In a bustling kitchen, Earl Wilson Jr. searched for a little elbow room to cut the cakes for his community Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday.
One of the women in the kitchen looked at him and said, “Don’t mess with the cake, Earl.” She shooed him out back to the barbeque pit.
According to his apron, which read “Earl, BBQ King,” that’s where he belonged.
The St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation, which Wilson founded, hosts a dinner for the needy every November. That’s in addition to investing $2.6 million in scholarship funds to send more than a hundred students to college during the organization’s 16 years.
The foundation has invested even more in assisting youth-related programs. Throughout the year, it sponsors its namesake HBCU football game, an amateur boxing tournament, high school basketball match-ups, a scholarship golf tournament, the Miss Gateway Classic Scholarship pageant and a local Walk of Fame inauguration.
“If you asked me what Gateway Classic is about, I’d say it’s about giving back,” Wilson said.
The foundation doesn’t receive grants, he said. About 80 percent of the funding is raised through ticket sales at the sporting events. He runs the foundation by a mantra of self-sufficiency and integrity. “Don’t sell out, don’t cop out, stay the course,” he said. “The course needs people with commitment.”
After being the foundation’s leader for 16 years, Wilson has decided to retire and pass the torch onto his son, Richard Gray. Gray, 56, retired from Enterprise Leasing’s Keefe Group two years ago to prepare for his new position with the foundation, which he’ll assume in January.
“I made a decision to turn it over to a young man who I feel has the skills to take it to another level,” Wilson said. “A lot of time we want to stay around too long, and we don’t make preparations for someone to come in and assume their responsibilities.”
‘A man of the street’
Wilson has left an indelible impression during his tenure at the Gateway Classic.
“Tenacious,” foundation board member John Shivers described him. “I don’t even think ‘fiery’ covers it. He’s passionate.”
“He took the concept of a football game and grew it into a powerful positive force that has uplifted our entire community,” said U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay.
Wilson will tell you he’s a product of his community, family and the St. Louis Public Schools. He’s a Lincoln University graduate, a former captain in the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and a man who spent six years in Paris working for IBM. He founded the Gateway Classic after retiring from his 30-year career with the company.
Wilson was raised by his mother, who gave him his legendary spunk and energy. Albert Ross has known Wilson since they were 13. As a kid, Wilson won the Golden Gloves boxing championship.
“He was a man of the street back in the day,” Ross said. “But he was a good guy. If he’s your buddy, he’s your buddy for life.”
Wilson said that learning how to box and how to protect himself built a solid framework for his life.
“I’ve always had that as a fallback, and it really came in handy as a youngster,” Wilson said. “And I think it’s important that we have a foundation that we can love and respect each other, but more importantly to defend.”
Ross and Wilson went to Vashon High School and Harris Stowe Teachers College together. Now at 78, Ross still helps to serve people at the Gateway Classic Thanksgiving dinner.
The breaks
“Like all things, breaks come your way,” Wilson said.
“When I was in the military, I got a call from IBM, when they were hiring black salesmen. I knew nothing about IBM and, more importantly, I knew nothing about selling.”
It was the type of job that blacks had been denied. Wilson took a chance, and he did well. His last position with IBM was area manager vice president of the northeast area, where he led a $1.4 billion operation with more than 100 salesmen.
Wilson had no intention of staying in St. Louis, but his first wife, Margie Wilson, was diagnosed with cancer and he didn’t want to keep moving around. Margie died, and Wilson decided to stay in his hometown. His three daughters, Denise, Stacey and Kimberly, live throughout the world and the country.
Wilson went on to serve as vice president of sales for the 1994 Olympic Festival, where he planned and organized the festival’s marketing. As part of the Olympic tradition, it was Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr.’s duty to go down to San Antonio, Texas to take the torch.
“And unfortunately, they didn’t give him the torch, they gave him a flag.” It was Wilson’s opinion that they didn’t give Bosley the torch because he was black.
So, Wilson said, he resigned. “It was the right thing to do at the right time,” Wilson said.
According to Sylvester Brown Jr., former columnist with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that is the legacy Wilson passes on.
“Earl is a Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and Frederick Douglas, all in one,” Brown said. “He’s a black man who feels we have all the commitment and power we need to fix our own communities, to support our families and to build our businesses.”
Wilson shows the community that they can spend $20 to see a football game played between black colleges, Brown said, and help send kids to college.
About 60 percent of scholarship winners are back in the community, sending out the message, “Pay it forward,” Brown said. “There’s no price tag you can put on that.”
Defender for the community
Wilson also has organized community support and encouragement for young local boxers. But about nine years ago, he fought against a situation he saw as the complete reverse. Elite clubs and casinos downtown were hosting boxing matches for the rich, white elite. The boxers were often black high school students, who weren’t gaining much from the opportunity.
“It was so akin to slavery,” Brown said.
Wilson was outraged, and he went through all the channels to let people know, including getting in touch with Brown. The story got national attention, and the NAACP held a meeting at the amateur boxing center in Soulard. Brown said Wilson showed up, dressed sharp, and said, “You will not treat black children this way.”
“It was a profound moment for me,” Brown said. “He came to represent those who had no voice, against all odds.”
In Brown’s own career, Wilson has stood behind him in his time of opposition as well.
This April, when the Post-Dispatch fired Brown for alleged ethics violations related to accepting a plane ticket from event organizers, Wilson hosted a press conference to give the columnist an opportunity to tell his story.
“Nothing meant more to me than anything having Earl stand behind me during the press conference,” Brown said.
Foundation of inclusion
Wilson said the doors of the foundation building, constructed in 2002, are always open for such purposes. They are open to community groups and event planners and discussion groups.
The Gateway Classic building, at 2012 Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, was built with a workforce of more than 60 percent African-American workers.
“We put in the plan 40 percent, and they told me, ‘You can’t do that,’” Wilson said. “And I said, ‘Yes, I can.’ If you control the money, you can control the jobs.”
Eric E. Vickers, an attorney with the Minority Inclusion Alliance, praised Wilson for “his willingness to stand up in an uncompromising way on behalf of the community, to have put his money where his mouth is and build this facility, using mostly minority contractors and workers because of his commitment.”
The sidewalk around the building marks the Walk of Fame, with plaques naming African Americans. It honors such St. Louis-area legends as Jackie-Joyner Kersee, former Congressman William L. Clay, Ozzie Smith, The 5th Dimension and comedian Dick Gregory.
Gregory, the legendary activist and comedian, said the Gateway Classic is the only event already inked in on his calendar every year. He said he has pride in his hometown because of what Wilson has been able to do in the community.
“He took the could-be wasteland and said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do,’” Gregory said.
“It’s an important system, and he’s been able to do it his way without outside powers. I know it hasn’t always been easy, but he still makes a difference.”
Honoring commitment
It’s a legacy that former scholarship recipients want to preserve.
Chloe Davis, 1999 Miss Gateway Classic, said that she shares Wilson’s commitment. “Basically, he’s a pusher, but the reason he pushes is because he wants the community to be active,” she said.
When Davis won Miss Gateway Classic pageant in 1999, she felt like she getting thrown a net of support. Miss Gateway Classic is a pageant that involves the contestants going through interviews, an essay-writing contest and a talent performance. Shivers said it is an opportunity for students who don’t fall in the “A-B” range, but still have potential.
When Davis graduated from Hampton University, her uncle died of cardiovascular disease. In a speech she made at a foundation luncheon, she announced that she would like to organize a health fair. Wilson stood up right there and said he would fund and sponsor it.
The health fair was a big success with 700 participants, she said.
“He’s always been a supporter of everything I do, and it’s the same with every recipient. He truly believes that the youth are the leaders,” Davis said.
“He’s a loving and compassionate man. I know people may not see that because he’s stubborn when he wants something, but what he wants is for the community to be better.”
