EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — One of 10 children from a single-parent household here, Dominic Williams could have become a statistic. Instead, he works professionally in statistics.
As a boy, he’d escape the hell of his crime-infested community into a haven that was his heaven. Williams spent countless afternoons and summer days at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Community Center, where he’d play basketball and receive tutoring on schoolwork. And like the other precious and innocent children, he often interacted with the great Olympian herself.
When Williams was 16, Jackie helped pay for him to attend an education program at the University of Illinois. And she’d call each week to check in.
When he graduated high school, Jackie provided scholarship opportunities for him at SIU Edwardsville. Williams earned two undergraduate degrees — and then a Master’s in marketing research. Now 30, Williams works in St. Louis as a senior associate at a company called Mercer, where he utilizes his data analytics skills.
“She knew that we were special,” Williams said of Joyner-Kersee, a track and field legend who won three gold medals, a silver and two bronze. “I kind of tear up when I talk about her.
“She never gave up on East St. Louis. I don’t think people realize that hundreds and thousands of kids have come through her center.”
As Jackie celebrates her 60th birthday on Thursday, many believe to this day that she’s the greatest female athlete of all-time — or, if anything, she’s in the conversation. After a heptathlon silver in 1984, the East St. Louis native won the heptathlon gold in both 1988 and 1992. At 34 in 1996, while overcoming injuries, she won Olympic bronze twice. She also played college basketball at UCLA. She battled severe asthma all her life. She’s graced the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time, People and a Wheaties box. She is an international sports icon.
Yet, her legacy, really, is in East St. Louis, where she is a saint.
For more than two decades, the JJK Center has served this suffering community as Jackie nourishes the children’s minds, hearts, souls and even stomachs. The amount of hot meals served here, the number of books read, the number of lessons taught, the number of crimes avoided, the number of dreams crafted? Incalculable, even for a statistician like Dominic Williams.
Often in sports, you hear a touching story of an athlete going into a community and spending numerous hours inspiring and interacting with kids. That’s what Jackie does every day.
“I believe it was my calling to this,” Jackie told me during a recent tour of the facility. “When I wanted to build a community center, I wanted people to be able to see and touch me. I didn’t want them to just read about me in a newspaper or see me on television. Especially for our young people. …
“We have a vested interest in our young people. And our families. And the return on that investment might not be today, but down the road. We talk about winning in life, confidence, risk-taking, service, value and self-respect. …
“Yes, there have been some trying times, but more importantly, I never lost sight of why I was doing what I was doing. And I wouldn’t do it for publicity. That’s why I was just shocked when you called (to do an article).”
Jackie forever feels the warmth of Mary — both her mother, Mary Joyner, and the community center of her youth, named Mary Brown.
Jackie flashed her famous smile as she told the story of her first job at age 9 — setting up the ping-pong equipment each morning. At the Mary Brown Community Center, young Jackie discovered a love for books and running. She grew friendships and drew confidence.
And when Mary Joyner died, Jackie returned home from college and headed to the Mary Brown Center to seek solace.
“But it had padlocks on the doors,” Jackie said.
That helpless feeling stuck with her for days. Months. Years.
“Where do all the young people go?” she wondered.
And in 1996, before her last Olympics, she finally broke ground on her own community center. Planted the seed, really. Because this place blossomed. Today, there are basketball courts, a wrestling room and ballfields. There are classrooms, computer labs, a library, a greenhouse and even a room with a NASCAR simulator. The walls are decorated with images of the decorated Olympian, as well as motivational phrases. Out front is an enormous mural with Jackie’s face and the phrase “BLACK EXCELLENCE IS YOU.”
The JJK Center has numerous tentacles. There are the athletic teams, called the JJK Flames. There are summer camp programs and evening programs for families, such as one for financial literacy. The JJK “Winning In Life” curriculum teaches Jackie’s 14 principles to students at both her center and in schools and churches across the country.
The Head Start program, partnered with SIUE, is an early education program with six functioning classrooms for children up to 5 years old. As Jackie entered one of the rooms recently, the kids were singing “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” including one young man wearing a bow tie.
The JJK Academy functions as a private elementary school for kindergarten and first grade, with plans to expand to second and third grade in coming years.
“I have to give back to my community,” said kindergarten teacher Melissa Brown, who grew up in East St. Louis. “Nobody else will understand those girls or what they’re going through and what they’re dealing with, because I’ve dealt with it. I’ve been there.”
Jackie enjoys joining Brown’s class for a daily rendition of the “Start the Day Song” by Jack Hartmann. On one recent morning, as Jackie entered, you could hear the cheers and could tell the kids were smiling behind their masks.
And there is the JJK after-school program, which serves about 160-180 students every day. It’s an extraordinary and beautiful undertaking.
“With the after-school program, this is the only place that a lot of them have to go,” Brown said. “And they don’t have structure at home. So they get it from the center. A lot of times, kids walk up to me and say, ‘Miss Brown, can you pray with me?’ You also have kids who have so much on their shoulders. They’re having to be adults at age 13, taking care of their siblings.
“So this center is an outlet, somewhere to go. One of the students I talked to today, actually, told me he doesn’t go outside at home because of gun violence.”
In previous years, they realized the number of after-school participants had dropped. They discovered that some kids weren’t able to get rides from school to the center. And in other cases, Jackie said, gang violence kept kids from walking through certain parts of town to get to the center. So they created a transportation plan with vans. JJK employees pick up all the kids at the schools — and then take every single kid home each night.
“And Jackie specifically makes sure the kids get hot meals served for dinner when they come for after-school programs,” said Cierra Campbell, the center’s director of programs, “so that if their parents don’t have dinner to feed them, they’ve eaten a hot meal. And especially on Fridays, because who knows what happens over the weekend.”
The median household income in East St. Louis, per a 2019 Census report, was $24,343, while the per capita income was $16,987.
“Having that is unlivable for one person,” Campbell said. “So knowing that and having three or four kids, how do you survive?”
Campbell came to East St. Louis from Florida, where she was once a young track athlete who admired Jackie Joyner-Kersee the superhuman. A couple years ago, Campbell heard Jackie on a podcast and was inspired by Jackie Joyner-Kersee the human, this gold medalist who mined gold inside these beautiful children. Campbell applied for a job with the center and was flabbergasted, during her Zoom interview, to be joined by Jackie herself.
“I feel like I blacked out,” Campbell said with a laugh. “I remember her saying that ‘you have a beautiful spirit.’ And I was like, even if I don’t get this job, the fact that she said that I have a beautiful spirit was amazing. I just remember closing my laptop, and I cried for like an hour. …
“Then when I got here, I didn’t expect to see her Day One. And she was also here Day Two, Day Three. And I was like, she works here! She’s in meetings. When we have events, she is moving tables, picking up the chairs. … When I think about her, she radiates.”
Jackie has this effect on people. In conversation, she welcomes them into her aura, makes them comfortable. She’s genuinely humble, authentically empathetic. She remembers names and family members. And she has this laugh — it’s just grand and great. It’s this personality that has garnered the respect of everyone from kids to donors.
And everyone seems to have a story about Jackie that others hadn’t heard. Jackie buying Christmas gifts. Jackie showing up at a school to meet a kid doing a project about her. Jackie paying for the summer intern’s extra semester at college.
Dominic Williams referred to his group of friends as “JJK kids,” this blessed group of youngsters who came through the center. And what’s cool is he carries on her persona and principles, as do so many others who have spread their wings across the St. Louis area and, even, the country.
“To be honest with you, my trajectory has Jackie all over it,” said Dr. Tamika Bradley of Jackson, Miss.
Bradley, whose maiden name is Roddy, grew up in East St. Louis. Her baby sister actually works now at the JJK Center. As a high school track athlete in the 1990s, Bradley met and was even mentored by Jackie.
“She was like a goddess,” Bradley recalled.
Bradley received a college scholarship from Jackie. In college, at Jackson State, Bradley became a scholar-athlete and valedictorian. She went on and earned more degrees, including her PhD.
“At the height of my career, I was an associate dean in the College of Education,” Bradley said. “But my purpose was always tied to — giving back in human capital, in effort, in attention. Because I always felt like everything that she did for me, everything that contributes to who I am, I can never repay that. So how can you give that back? Pay it forward.”
