRESS ROOM: Clyburn, Pressley, Scanlon, Colleagues Urge Biden to Use Clemency Power to Address Mass Incarceration Before Leaving Office

NNPA NEWSWIRE — Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country.

Published

1 day ago

November 21, 2024

Oakland Post

Read the letter here.

Watch the press conference here.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman James E. Clyburn (SC-06), Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) led 60 of their colleagues in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to use his executive clemency power in the final months of his presidency to reunite families, address longstanding injustices in our legal system, and set our nation on the path toward ending mass incarceration.

The lawmakers hosted a press conference earlier today to discuss the letter. A full video of their press conference is available here and photos are available here.

“Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “The grant of pardons and commutations and the restoration of rights will undoubtedly send a powerful message across the country in support of fundamental fairness and furthering meaningful criminal justice reform.”

Mass incarceration remains a persistent, systemic injustice that erodes the soul of America. Our nation has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with nearly two million people locked in jails and prisons throughout the country. The extreme use of incarceration has resulted in one in two adults having had an incarcerated family member. People of color are disproportionately put behind bars, along with individuals from low-income communities, LGBTQIA+ folks, and those with disabilities. The bloated prison system reflects and emboldens biases that undermine the ideals of our nation and diminish trust in the rule of law. Mass incarceration attacks the most vulnerable Americans, thereby destabilizing families and inflicting intergenerational trauma.

In their letter to President Biden, the lawmakers praised the President’s efforts to create a fair and just criminal legal system by pardoning people convicted of simple marijuana possession and LGBTQ+ former servicemembers and urged the President to use his clemency powers to help broad classes of people and cases, including the elderly and chronically ill, those on death row, people with unjustified sentencing disparities, and women who were punished for defending themselves against their abusers. The lawmakers also outlined the fiscal toll of the growing mass incarceration crisis.

“You have the support of millions of people across the country who have felt the harms of mass incarceration: young children longing to hug their grandparents, people who have taken responsibility for their mistakes, and those who simply were never given a fair chance,” the lawmakers wrote. “These are the people seeking help that only you can provide through the use of your presidential clemency power.”

Joining Representatives Clyburn, Pressley, and Scanlon in sending the letter are Representatives Joyce Beatty, Sanford Bishop, Shontel Brown, Cori Bush, André Carson, Troy Carter, Yvette Clarke, Jasmine Crockett, Valerie Foushee, Al Green, Jahana Hayes, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Pramila Jayapal, Henry Johnson, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Robin Kelly, Summer Lee, Jennifer McClellan, Gregory Meeks, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Robert Scott, Terri Sewell, Marilyn Strickland, Bennie Thompson, Rashida Tlaib, and Bonnie Watson Coleman.

The lawmakers’ letter is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union; Center for Popular Democracy; Last Prisoner Project; Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Death Penalty Action; The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls; The Faith Leaders of Color Coalition; Second Chance Justice of MCAN; JustLeadershipUSA; FAMM; The Episcopal Church; The Bambi Fund; Free Billie Allen Campaign; People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom; Prophetic Resistance Boston; and Families Against Mandatory Minimums.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

Tennessee State University Set to Debut the First Division I Hockey Team at An HBCU

THE AFRO — “I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Duanté Abercrombie, the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team, in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2024

admin

By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO
mabbott@afro.com

Tennessee State University (TSU) continues to break ground on a historic journey to become the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to field a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I ice hockey team. Alongside some assistance from the National Hockey League (NHL), the NHL Players’ Association and the Nashville Predators, the TSU Tigers have already named their official head coach, unveiled their jersey and received their first official commitment from a student-athlete.

TSU held an official press conference to announce the plan in June 2023. Their first official season as a sanctioned Division I program is planned to commence in 2025-26. On April 18, TSU named Duanté Abercrombie as the head coach of the Tennessee State Tigers ice hockey team.

“I am incredibly excited to embark on building this program, supported by God, my family, TSU students, alumni, and all those eagerly awaiting this moment,” said Abercrombie in a press release courtesy of TSU Athletics. “I firmly believe that one day, TSU will be recognized not only as a powerhouse on the ice but also as a program whose student-athletes leave a profound legacy on the world, enriched by the lessons learned at TSU.”

Abercrombie was raised in Washington, D.C., and was mentored by hockey legend Neal Henderson, the first Black man to be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. Abercrombie attended Gonzaga College High School and graduated from Hampton University, where he was a track and field athlete prior to retiring due to an injury. After college, Abercrombie briefly played professional hockey in both the New Zealand Ice Hockey League as well as the Federal Hockey League.

After his career as a professional hockey player, Abercrombie moved onto coaching, including stints with his alma mater Gonzaga and Georgetown Preparatory School. In 2022-23, Abercrombie was a member of the coaching staff for NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs organization.

“We are no longer doing club play in 2024-25. We are going right into D1 play for 2025-26,” Nick Guerriero told the AFRO. Guerriero is the assistant athletic director of communications and creative content at Tennessee State.

On Jan. 19, TSU got their first official commitment from an ice hockey recruit, Xavier Abel. Abel played at Drury University and scored 12 goals in 34 games, including three game-winning goals. Abel was recruited by Guerriero.

In July, the Tigers got their second commitment from forward Trey Fechko. In October, Trey’s brother Marcus Fechko also committed to Tennessee State. Since, the Tigers have also signed forward Greye Rampton, goaltender Johnny Hicks, Grady Hoffman and four-star forward Bowden Singleton. Singleton flipped his commitment from North Dakota to Tennessee State. Guerriero said that TSU has a “few” other recruits that they are waiting to announce during their November signing period.

“I think it’s important to invest in these unorthodox sports for Black athletes because it allows Black children to have more opportunities to play sports in general,” said Zion Williams, a 2024 Gettysburg College graduate and former collegiate athlete. “The more opportunities that children have, the better. They won’t feel like they are boxed into one thing or sport.”