Here’s a little more information on Ajay Johnson of the Philadelphia Royal Giants, who is being researched by Bill Staples.  Ajay Deforest Johnson was born in Waco, Texas, on January 23, 1901, and died in Los Angeles on October 12, 1996.  An article in the Chicago Defender (November 15, 1947) about Johnson’s promotion to lieutenant in the LAPD (and the department’s hiring of its first three black policewomen) says this:

Ajay D. Johnson, a member of the force since July 20, 1929, was
promoted from the rank of sergeant to that of lieutenant, the second to
hold that rank here.  The other lieutenant is Roscoe Washington, uncle
of football star Kenny Washington.

Roscoe’s brother (and Kenny’s father) was Edgar “Blue” Washington, actor and ballplayer for the Los Angeles White Sox and (briefly) the Kansas City Monarchs.  (The photo is from the Defender article.)