THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: Rommie Loudd
My journey this week takes me to Rommie Loudd, a friend I made at my first pastorage in Winters, Texas, in 1986. His witness helped build my faith.
Rommie was born in Madisonville, Texas, in 1933, and after moving to San Angelo, Texas, he graduated from Blackshire High School in 1948. He excelled and was designated All-State in three sports— football, basketball, and baseball. After high school graduation, he moved to Los Angeles, where he continued to excel in academics and athletics at UCLA. He played tight end from 1953 to 1955 and was a member of the 1954 UCLA’s Bruins football team that was the UPI National Champions and he was selected as All-American Player.
After graduating UCLA, Rommie Loudd was drafted in professional football and played for the Vancouver Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, and ultimately, the Boston Patriots. In 1964, he moved to coaching and became the linebackers’ coach for the Boston Patriots as the first African American coach in the history of the AFL. In 1974, Loudd became the first black top executive in major league sports as the owner of the Florida Blazers of the World Football League.
At the end of his football career, he landed back at the land of his youth – West Texas – where he was manager of the general sales of a local manufacturing company. I met him at church, and he became our leader of Jail Ministry for Ballinger, Runnels County.
With urgency, holding up a local newspaper, Rommie pointed to the article “Rioting and Disturbance at the Federally funded Prison in Eden, Texas.” He challenged me, “Brother Jim, let’s go, we can help those men.” I hesitated because this was an unknown world, but within the week, God convicted me, and Rommie and I drove down unannounced to Eden. The Eden facility was a “contract prison” with inmates, many from the West Indies, incarcerated with drug charges. Tensions were high because of no family visits and cultural misunderstandings.
Within 30 minutes of our arrival, the warden, his administrative assistant, and the owner of the prison invited us into a conference. Rommie Loudd spoke with power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Within the hour, he became the chaplain, a paid position. Rommie later found that a big problem was the food served in the mess hall. “Brother Jim, it was
“Brother Jim, it was easy for me to solve this problem. These men needed spicy food as they were mostly Latinos. I fixed the problem with a five-gallon can of jalapeño Peppers.”
In 1989, when I moved to San Marcos, Rommie and I parted. Several years later, I saw Rommie on national televisio. He was associate minister of Mount Tabor Baptist Church, and was being interviewed because of his successful sports call-in ministry with inmates in the Florida Prison System.
His life verse was Romans 12:2 — “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Loudd died on January 9,
Loudd died on January 9, 1998, in Miami, Florida, aged 64, of complications from diabetes. Rommie Loudd, I realize now, was a bridge-builder across racial tensions.
