Retired Wayne County Judge Craig Strong had heard the news about President Joe Biden bowing out of the 2024 campaign on Sunday. And by 4:05 p.m., the 1969 Howard University graduate already knew where his support was going.

“She’s going to win,” Strong said about his fellow Howard alum, Class of 1986 grad and current Vice President Kamala Harris, who received Biden's endorsement Sunday following his historic withdrawal from the race.  

The 76-year-old Strong, who at the time of his retirement from the bench was Wayne County’s longest-tenured judge (1978-2020), says his confidence in Harris stems from knowing her for close to three decades through mutual friends connected to Howard University — the historically Black university in Washington, D.C. — along with people they both know in California.  

“I’m excited, I’ve known Kamala for about 20 to 30 years and she has all of the ingredients to be president of the United States,” said Strong a native Detroiter, who recently returned to his Indian Village home from Las Vegas, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Bar Association. “She’s intelligent and has held several political positions on the local and national levels, and now as the vice president of the United States, so she comes qualified. 

“And Kamala is a prosecutor (former attorney general of California) and (former President Donald) Trump has been convicted of all of those (felony) crimes, so there are so many considerations working in her favor. They can't talk about age anymore either, because Kamala is young (59 years old) in comparison to Trump (78 years old).”

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A familiar face at many community events, Strong took time to speak Sunday afternoon shortly before he was expected to attend a picnic at Erma Henderson Park hosted by the Detroit Chapter of Michigan State University’s Black Alumni Association. Strong said he has no doubt that a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top would energize the Detroit community. 

“Kamala will receive overwhelming support from Detroit,” proclaimed Strong, the recipient of the George N. Bashara Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award at Michigan State University’s College of Law Commencement in May. “It was a dull election before, but not anymore. The community and all of the women’s rights groups will be energized. I also believe Detroit has become a lot more sensitive to the importance of voting. Today, we have a new group of voters in our community and they will be heard in this election. 

“And what our community will find out about Kamala through this campaign is that she loves people and she is concerned about safety in our community and neighborhoods. Kamala is hard on crime, but fair, and that’s very important.”  

Strong, a longtime fundraiser and founding board member for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, says the potential historic impact of a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top, vying to be the first female president of the United States also would have special meaning to Detroiters. 

“Kamala is a woman and women vote for women,” Strong said. “But think of all of the girls in our community who will be inspired to do great things in their own lives. This is history.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.

Pyramid Elementary School, once located at 17151 Wyoming off McNichols Road, was a relatively small private institution. But it had a sizable impact on lifelong Detroiter Vernon Corey Greenleaf. 

While attending Pyramid during the mid-1980s, Greenleaf met two lifelong friends: Emmy Award-winning journalist and former Detroit Free Press sports reporter Jemele Hill; and Richard LaGrant-Roper, who is known in music circles as Dj Wise1. 

A fourth-grade social studies lesson at Pyramid also introduced Greenleaf to the Norse explorer Leif Erikson, which triggered a question from the young man who grew up near the former Cooley High School (Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street) in northwest Detroit. 

“There were five to six sentences about Leif Erikson in our textbook, and what I read said he reached America about 500 years before Columbus,” the now-47-year-old Greenleaf explained as he recalled his early classroom experiences at a school that was Black-owned and staffed by Black educators. “When we had a lesson about Christopher Columbus about five or six weeks later, I’m saying to myself: ‘Why are we being taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America?’ I raised my hand to ask that question, and I was waving my hand back and forth, and then the teacher told me to put my hand down.” 

As Greenleaf tells it, by the fourth grade he already had a reputation for being that kid who regularly posed perplexing questions in class that often took more than the designated lesson period to answer. But while Greenleaf’s question was not answered that day, he says the experience only made him more curious about the world. And Greenleaf’s connection to Leif Erikson never ended, either, as witnessed by the stage name he adopted, “Leaf Erikson,” which appears next to three Detroit Music Awards that have been presented to Greenleaf since 2020 by the Detroit Music Awards Foundation (DMAF). 

“The name Leif Erikson always intrigued me, but I chose Leaf Erikson as a stage name because I wanted to explore the world through music,” said Greenleaf, who was honored in 2020 by DMAF as “Outstanding Rap MC” and again in 2022 as “Outstanding Rap Artist” and for the “Outstanding Rap Recording” garnered by the album “Moonlight Over Mt. Sinai.” 

On four consecutive evenings, beginning July 15, from his northwest Detroit home, Greenleaf — who can be heard as Leaf Erikson with Boog Brown on the single “Boog’s Groove” released July 12 — described the evolution of his musical exploration. Beginning in earnest during his early 20s, Greenleaf’s journey has most often taken place late nights and weekends, after he has had a chance to quickly recharge following demanding day work, including a finance job at a downtown Detroit office where he currently works. A host of Detroit bars and clubs with colorful names — some with and some without stages — and festivals, such as the Detroit Metro Times Blowout in Hamtramck, where Greenleaf has performed for nine consecutive years, allowed a young man from a musical family the opportunity to be a bona fide working performance artist — with a heavy emphasis on the “work” part that Greenleaf defines as "the Detroit way."  

“I would say the number of creatives in Detroit that work for themselves and work one or more additional jobs would be in the very high 90% range,” said Greenleaf, who refers to his mother, Beverli, a longtime New Bethel Baptist Church choir member, as his favorite singer and the member of his family that should have been a recording star. “For us that create music, we’re underdogs as it is. And most of us come into this business not knowing where to record or do shows, so we have to make our own way.

“We also work hard at our other jobs that allow us to do our music, because at the end of that work shift, the prize is being able to go to the studio or to go somewhere to perform live. If you work for Ford Motor Co., you’re expected to be able to do your job. And if you’re an MC, you should be able to put on a good show. And Detroit creatives take special pride in being able to excel in all of those spaces.”  

Greenleaf, who also is the proud son of Augustus Greenleaf, and younger brother to Brian Greenleaf, a music director and educator, says another proud moment occurs any time he uses his recordings to tackle community issues that concern him the most. 

For example, as Leaf Erikson, in the 2019-released album “A Canvas of Hope,” Greenleaf used tracks titled “Foreclosure,” “Gospel from the North End” and “H2o” to call attention to Detroit’s foreclosure crisis, mental health and the Flint water crisis, respectively. Then there is the track titled “Rescue Mission” on the same album that highlights the importance of making resources available to people in need. Greenleaf says he got the inspiration for the piece while he was working a previous job at DTE Energy when a woman who broke down in tears after DTE and COTS provided some basic needs for her in the same day.

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“As a creative community in the city, we have to be a reflection of the times; it has to be more than a photo op and branding,” Greenleaf, who calls himself "the common-man MC" said. “Things that go on in our community should be reflected in our work, especially if you’re screaming every chance you get that you’re from Detroit. Go back to Motown in the '60s: First, there was a lot of pop coming out; and then, later in the '60s and into the 1970s, you had Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and even The Supremes singing about what was going on in the community and in the world. I can listen to Marvin Gaye’s 'Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)' today and the hair on the back of my neck will still stand up.” 

The passion that could be heard in Greenleaf’s voice when he spoke about Marvin Gaye is similar to the tone that his friends have become familiar with any time Greenleaf is engaged in a spicy sports conversation. In fact, Greenleaf says his time spent as a member of the prep crew, covering high school sports for the Detroit Free Press’ sports department many years before his Leaf Erikson transformation, is still a part of him with every piece of music he writes or performs.  

“By far, it was the best job I have ever had,” Greenleaf, a 1994 Cass Tech graduate, said about the part-time position he started on October 30, 1992, at the age of 15, which entailed answering calls from local high school coaches who phoned the Free Press with information from their recently completed games that were then compiled into game summaries and sometimes short stories by members of the prep crew. “On the prep crew, we were a bunch of guys mostly — and a couple of girls — and we wanted to be writers. We all hoped to get that call from the winning coach of the lead game for our roundup so that our name could get in the paper.

"That was some serious stuff, but I still literally approach what I do today as a reporter. I want to be able to speak truth with journalistic integrity.” 

The “old-school” journalist that Greenleaf is at his core had no problem identifying his longtime friend, Jemele Hill, as the source behind his relationship with the Free Press. Hill put Greenleaf in contact with former Free Press sports editor Gene Myers. It is the same Jemele Hill that Greenleaf once participated in epic dodgeball games with on the Pyramid Elementary School playground and later regularly bowled with during high school at Schaefer Lanes — decades before Hill was a national sports reporting figure for ESPN. And even as Greenleaf navigates his musical journey, where he has been supported by talented creative people near and far that he profusely praised on July 17 such as Dakim, Hugh Whitaker, the late Titus “Baatin” Glover, Troy Davis, Ilajide, Casey van Reyk, DJ Benny Ben, Dj Wise1, Andrew Potvin, “The Butter Made Records Family” and more — including Greenleaf’s fiancée, Laura Shafer; son Korey Greenleaf; and Chris Campbell, host of WDET’s “The Progressive Underground" — Greenleaf says he still is inspired in a unique way by Hill.

“At Pyramid Elementary, Jemele and I read all of the books written by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, and then when Jemele started writing I always liked her style because she was never afraid,” said Greenleaf, who, as Leaf Erikson, has received 15 nominations for Detroit Music Awards, including in 2023 for “Outstanding Gospel/Christian Recording for “The New Testament,” which also featured his son, Korey Greenleaf, who performs as D Apollo. “Jemele is never going to let anyone box her in and she has been a huge inspiration for me. Jemele has also always been all about Detroit, and I’m the same way.

"I love my city. And through music that reflects my city, I want to be a better version of myself. Creating music is like a therapy session for me. And I’m the therapist and the client.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.     

In this age of data and analytics, the interpretation of baseball statistics has changed significantly. But from the perspective of most pure fans, a .300 batting average still is a measurement for success. 

With that said, a .400 batting average for a season at any level of the game remains rarefied air.  

And a .500 season would be simply unimaginable, for most. Unless your name is Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley, who, before playing professionally for the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues, batted an even .500 for an entire college season as a member of the Wayne (now Wayne State) University baseball team during the spring of 1945. 

It’s the same Ron Teasley, now 97 years young, who is the second-oldest living former baseball player from the Negro Leagues. For that reason, and considerably more, Teasley was invited to grace a baseball field once again on Saturday afternoon during the Detroit Tigers’ Negro Leagues Weekend celebration at Comerica Park.

“Dad has a wonderful Detroit legacy that should always be honored,” said Lydia Teasley, who, in addition to being the proud daughter of Ron and the late Marie Teasley, is the executive director of the nonprofit Ron and Marie Teasley Foundation, which is committed to providing scholarships for Detroit youths.

Nearly 80 years ago, readers of the Detroit Free Press were informed that Lydia Teasley’s dad was a rising, versatile athlete worthy of the community’s respect when, in a March 11, 1945, article honoring the Free Press’ 1945 All-City Basketball Team, sports reporter Truman Stacey wrote: “Teasley’s work during the first term was of such a high order that he could not be overlooked.” The visuals accompanying the article included a photo of a smiling Ron Teasley in uniform and knee pads as he prepared to launch a two-handed shot while representing Northwestern High School, where he was vice president of his January 1945 graduating class — the first Black student to captain the basketball team and an outstanding performer on the baseball team.     

A mention of that 1945 Free Press article, and his pose in the accompanying photo, made Ron Teasley chuckle Wednesday evening. And while it is unlikely that Teasley can remember everything that was written about him during the years he starred on the baseball diamond and basketball court, he made it clear that he will never forget the tight-knit Detroit community that inspired him to do great things.  

“Have you heard of the west-siders? Do you know the boundaries?” Ron Teasley asked with a prideful tone in his voice that could not be denied, as the former Vancourt Street resident reminisced about Detroit’s “old west side,” whose boundaries included Epworth to West Grand Boulevard; Tireman to Warren Avenue; Vinewood to Grand River; Buchanan to West Grand Boulevard, and American, Bryden and Central streets. “We had a lot of doctors, lawyers and teachers in the neighborhood that all of the kids looked up to, and you wanted to be like them.” 

Teasley says he also wanted to be like a group of men that he saw playing baseball near the old Kronk Recreation Center, at 5555 McGraw Ave., when he was 13 years old. This group, which included men that had played in the Negro Leagues, along with Julius Lanier, a supportive neighbor who worked at the nearby Kelsey Hayes plant at Livernois and McGraw, taught Teasley the game and gave him the “Schoolboy” nickname that aligned with Teasley’s studious nature on and off the field. 

“I started practicing with these gentlemen, and then I would wait for my neighbor to come home to play catch, so I was always around people who loved the game,” said Teasley, whose baseball apprenticeship included playing in a national semi-pro tournament at the age of 14, where he declined any payment to maintain his amateur status. “By the time I started playing baseball at Northwestern, the game was kind of like a piece of cake because of the experience I had earlier.” 

The experience Teasley obtained as a teen in Detroit — capped by an exhibition at Dequindre Park, where, as a 19-year-old, he hit a triple off the legendary Satchel Paige — served Teasley well at Wayne. Once there, Teasley’s athletic career was split into two productive and exciting acts, with service in the U.S. Navy that included an overseas tour in the Pacific, sandwiched in-between. Through it all, Teasley, the collegiate athlete, shined while earning three letters in basketball (1945, 1947 and 1948) as a guard/forward; and two letters (1945 and 1947) in baseball, which included setting multiple team records.  

Following his playing days at Wayne, a path to the big leagues seemed like a pretty sure bet. Then, on April 20, 1948, the Free Press reported that the Olean (N.Y.) Oilers, a farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, had signed Teasley and former Detroit Miller High School multisport standout Sammy Gee to 1948 contracts. The story, compiled from wire reports, noted in bold type that Teasley and Gee were the “first two Negroes to play in the Eastern circuit.” Teasley’s signing, which occurred after he performed well during a Dodgers spring training tryout in Vero Beach, Florida, made him the eighth Black player to sign with a Major League Baseball franchise in the 20th century, coming on the heels of the debuts of Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby with the Dodgers and the then-Cleveland Indians, respectively, in 1947. Wednesday night, while recounting that period of his life, the former Northwestern Colt explained that his plan for working his way up to the Dodgers’ Major League team from the PONY (Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York) League centered on letting his potent bat do the talking.  

“In 23 games, I had 23 hits. I was batting .270 and I was leading the league in home runs,” recalled Teasley, who delayed completing his education at Wayne to pursue an opportunity to make the Brooklyn Dodgers. “And I had no problems with the fans in New York. We (Sammy Gee and I) were received well.”  

Nonetheless, Teasley did indeed receive bad news when he, along with Gee, were released from the Oilers after the more than solid start to his minor league career that he described. Teasley and Gee had been vying to make a Dodgers team that by 1949 would have three established Black Major League stars: Robinson, Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe — all former Negro Leaguers — at a time when Black players made up less than 2% of all MLB players.  

“(Negro League legend and Hall of Famer) Buck Leonard spoke to us after we were released and he told us that Black players were not going to be kept by Major League teams as bench players,” Teasley ruefully recalled. His tryout with the Dodgers had been arranged by Will Robinson, who also had coached Gee at Miller High School. “You had to be Hank Aaron or Willie Mays to make it at that time, and they knew we weren’t Hank Aaron or Willie Mays when they signed us. I wish I could say that everything was peaches and cream, but that was the saddest part and it was devastating at the time.”  

There would be more games for Teasley after his release from the Dodgers’ farm system, including the time he spent in 1948 with the New York Cubans of the Negro Leagues, where Teasley spent some time roaming the same outfield as Hall of Famer Minnie Minoso. Teasley later was a three-time all star while playing in the independent Manitoba-Dakota League. But it was a move that Teasley later made off the field to return to Wayne State, where he earned bachelor's and master’s degrees, which set the stage for him to be a true impact player in his beloved Detroit community as an educator and coach.

“Without a doubt, being a teacher and coach was the best thing that came out of my baseball experience,” said Teasley, who worked 35 years with the Detroit Board of Education, where he taught physical education at Garfield Jr. High, Spain Jr. High and Northwestern High School, while also coaching high school baseball, basketball and golf. “I’m in the Hall of Fame (Michigan High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame) because of my students. I have so many happy memories.”  

On Wednesday, Teasley confided that when it came to coaching, he was always happiest coaching baseball. In fact, during the 1970s, after coaching future Detroit Pistons Terry Tyler and Alan Hardy, Teasley chose to stop coaching the boys varsity basketball team at Northwestern because he needed to get an earlier start in preparing the baseball team. 

“I just always thought baseball was more interesting,” said Teasley, who also is enshrined in the Northwestern High School Hall of Fame and the Wayne State University Athletic Hall of Fame. “That’s why, as a coach, I timed all of my practices and charted everything. I wanted to make every practice interesting and fun.”  

And with the same precision that her father ran baseball practices at the Northwestern High School baseball field, Lydia Teasley said that she and her brother, Ron Teasley Jr., will make sure that their father has everything he needs to enjoy Saturday’s Negro Leagues celebration, which will include an interview and fan Q&A and an on-field presentation that she expects her father to participate in at Comerica Park before the Tigers face the Los Angeles Dodgers at 1:10 p.m. 

Thursday afternoon, Lydia Teasley noted the irony of the Tigers hosting the same MLB franchise that her father signed a contract with 76 years ago. And in doing so, she made it clear that it will not be a day of what-ifs for her. Instead, along with her brothers Ron Jr. and Tim, she said she will be celebrating how their father made the absolute most of the opportunity he was given in the game of life.

“We always ask Dad, 'How did you do all of that?'” Lydia Teasley said while explaining that during her father’s Detroit journey, he never shied away from a new challenge, which led him to take professional photos to accompany his late wife’s stories during her long tenure as a Michigan Chronicle columnist. “Baseball, Navy, back to school; at some point, he pledged Kappa Alpha Psi; then going back to Northwestern to coach and all of the things he did in the community with my mom. It’s just a heck of a legacy and a love story, and a testament to the character of the man. 

“And it never gets old to see him get honored during the celebrations of the Negro Leagues. As a family, we always knew he was great. And now the entire world is getting to know thanks to the MLB and the Tigers. It’s long overdue for all of the men that played in the Negro Leagues to be recognized. And I’m so glad that Dad can represent them and receive his flowers now, because he deserves it.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber. 

“Energizer,” “explosive athlete,” “great transition finisher” and “high-motor defender” are just some of the more colorful descriptions in the many scouting reports seeking to define Ron Holland II, the Detroit Pistons’ first-round selection in the recent NBA draft. 

However, shortly after Holland’s name was called by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on the evening of June 27, the ESPN broadcasting crew covering the draft shed light on another side of the Pistons’ incoming rookie, revealing that Holland also has creative interests and passions that transcend the game of basketball.   

From Malika Andrews, ESPN’s NBA draft host, a worldwide audience was informed that the “wise beyond his years,” 19-year-old Holland enjoys playing the drums in his spare time and already has presented a camp for youths in his native state of Texas, using basketball to promote mental health and wellness. But before those facts could be completely digested, ESPN reporter Monica McNutt had her chance to stretch a microphone up to the 6-foot-8-inch Holland. Roughly 35 seconds later, the interview took an unconventional turn when Holland confirmed that Teddy Pendergrass was his “favorite artist.” That would indeed be the same Teddy Pendergrass who was one of the most popular R&B and soul vocalists during much of the 1970s and early '80s.  

And it is that eclectic and mature nature of Holland’s interests and responses that has piqued the interest of native Detroiter, Horatio Williams. Williams is a devotee of 1970s music and culture who just happens to do his best and most important work — uplifting his home town — less than 2 miles from where Holland will be playing his home games this season, at Little Caesars Arena.      

“To hear some of the things that Ron Holland is passionate about, and to learn that he is already giving back, shows that Ron gets it — he understands the process,” explained Williams, creator of the Horatio Williams Foundation, which, since 2005, has helped boys and girls succeed through programming conducted at the nonprofit’s headquarters — 1010 Antietam, just east of downtown off Gratiot — in what used to be the Wayne County Medical Society building. “In the game of life, just like in basketball, there is a process to being successful that is bigger than the game. Identifying your passions outside of your sport is important. And then for all athletes, at the end of the day, it should be all about giving back. That’s how you win in life.”

Basketball analogies come naturally for Williams, who earned his stripes in the game while growing up in Detroit, which included being among the top 40 players in the city that comprised the 1986 Detroit Free Press All-PSL/Detroit teams during his senior year at Osborn High School. While rising up in the game during an era when the Detroit Public School League routinely sent student-athletes to major college basketball programs and the NBA, Williams says he and other young players in Detroit had something going for them that makes him particularly interested in professional athletes that join Detroit teams today.

“In my day, growing up as a young player, we had local professional players that came into the community," said Williams, who pointed to “Big” Bob Lanier, selected by the Pistons with the first overall pick in the 1970 NBA draft; Spencer Haywood, state champion at Pershing High School, 1968 Olympic gold medalist and 1969 All American at the University of Detroit before his trailblazing entry into the American Basketball Association and then the NBA, and George Gervin, a star at King High School and Eastern Michigan before starring in the ABA and NBA. On Wednesday, Williams defined his ideal Detroit sports community as a place where every resident, especially young people, would be able to identify at least five players on each of the city’s pro sports team based on actual contact with the players in the community. “Gervin would even come back to the Butzel Center (on Detroit’s east side)," Williams added. "And when we saw that these great players were a part of our world, that gave us hope that we could succeed too.”

The seeds planted in Williams as he witnessed future Hall of Famers give back to his city and neighborhood would come to fruition a few decades later. After recovering from being hit by a drunken driver while riding a bike, which ended his college basketball career at Tuskegee University before it started, Williams, as an operator of a nonemergency medical transportation company, made a financial and personal investment in the former Butzel Elementary Middle School. His generosity, about five years before he created his foundation, included renovating the school’s gymnasium and providing food and clothing to a few students in need, at a school where Williams had been nurtured as a student.    

Given his own dramatic journey, Williams said Wednesday morning that he believes athletes on Detroit’s sports teams still have an important role to play in the community. And that he would love to make his pitch to as many local professional athletes as possible, such as Holland, who Williams said he already views as a kindred spirit of sorts. 

“First, I would love to have a sit-down session with him and just listen to some real music,” said Williams, who hopes to see Holland play basketball in person soon during the NBA’s Summer League in Las Vegas. “To hear that he likes Teddy Pendergrass says something, because Teddy Pendergrass and Marvin Gaye were talking about the times they lived in. Teddy Pendergrass (with Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes) was saying: “Wake Up Everybody” and Marvin Gaye was asking: “What’s Going On.” Then they both sang about love, so what’s not to like about that?”    

But even better than trying to say hello to Holland during the busy Summer League schedule, which, for the Pistons, will consist of five games at the Thomas & Mack Center between July 12-22, Williams would like to extend an invitation to Holland and the community to check out the last day of a Summer Performing Arts Camp presented by the S.O.N.G. (Saving Our Next Generation) Project that will take place Monday through Friday, July 15 through Aug. 1, at Williams’ 1010 Antietam building, before moving over to the Music Hall for the final day on Aug. 2.  

“That final day of the camp at the Music Hall will include a special drumline performance, so I would love for Ron Holland to see that as a new member of our team and community. And it will take place after the Summer League is over,” said Williams, who reported that the entire camp is being conducted by S.O.N.G. founder and CEO Carles Whitlow, someone Williams took pride in mentoring when Whitlow was a young man. “There’s dancing, singing, acting; everything for boys and girls, including disabled young people. For the drumming, some of the kids will come in not even knowing anything about drums and a transformation will take place. The camp is just a great program and it’s an honor to have it at our building for three weeks because Carles and the kids just really do their thing.”

The excitement in Williams’ voice as he spoke about an event that was still more than 10 days away could not be denied, and he believes that community events and community engagement in general can have a lasting positive impact that can be carried over to other areas of life, even a basketball court.  

“When players have a connection to the community, I think it really does impact how they play on the court,” said Williams, who also has become a familiar face at the Wayne State Fieldhouse, where he takes girls and boys to see the Motor City Cruise, the Pistons’ G League affiliate, play home games. “When I get tickets to see our G League team play, I make time to talk to the players, and before the game they all come by and dap me up. 

“It’s not just a game, it’s about building relationships for the players and the community. Especially at this time of year in the NBA, with all the trades and changes taking place, you see that the NBA is a business. But it can be more for the players that are connected to the community. It’s a part of the process that can make a difference for the player and the community.”  

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.  

When Justin Milhouse captures the world through the collection of cameras and video equipment housed at his photography studio in Detroit’s historic Woodbridge neighborhood, there is a very particular kind of energy that he is always seeking, regardless of the assignment. 

For Milhouse, the dynamic type of energy that drives him can be boiled down to three words.  

“Fresh. Cool. Dope. I define that as people being unapologetically themselves in everything they do,” the 35-year-old native Detroiter said. “I look for that quality all the time. When it’s present, people are having a great time and those are the stories I like to capture. I think the root of all photography is telling a story.”

This past spring, Milhouse was able to apply his approach to photography and his love for storytelling to a project that has helped to celebrate the reopening of Michigan Central Station.

“It’s a visual-audio experience with 9-foot-tall photos,” said Milhouse, who, on Thursday afternoon, spoke from his photography studio and still sounded genuinely in awe of the project’s sheer size and magnitude on multiple levels. “Everyone in the gallery has some type of strong tie to Michigan Central and you also can hear their stories in their own words. So, I hope people will continue to come out on Fridays and Saturdays to see and hear the stories themselves.”  

Milhouse said that before he could begin thinking about taking a single photo of any of the subjects he had to first put his listening skills to work. And from there, he was guided by what his ears and other senses absorbed. 

“I would talk to each person highlighted in the exhibit, but most of all I would listen as they shared how their lives and families were connected to the train station,” Milhouse said just before describing the tears of joy he witnessed from an exhibit subject he will never forget: Kitty Heinzman, who was 16 when she arrived at Michigan Central from Ireland in 1958. “I wanted to capture each person’s true essence, so I needed them to be as comfortable and as authentic as they could be. With Kitty, she remembered the train station being majestic, and then she remembered it being a mess, and she thought this day would never come and it showed in her reaction. Each person was describing something that was very real for them. But in the end, when they would say, ‘Oh, that’s it,’ I knew that was the level of comfort that I was shooting for.” 

On the afternoons of June 25 and June 27, Milhouse also profusely praised project producer Sara Ketchum. As Milhouse tells it, Ketchum’s endorsement helped to make the opportunity possible for him, and then she provided him valuable background information on all the exhibit subjects before Milhouse met each person.   

“This was not the type of project where you say 'Let’s get these people in here and take their pictures so we can have an exhibit,' ” said Milhouse, who first began thinking of himself as a storyteller when he began a photo blog, “Fresh Cool Dope,” while studying business at Alabama A&M University more than a decade ago. “We wanted it to be an experience for all of the exhibit subjects and it took a team effort to do that.” 

After an intense two-month period that started during April and lasted until just before the beginning of the Michigan Central Station reopening festivities in Corktown on June 6, Milhouse was able to point to portraits he had taken that are now displayed in a gallery that make up the "Faces of Michigan Central" exhibit. The exhibit showcases what the presenters call “just a small handful” of the millions of people that have been touched by Michigan Central Station’s past and present, including the extensive six-year completed renovation by Ford Motor Co. 

As it turns out, Milhouse has a history of connecting with “teams” in Detroit, even teams of the professional basketball variety like the Detroit Pistons. An introduction in 2018 to Sabrina Galloway, the wife of former Pistons guard Langston Galloway, led to Milhouse taking pictures for the Galloways at games, in the community and at their home. And after the Galloways passed on a good word, Milhouse was sought out to take photos for other members of the Pistons organization, including former two-time NBA All-Star Andre Drummond and former Pistons head coach Dwane Casey.

“People come and go from professional sports teams, but the photos tell a story that lives on through everyone that sees them,” said Milhouse, who in 2021 was one of three creatives sponsored by the Pistons to capture Detroit’s culture through the lens of a Canon camera purchased by the team. “I have seen how players have taken care of their families and how the team, players and their families have cared about the community. The Galloways loved Detroit and I took pictures at events for programs done by Sabrina and Langston. After they left the Pistons, they even flew me down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to photograph a foundation event that Langston was doing there. So, my camera and the Galloways opened up a lane for me to see more of the good things that people with the team have done for people in Detroit and other places.”   

When Milhouse told his story about the relationship he established with people in the Pistons organization, for people that know Milhouse well, he evoked memories of his late grandfather, Don Robinson (June 2, 1932-Jan. 6, 2022). Robinson, Detroit’s first Black fire marshal, combined his fire marshal duties with his love of photography, sports and Detroit people. Robinson often was present at Pistons home games during the mid-1970s, and he would take photos of the action during a time when the Pistons had homegrown talent from Detroit high schools like Kettering High products Eric Money and Lindsay Hairston, playing alongside future Hall of Famers Dave Bing and Bob Lanier, and a legendary super fan — Leon “The Barber” Bradley. And it is Don Robinson, who still inspires Milhouse’s work today. 

“My granddad showed me pictures that he took at games at Cobo Arena and I can imagine the excitement he felt being able to instantly record history,” Milhouse said. “But, along with recording the history, my granddad always wanted to show Detroit in a positive light, and I adopted that philosophy from him — that Detroit pride. And that’s why I know he would be proud of the exhibit at Michigan Central Station, because I’m doing something with photography and the arts and I’m doing something to show Detroit in a good light. My granddad always said, ‘live your bliss,’ and with this project he would say that I listened to him.”

Summer at The Station

What: Invitation for visitors to take self-guided tours of the revitalized Michigan Central Station (2001 15th Street in Corktown) ground floor, which includes the Faces of Michigan Central exhibit. Tickets are not needed.

When: 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays through August 31.

Learn more: For additional information, including a complete of all of the exhibits, entertainment, art and more available during Summer at The Station, please visit michigancentral.com

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.