“Turn Back the Hands of Time.” with the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club, see powerpoint presentation Our History Martin L. Mathews - biography Click Here. From Modest Beginnings It all began on a summer afternoon in 1960 when Martin L. Mathews and the late Hubert “Dickey” Ballentine met under a shade tree in St. Louis’ Handy Park. The two baseball coaches discussed a shared concern: how to keep young men on the playing fields and off the streets. Their idea of organizing more teams, then forming leagues, took off. Before long the hordes of young people needed a clubhouse. A small storefront building, formerly Bob Russell Sporting Goods, at 4738 Natural Bridge Road, became the center of activity, and the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ Club came into existence. The organization has come a long way since that meeting under the shade tree. In the early 1980s, August A. Busch III of Anheuser-Busch Companies and Charles F. Knight of Emerson spearheaded a fund-raising drive to construct the imposing multi-purpose building that stands today at Kingshighway and Penrose. The facility was designed by Raymond Maritz and club alumnus Karl Grice. In the 1982 dedication ceremony, then President Ronald Reagan declared Mathews-Dickey a model for the country. Click Here to read the President’s remarks. The late Hubert “Dickey” Ballentine - biography Click Here. Bob Russell Sporting Goods — first home of Mathews-Dickey Two years later, an outdoor athletic complex was built to honor Baseball Hall of Famer James “Cool Papa” Bell. In 1986 board member Charles Ruprecht and consultant N. Evelyn Williams established the Girls’ Program. Busch and Knight once again led an effort to raise funds, this time for an expansion wing to house the program. Also in 1986, the Club introduced the “Stamp Out Illiteracy Through Learning Program,” which provides individualized tutoring to youth needing help in math, reading and language arts. Since the program’s inception, it has served more than 4,000 students. Today, the Volunteer Tutorial Program works in conjunction with the St. Louis Public Schools and other area districts. In 1989, a 19,000 square-foot expansion wing was built with support from Busch, Knight and a dedicated staff and board of directors. The structure provided six learning classrooms, a teaching and demonstration kitchen, and the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Auditorium. The Girls’ Program currently serves more than 3,500 young women in the areas of education, cultural arts, personal development and athletics. Barbara Washington with the late NFL Hall of Famer Walter Payton. In 1992, late NFL Hall-of-Famer Walter Payton, a former board member and consultant to Mathews-Dickey, helped the Club develop a Computer Literacy Instruction Program to augment its existing Tutorial Program. Volunteer instructors with computer expertise provide training to help the students become computer literate. The RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities) program is managed by Mathews-Dickey and endorsed by Major League Baseball and supported by the St. Louis Cardinals LP and other area corporations. In addition, Mathews-Dickey established the city-wide Motivation Vocation Preparation Program (MVP), in September, 1991. MVP deters gang activity by encouraging youth to become active in extracurricular, structured activities promoting self-esteem, goal development and achievement. Anheuser-Busch Companies and Emerson provided initial funding for the program. The MVP Program is sponsored by Furniture Brands International, Inc. (formerly known as INTERCO INCORPORATED). In 2001, the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ Club became the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club. To commemorate the historic occasion, a Girls’ Program Millennial Fund-raising Campaign was launched to generate $1.5 million in funding to secure the program’s future for generations of young women to come. Today, the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club is overseen by a team of loyal consultants and board members. The day-to-day operations are provided by a small, dedicated professional staff. The Club offers educational, athletic and cultural-enrichment programs to more than 40,000 young men and women, ages 5-18, throughout the St. Louis-metropolitan area. © 2004 Mathews Dickey Boys' & Girls' Club site. Designed by the Moore Design Group.