#OnThisDay IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! I'm 61 years old today, a day I share with Michael Jordan, Huey P. Newton and footballer Jim Brown.

Thanks to my Dad and Mother for being great parents. I am eternally grateful, and hope I have always fulfilled your dreams and hopes.

Here we go!

1. I am the first Black man to graduate with a college degree in my family. I had several uncles who went to college, but didn't finish for one reason or another. One uncle went to college, volunteered for Vietnam and was KIA the next year.

2. I played drums and rhythm guitar in high school, and tenor saxophone in college. I now (allegedly) play bass guitar.

3. I was offered soccer and track scholarships to Syracuse, Virginia Union, West Virginia Wesleyan and Maryland Eastern Shore. I was trying to become a walk-on at Maryland College Park, but went to Fisk on an academic scholarship.

4. I am the oldest of 43 first cousins. My dad was the oldest of 13 and my mom was an only child. At 6'2", I am the shortest of my brothers (6'5" and 6'7") but of course I dunked on both and had the best high school basketball career, too.

5. I met my first wife at 19, she was 22. Got married at 27. We were together 9,928 days, 8 hours and 50 minutes until she died. We had 4 children together; our first child died at 8 months. It was a great marriage.

6. I was single for 5 years when my late wife's friends introduced me to my wife Patrice. If not for them, I'd be single to this very day. I didn't think anyone wanted an old joker like me + I didn't think I wanted to marry again.

Wrong!

7. I have been arrested 25 times between the ages of 11 - 25. Three times were for protests; 18 in Nashville, TN against police brutality, twice at 25 in front of the South African embassy.

8. I got my first job at Ft. Dupont Amoco when I was 11. When I was 15, I managed the station. When I became Chief of Staff to Rep. John Lewis, I invited the owner and his wife to a meeting with Mr. Lewis. They were both in tears.

9. Because I was unable to hear, I was institutionalized btw 3-4 years at the Gale School in DC for the mentally disabled. My aunt, a teacher at Gallaudet, discovered my hearing deficit, got me out and I had speech classes for a year. I took her to meet Mr. Lewis too.

FIN/My Mom, Dad, in-laws, grand mother, and step-mom lived with me between the last 8 to 5 years of their lives. I have been the executor of five estates and a conservator for two other for free.

Thanks Mom and Dad!