Reed Chunn, 13, hopped off the school bus in front of the Gene Slay’s Boys Club, a club that’s been in Soulard since 1929.
He and a few younger kids were laughing loudly as they walked up the steps. But once they entered the building, Chunn shushed them.
It’s “just to help the staff,” he said. “The older kids teach the younger kids.”
The boys club, an after-school and summer activity program at 2524 S. 11th St., has had the same motto for 80 years: Give back to the pot what you take out.
Tom Wild, the club’s executive director, remembers hearing this advice when he went to the club as a boy over 35 years ago. He started as a staff member in 1977 and followed his father’s footsteps in becoming executive director.
“It’s a family setting where we help each other,” Wild said, “and our kids come back.”
The club has about 800 card-holding members. Yet between sporting leagues and visitors, that number jumps to about 5,000 boys, ages 6 to 18. For $20 a year, the children have access to a gym, video game room, craft room, weight room, indoor pool and outdoor track and field. They can also take any class or participate in any sports league.
Once a boy turns 19, he becomes an alumnus and can volunteer at the club. All of the staff were once club members, and the average stay for an employee is 35 years. Larry Liszewski, program director, has been a staff member since 1978, and he remembers carrying his gold membership card with pride when he first came to the club at age 8.
At the club, a boy’s membership card is his ticket to renting equipment and of course, getting in the door. Liszewski said it teaches the children responsibility to keep track of their cards.
Chunn uses his card every day. His first stop at the club is usually the library, where he does his homework A staff member helps him with any work he has trouble with. Chunn could choose to go home after school, but he would be too easily distracted, he said.
“After you do your homework, you can do anything as long it’s within the rules,” he said.
The McKinley Classical Leadership Academy student typically comes around 2:30 p.m. when the doors open and leaves near at 7:30 p.m. Sometimes he swims or plays one of his favorite sports – basketball, baseball, or football.
The club offers house league sports, which typically start at 5 p.m. and are the foundation of the facility’s athletic programs. The leagues include baseball, basketball, flag football, indoor soccer, floor hockey, kickball and softball.
The club provides all of the equipment, including the uniforms.
“Mothers love us because we even do the laundry” for the uniforms, Liszewski said.
Ronell Fields, 15, works behind the game counter as a junior staff. At 13, the boys can become junior staff members by going through an employment training program, if there are spots available. Chunn is on the waiting list.
“I always wanted to do it,” Fields said. “I’ve had many good role models here, and I always said that I want to be just like them one day.”
He also said being a former club member helps him do his job better, because he knows all the tricks kids might try to pull. One of the main differences between the Boys Club and other programs is the personal touch, as Liszewski calls it.
“We take time out,” Liszewski said. “We don’t treat them like a number. And they know that we’re here for them everyday.”
Besides the family-oriented environment inside the club, Liszewski said they also try to build strong relations with the community. The kids and volunteers clean up the local parks and get involved with other service projects as a way to be part of the community.
“It’s also a way to let people know that if you donate to the Boys Club, you’re helping a kid in ways that’s unbelievable,” Liszewski said.
The club has an $850,000 annual budget, and $285,000 comes from the United Way of Greater St. Louis. The rest comes from private donors. The club’s board of directors hosts an annual golf tournament to raise money, which is one of the largest golf tournaments in the area.
The chairman of the event, since its inception, has been Eugene Slay, CEO of Slay Industries, a leading company in trucking, logistics, warehousing, intermodal and waterways barge operations.
Slay was elected as a director to the Boys’ Club of St. Louis in 1973. So in May 2006, to honor Slay’s dedication, the club was renamed the Gene Slay’s Boys’ Club of St. Louis.
Now in its 80th year, the board is planning to expand the gymnasium and the development of educational scholarships to help children go on to college or vocational school.
Wild said even when he was a boy, his elders would tell him that “this is your club.” The words make more sense to him now as he watches the children grow up and become more involved in the club.
“We’re proud of them,” Wild said. “There’s no vandalism because they know this is their club. We are handing it down to them for their children.”
