CELEBRATING HISTORIC CLEVELAND LEADERS We celebrate Black History Month by profiling Reverend Odie M. Hoover, a pioneer for Cleveland and Second Olivet Baptist Church. by David Christel
Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. , Carl B Stokes, and Rev. Odie M Hoover.
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921 was an auspicious year. It was the year Babe Ruth hit his 138th home run breaking the 23-year home-run record held by Roger Connor. The Emergency Quota Act was passed to limit the number of immigrants allowed to come to the US. It was also the year of the Tulsa Race Massacre, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in Arlington National Cemetery. That year also saw the birth of Odie M. Hoover on September 21 in the rural town of Bell Buckle, down the road a piece from Nashville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Odie was blessed with several innate gifts including a marvelous singing voice and the ability to easily endear himself to anyone through his warmth, encouragement, outgoing personality, and respect for everyone. From an early age, he used those talents to travel around Nashville preaching and singing. Though he had taken some courses at Tennessee State, he instead decided his true calling was with the church, so he enrolled at American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nash-
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