The Missouri Athletic Club (often referred to as the MAC), founded in 1903, is a private city and athletic club with two locations. The Downtown Clubhouse is in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

St. Louis, Missouri, USA and the West Clubhouse is located in the St. Louis County suburb of Town and Country. The MAC awards the annual

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and the ...

, the highest award in American college soccer, and the

Jack Buck Award Jack Buck Award is an award named after former St. Louis broadcaster Jack Buck and presented by the Missouri Athletic Club. This award was established in 1987 and is presented to individuals in recognition of enthusiastic and dedicated support of s ...

(in recognition of enthusiastic and dedicated support of sports in the city of St. Louis). Notable members have included President Harry S. Truman, Charles Lindbergh,

Stan Musial Stanley Frank Musial (; born Stanislaw Franciszek Musial; November 21, 1920 – January 19, 2013), nicknamed "Stan the Man", was an American baseball outfielder and first baseman. Widely considered to be one of the greatest and most consis ...

, and Alan Shepard. The

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

was organized there in 1919. Membership was restricted to white men until the late 1960s and men until 1988.

Facilities

Downtown Clubhouse

The Missouri Athletic Club opened its doors on Sept. 13, 1903, in the Boatman's Bank Building at 4th Street and Washington Ave. in downtown St. Louis. Founder Charles Henry Genslinger had opened clubs in New Orleans and New York. A fire destroyed the original clubhouse in March 1914. Within two weeks, a committee was appointed to design and erect a new and more elaborate clubhouse on the same location. The project was funded with bonds sold to prominent St. Louis businessmen, including August A. Busch. Designed by

William B. Ittner William Butts Ittner (September 4, 1864 – 1936) was an architect in St. Louis, Missouri. He designed over 430 school buildings in Missouri and other areas, was president of the St. Louis Chapter of the American Institute of Architects from 1893 ...

, the present-day Downtown Clubhouse opened on March 1, 1916, with a gala celebration attended by 5,000 people. The 10-story facility was grander than the original, with contains two restaurants, a ballroom, a barber shop, numerous private meeting rooms, a reading room, a billiard parlor, a rooftop deck, more than 75 guest rooms, and full-service athletic facilities. The athletic facilities include weight training, a pro shop, whirlpools, tanning beds, saunas, trainers, pros, a masseuse, squash courts, racquetball courts, and

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

courts. The Missouri Athletic Club has renovated and expanded its West Clubhouse numerous times over the years. Some of the largest projects took place in 1998, 2004, and 2016.

West Clubhouse

In 1995, the Missouri Athletic Club purchased the Town and Country Racquet Club, which was built in 1975, and opened it as the MAC's West Clubhouse on June 16 of that year. The sprawling facility, with more than 178,000 square feet of space, has a 25-meter outdoor swim and dive pool, two restaurants and bars, private event spaces, eight indoor tennis courts, squash courts, racquetball courts, a basketball court and gymnasium, and a fitness center.

History

Entrepreneur Charles Henry Genslinger came to St. Louis in 1903, during the lead-up to the 1904

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

. Having organized amateur athletic and social clubs in New York City and New Orleans, he persuaded local prominent citizens to fund a similar club.The New Missouri Athletic Club: 100 Years of History, Tradition & Service (Missouri Athletic Club 2003)
Boatmen’s Bank donated a seven-story building at Fourth Street and Washington Avenue to the Club, which adopted “Missouri Athletic Club” as its name. More than 3,200 members enrolled before to Club opened in September 1903. Upon its founding, the MAC joined the Amateur Athletic Union, which allowed its members to participate in the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 29 August to 3 September 1904, as part of an extended s ...

, also held in St. Louis. As part of the AAU, the MAC formed basketball, swimming, track, baseball, boxing, wrestling, bowling, and billiards teams which competed throughout the United States. In 1914, the MAC's clubhouse was destroyed by a fire that killed 30 members, guests, and staff. The club decided to construct a new building in its place, which opened in 1916. This has been the clubhouse ever since. From 1916 to 1939, the MAC was renamed the Missouri Athletic Association. In the late 1960s, the all-white, all-male club voted to allow Black men to join. In 1987, the MAC began awarding the

to the United States's top male and female college soccer players. This is the highest player's award in college soccer, equivalent to the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

for

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

. In 1988, the Club’s members voted overwhelmingly to admit female members. The vote came after John C. Shepherd, whose membership in the all-male MAC and the all-white Bellerive Country Club had drawn national scrutiny and criticism, withdrew from his nomination to be Attorney General Edwin Meese III's deputy at the U.S. Justice Department. In 1995, the MAC bought the Town and Country Racquet Club in West St. Louis County. The club spent $2 million to upgrade the facilities and reopened them as the Missouri Athletic Club's West Clubhouse. The West Clubhouse was re-renovated for $8 million in 2003. By 2006,

St. Louis Magazine ''St. Louis Magazine'' is a monthly periodical published in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1969 under the name ''Replay'', then ''The St. Louisan'' until 1977, it covers local history, cuisine, and lifestyles. History The magazine started under ...

reported, "The Missouri Athletic Club, one of the largest clubs in the country, lost cachet after admitting first women and then anybody who could pay."

Notable members

Glendy B. Arnold Glendy Burke Arnold (1875-1955) was an attorney and judge in St. Louis, Missouri, in the early 20th century. Personal Arnold was born January 30, 1875, in Frankfort, Kentucky, his father being Christian minister T.N. Arnold. The younger Arnold ...

, St. Louis judge * Jack Buck, St. Louis Cardinals sportscaster * Jimmy Dunn, American soccer player * Gwynne Evans, American Olympic athlete *

Joseph Forshaw Joseph Michael Forshaw is an Australian ornithologist, and expert on parrots. He was the former head of wildlife conservation for the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. Dreifus, Claudia.A Conversation With Joseph M. Forshaw: A Passi ...

, Olympic marathon runner * Augustus Goessling, American Olympic athlete *

Charles F. Haanel Charles Francis Haanel (May 22, 1866 – November 27, 1949) was an American author, philosopher and a businessman. He is best known for his contributions to the New Thought movement through his book ''The Master Key System''. Personal ...

, American businessman and author * Sidney Hatch, American Olympic athlete * Charles Lindbergh, pioneer aviator * John Meyers, American Olympic athlete *

, St. Louis Cardinals baseball player,

Baseball Hall of Fame The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-r ...

inductee * William Orthwein, American Olympic athlete *

Marquard Schwarz Marquard J. Schwarz (July 30, 1887 – February 17, 1968) was an American freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 1906 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, Missouri. He competed as a member of the Missouri Athlet ...

, American Olympic athlete * Alan Shepard,

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

, first American in space *

Harry A. Slattery Harry A. Slattery (June 13, 1887 – September 1, 1949), was an American lawyer and statesman. He was United States Under Secretary of the Interior from 1938–39 and gave his name to the Slattery Report, which proposed to develop Alaska throu ...

, United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior (1917–18), author of the Slattery Report *

Manfred Toeppen Manfred Kurt Toeppen (September 3, 1887 – July 18, 1968) was an American water polo player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri and died in Los Angeles, California. In the 1904 Olympics he won a b ...

, American Olympic athlete * Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States (1945-1953) * Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American Olympic athlete *Jeffrey Wehmer - Lawyer/Dong Sucker

References

Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy

External links

Missouri Athletic Club (official website)
{{Authority control Athletics clubs in the United States Buildings and structures in St. Louis Squash venues Organizations based in St. Louis