Atlanta

Former colleagues, friends recall Hank Aaron the business man and the opportunities he created

By Nicole Carr, WSB-TV
By Nicole Carr, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — For nearly a decade, the BMW dealership along Jonesboro Road was known for the baseball legend who built it from the ground up.

On Thursday, we walked in to see if we could shoot video for a story honoring its former owner, Hank Aaron.

“Absolutely,” a manager said. “We wouldn’t be here without him.”

Then, we wanted to know if any of the current employees worked with Aaron more than a decade ago.

They called Leroy Sims.

Sims was Aaron’s top salesperson from the time the Union City dealership opened in 1999 until it closed in 2008.

“Someone asked me, ‘Why you and Hank so tight?’” Sims recalled, smiling before letting out deep chuckle. “I said, ‘You know? I made him laugh.’”

Aaron, who died Friday at age 86, was heralded in the Black community for the job opportunities he created as an entrepreneur. When Aaron added BMW to his portfolio of dealerships in 1999, he was doing something almost unheard of at the time: building it from scratch with no customer base.

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But BMW wanted Aaron’s name, and they wanted to use the opening as an example of how they were diversifying. At the time, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported BMW had 337 dealerships, with only 32 owned by minorities or women. Aaron added to that before closing his businesses in 2008.

With his wife, Billye, Aaron founded the 755 Restaurant group, which currently operates more than a dozen Popeyes and Krispy Kreme franchises across the state. In the 1990s, the couple also invested in Church’s Chicken restaurants, including one in the West End.

“Just for the sake of being in the community because he put them in areas where they wouldn’t normally be. I’ll put it like that,” said Sims’ wife, Catherine.

Catherine was the first Sims to know Aaron. She worked on the 12th floor of the CNN Center while he worked on the 14th floor more than a decade ago. Catherine Sims assisted executives like Aaron, who wore multiple hats at Turner Broadcasting System, including vice president of community relations, and vice president of business development for CNN’s Airport Network.

She often enjoyed lunch in the atrium with the legend who became a family friend.

Catherine Sims and Billye Aaron shared the same doctor, and in 2006, Aaron put his support behind the Susan G. Komen Foundation, publicly honoring Catherine Sims. She signed off on an auction car that day.

She teared up thinking of the acknowledgment, saying Aaron was known to take a real interest in the plight of others, bringing attention to their causes and needs.

“It’s OK, Baby,” Leroy Sims said, consoling his wife. “That day was special for the both of us.”

Catherine Sims recalled excitement around Aaron’s restaurant ventures, and the jobs they created.

“He just probably did all he could to make sure things were better for the next generation,” she said “That’s the take I had.”

Leroy Sims said his last conversation with Aaron was 10 days ago, and Aaron talked about being excited to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Morehouse College. He was looking forward to getting through this pandemic, Leroy Sims said.

Leroy Sims said Aaron laughed him off when Sims said there should be Hank Aaron ballparks across the metro, and an actual league that bears his name. For the Simses, Friday’s news of their friend’s death is unreal.

“He was the guy that was never going to die,” Catherine Sims said.” He was going to be here forever, you know? He just had that type of spirit.”

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