Like the seven-event, two-day-long Olympic heptathlon, the life of its world record holder – East St. Louis native Jackie Joyner-Kersee – is lined with many challenging tasks.
Her most pressing hustles today are the Jackie Joyner-Keree Foundation and Center in East St. Louis, and various corporate speaking and motivational engagements, which put her in position to enlist support for her foundation.
“It’s about getting people to invest in the center like the center is investing in the lives of kids – keeping them off the streets and giving them a safe haven,” said the Olympic star, who owns three gold, one silver and two bronze Olympic medals.
Today, she calls St. Louis home, but East St. Louis is her true love.
“It will always be home for me,” Joyner-Kersee said.
“When I was coming up, so many people helped me, so I knew I would start at home first when I got in position.”
Her position? Joyner-Kersee was voted the greatest female athlete of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated. She is the first woman to earn more than 7,000 points in the heptathlon, the women’s alternative to the decathlon. This young black woman – born in East St. Louis in 1962, named after President John Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, and an asthma sufferer – broke the world record with 7,291 points.
“Some day, this girl will be the First Lady of something,” her grandmother once said.
Joyner-Kersee established her foundation in 1988 and raised more $12 million to build the center in East St. Louis two years later. The center measures 41,000 square feet on 37 acres and includes a 1,200-seat gymnasium. In addition to athletics, the facility hosts programs in education, cultural arts, character leadership, health and life skills.
The center recently hosted its 17th Annual Winning in Life Motivational Program/East St. Louis Relays, which mixed athletics with mentoring for more that 1,000 area female high school student/athletes who attended.
In a question-and-answer session with the many Olympic athletes in attendance, one student asked what to do if a coach offers steroids.
“Tell him or her you don’t need them, be patient and work hard,” Joyner-Kersee said.
“There is no substitute for hard work. Like when a boy approaches you and you say no, because you don’t want a baby at 13.”
The foundation/center’s Executive Director Lecia Rives said working with Joyner-Kersee is wonderful.
“We don’t work for her, because she works in the trenches,” Rives said.
“She’s not just a name on the building; she makes sure her dreams are realized.”
While Joyner-Kersee doesn’t have a lot of down time these days, she finds joy in her travels. Abroad, Rome is perhaps her favorite destination. In the states, she likes running to Washington, D.C. Closer to home, she likes to spend time with her husband and famous former coach, Bob Kersee. They bowl, watch movies and just relax.
Her brother, Al Joyner, was also an Olympic athlete. Her father, Alfred, who lives in Springfield, Ill., was a hurdler and football player in high school. She has two sisters, Debra McNair and Angela Joyner.
Ahead for the center
The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center is currently preparing for its inaugural 2008 Metro Saint Louis Double Dutch Day Competition, set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, May 8.
The competition is intended to help reduce racial disparities in health and childhood obesity. St. Louis Public Schools and East St. Louis School District No. 189 may send at least two teams of four students and two alternates. Winners will advance to a state-wide competition.
Coming down the stretch are two of the foundation/center’s fundraisers. First up, is the 5th Annual Mary Ruth Joyner Mother’s Day Luncheon and Fashion, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 10 at the center.
The luncheon and fashion show is in honor of Joyner-Kersee’s mother, Mary Ruth Joyner, who passed while Joyner-Kersee was a freshman in college at UCLA.
A foundation/center volunteer or staffer who reflects the qualities of Joyner-Kersee’s mother is honored at the function.
For years, Joyner-Kersee wouldn’t celebrate Mother’s Day, but she changed her mind in recent years.
“I don’t have a mom, but others do and I’m a mom to some people at the center and we’re keeping her memory alive,” Joyner-Kersee said, adding that celebration will soon include a component spotlighting meningitis, which claimed her mother’s life.
Joyner-Kersee has lived with asthma since college, but didn’t let it cripple her athletic career – though a severe asthma attack did put the determined athlete on the right track after previous denial of her condition.
The wellness-minded Olympic star will bring awareness to the disease with an inaugural Jackie Joyner-Kersee Rise Above Asthma Walk. The one-mile and 5k walk will jump off at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, May 18 in Forest Park.
“We want to bring awareness and let anyone know that their quality of life should not be diminished by asthma,” Joyner-Kersee said.
Also, summer day camp at the center runs June 8 to August 9, 7 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday.
Donations to the center/foundation should be sent to: Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, 101 Jackie Joyner-Kersee Circle, East St. Louis, IL., 62204. Anyone interested in event sor activities may visit jackiejoyner-kerseefoudation.org or call (618) 274-5437.
