Gateway Classic

[shakespear]

My girlfriend has been asking me to find out what is the Gateway Classic and if it is a sporting event, where is it going to be held.

[craiginsandiego]

The St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation's motto is: ''It's more than a football game. It's a way of life.'' That reference is because this foundation began 11 years ago with the goal of proving a non-profit sports organization could make a major positive social impact with metro-area youth. It has been very successful, with this football game the defining centerpiece of this evolution. The Classic will feature the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Tuskegee University for the second consecutive season. For many, the day's highlight is the exhilarating battle of the marching bands at halftime. Arkansas-Pine Bluff has played in the past seven Classics, winning each except last season's 13-10 loss to Tuskegee. There will be many other community and social events throughout this weekend. Make sure you check out the Saturday morning pre-game downtown parade beginning at 12th Street and Market at 9AM. -- Brian Doolittle

St. Louis Gateway Classic Logo. Courtesy St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation
St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation
In the eight years since its inception in 1994, the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation has become a premier sports organization that focuses on events and opportunity for urban youth. The foundation provides the St. Louis community with high quality sporting events where the athletic talent of young people is recognized, celebrated and supported. These events include high school basketball championships; track and field meets; punt, pass and kick competitions; tennis matches; and amateur boxing events. The annual signature event is the Annual Budweiser Gateway Classic football game, featuring teams from historically Black colleges. It has become the largest sporting attraction in the region for local and out-of-state African Americans.

The Gateway Classic wants to send a strong message to youth that someone does care about them, that someone will invest in their skill and provide positive, nurturing alternatives to negative situations. The Foundation has invested more than $1.5 million dollars in the black community and has provided at least 20 full, four-year college scholarships to area high school students each year since 1998. The foundation's outreach has increasingly emphasized the importance of building a better future for youth through programs that target the educational, health, intellectual, physical, social and spiritual development of young people.

Other programs include a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Youth Awareness Day program that recognizes area high school students for essays about Dr. King and the outstanding community services they have performed. The foundation also features a Feed the Hungry Thanksgiving program, a Christmas celebration, a scholarship awards banquet, and the Southwestern Bell Miss Gateway Classic Scholarship Pageant.