On November 23, 1999, after almost 40 years of distinguished service in the St. Louis Fire Department, Sherman George became the first African-American appointed fire chief since the department’s origin in 1857 – indeed, the first in the state.
However, after a turbulent last four years as chief, there was never the opportunity for his many supporters to gather in the same place to say ‘thank you’ for his service, said Brenda Jones, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri and co-chair of the Torchbearer for Justice Committee.
On Saturday, 300 people from around the country showed their gratitude. They gathered at the St. Louis Gateway Classic Foundation for the unveiling of a life-size wax sculpture of Chief George. The Griot Museum of Black History and Culture founder Lois Conley created the figure, and it will remain on display in the museum next to other heroes.
“Sherman George stood up for what was right, and he took great personal and professional risks to make positive changes in the fire department for fairness and equality,” Jones said. “Because of that, it can’t be a normal ‘thank you.’ It’s something that is deserving of having a life-size figure stand up in a museum next to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
At the unveiling, more than 20 people spoke of Chief George’s integrity and leadership, including dignitaries, former firefighters and Police Chief Dan Isom.
“It was overwhelming,” Chief George said. “It was an opportunity to publicly thank a number of people for my success because I didn’t do it myself. Both in my personal life and career, so many people helped me along the way.”
Founders of FIRE
Being a firefighter was not initially in George’s thoughts or dreams, he said. In the 1960s, George was working as an engineer for McDonnell Douglas Corp. (now Boeing) when a friend and firefighter, Victor Taylor, brought him an application for the city fire department. Knowing how unhappy George was in his position, Taylor forced him to fill out the application and even turned it in for his coworker. The department accepted him. (Victor Taylor has passed away, but his wife, Sheila, attended the reception.)
Matthew Miley, a retired black battalion chief, was hired on one year before George.
“Sherman was one of the serious-minded guys,” Miley said. “Of course, when we first met in the 1960s, we were the black firefighters in the all-white fire houses – we weren’t very popular.”
Miley and George didn’t work at the same fire houses, but they were founding members of FIRE, Firefighters for Racial Equality. Miley and George worked together on the community service committee. Every year they would take toys to all the kids at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital.
“I don’t know who enjoyed it most,” Miley said. “You have to understand how little children look at firefighters. It was always such a pleasure.”
Miley, George and several other black firefighters rose through the ranks together. At one point, Miley opened up a bar where all the black captains would gather to study for the battalion chief test, he said.
“People probably thought we were in our back room drinking beer,” he said, “but we were preparing for the chief’s exam.”
Retired St. Louis battalion chiefs Roy George, Robert Grady, Matthew Miley, Stanley Johnson and William “Spike” Jones attended the unveiling and shared their stories at the reception. Percy Green III congratulated George on behalf of FIRE’s current executive board.
‘We couldn’t all be deputy chief’
At the event, George told the story of how he became deputy fire chief. After a number of the black firefighters became battalion chiefs, they met with a group of ministers. As a group, they asked the ministers to support the appointment of a black deputy fire chief. The ministers told the firefighters to select their candidate among themselves, and they would support that individual.
“That’s the only reason I became the fire chief,” George said. “We couldn’t all be deputy chief. Those guys voted to support me. I never had a chance to publicly thank those individuals.”
Clarence Harmon, former mayor of the City of St. Louis, also spoke about his decision to appoint George as chief while he was mayor.
In the last four years of his career, George said a lot of information about his leadership of the department was ignored or misrepresented by the daily paper and other media. “My story could never been told if it had not been for Dr. (Donald M.) Suggs and Mr. (Chris) King and The St. Louis American,” he said.
George said during that difficult time, he had strong support from the ACLU and Brenda Jones. For the past several years, Jones and Addington Stewart, a firefighter and past FIRE president who worked under Chief George, headed up the Torchbearer committee that organized the museum’s tribute.
Hero of Congressman Clay
People traveled from across the country to attend, including Joseph Muhammad, president of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, and Dr. Carl Holmes, one of George’s mentors and founder of the Carl Holmes Executive Development Institute.
He also had a huge support from local leaders, including U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, Mattie Moore from U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill’s office and St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley.
In his speech, Clay told Chief George, “Chief, your life of service is a shining example of bravery, dedication, sacrifice and a real commitment to doing what was right, even when it was hard. That’s the stuff that heroes are made of. And you are definitely one of mine.”
Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed and State Sen. Robin Wright-Jones presented resolutions to George at the event.
George’s family members were part of the unveiling ceremony, and they included Catherine George, Dana George, Kelly George, Cheri Glasper and Alvin George.
George said he personally wanted to thank all of the event’s sponsors, including the David Steward, founder and chairman of World Wide Technology, Inc., the ACLU-EM, AmerenUE, Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Deaconess Foundation, the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation, Grey Goose Cherry Noir Vodka, the Griot Museum and The St. Louis American – along with over 50 individual and organization donors.
