By Brandon C. Williams
Editor, The Post Newspaper
Climbing higher plateaus is nothing new to Lee Hutton.
Surrounded by a family with success in its DNA, Hutton has chased high plateaus from being an all-district wide receiver at La Marque High School in its genesis of becoming one of the state’s marquee football programs to becoming a standout in both football and track at the University of Minnesota. When putting the pads on and amazing stopwatches with his speed reached its conclusion, Hutton tackled law and launched a path toward becoming one of the best lawyers in the state of Minnesota.
So when news of Hutton becoming Commissioner of the Arena Football League on Wednesday, becoming the first Black Commissioner to oversee a professional sports league in the United States, shattering a once-impossible ceiling, Hutton, while realizing the moment, kept things in the perspective he’d known since his youth.
“It’s a good day for all of us,” he said on Wednesday evening.
“All of us” goes beyond the historic plateau (there’s that word again) Hutton achieved. Those three words may have been said in the chill of New York City, yet they echoed all the way through the hallways of 300 Vauthier in La Marque, where the foundation of Hutton’s passion for success grew its wings and began to take off.
“I’ve really been privileged to come from a winning tradition with the La Marque Cougars with a great community that supported me,” said Hutton. “When you grow up with that type of support, the expectation of being the best is an everyday path.”
Hutton’s passion for success was fostered by others who mentored him and paved the way for him to break a once-impossible ceiling. He credited current Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren, who was the first Black Commissioner in Big Ten history. “He’s somebody I had a chance to speak with and talk with and observe how he moved,” said Hutton.
While also crediting McKinley Boston, who served as athletic director at the University of Minnesota during the time Hutton played receiver for the Golden Gophers (1995-98), Hutton’s biggest mentor was his father, the late Dr. Lee Hutton, Jr., who was one of the first Black surgeons in Galveston County.
“When they label me the first, it almost seems like a normal pathway with the amazing Black men that I have been able to be mentored by,” said Hutton.
Currently the managing partner and founder of the Hutton Firm, he has represented a variety of Fortune 500 companies along with being involved in contract negotiations with several athletes, celebrities, and artists. Hutton had also been involved in high profile cases such as the issue of concussions in college and professional football, and image likeness on video games.
Hutton was approached early last fall by F1 Sports and Entertainment, a Canadian-based investment group that purchased the rights to the AFL in January 2022. “They were connected and engaged to my vision for the Arena Football League,” he said. “My vision was very simple, which is just provide fantastic football to fans who want to see it during the times they can’t get it.”
The league is targeting the summer of 2024 as the start date. Hutton also confirmed the AFL is strongly considering Houston as a potential landing site for a franchise.
Hutton said the 16-team league will honor its roots, which first sprouted in 1986, by returning historic AFL franchises like the Iowa Barnstormers, which produced future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, the Arizona Rattlers, and the Philadelphia Soul, which was onced owned by rock and roll icon Jon Bon Jovi.
“We will bring technology into sports like no other league has before,” said Hutton.
Anyone who knows Hutton is aware that “The Next Big Thing” lies around the corner for the man from La Marque to make his mark once again.
“I just hunger for opportunities to make the world better, but I couldn’t balance this without my wife and my kids, ” he said of his family. “There’s a saying that sharks never sleep, so I feel like I’m still a young shark.”
A young shark, one whose hunting grounds began in La Marque, which is something Lee Hutton will never forget.
He’s also a shark that many young men and women can look at as a shining example of what happens when a La Marque High School education — combined with focus and purpose — can shatter the common local myth about students who graduated with blue and gold tassels atop their heads.
