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In 1969, while southeast Michigan still found itself in the long shadow cast by the Detroit riots of 1967, a young police officer by the name of Judith Bayer approached Police Commissioner Johannes Spreen with the idea of a police-sponsored youth sports program. On July 22 of that year, Police and Youth in Sports (PAYS) was officially launched as a unit of the Detroit Police Department’s Youth Bureau. By the end of 1969, the unit was staffed by 6 sworn personnel: 1 lieutenant, 1 sergeant, and 4 police officers. PAYS served over 4,500 children in its first year.
In May 1970, PAYS became affiliated with the National Police Athletic League. A civilian board of directors was formed and Mr. Del Russell was named Executive Director. The organization was considered a section of the DPD Community Relations Division, but funded strictly by donation. By 1973, PAL had grown to serve 12,000 kids annually through 8 recreation centers, seasonal sports leagues, and other programs.
The organization enjoyed strong financial support from the “Big 4” automotive companies (Ford, GM, Chrysler, and AMC) almost immediately; they assumed the role of alternating corporate “big brothers” in the early 1970s. In 1973, J.P. McCarthy hosted his first annual charity golf outing to raise money for PAL (the predecessor to today’s Paul W. Smith Charity Classic). In addition, basketball and football teams comprised of Detroit Police Officers played “benefit games” against teams from other police departments to raise money for the youth programs.
In 1974, Coleman Young was elected Mayor, replacing Roman Gribbs. According to press reports, Mayor Young instructed the Board of Police Commissioners to remove Del Russell as Executive Director of PAL and to replace him with former Piston player Earl Lloyd. On a 2-1 vote, the Board acquiesced, and without consultation with the Board of Directors, a new Executive Director of PAL was named. The resulting furor nearly resulted in the loss of support from the Big 4 and J.P. McCarthy. Lloyd subsequently resigned from the position in 1975, and Mayor Young this time submitted to the PAL Board of Directors Dick “Night Train” Lane as his pick to run the organization. News reports at the time placed PAL’s annual budget at $1 million, and indicated that it served over 30,000 kids annually.
By 1976, Detroit was facing a fiscal crisis. Layoffs loomed at the DPD, and news reports predicted that if the layoffs were too deep, PAL would cease to exist. Happily, PAL was spared for a few years. Two years later, over 35 sworn personnel were still assigned to PAL, 13 different sports programs were being run (ranging from soccer, track and baseball to skiing, bowling and an annual decathlon), and PAL was operating 10 community centers across the City of Detroit.
In the midst of the city’s fiscal crisis of 1976, little notice was given to a new PAL program started that same year: youth tackle football. Three seasons later the league had already grown to 21 teams. It was the genesis of today’s 80-team league, which is probably the largest of its kind in the country.
Unfortunately, the city’s fiscal woes caught up to PAL in 1979. Between October 1979 and September 1980, 17 police officers were reassigned from PAL to duties elsewhere in the DPD. This reassignment began a long, slow decline in the number of sworn personnel assigned to PAL by the DPD.
During the mid-1980s, Willie Horton became the Deputy Director of PAL, and in January 1992 he officially replaced Lane, who retired from the Executive Director post. Two years later, in 1994, then Mayor Dennis Archer removed Horton from the job. Deputy Police Chief John Henry was assigned the responsibility of guiding PAL, but was replaced two years later in the wake of the death of J.P. McCarthy, as the organization sought leadership with more fundraising experience. Edward Foxworth was hired in 1996 as the new Executive Director.
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