John Howard’s pro ball dreams deferred, he helped Black business owners thrive for decades
If another player hadn’t slid into third base in such a way as to smash Baltimore Oriole John Howard Sr.’s hand, thus ending his career in professional baseball, banking opportunities for Black business folks in South Florida might have been quite different.
That, of course, is supposition. Perhaps Howard might have gone into banking, anyway, after his early 1960s run as a center fielder and third baseman with the Orioles.
What his family does know for sure, is that what Howard left behind — what he stood for — served as a “standard bearer” for his family and community, his son John Howard Jr. said.
Howard died of heart failure in West Palm Beach on July 11, his son said. He was 83.
Banking from Miami to West Palm Beach
Howard was vice president of the former Southeast Bank in Miami and managed the daily operations of the Liberty City branch from 1970 to 1976 before moving with his family to West Palm Beach in 1980.
By 1981, Howard was president of the Black-owned Palm Beach Lakes Bank and, in 1987, he started the Palm Beach County, Black Business Investment Corporation. He served as the BBIC’s executive director until his retirement in May 2018.
“The standard dad set is how he continuously led,” his son said. “When you talked to dad you knew exactly what you were going to get, what you needed to hear at the moment. His advice was always sound and he always did it out of love, never about what he was going to get out of the situation. He did that with us, his family, his children, and he did that out in the community.”
Helping the Black business community
When Howard retired in 2018, several Black business leaders paid tribute. Howard had helped secure business loans and provided opportunities to help others open new ventures like barbershops, mortuaries, restaurants and construction firms, among them.
“Whatever comes before us, you name it and we try do it,” Howard told The Palm Beach Post in 2018. “We want to encourage entrepreneurship in the Black community.”
According to the Palm Beach Post, at the time, under Howard’s leadership, the Black Business Investment Corporation in the county provided guarantees to loans made by local commercial banks ranging from a fraction of the loan to 100% of the amount.
During its history, to that point, the non-profit Howard steered worked with more than 12,000 clients with some type of business service and helped with $31 million worth of loans, according to the Palm Beach Post. “The BBIC remains a vibrant participant in the businesses created by Palm Beach County’s Black residents,” the paper wrote.
Howard’s goal for the BBIC was to overcome the “no’s” traditional banks often had for Black applicants and he tapped his experience working for Southeast and Palm Beach Lakes banks.
One of those businesses he helped, Shuler Memorial Chapel, is still in business and is providing the services for Howard’s funeral.
“As I was announcing to people that my father had passed they would go into their story of how ‘I have my job because of your dad. My business is thriving.’ The printer who is printing programs for his funeral said, ‘Your dad did so much. This is all on us. How many do you need?’ That is his impact in the community,” his son John Jr. said.
Owner Barbara Shuler had sought the BBIC’s help with a loan to expand her business. When an expanded Atlantic Avenue location opened in 2002, “Shaft” composer Isaac Hayes reportedly sang at its opening.
“The dream was, in order to be more self-sufficient, we need to have businesses of our own,” Shuler told the Post in 2018. “It’s not just education and voting rights. It’s about owning a business that can take you to unlimited unknowns. John believes in that and he promotes that idea. It’s part of the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. And John took on the economic aspect of that dream by helping others.”
Howard’s background
Howard was born in Perry, Florida, on Nov. 16, 1937. When he was 10, his family relocated to Jacksonville, where he graduated from high school at 16 and also excelled in baseball and football.
Howard studied business administration at Syracuse University in New York and further learned his craft at the Florida School of Banking at the University of Florida. And, in the mid-70s, after already establishing his career at Southeast Bank, he earned his master’s in business administration from the University of Miami.
Though the baseball career didn’t survive the injury to his hand, he served with the U.S. Army as a military intelligence agent. While stationed at the Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, around 1967, he met Christine Melton, who would become his wife of more than 50 years.
The couple moved to Miami when Howard took his job with Southeast Bank.
“The impact my dad had always made was to be sure that he was there. What I mean by that, is, dad made sure that he got the education and the understanding of what was needed and he never hesitated to share his knowledge,” his son John Jr. said.
“His goal, his mission, was to make sure he helped others. When it came to the community he was always fair. He always stressed that to me about being fair for folks. He made sure he got to the intelligence level so that he was in that position where he could help others,” his son said.
“I am a junior so I have always been ‘John Howard’s son.’ And that’s always been very powerful for me.”
Survivors, services
Howard’s survivors include his wife Christine Howard; children John Mack Redish, Jasper “Tate” Johnson, John Henry Howard Jr., William Arthur Jahmeir Howard and Valeria Johnson; eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; his sister Naomi Cummings and brother Louis C. Howard Sr.
The wake will be 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Monday, July 19, at Shuler’s Memorial Chapel, 5301 N. Australian Ave., West Palm Beach. A memorial service is at 11 am. Tuesday, July 20, at Palm Beach State College — Dennis P. Gallon Campus, 15845 Southern Blvd., Loxahatchee Groves.
The family asks that donations in Howard’s memory may be made to the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s tribute programs via http://www2.heart.org/goto/JohnHowardSr.
This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 2:54 PM.
