TACOMA, WA: Aaron Pointer pursued sports to earn a living and ended up learning a way to live.
The longtime commissioner for Metro Parks Tacoma fell in love with athletics when he was 2 and went on to have a storied career. He broke barriers as the only Black player on his professional baseball team during the Jim Crow era and continues to hold a Major League Baseball batting record dating back to 1961. Pointer then became the first Black referee in the Pac-10 Conference and spent nearly two decades as a National Football League head linesman.
Lessons Pointer learned through sports – teamwork, dedication, equity – inspired him to lead a life of service.
As athletic director of Pierce County Parks and Recreation, Pointer spent 29 years mentoring thousands of kids in sports and life. When he retired from the county, Pointer was appointed to the Metro Parks Board of Commissioners and has spent the last 24 years improving park services and programs.
As of Monday, Pointer again stepped into retirement and off the Park Board. Fellow board members are working to appoint a successor to his vacant seat on Dec. 20.
“There is really no way to replace someone like Aaron,” said Park Board President Andrea Smith, who has served alongside Pointer for the past 13 years. “I have so much respect for his awe-inspiring talents and lifetime achievements, but what sets him apart is his humility during the decades he has tirelessly served this community.”
As Metro Parks celebrates the extraordinary man and his lifetime of service, Pointer’s athletic legacy is also being recognized this week with a framed tribute at Steelheads Alley, a space honoring the Seattle Negro League baseball club as well as other players like Pointer who made history.
It’s one of several awards Pointer has been honored with in recent years.
In 2019, the Tacoma branch of the NAACP awarded him the Harold G. Moss Decades Award for Pointer’s impact on the community. The award was created and named to honor the legacy of the first Black mayor in Tacoma.
In 2020, the Tacoma Athletic Commission honored him with the Doug McArthur Lifetime Achievement Award.
But it is Pointer’s everyday service throughout decades that most impacted the people of Tacoma.
Service to parks and community
In 2001, Pointer was appointed to the Metro Parks Board of Commissioners and was re-elected four times. He served as board president and clerk (the No. 2 position), each for three years. He was also a long-standing member of the Board’s Capital Improvements Committee (CIC). He invested countless hours joining the community in workshops, then subsequently reviewing project plans to help ensure the public’s voice was heard and reflected in both the 2005 and 2014 park and zoo improvement bond packages to fund system improvements.
Pointer has earned a reputation as a humble, diligent and dependable leader.
When the Japanese Consulate General visited Tacoma, Pointer who was serving as Board President surprised his guest by greeting and carrying on a lengthy conversation in his native tongue while accepting a gift of flowering cherry blossom trees for Point Defiance Park.
Few were aware at the time that Pointer spoke fluent Japanese thanks to three seasons playing professional baseball in Japan.
During his tenure, voters approved two major bond packages that funded extensive growth in the park system and Metro Parks earned national accreditation three times, which shows the Park District consistently meets the highest standards in the industry.
Here are a few of the many agency achievements Pointer worked for as a commissioner:
- Developed two community centers serving low-equity communities, including the STAR Center in South Tacoma and the Eastside Community Center.
- Collaborated with government and non-profit organizations to provide school-based programming at all 35 public elementary and 11 middle schools. This ensures every child has access to afterschool clubs providing sports and STEM learning opportunities.
- Advocated for environmental restoration at shoreline Superfund sites like Dune Peninsula at Point Defiance Park and Melanie’s Park on the Foss Waterway, transforming them into dynamic spaces that attract regional visitors.
- Championed the transformation of Peck Athletic Complex from a single-sport venue with a limited operating season into a Community Sports Park where youth will soon be able to participate in a variety of field and court sports and neighbors can enjoy park access year-round.
Pointer’s time on the Board broadened his awareness of global warming and climate issues, which feel even more important to him as a grandparent.
That’s why he is particularly proud of all Metro Parks has done to lessen its impact on the environment, including using ultraviolet treatment for recirculation of water in spray parks; creating pesticide-free neighborhood parks; and adding solar panels to meet the heating needs of Kandle and Stewart Heights pools.
Breaking barriers in professional sports
Pointer grew up in Oakland, California, and learned how to play baseball in the field across from his childhood home. Neighborhood basketball games were played with future NBA Hall of Famer Bill Russell.
The family attended West Oakland Church of God, where Pointer’s father, Elton, served as minister. Pointer and his siblings were required to sing in the choir. Although music wasn’t Pointer’s calling, his younger sisters went on to become the Grammy-winning Pointer Sisters.
He earned a basketball scholarship with the University of San Francisco, where he met his wife, Leona, at a dance. They went on to have three children together.
Despite the basketball scholarship, Pointer was a baseball star who was scouted and signed in 1961 by the Houston Colt .45s. In his debut season, Pointer batted .402 to lead his team to a league title and became the last professional player in affiliated baseball to hit over .400 for the season with a single team – a record he still holds. He was also named minor league player of the year that season.
That feat was featured in Sports Illustrated in July 2019, along with Pointer’s experiences playing baseball in the South and enduring Jim Crow laws that mandated racial segregation in public facilities, which meant he couldn’t eat or lodge with his white teammates.
Pointer went on to play for the Chicago Cubs and Tacoma Cubs, then three seasons in Japan and winter ball in Venezuela.
He retired from baseball and focused on building a life in Tacoma.
Pointer became the first Black referee in Pac-10 football in 1978 and moved to NFL head linesman in 1987. Some of his most memorable moments as ref came when his son Deron, a former Washington State football star, made his first NFL reception and handed his dad the ball.
Another was when he officiated a Raiders game in the Los Angeles Coliseum and the Pointer sisters sang the national anthem.
He was a natural as athletic director of Pierce County Parks & Recreation and continued his work encouraging youth sports and equity during his time with Metro Parks.
“I have such admiration for Commissioner Pointer, both as a person and as a committed long-time public servant,” said Executive Director Shon Sylvia. “Metro Parks and every person in Tacoma has benefited from Aaron’s leadership, authenticity and dedication. It’s important to all of us who have had the honor of working with him to share the extraordinary contributions and achievements of this humble leader.”
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