For three generations, the corner of Penrose and Kingshighway has been considered sacred ground for young people coming up in North City and North County. And as co-founders of Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club, Martin Mathews and Hubert “Dickey” Ballentine were their patron saints.
On Wednesday, November 16 the club will be one of the locations where the community can say farewell to Martin L. Mathews, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 97. He will lie in state at Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 16. A celebration of life will be held for him at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 17 at Washington University’s Graham Chapel.
Through Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club, countless lives have been enriched through mentorship and the club’s approach of building scholar athletes. Many more were literally saved from becoming casualties of neighborhoods starved of resources and opportunities to thrive.
One does not need to look far to find the imprint of Mathews-Dickey’s legacy within the sports world. Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliot, Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal and Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum are among them. So are Notre Dame Women’s Basketball head coach Niele Ivey and Khalia Collier, owner of The St. Louis Surge women’s basketball team and VP and Chief of Basketball Operations for the Dallas Mavericks.
The success stories in sports and beyond are simply too numerous to list individually. But other notable alumni include Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer Sterling K. Brown and Karl Grice – the architect who designed the building that has served as its headquarters since the early 1980s. It is the same place where the community is preparing to say goodbye to Mathews on Wednesday.
More than one million children have been served in the six decades of service that Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club has provided to the. Four presidents have walked the club’s halls – including in 1982 when President Ronald Reagan presented Ballentine (who passed away in 2000) and Mathews with the Presidential Citizens Award.
Over the years the number of honors Mathews received for his service and commitment to the youth of St. Louis would rival a headcount of the children who passed through the doors of Mathews-Dickey. Among them are an honorary doctor of humanities degree from Washington University – and not one, but two keys to the city of St. Louis.
For Mathews, it was never about the awards – though he appreciated and accepted them with grace and humility. The reward of being the beacon of hope he wanted to see growing up as a little Black boy in segregated southern Missouri was always his top priority.
Martin Luther Mathews was born on February 17, 1925 in Neelyville, Missouri and raised in Poplar Bluff. He was the eleventh child of 13 children born to Ned and Amanda Mathews. He came to St. Louis as a teen to find work and send money home to his family after his father passed away.
He landed jobs and played semi-professional baseball. He married Barbara Albright and had five lovely daughters. And yet somehow in between his family, full-time employment and his participation in America’s great pastime, he made room to pour into promising young athletes that caught his eye. He began coaching his own team. He and fellow coach Ballentine thought they could have a lasting impact if they joined forces. A fateful conversation under a shade tree in the historic Ville neighborhood would change the course of the St. Louis community.
At first Mathews didn’t make much of the initial chat. But a late-night call from Ballentine let him know that their idea was serious business. He called and said, ‘we can call it Mathews-Dickey Boys Club,’ and hung up,” Martin told The American in 2014. “At 1 o’clock in the morning — when you have to be up for work — I didn’t care what it was named.”
That was the origins of Mathews-Dickey. Fundraising efforts were modest at best in the beginning. Mathews sold coffee for $.10 a cup at his day job. Both he and Ballentine accumulated serious debt as they fought to bring their vision to fruition and keep up with the financial demands of the club in the early days. By the time Mathews stepped down as the club’s leader at the ripe age of 90 in 2015, he had helped secure millions of dollars in funding from the region’s corporate and philanthropic community. He convinced them to invest in the future of St. Louis – its youth – by way of Mathews-Dickey. And as the region prepares to say goodbye to Mathews, the story of its future of the institution he helped build in 1960 is still unfolding. Now a member of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater St. Louis network, Mathews-Dickey serves more than 10,000 young people annually.
“He and I share the same favorite quote,” Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis said of Mathews according to St. Louis Public Radio. “And that is, ‘What you do for yourself dies with you, but what you do for others lives forever.’”
Mathews is survived by his daughters Juanita Mathews, Marilyn Mathews and Angelic Mathews Cole, all of St. Louis along with a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife Barbara and daughters Phyllis Mathews and Betty Joe Mathews preceded him in death.
The final services for Martin L. Mathews are as follows: A public viewing will take place from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at Mathews-Dickey Boys and Girls Club, 4245 Kingshighway, St. Louis MO, 63115. A Celebration of Life will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 17 at Graham Chapel on the campus of Washington University.
