A Star Is Born

Finale

Chapter 1-Grant Sr.-The Beginning

In order to understand and grasp on how Archie Jr. was a star at birth, we must 1st look at and see the Early family as a whole. We must delve into the dynamics of the son -father relationship that has gone on for multiple generations.

Grant Early, was a tough minded and smart hustler from the deep south Mississippi. It was later learned by his grandkids he had lived in New 0rleans for most of his youth years. Often working off the gulf coast on the banana boats, sugar boats, crab and oyster boats and meat packing plants for just a few dollars a day. Then he'd spend it all up in a few days partying to only have enough for trolley fare home at the end of the day. Grant was light skinned full built man of around 6 foot with a stocky upper body and strong as an ox. Later when Archie Jr was around 10 years old Grant Sr came down to his birthday party and Grant Sr arm wrestled a machine and broke it off the hinges at a Chucky Cheese kid’s restaurant. Grant Sr. would have been around 50 years old around then. One of Archie Jr's cousins who later played in the NFL, Grant III, was bragging how fast he was during one Early family 4th of July barbeques. Grant Sr raced Grant III a full length of a quarter block when Grant 3rd was still in high school. Grant III was a 4-5 star recruit who had a scholarship to play at Indiana .Needless to say Grant Sr was around 60 or 70 that time and won!

Grant Sr. had slick black hair that was always combed back, and curled up at the end, Grant Sr often told his family he could pass as a white down south and told Archie Jr he often was mistaken for a Frenchmen one time when his accent was too heavy around professional white people. Grant Sr. later migrated to Gary, Indiana and worked for Gary Steel for over 40 years. Grant Sr. was one of the hardest workers Archie Jr. ever seen and had ever missed 3 days a work. He worked the night shift and fished and hunted and fixed cars, lawn mowers and snow blowers for extra money by day. He also attached a snow blade to his truck and pushed snow for local businesses and the elderly early in the winter mornings.

Grant Sr. had 5 kids in Gary, Indiana and married a nice Christian women often deemed the mother matriarch figure of the Early family. She was the boss as people would describe her. Grant Sr had his first son down south, Archie Sr. who was delivered by a midwife. Archie Sr. was a big man himself being born around 11 pounds with no doctor to assist. The next child was Larry a tall skinny Early who often fit the body types of most of his nephews later born. Then Becky the only girl, and then Grant Jr, who was Archie Jr's favorite uncle and supported him in basketball an often played him 1on 1 or 2 on1 during the summers when he was visiting. Last came Michael, who Archie Jr never got along with as kid growing up. One time when Archie Jr. was at his grandparents staying for a part of summer Michael was sick of Archie Jr playing around and hit him squarely in the jaw and knocked him down. Archie Jr resented Michael for years to come. Archie Jr never understood why the family members Granny Early and his dad Archie Sr. never punished Michael for this. No one ever mentioned it again, but Archie Jr took a strong mental note of that day and he would not let the act go unpunished.

Grant Sr was hustler indeed, but a good kind of hustler. It was later found out he'd DJ and MC parties around the East side of Chicago for extra money. He told Archie Jr. years later that he even DJ'd for the young Jackson 5 on occasions. The Jackson 5 are from Gary Indiana, and Hammond is right next door to Gary. Grant Sr. often frequented Jew town, a famous flea market area of Chicago that sold goods and clothing and food items in an open market style. If you knew someone there and were kind of heady you got a good price on goods and you often had to get there early around 5-6am for the best deals. Grant Sr. often came back on Sunday mornings with a truck full of things and bragged to everyone on how he got the best deals. Archie Jr. often went with Grant Sr. when he visited during holidays as Grant Sr. still often tells the story of how well Archie Jr. knew his way around back and forth from the truck to different streets in Jew Town. Grant Sr. would give him the keys to the truck and tell him to unlock it then lock up the goods up in the truck then bring back the keys. Grant Sr. would wait for young Archie Jr to come back successfully and he did every time. That was Archie Jr's first lesson on responsibility that would be very beneficial in the years to come. Archie Jr. saw his grandfather often in the garage working on lawn mowers, snow blowers, CBs, radios, etc. Grant Sr would take a broke down item, fix it and make double or triple the money. He taught Archie Jr. the value of a dollar early and taught him hard work and hustle and the power of negotiation.

Grant Early also had a great power of memorization. He had the power to recite things word for word without studying it for a long time. He often recited biblical scriptures in church. Grant was a Deacon at church and always had bible nearby despite hardly opening it in church. When Archie Jr. was young he would often accompany his grandfather on his trips to Jew Town in East Chicago for market trips before coming back for church. Archie Jr. would watch his grandfather lip sync the scriptures or often finish the lines of the bible before the Pastor or other Deacons finish often without even cracking his bible. Again this would later come into play with young Archie Jr. and how he would use his memory later on in life.

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Chapter 2-Archie Early Sr. /The Continuation

Archie Early’s Sr. childhood we do not know a lot about. We do know he was the biggest Early child by physical stature. He stood around 6foot -3 and 200 plus pounds in his youth. Early stories say he was the tallest kid in his grade and for his age. Being the oldest of the Early family, he often took care of the younger Early siblings Grant Jr, Becky, Michael and Larry. His dad, Grant Sr. was often gone fishing and hunting and working 2nd shift. His mother Robin worked all day as well as a volunteer school teacher.

From day 1, Archie was taught to get good grades and set a good example for the family. It was often believed that this came from his mother Robin as she was the rock in the house. In the future all the young Early’s as well as others often called her Granny Early to even other cousins and people around Gary Indiana who were not even related to the Earlys.

Archie Sr. was a great baseball player and often told his sons when they were young and start playing sports he would have to bat left handed to play with the kids his age. Archie Sr. often told his kids his right hand batting was too good to be allowed to play with his teams. It was once later told that Grant Sr. would never came to Archie Sr’s baseball games so Archie Sr. would often try to break his own records in hopes of impressing Grant Sr. It never worked and that was the start of something big that would to manifest later between the two. Later on it was to be revealed that this was part of the strain going on between Grant Sr. and Archie Sr. in his younger adult years . Even young Archie Jr picked this up when he was around 10 years old. Archie Jr. would listen intently as the conversations were very one sided with Grant Sr. asking dull and boring questions and Archie Sr. barely answering back. Archie Sr. was dull and straight to the point and it seemed like both of them were just going thru the motions in talking.

Archie Sr. also played football in high school where he was a terror playing on the offense and defensive line. 2 great stories came out of this era. A running Early joke is the name Albert Charles, which is the nickname Archie Sr got as high school freshman. The high school football coach had Archie Sr, tryout with the sophomores even though he was a freshman. The coach changed his name in drills to Albert Charles to make him fierce as he thought Archie was too soft. One time Archie Jr was in town for a funeral for his mother’s family member when he was around 16-17. As the Early car pulls up in East Chicago Archie Sr got out and a booming voice came across the street- Albert Charles. Archie’s mom quickly told the boys see what your father’s nickname was. It was left then that even Archie Sr. also got made fun of growing up. Another Archie Sr. football story is when he made the varsity team as sophomore. East Chicago high school was a power house only losing 6 games in Archie Sr’s varsity high school career. Archie Sr won state as sophomore tasting success early. Archie Sr would often tell his sons how powerful his high school football team was despite having no 7 or 8th junior high football program. Lastly in relation to baseball Archie Sr’s best sport as youth, Archie could hit home runs batting left and right handed. Archie Sr had great hand and eye coordination and was good with his left just as good as his right. He often told his kids growing up he had no dominate hand. Archie Sr. would write with 1 hand and eat with the other. Shoot with one hand and throw with the other. He told his kids at an early age to be both handed or ambidextrous was a definite skill. He often told his kids the only reason why he made the 7th and 8th basketball team was because he could shoot a left hand lay up during tryouts. All those stories would come into play in book 2 and 3 with Archie Jr and even his kids.

Archie Sr. looked around and again saw what was happening around him with the great black players in East Chicago. The high schools were winning state championships, breaking records and the coaches were keeping their jobs and getting better jobs. All the while, the great black players were losing out, not going to college, did not have good grades to go to college or were flunking out. Archie Sr. vowed to not to let that happen to him. Grandma Robin always preached education despite only having and 8th grade education. Archie Sr. vowed he would be 1st Early in the family to go to college and he was. With the Early’s being from the southern part of the nation, college and education was not a strong option so most of them went into the military after high school. Often Archie Jr, his brothers and cousins would be at Early family functions and often see 8x10 black and white pictures of past Early who were in the Army and Air Force.

Archie Early Sr. bucked the East Chicago trend and the Early trend of going right into the military after high school. Archie Sr. worked hard to get good enough grades to get an academic scholarship at Augustana College in Rock Island Illinois. Archie Jr.’s mom Cynthia often told Archie Jr. and his siblings their father played football so hard he would come home with his wrists and arms so bloody and scratched up it looked like he was butchering cows. At Agustana College he played offensive tackle and blocked for one the great quarterbacks of the era Kenny Anderson. Young Archie Jr. often remembers watching Sunday football with his father Archie Sr. slapping the floor and couch shouting at the TV cheering for the Cincinnati Bengals and their star quarterback Kenny Anderson. The snake as he was nicknamed as he would snake his way out of sacks. Archie Sr. had many college and football stories to share with his kids. Before young Archie and his siblings were too young to go to Augustana’s basketball camp, they always knew were Augustana College was and were proud their dad graduated there

Archie Sr. was the 1st of the Earlys to go to college and graduate and set the precedent for his siblings. This would come into play much later, as he also was a chess champion in college and was by all means a calm man. Some say it goes back to when in young Archie’s Sr. childhood he would have to sometimes separate his dad Grant Sr. and his mom Robin. It is not known in the family if Grant Sr. would physically beat or abuse Robin. There were some stories that circulated that young Grant Jr. would run to find a teen Archie Jr. and Cynthia out on dates around East Chicago to pull Grant Sr. off Robin. By that time of course Archie Jr. would have been big and strong enough to match Grant Sr.’s brute strength and force. It is rumored one time Archie Sr. body slammed Grant Sr so hard one time and told his father to never touch his mother again or he would kill him. Grant Sr. never did and maybe that was the trigger of the Archie Sr –Grant Sr feud that lasted many years

Archie Sr. is often even described by Early family members as a book worm and nerd and had little streets smarts but very much book smarts. Growing up, Archie Jr. often recognized how his dad spoke clearly and used big words and often could hold conversations with anyone on a number of topics. Also he recognized how many family members often came to Archie Sr. to discuss business deals or get his take on business headlines. Archie Jr. watched closely and intently how his father commanded and ruled the business