Paul Sullivan: During his lifetime, Hank Aaron overcame virulent racism few others have experienced. Cubs great Billy Williams witnessed it firsthand.

CHICAGO — We all remember exactly where we were on the night of April 8, 1974: parked in front of our TVs waiting on Hank Aaron to make history.

The wait didn’t last too long. After walking on five pitches in the second inning, Aaron took the first delivery from Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Al Downing in the fourth and deposited it into the Atlanta Braves’ bullpen behind the left-field fence for his 715th career home run, passing Babe Ruth as the all-time home run king.

He did it before a packed house of 53,766 in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, and with a national television audience glued to their sets. It remains one of the most memorable moments ever in baseball, and in American history as well.

A Black man had replaced a white sports icon at the top of the heap during the turbulent 1970s, and paid a price for doing so.

Commissioner Bowie Kuhn sullied the office by declining to attend the game, sending Monte Irvin as his representative. The mere mention of Kuhn’s name during the commemoration ceremonies elicited over a minute of booing, according to the Chicago Tribune report from John Husar under the banner headline, “Hank hammers it home!”

With Aaron’s death on Friday at the age of 86, the game and the nation mourned a legend who will be remembered for much more than his prolific home run swing. Overcoming racism on a scale few of us could fathom is also a big part of Aaron’s legacy.

Former Chicago Cubs great Billy Williams, a longtime friend who first watched Aaron play when Williams was a 14-year-old in Mobile, Ala., spoke often with him about the negative reaction he received from fans who didn’t want to see a Black man break Ruth’s sacred record of 714 home runs.

“You’re breaking an icon’s record, a man who was white, and one of the home run standards for the game, idolized for so many years,” Williams recalled Friday. “When Aaron came along and began to close in on breaking the record, a lot of the letters written to him called him all kinds of names.

“I saw some of the letters, and there were a lot I didn’t see because he wouldn’t show them. They were just low down. It was a trying time. He had to fight off racism. He had to have (security) with him at all times, had to have a policeman take his kids to school.

“A lot of stuff, you don’t read about. I remember after (Cubs games) I’d meet him in the Marriott and talk about the letters, the racism, and ‘What I’m going through.’ He had a tough time. I think he lost a few strands of hair. He was so glad when he got it over with.”

Aaron finished with 755 home runs, which stood as the all-time record until Barry Bonds passed him in 2007. While Bonds still holds the record with 762 home runs, the mark is considered tainted by his use of performance-enhancing drugs, which is why Bonds has yet to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame and is likely to fall short again Tuesday when the Class of 2021 is announced.

When Williams first saw Aaron play as a fan, Aaron was a second baseman on the Mobile Black Bears, a semipro team. He later signed with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues, where he moved to the outfield because the Clowns had a woman, Toni Stone, starting at second.

“That was a good reason for him to learn to play outfield,” Williams said. “The rest is history. You look at a guy like that, hitting 755 home runs, but he never hit 50 home runs in a season. That tells you right there the consistency Henry Aaron had.

“And he was an inspiration to a lot of people, not only for the home runs, but for the uniform. A lot of guys wanted to wear No. 44 because of him: Reggie (Jackson), Willie McCovey, who was from the same hometown. If I could’ve got it, I would’ve worn it too.”

As a rookie, Williams had no say in such matter, and instead of 44, clubhouse manager Yosh Kawano handed him No. 26, which is now a hallowed number for Cubs’ fans.

Before spring training every year, Aaron would meet with Williams and his brother, Franklin, and several other Mobile players, including McCovey, Tommie Agee, Cleon Jones and George Scott, for some pre-spring hitting practice. Aaron “would have the floor, of course,” Williams said, taking on the role as mentor to his hometown crew.

“He taught us how to carry yourself in the game, talk about some of the pitchers and what they threw,” Williams said.

Aaron remains first in the major league history in runs batted in (2,297) and total bases (6,856) while ranking third in hits with 3,771 behind Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. He also was a good base-runner and outfielder, though he’s mostly remembered for his slugging.

“He did everything with such ease,” Williams said. “There’s the story about the World Series game where he went up to hit and Yogi Berra was catching. You always looked at the brand on the barrel of the bat when you went up because you didn’t want to hit it on the brand.

“Yogi Berra says to him: ‘You’ve got the brand turned the wrong way.’ And Aaron says: ‘I didn’t come up here to read. I come up here to hit.’”

Williams laughed at the memory. That was Henry Aaron in a nutshell.

“He was just outstanding,” he said. “When I got the call today, it was sickening and hurtful. All the Hall of Fame players that we’ve lost this year…”

Aaron’s mark on baseball, and the nation, will never be forgotten.