His Name Is Earl
The Fighter That Is the Founder of the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation: Mr. Earl Wilson
by Terry Artis
President/Publisher
It is my first hand experience that people who may vehemently disagree with Earl Wilson on a point or 2 will always have great respect for him. Any Black man who does as much for young Black people as Earl does, earns my highest regard. The fact that his works have extended so far beyond just young people and touches the entire community just makes Mr. Wilson all the more worthy of recognition and respect.
Earl said recently to Black contractors, "I had a 60% black workforce build my facility. There were those who didnšt think that it was feasible, that 25% would have been a realistic goal. I know that if you control the money, you control the job and can control the destiny." Truer words were never spoken. He's always been way ahead of the times in his thinking and it wasn't until I began publishing this publication in January 2009, with its completely free and independent Black voice, that I fully could comprehend the depth of this 'Spirit of Black St. Louis' that is Mr. Earl Wilson Jr.
Earl Wilson was born On October 9, 1932, and raised in Downtown St. Louis, just blocks away from the location of what is now his St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation complex. "We grew up at 11th and Carr. My grandmother had 9 kids. The Wilsons, the Clays, we all grew up in the same compound with outdoor toilets and all. It was a close family," Earl remembers.
Those that knew Earl Wilson then and know him now say that he was always fighting. "Nobody came to our neighborhood and messed with us. The big boys protected us and we protected ourselves," Earl says. "I never heard the neighborhood referred to as the 'ghetto' until I got out of college. It was called 'Downtown'. And when you ask where I got it started, it was down in that neighborhood where it all began for me."
Earl attended Vashon High School and boxed in the Golden Glove arena in 1949, '50 and won the Golden Glove Championship in 1951. He reflected on an important lesson that he learned, stating, "My mother always told me, Earl, if you think that youšre going to fight, always get the first blow in. If you're faced with a bully, hit him first." Those words would permeate every aspect of his life.
Mr. Wilson went on to Lincoln University and later to the army. He was an airborne ranger (jumped out of airplanes) and later a Captain in the Corps of Engineers. After his term in the service, Earl was offered a position at IBM.
"I knew little about IBM at that time," Earl said. "It was in the '50's that IBM first started hiring Blacks." Earl showed me a book, A Look Behind the Tip of the Iceberg, that was written by the first Black man hired at IBM in 1952, Mr. Lionel R. Fultz. In one passage, Fultz writes of his first encounter with Earl Wilson, which was through a phone conversation. Earl, who was hired with 6 other Blacks in 1962, had called Lionel to say, that they had been hired and "We brothers need to stick together," when he was interrupted by Mr. Fultz who told Earl basically, "I don't know you and you ain't my damned brother!" and hung up on Earl. Earl had been hired as Director of Equal Opportunity for IBM. Later in the passage, Fultz tells of how he had concerns because he didnšt know if Earl was what people referred to as an "Uncle Tom." But, when Fultz got to know a bit about Earl, at an early meeting, he wondered if IBM had any idea of what kind of Black man they had hired. Fultz wrote, "It turned out that Earl was not only a great crusader, but one of the greatest." Lionel Earl would go on to be the closest of friends.
Earl spoke of his open support of Percy Green, the Black Panthers and all of the organizations for Black struggles. "What they wanted then, just like many of our groups want now, is jobs and opportunity for our people.˛"Earl realizes that most Blacks in that time wouldn't speak of their support for what some considered as fringe or radical elements, but Earl is not most Blacks. "I speak the way I want to speak. Sometimes you get in trouble, as you know, but I accept that," Earl said. "I'm the kind of person who believes that if I was hired to see that Blacks got an opportunity to be a part of that company, then that's what would happen." Earl Wilson, unlike many of those in key positions comparable to his, was not 'window dressing'.
During his term with IBM, Earl worked in Paris for 6 years and traveled around the world to Middle Eastern countries, Europe, Asia, etc.. "Everyone needs the opportunity to travel and see what I've seen," Earl says. "All over the world, whether it's Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain, Pakistan and so many other countries, it is us: people of color."
"I didn't want to leave Paris. While there, I had an opportunity to see what some Blacks had talked about. You're treated with dignity and respect. You have racism everywhere, but mainly in the United States compared to that over seas."
Earl came back to America before he retired from IBM and served as Vice President of Lincoln University. After retiring, not ready to settle in a retirement community, he headed his own consulting firm for a couple of years and later got involved with the Olympic Festival, which was the catalyst for his founding the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation.
Earl was the Vice President of St. Louisš Olympic Festival committee and Freeman Bosley, Jr. was our Mayor. At an Olympic ceremony in Texas, Mayor Bosley was scheduled to receive the Olympic torch and had traveled to Texas to do so. "A parachuter landed in the event, presented Freeman with a flag and gave the torch to a White representative of St. Louis' Olympic Festival committee, Earl recalled. "It was wrong and I resigned, not for Freeman, but because of what they had done to Freeman."
Earl started the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation in 1994. He admits having no idea where the foundation would lead. He wanted to make a showing of what Blacks could accomplish in St. Louis. With the help of Mayor Freeman Bosley, Jr., Attorney Wayman Smith, (then Director of Community Relations for Anheuser-Busch), Earl got the stadium for free for his first "Classic" and with funding from a title sponsor and secondary sponsor, set forth the most important Black sports event in St. Louis' history.
Earl didn't want to depend on sponsors for funding. He wanted to raise his own money through ticketed events such as boxing, football, basketball, etc. "That's how you can maintain your independence and that's what I did," Earl said. "I have partnerships with sponsors and get limited funding from them, because if you get too much, they'll control you and you don't want to have that happen. I don't get grants, no United Way funding or any other source that brings the control factor."
Since its beginning to date, the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation has provided $2.2 million in scholarships for young people to attend historically Black colleges and universities. Earl has always billed the event as "more than just a football game." The foundation presents a week of Black events that raise money for scholarships. "We give scholarships to "C" students, Earl informed me. "When you graduate college, you are given a certificate that basically says that you have a right to participate. You have to show what your abilities are and let that take you to the levels that you can reach. Whether you are an "A" or "C" student, it doesn't truly make a difference. It's what you bring to the table. I was a "C" student at times."
In 2010, Earl Wilson will step down as Executive Director of the St. Louis Gateway Classic Foundation and Mr. Richard "Rick" Gray will take the reigns. Earl said, "I'll be there if he needs advise, but Rick will run the entire operation."
From the foundation's Black Walk of Fame to it's Feed the Hungry Program and all of it's honors events, scholarship awards and sporting events in between, Earl has built, right in his old stomping grounds a lasting legacy that Black St. Louisans will be able to look on with great dignity and aspire to with a mind on freedom. If there is one thing that we can rest assured in, it is fact that Earl will instill in Rick to never lose control of the Foundation. Earl is a man who preaches, "control the money, you control the job, you can control the destiny."
More than once during my interview with Earl, he stated, "At this stage in my life, I don't worry about what someone thinks that disagrees with me." I responded each time, "I don't think that you ever did, Earl." He laughed each time and said, "I care, but I was always going to do it my way." Because of Earl's uncompromising ways, he realizes that there are those who would have liked nothing more than to see him fail. I've personally found that Earl's lack of compromise made me want to see him succeed more than anything else. He's a man that follows his own visions and stands firm on what he believes. It's a rare and admirable quality to find in any man, in any time.
In his Board Room at the foundation's headquarters, Earl has a picture of the great Jackie Robinson. Earl says, "I admire that brother more than anyone could know. The man spoke his mind and didn't care what anyone thought of him."
Sound familiar?
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