Rare Interview with Harold Bell About His Relationship with Muhammad Ali by Gary Johnson

By Gary A. Johnson, Publisher – Black Men In America.com

In 2016, long before these recent strings of documentaries on Muhammad Ali, I conducted an exclusive interview with DC sports talk show legend Harold Bell about his friendship with Muhammad Ali. Watch the video below for exclusive and untold stories about Muhammad Ali, entertainer Lola Falana, Jim Brown, Laila Ali, Angelo Dundee, DC news anchor Jim Vance, Joe Frazier and the champ’s inner circle including his brother Rahman Ali.

Watch Harold respond to my one-word “Call and Response” questioning.

In 1971, Harold Bell founded “The Original “Inside Sports,” radio show that aired on WOOK-AM in Washington, DC. Over the years, the show spanned and included WYCB-AM, WUST-AM, WPFW FM and WKYS-FM. In 1975, Bell became the first Black person to host and produce a television sports special during the “prime time” viewing period on WRC-TV 4, an NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Harold Bell is the “Godfather” of Sports Talk radio and television in Washington, DC. Throughout the mid-sixties, seventies and eighties, Harold embarked upon a relatively new medium–-sports talk radio with classic interviews with sports celebrities, politicians and news makers of the day. The show and format became wildly popular. Harold has been an active force fighting for the rights of children for almost 50 years with the help of his wife Hattie through their charity Kids In Trouble, Inc.