Carolyn Hardy: ‘We don’t play’ when it comes to business

Carolyn Hardy was the keynote speaker at a business symposium that  The Carter
Malone Group hosted in 2013 at Bloomfield Full Gospel Baptist Church. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

“If Memphis is going to survive, black businesses must survive,” said Carolyn Hardy, founder and CEO of Henderson Trans-loading Services, a company that stores and transports grain products – wheat, soybeans, corn and milo – by rail and boat.

Hardy drew this conclusion based on the virtually nil percentage of gross receipts from black businesses in Memphis and Shelby County after she served on Mayor Jim Strickland’s transition team.  

“We’re over 52 percent of the population and enjoying only 1 percent of receipts,” Hardy pointed out. “It’s less than 1 percent, to be quite honest. What it tells me is whatever system is in place, it means the status quo is working pretty well.”

In June of 2015, the city contracted with Griffin & Strong P.C. to conduct a Disparity Study to ascertain the problem or lack of diversity when it comes to minority and women-owned businesses obtaining contracts.

The Disparity Study was released in 2016. GSPC found “sufficient statistically significant underutilization of minority and women-owned firms as prime contractors and some areas of subcontracting in all five work categories that GSPC analyzed.”

The five categories were “Construction,” Architecture and Engineering,” “Professional Services,” “Other Services,” and “Goods.” The purpose of the study was to determine if the Equal Business Opportunity ordinance, which was set to expire on June 30, 2015, was fulfilled or not.

“What I learned is when you look at the Disparity Study that the city paid for and looked at, the feedback they got from the business community…they got the answer to solve this problem,” she said.

“If the business community is going to survive – I’m not just talking about government – the city government should be doing what it’s doing to try to increase minority gross receipts.”

The county mayor (Mark H. Luttrell Jr.), she added, should be doing the same thing. “We got to dig a little deeper to make sure that all of government in the Memphis community is participating in the same way.”

The business community is where the money is made, said Hardy, whose business pedigree dates back to 2006 when she purchased Coors Belle brewery in Hickory Hill for $9 million. She worked at the company prior to becoming the owner.

Hardy turned that investment into a $30 million windfall five years later after selling Hardy Bottling Co. – which manufactured carbonated and non-carbonated beverages – to Blues City Brewing LLC, an affiliate of La Crosse, Wis.-based City Brewing Co.

Chism Hardy Enterprises LLC, the parent company to Hardy Bottling, which cast Hardy as the first African-American female to own a major brewery, brokered the million-dollar deal.

Hardy upped her game in the business community after paying $403,980 via the Hardy Family Trust for 33.6 acres of land in the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park for her trans-loading and docking business.

In some respects, Hardy has managed to defy the grim statistics for women and minority-owned businesses the city’s Diversity Plan reported when it was rolled out last year.

The lack of healthy minority businesses in Memphis is contributing to the status quo, she said. “The people who are controlling the purse string have to be willing to approach businesses differently. [They] have to be more inclusive of black businesses.”

Start-up capital is often a sticking point for most up-and-coming minority business owners. “You have businesses out there that are not starving for capital,” said Hardy. “They’re starving for sales.”

When it comes to divvying up contracts, the rules of engagement for awarding contracts are pretty much set in stone, said Hardy, who was tipped with this information by some top-level business owners.

“If you’re the lighting subcontractor, the lighting sub decides where they buy their supplies from,” said Hardy, noting that many minorities aren’t big enough to handle big projects.

“On the supply side, those subs make the decision,” she said. “If you look at the Disparity Study, you’ll find that we have a good concentration of supplies.”

Hardy points to the $9 billion in capital expansion underway in the city as a yardstick of where relatively little money is being spent among the varied minority and women-owned contractors.

A different set of rules, however, was applicable for the Crosstown Concourse project and the International Paper-Tower 4 project, Hardy said. “They used new rules that were very inclusive.”

When Hardy started Henderson Trans-loading, she had more of an advantage than other African-American entrepreneurs and minority firms: She didn’t have to hunt for start-up capital.

After a decade in business, Hardy was able to self-capitalize the trans-loading business. However, “If it’s something they (investors) understand, they’ll fund it,” she said. “New startups take a lot of years, a lot of capital.”

Because Hardy is adroit in business, she’s been successful in moving Henderson Trans-loading forward in terms of gross receipts. “We have a few customers in Memphis, but the majority of our customers are always outside of Memphis.”

 Henderson Trans-loading has credibility too, said Hardy, who also owns an industrial supply company.

“We’ve been at it for a while and we’re the best at what we do,” said Hardy. “The customers that we work for don’t mind telling other people that. We don’t play.”

Michel’le lends her voice to ending domestic violence

It would be difficult to mistake the unmistakable voice of Michel’le Toussant in casual conversation. That’s because her seriously high-pitched, squeaky voice rings with familiarity.

Now if you’ve only heard Michel’le (pronounced MEESH-uh-lay) sing soul-stirring rhythm and blues songs, you wouldn’t believe she is the owner of that spirited, child-like voice.

The duality of Michel’le’s voice is her claim to fame. However, those who know the two sides of the Grammy-nominated vocalist and actress would also find it difficult to believe that she is a domestic violence survivor.

Michel’le will share her story when she keynotes the YWCA of Greater Memphis’ 20^th benefit luncheon at the Holiday Inn – University of Memphis, 3700 Central Ave., on March 8 at 12 noon.

Michelle Toussant

Proceeds will be used to provide services and shelter for women and children grappling with domestic violence. More than $100,000 has been raised so far since the benefit luncheon’s onset 20 years ago.

 “We have a speaker each year and Michele’le has agreed to be our speaker this year,” said Pamela Williams Kelly, board member of the YWCA and benefit luncheon publicity chair.

“We wanted someone who could speak to the issues, challenges and opportunities of the women that we service each and every day,” said Jacquelyn Williams, YWCA’s executive director. “She can speak to a lot of things that our clients are going through every day.”

“As a doctor, I know that domestic abuse is more than a physical scar. It also affects the person emotionally,” said Dr. Sylvia Ritchie, board chair of YWCA of Greater Memphis.

Michel’le’s “scars” were more than she could handle, which literally forced her from the music scene after scoring such chart-toppers as “Turn off the Lights,” “Nticety” and “Something in My Heart.”

The songstress went missing from the limelight for a while and returned as a reality TV star on R&B Divas: LA from 2013 to 2015. The world would learn why Michel’le went missing in the October 2016 Lifetime made for TV movie “Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge and Michel’le.”

She tells the story of how she struggled with substance abuse, financial uncertainty, and physical abuse by the fathers of her children, N.W.A founder, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight, founder of DeathRow Records.

Michel’le once attempted suicide years after the physical abuse ended. She is not alone. There are countless women and men teetering on the edge of suicide in a desperate attempt to end the constant pain and abuse.

“By her coming and speaking to the audience, which should include some clients of ours as well, hopefully she can leave a message that they can take back and have their lives changed as a result,” said Williams.

Domestic violence is a scourge that affects tens of millions in the United States. Women suffer the most at the hands of their intimate partner (1.3 million each year). Men are victimized too.

A lot of victims are afraid to come forward, Kelly added.

One in three women and one in four men have been victims of some form of physical violence within their lifetime, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence has reported.

“At the YWCA, we are aware that our clients need services that extend beyond medical care,” said Ritchie. “The community’s support of this luncheon helps us to meet those needs.”

Service programs at the YWCA include a Domestic Violence Crisis Line, Emergency Shelter, YWCA Memphis Family Shelter, Victim Advocacy, Immigrant Women’s Services, Job Training, Community Education, Racial Justice, and Childcare.

It has been a 97-year effort and commitment from the YWCA to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and liberty for all. Ending domestic violence is the cornerstone of that commitment.

Luncheon tickets are $100 and can be purchased online at https://ywcamemphisluncheon2017.eventbrite.com. For more information, call (901) 210-6551 or (901) 320-6002.

Angela Davis swipes at Trump, attacks capitalism

Angela Davis lectures at Mid-South Peace and Justice Center's 35th anniversary banquet
at First Congregational Church in Midtown on Jan. 14. (Photos by Wiley Henry)

Intermittent applauses are par for the course whenever Angela Davis orates on hot button issues. No matter the venue, one can expect straight talk from her and a rousing response.

That was precisely the case on Jan. 14 when the noted activist talked about Donald Trump, capitalism, feminism, communism, and mass incarceration at First Congregational Church in Midtown.

Davis’s 40-minute address was ripe for the mixed audience of hundreds that swelled the church’s sanctuary, including the balcony, to celebrate the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center’s 35^th anniversary and annual fundraising banquet.

“We thought who better in these kinds of troubled times to get everybody focused on the work there is to come than Angela Davis,” said Brad Watkins, the center’s executive director. “We want to make sure we’re always connecting the future of this movement to the past.”

The theme – “Living the Legacy of Nonviolence” – evoked the image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said Davis, adding, “I come to realize that his legacy is not the legacy of an individual; it’s a collective legacy.”

Davis chats with 100-year-old supporter Mary Robinson.

Dr. King would never have become an internationally recognized figure if it had not been for poor black women and domestic workers, the professor emerita at University of California, Santa Cruz said.

The audience erupted in applause.

“We celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, but in doing so we celebrate our own potential as agents of history in a collective quest for freedom at a time when the forces of capitalism – fueled as they are by racism and hetero-patriarchy – threatens to push us back unless we say there is no other way to make America great again,” said Davis, referencing Trump’s campaign slogan.

“You know what we have to do. Considering the person who will be occupying The White House over the next four years represents precisely those forces of capitalism that have impoverished so many people who decided to vote for him.”

Not known to mince words, Davis said she really didn’t come to Memphis to talk about Trump, but couldn’t resist weaving him into the conversation. The Trump swipe was met with an ovation.

“His victory was predicated on an institution called the Electoral College, which is an institution of slavery,” she said. “In many ways, the inheritance of slavery is still with us.”

Davis also ventured into the area of race. “What was once claimed as the advent of a post racial era… that turned out to mark the new beginning of a new militancy…the recognition of structural racism, and a new approach to structural justice that recognizes the intersectionality of all of our struggles.”

Davis’s nonconforming views drew the attention of a 100-year-old wheelchair-bound supporter who was transported to the church from the King’s Daughters & Sons nursing home in Bartlett.  

“I wanted to hear Angela Davis,” said Mary Robinson, a retired Internal Revenue Service employee and former board member of the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center.

“I always admired her. She sticks to what she believes. She works for it, which is really important,” said Robinson, who has followed Davis since the ’60s.

“I don’t get around much, but I’m trying to keep up,” she said, adding: “I never thought about being 100, but I’m glad I’m here.”

An educator, author, social and political activist, Davis was a lightening rod of controversy in the ’60s when she led the Communist Party USA. She also associated with the Black Panther Party.

Davis rose to worldwide fame – albeit infamously – after a Superior Court judge charged her in 1970 with “aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder” in the death of a judge. She avoided arrest and landed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted fugitives list.

Davis proclaimed her innocence. Supporters took to the streets, prompting a nationwide movement urging the powers-that-be to free Davis from jail.

Songs written in support of Davis played in rotation across the airwaves. A high-profile trial ensued in 1972 and an all-white jury acquitted Davis on all counts. 

“We need to build communities, rebuild communities. We need new organizations, new struggles,” she said. “We need to consolidate our communities. We need to recognize that we will have to struggle over the coming period like we’ve never struggled before.”

Davis concluded her speech with an old protest song and title of her latest book: “Freedom, after all, is a constant struggle.”

A panel discussion followed. Afterward, Davis signed posters and copies of her book. 

A young mother struggles to find a home for her children

Tears streamed down Terrika Gray’s cheeks as she recounted the predicament that haunts her at every turn. The arrival of the New Year didn’t make it any better.

A single mother with four children, Gray is losing hope trying to find permanent housing, food for them to eat, and daycare to send the youngest two so she can work to earn a living.

Gray’s efforts to overcome her misfortunes fell short during the past year. If good fortune doesn’t smile on her this year, a grim reality awaits and the prospect of losing it all seems likely.

Terrika Gray (Photo by Wiley Henry)

“I know what the root of the problem is,” said Gray, 25, the mother of Taureon, 7; Tavion, 5; Tylene, 4; and Ta’Leah, 3. “I do not have much help. I do not have many people to lean on. I need help with childcare.”

Gray has already exhausted the assistance she was getting from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a federal assistance program for low-income families. Five years, or 60 months, is the maximum benefit period.

She has also exhausted 18 months of transitional childcare. “My transitional childcare is up and my regular childcare is up. I have no other options,” said Gray, realizing “there’s nothing left but to pay out of pocket.”

But that’s not possible, given Gray’s inopportune circumstances, which began three years ago. And those circumstances seem to multiply. Now hard times keep nipping at her fragile state of mind.

Back in 2015, her son Taureon’s father was killed. “He was coming to Memphis to take Taureon back with him to Johnson City (Tennessee) until I got back on my feet,” she said. “But he got killed the day before.”

Gray was staying at a hotel at the time and needed a break to find a way to avoid long-term homelessness. His death, she said, occurred two months after Ta’Leah’s father became disabled. So the help she expected from both fathers just didn’t pan out.

With nothing but Food Stamps to live on, Gray has moved around so much until the principal at KIPP Elementary asked her to sign a contract promising not to take Taureon and Tavion out of school before the school year ends.

“We keep bouncing around,” said Gray, who bounced all the way to jail after writing some bad checks. “They were my own checks. I wrote them so I could get food and clothes for my kids.”

Gray and her children were staying at Elvis Presley Boulevard Inn when she broke the law. Since then, a judge has issued a warrant for her arrest at least seven times, she said, for violating probation.

As a result, her job prospects are limited. If she lands a job, she can’t keep it, even after she explains her dire situation. “I want to work. I want to take care of my own kids,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Within the three years, I have went to MIFA probably a maximum of 10-15 times crying out for help. I have been to (Shelby County) CSA (Community Service Agency) and other agencies.”

MIFA tucked Gray and the children in at Family Promise, a homeless shelter for families. “You have to be out by 6 a.m. and in by 6 p.m.,” she explained. “I can understand that. I am willing to work with your rules.”  

But then, she added, the rules didn’t allow her to job hunt and tend to her children during the day. Again, there was no money to pay a babysitter, which is the gist of her problem.

Gray bounced again and ended up staying two months at South Pointe Townhomes on Shelby Drive. But MLGW wouldn’t turn on the lights. “Come to find out, it was a stolen meter,” she said, “and I got hit with the charges.”

In mid-October, she moved into a rundown, dilapidated duplex in the Hyde Park community. “I had funds still left over from MIFA,” she said. “And I found this place for $350.”

Gray couldn’t get lights turned on in the duplex either, because she still owes MLGW. The landlord, who lives in Indianapolis, had advised her to use someone else’s name. But the utility wanted the landlord to come in to the office. He refused and threatened to evict Gray.

McDonald’s on Jackson was a temporary pit stop for Gray during this time. She worked there two weeks and quit. Meanwhile, her cupboard was bare and cold weather started sweeping through the decrepit duplex.

With desperation now setting in, Gray called Wanda Taylor, CEO and president of Ladies In Need Can Survive, Inc., a transitional home in Frayser for troubled women. But LINCS is not set up to take in mothers and their children, only mothers seeking help for their addictions.

“Even though I couldn’t house her, I still reached out to help,” said Taylor, who notified MIFA and called a friend. Both resources led to Gray and her children spending two days in a hotel.

Taylor also purchased three-days worth of groceries and ice for Gray, who stored the perishables in an ice chest in the chilly duplex.

“All the emergency shelters are full,” said Taylor, using all the resources at her disposal to help Gray. But Gray’s predicament is still haunting.

“I know what I’m capable of. I know what I can do,” said Gray. “It just seems like I’m being held back.”

Gray graduated from East High School in 2010, then enrolled at Southwest Tennessee Community College to study nursing. She also studied for a nursing degree at Concorde Career College in 2012.

“Now I feel like I’m letting myself down,” said Gray, trying to hold back the tears. “I feel like I’m letting my kids down.” 

(Wanda Taylor is accepting donations and help for Terrika Gray and her children. She can be reached at 901-351-9864)

Dr. LaShondra Jones helps veterans mired in the criminal justice system

The affinity that Dr. LaShondra Charmaine Jones has shown veterans was apparent after conversing with a Vietnam-era veteran in 2012 while volunteering at a reentry facility in Houston, Texas.

“The facility specifically focuses on men who’ve been incarcerated 20 or more years,” said Jones, a native Memphian who graduated Dec. 10, 2016, from Texas Southern University in the Barbara Jordan/Mickey Leland School of Public Policy.

Dr. LaShondra Charmaine Jones

 After nearly four years of study, Jones, 41, scrolled upfront in cap and gown during the graduation ceremony in the Health and Physical Education Arena to receive her Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department Administration of Justice.

She had penned her dissertation on veterans who served gallantly during Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom and their post-combat involvement in criminal activity.

It was aptly titled “An Analysis of the Resiliency and Criminal Justice Involvement of Combat Veterans.”

The conversation that Jones had with the veteran sparked her interest in the more than 21 million veterans in the United States – according to the Census Bureau’s 2014 figures – who find themselves caught up in a bureaucratic labyrinth that they can’t seem to navigate.

This veteran, whom Jones befriended, had spent more than 30 years in prison and lost his right to vote. “He said, ‘I’m on paper until about 2040. I’m already in my 60s and I’ll never be able to vote again.’”

Jones, a veteran herself, enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at 17. She served four years of active duty and was honorably discharged in 1998. Consumed by compassion, she couldn’t believe what she’d heard and wanted to do something about it. The man had paid his dues, she said, but that wasn’t enough.

“The first job that he got when he was released from prison is the same job that he’s still on. He’s constantly getting promoted. He’s been on the job about seven or eight years,” she said.

“For me, that just took my breath away,” Jones continued. “You have a Vietnam veteran that was drafted, served his country, and came back… so [they] turn to drugs and alcohol, crime, because of the things that they’d experienced and were exposed to in Vietnam.”

If the man’s criminal record can’t be expunged, he’d never be able to vote, she pointed out. “He’s served his time, served his country. He’s a law-abiding citizen and no longer can gain his right to vote.”

Jones had traded Memphis for Houston in 2011 in search of a new perspective, to pursue her doctorate, and to secure a decent job in her chosen field. She’d already earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from the University of Memphis after concluding her service in the U.S.M.C.

But something was stirring in Jones. She sought to right what she deemed to be wrong with the treatment of veterans. She studied law, served as a paralegal, and worked for the county attorney’s office in Memphis.

“My goal was to get involved in law some kind of way,” said Jones, who was raised by her mother, Teresa McGlothlin.

While working at a homeless facility for veterans in Houston, for example, Jones noticed the challenges they were confronted with. Crime had run amok among the veterans and mental illness was pervasive.  

“You have a lot of decorated soldiers that are homeless,” she said, “because they’ve become involved in the criminal justice system. Now you have Purple Heart [recipients] sleeping in homeless shelters.”

Jones currently works as a program coordinator in Houston for Catholic Charities in the Pathways to Hope/Lotus Project program to help women veterans regain their “resiliency” and “self-sufficiency.”

In 2015, she interned as a policy associate with State Sen. Rodney Glenn Ellis’s Texas Legislative Internship Program during the 84^th Texas Legislative Session and focused on legislation that impacted veterans.

“The first thing they did was placed me with a policy firm that allowed me to focus specifically on veterans legislation,” said Jones, who testified several times before the Texas House and Senate on behalf of veterans.

“I got opportunities to meet a lot of legislators and they began to defer to me about veterans,” she added.

Jones attends national conferences across the country to learn more about veterans. She served three terms on the Texas Veteran Commission Funds for Veteran Assistance and was the first African American and first female to be elected chairman and vice-chairman of the board.

She also is active in the Houston Branch NAACP, where she serves as vice-chairman of the Armed Forces Committees. Her short-term goal is to move to Washington, D.C. to lobby for veterans.

“I would like to be a part of the Senate one day,” said Jones, hoping someday to toss her hat into the political ring. “Who knows?”

Distinguished Memphians honored with the Memphis Heritage Trailblazer Award

Some of the trailblazers included Joyce Blackmon (left), Beverly Robertson,
Ruby Bright and Jocelyn Wurzburg. (Photos by Isaac Singleton)

“On my radio program every Sunday, I always start off with ‘Tell the Lord thank you,’” said Markhum “Mark” L. Stansbury Sr., a longtime luminary who has made his mark at WDIA-AM 1070, the first radio station in the U.S. that was programmed for African Americans.

Stansbury is a history-maker whose storied career runs the gamut from radio personality to university administrator to interim college president to photojournalist to newspaper reporter to serving on prominent boards to community service and more.

He has been the recipient of several awards too – including the latest one that he and 27 other distinguished Memphians received for “advancing civil and human rights and carrying the torch to uphold its African-American History and Culture.”

Markhum "Mark" L. Stansbury Sr. was one of 28 Memphis
who received the trailblazer award. Paul Young, director of
Housing and Community Development, and Felicia Harris,
Memphis's Planning and Development manager, flank him.

The city of Memphis and the Division of Housing and Community Development presented the “trailblazers” with the Memphis Heritage Trailblazer Award on Dec. 7 at the Halloran Centre For Performing Arts & Education.

The award was named for the Memphis Heritage Trail, a historic 60-block redevelopment area in downtown Memphis, which is considered the epicenter of African-American history, heritage and culture.  

“We are extremely excited about the Memphis Heritage Trail project and it has been eight years of planning to get us where we are today,” said Felicia Harris, the city’s Planning and Development manager. “It is important for us to pay homage to those individuals who have fought and continue to fight for civil and human rights.”

In addition to Stansbury, the award also went to Yvonne and David Acey, Ekundayo Bandele, Joyce Blackmon, Ruby Bright, Atty. Mike Cody, Erma Clanton, 
Fred Davis, 
Bishop William Graves, the Rev. Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr., Happy Jones
, Marion Mitchell and Robert Lipscomb, the former HCD director who led the Heritage Trail project at the onset
. Paul Young is the current HCD director.

Clanton, a playwright, lyricist and former schoolteacher, started saluting trailblazers in 2003; and each February at New Sardis Baptist Church, a dozen or more Memphians are honored with the “Living Legends Award.”

At 93, Clanton is more inclined to shower praises on others and honor them than accept the honor she’s long overdue. “It was a collection of black and white citizens who’ve made a contribution to Memphis,” she said. “It just encourages me at my age to do more.”

The other trailblazers included Dr. James Netters, Atty. Charlie Newman, O C Pleasant Jr., Diane Rudner, James “D’eke” Pope, Beverly Robertson, Dr. Coby Smith, Judge Russell Sugarmon, Calvin Taylor
, Henry Turley
, Elaine Lee Turner, 
Rosalind Withers
, Jocelyn Wurzburg, and Jan Young.

“Society has so much to thank these individuals for,” said Mayor Jim Strickland. “These recipients come from all walks of life and have sacrificed to make a better Memphis for us all.”

 “I just want to tell Him thank you for putting me in a position to be able to speak out for those who didn’t have a voice and couldn’t,” said Stansbury, who doesn’t mind sharing the spotlight with those who’ve also made contributions to society.

He credits the late international photojournalist Ernest C. Withers Sr. for stepping up to the plate as his mentor in photography. Rosalind Withers, who is blazing a trail as executive director of the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, is carrying on her father’s legacy.

“It’s an honor to pick up the torch and make his (Ernest Withers) body of work a part of our own every day lives,” said Rosalind Withers, who calls herself a legacy builder. “People know the work, but it’s my duty to make sure that people know the name.”

It takes a lot of effort and persistence to build and secure a legacy, said Withers, which was, without a doubt, one of the reasons she was tapped to receive the city’s first trailblazer award.  

“The job I’m doing is one of a kind,” she said.

For many, the plaudits keep coming.

Stephen Saine uncovers a pay-for-play scheme involving his nephew in the book ‘Fragrant Fouls’

The criminal lifestyle that Stephen Saine once knew firsthand could have ended unpleasantly like so many others of the same ilk: They either languish in prison or wind up on a cold slab in the morgue.

Saine was lucky – or blessed, as Christians would say – that he was able to skirt the inevitable consequences of drug dealing and lead a life that is respectable and responsible – that is until he found himself embroiled in a pay-for-play scheme involving his beloved nephew, Jartavious Pierre Henderson-Niles.

Stephen Saine

Known as “Pink Chevy” when he was dealing on the streets, Saine would make amends for such an unsavory vocation and turn to God and the ministry. He is the pastor of Higher Heights Christian Church in Memphis.

Old habits are sometimes hard to break. In this case, Saine would call upon a familiar skill-set after he was led to believe that his nephew’s basketball prowess was ripe for the pros.

The street life and Saine’s ingratiation with swarming coaches thus became fodder for an autobiographical book entitled “Fragrant Fouls” (River House Publishing), a true story about Saine and his penchant for stopping at nothing to hew out a path leading straightaway to his nephew’s success on the basketball court.

“It chronicles the highs and lows of my life when I was in the streets back in the day selling drugs,” said Saine, bringing to bear his criminal activity, his reinvention as a “Man of God,” and, of course, the “lies, deceit and scandal” that rocked the Memphis basketball community.

“It coincides [with] where I am now in my life, reaching back, letting folks know to stay out of the streets….” he said. “I wrote the book to let others know there’s a better way than the way we were going.”

That better way – in addition to the “hustle” that got Saine in trouble at the onset of his criminal life and at the outset when he stood in the gap for his nephew – is best detailed in the following synopsis of “Flagrant Fouls.”

“Chronicling firsthand experiences that were a paltry mix of lies, deceit and scandal, ‘Flagrant Fouls’ explores what happened behind closed doors to recruit his nephew to a college basketball program, the broken promise made by ambitious high-profile coaches and the impact those negotiations ultimately had on his family.”

One of the infamous coaches that Saine accuses in the book is John Calipari, the former head basketball coach at the University of Memphis and current head coach at the University of Kentucky. After negotiations turned ugly, the drug-dealer-turned-preacher learned that “all that glitters isn't gold.”

“It’s about my dealings with Memphis basketball coach John Calipari,” said Saine, who was his nephew’s custodian during that era of Tiger basketball. “They (coaching staff) were fragrant; they were foul; they were corrupt.”

Saine claimed Calipari and others on the coaching staff brought him into the mix under the guise of helping him because he was a “one-time” felon and couldn’t get a job.

“They were paying me under the table to bring my nephew there (U of M)…so he wouldn’t sign nowhere else,” said Saine. “As time went on, they said they would help me get a job and pay me whatever my bills were for the month.”

Saine accused Calipari of reneging on the deal, but he would pay a hefty price for the lessons he learned – including unwanted public exposure for yet another misdeed. It was all because he wanted his nephew to excel at collegiate basketball and then on the pros.

After the media broke the story in 2014, Saine said he and his nephew would run afoul of each other. He added that Henderson-Niles would eventually realize that “that man was crooked” – referring to Calipari.

Henderson-Niles graduated from the UofM in 2010. A few months ago, Saine said he struck up a conversation with his nephew about the scheme that placed them at the center of controversy.

The U of M has been silent and Saine’s allegation has not marred Calipari, who did incur several major infractions when he coached Tiger basketball.