Seventy-three years after Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers and shattered Major League Baseball’s color barrier, Brandon Bellamy tore down yet another barrier.

Bellamy is the CEO of The Velocity Companies, one of our region’s leading real estate development firms. He’s also a longtime client and friend of G.S. Proctor & Associates.

In the summer of 2020, Bellamy became the first Black majority owner of a professional baseball team when he was unanimously approved as the owner of the Gastonia Honey Hunters, an expansion team in the independent Atlantic League.

We were, of course, thrilled for him. And we were once again thrilled to learn that ESPN asked Bellamy to participate in its recent special “We Are All Jackie,” devoted to Robinson and the legacy that continues to resonate across our nation today. 

In the special, Bellamy read a letter that he penned to Robinson. The message was incredibly powerful. We’ve been reflecting on it a lot lately, especially the idea that a simple gesture can change the world.

We hope you’ll watch, listen and take his message to heart. We can all change the world.