President Bob called our meeting to order by the ringing of our Rotary Bell. On cue, all Rotarians rose for the Pledge and reciting of the 4-Way test. Mike Regan provided a topic appropriate invocation while Bill Piper led us all in singing.
Announcements:
· This months Inter City meeting will be hosted by the Crestwood Sunset Hills Rotary Club on Wednesday August 7th. Intercity meetings are a great way to meeting Rotarians from other area Clubs. Please let Jon Soifer know if you intend to go.
· Vic DiFate informed members that our school supplies collection is underway. Please bring supplies to our Thursday meetings through August 15th. The committee will deliver to Kids Smart for distribution to city schools.
· The Social Committee has planned a Rotary-after-Hours at Scarlett’s Wine Bar in the Central West End for Monday August 12th at 5pm. Come join the fun!
· The Rotary Golf League plays at Glenn Echo CC on Tuesday August 6th. If you are interested in playing, let Dave Wicks know.
Sergeant-at-Arms Dan Conway introduced a number of prospective member guests.
Nick Angelo introduced our speaker Jim Healey by reminding us that, due to growing family time constraints, golfing is part of his history. Jim is an author and sport historian with more than 25 books and articles on golf in St. Louis. Jim provided a very interesting program filled with information about early golf history in St. Louis. Did you know that Glen Echo was not the first course built west of the Mississippi? Actually, the Log Cabin Club is the oldest dating back to 1899. The area around UMSL was owned by the Lucas family and had several golf coursed including the first location of Bellerive CC. St. Louis also had the fist all Women’s Golf Club in 1898 located near what is now Tower Grove Park. Brother Jim and Robert Foulis designed many of the early St. Louis courses including Glen Echo. Have you ever wondered why many of the old area courses are near railroad tracks? Well in the early 1900’s, there weren’t many automobiles, so trains and street cars were the way to get to those courses. St. Louis CC actually had a streetcar line that ran through the course. If you are interested in more fun facts, Jim’s latest book, Golfing before the Arch – A History of St. Louis Golf, is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Bob adjourned the meeting at 1pm with the reminder to connect with someone and share Rotary in the next week.
Rick Tinucci, Scribe