Growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, Orrin Hudson was a teenage entrepreneur. Well, sort of.

“I was stealing inner tubes and selling them for 25 cents a piece,” Hudson, founder of the Atlanta-based Be Someone Foundation, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I was 14 and completely out of control.”

But it was a teacher at Hayes High School who intervened and showed Hudson the light, by way of chess.

“He told me that every action has a consequence, so he sat me down and showed me the game of life through chess,” Hudson said of James Edge, a white teacher who saw that Hudson could be more than a petty thief. “I owe my life to him. I would be in jail right now if it wasn’t for him and what he taught me.”

Now Hudson is trying to have the same impact on youth throughout the nation. Through Be Someone, a non-profit organization that he started in 2000 with his own savings, Hudson has mentored thousands of children in the South and far West, showing them that life is nothing more than a real-life chessboard, and that they have the skills to navigate themselves to success.

“We’re basically a youth development program where we teach children how to think strategically about their future,” Hudson said. “If you make the right move, you get the right results. But the right move is not the right move if you don’t make it at the right time.”

Hudson, 42, is passionate about helping today’s young people steer clear of the minor crimes he committed, which he knows could have easily escalated into larger, more serious offenses. Labeled the “Pied Piper of Positivity” by CNN -- one of many national and local media outlets to highlight his work -- Hudson said it’s crucial that children be engaged by those who are trying to set them straight.

“I make learning fun. I sing, dance and rap about chess,” said Hudson, the father of three biological children, as well as the two he adopted from his brother, who Hudson said made some mistakes that could have been detrimental to the kids.

“They think it’s fun, but it’s learning,” Hudson said, reflecting on how one principal told him her students didn’t want to break for lunch during one of his sessions because they were so engrossed in what Hudson was teaching them. “You have to use whatever it takes to reach our children. You gotta be creative because children learn by visuals.”

An Alabama state trooper for six years, Hudson said he grew tired of putting people -- especially black people -- away in jail.

“I went to this seminar, and the guy asked, 'What you would do if you only had six months to live?'” Hudson told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “I figured that if I had six months to live, I’d at least do something to help others. And I discovered that putting people in jail was basically a school for crime."

Now, he's freeing minds instead of incarcerating bodies.

“You want to try and educate people and give them the tools,” said Hudson. “Through chess, I give them a toolbox so they can solve problems. Chess means that you’re using your mind, and the only thing that can take you to your goals is your mind. You can be strong and play on a football team, but if you use your mind, you can own the football team.”

That mentality is one that sits well with Maurice Ashley, known throughout the world as the Tiger Woods of chess. A native of Jamaica, Ashley moved to Brooklyn’s Brownsville section when he was 12. It wasn’t long before he was making moves while sitting at a chessboard.

“I grew up in Brownsville, which is like Harlem, Watts, the south side of Chicago, and all of us dreamt of being basketball players,” Ashley, 39, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Thankfully, chess touched my life.”

Chess actually did more than touch Ashley’s life. It changed it. In 1999, he became the first black to be bestowed with the title, International Grand Master, a highly-coveted designation in the chess world.

Ashley, who recently wrote a book on the game, “Chess for Success,” said he is pleased with the work Hudson is doing to bring the game to children who might not otherwise get the exposure.

“Chess just helps kids in so many ways, in terms of giving them many thinking skills that they can use in school and in life,” Ashley said, adding that chess helps players set goals, become better at critical thinking, problem solving, developing patience and building self-esteem.

The game, Ashley said, is also a great tool in helping the MTV and post-MTV generation deal with something they aren’t too familiar with.

“Chess is all about deferred gratification,” said Ashley, who opened the Harlem Chess Center in 1999. “Kids often go for the first thing they see. But in chess, the first thing is usually the wrong thing. The goal is really to get them to think about strategy before you act. If you play well in chess, as in life, and think slowly, focus and concentrate, then you’ll be rewarded.”

Both Hudson and Ashley agree that far too many people, including black people, have a fear of chess, a game that has an imposing misperception.

“If you’ve never played chess as a child, and you come to it as an adult, it can be intimidating,” Ashley said. “But it’s not hard to learn, and in less than a half hour, I could show someone the rules.

“It takes practice to manipulate the pieces and read some strategies,” said Ashley, who was named the 2003 Grandmaster of the Year by the U.S. Chess Foundation. “Don’t get me wrong -- the guys who play the game really well, they’re doing some magic. But we’re not trying to teach kids on that level. It’s about discipline and purpose. It’s basically the approach to life.”

Having grown up in Birmingham public housing as one of 13 children, Hudson admits that chess was not something that was readily available. But when his teacher gave him books on the game, Hudson realized that nothing was beyond his reach.

“I believed that I could do it and I got it done,” said Hudson, who beat a Russian grandmaster in a recent chess match.

Ashley hopes that Hudson has continued success with Be Someone and that it helps motivate young people to catch on to chess, a game that has seen limited success in the U.S., he said.

“Chess is just not a popular game here, sort of like soccer. But you can go to parks in all parts of the country, and you’ll see a lot of people playing chess,” Ashley said, adding that the myth of chess being a hard game at which only old men can excel is simply a myth.

“There are pockets of brothers who play in Detroit, Harlem, and Washington, D.C. It’s growing, but it’s not a new following [for blacks],” Ashley said, hoping that more and more adults will push children to be as interested in chess as they do in athletics. “For every story of athletic success, there are 18,000 others who don’t make it."

"It’s really not about teaching chess to kids,” he said. “It’s about giving them skills for life.”