In 2012 with the approval of Atlanta Public Schools Office of Athletics, L.E.A.D. was able to name the baseball field at Booker T. Washington High School The Moore-Clendenon Baseball Field. This recognition was in honor of James “Red” Moore (Atlanta Black Crackers) and Donn Clendenon (NY Mets), both graduates of Booker T. Washington High School.
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| C.J. Stewart’s youth through college coaches along with James “Red” Moore |
After graduating from Washington High School in 1933, Mr. Moore went on to have an All-Star baseball career in the Negro Leagues for the Newark Bears, Atlanta Black Crackers, Baltimore Elite Giants and the Indianapolis ABC’s. Mr. Clendenon was the Major League Baseball World Series MVP in 1969 with the New York Mets.
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| Mr. Donn Clendenon |
Booker T. Washington High School is also known for another famous alum by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a member of a team of men that convinced Mr. Clendenon to stay home and attend Morehouse College instead of attending UCLA.
Eighty years after James “Red” Moore graduated from high school at Booker T. Washington High School, competitive baseball is being played for the purpose of launching educational opportunities. Through a partnership with Atlanta Public Schools, L.E.A.D. is able to use the Washington High School baseball field to deliver year round programming that focuses on excellence in education, athletics, community service/civic engagement and exposure. L.E.A.D.’s mission is to create positive outcomes for inner city, at-risk, minority youth by leveraging the relationship between education, athletics and service.
To date, 60% of African-Americans in the inner city of Atlanta will not graduate from high school. Since 2007, 100% of L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have graduated from high school and 100% of them have enrolled into college. 92% of L.E.A.D. Ambassadors have enrolled into college with scholarship opportunities.
There are a lot of great people that have worked tirelessly to make Atlanta one of the best communities in the world. Their efforts have resulted in some of the world’s most influential businesses and ideas calling Atlanta home and a lot of them were birthed here: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coca-Cola, the Civil Rights Movement, CNN. One of those great persons is Kim King.
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The Kim King Foundation has been a supporter of L.E.A.D.’s Middle School Character Development League for over a year by adopting Mr. King’s alma mater Joseph E. Brown High School into our Middle School Character Development League.
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| Angela King sharing Kim King’s 1960 year book with with J. Brown Middle School Character Development League LEADers on their Signing Day 2013 |
The Kim King Foundation has continued to bless Atlanta Public Schools and L.E.A.D. by renovating the baseball field at Moore-Clendenon Field. Our new field will allow us to
- provide more effective baseball training to our Ambassadors by L.E.A.D. coaches
- provide opportunities to attract competitive teams throughout the country
- provide opportunities to attract college baseball scouts
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| Field renovation by Joseph Peters of Laser Turf SE. Photo |