It was like the old days at St. Mary Magdalen.
The south city parish was at one time the center of activities for many social and athletic events for the youngsters. The teen town dances on Sunday night, sometimes with Bob Kuban and his band, would draw hundreds of kids.
And, of course, anybody who grew up in St. Louis and played in the Catholic Youth Council, probably spent a lot of time on the fields and gyms (St. Mary Magdalen was the only parish in the south city with both a field and gym).
In its prime, St. Mary Magdalen was one of the area's premier soccer facilities. International teams played St. Louis's best there. There were national tournament games. Even the world's most famous athlete of the day, Pele, the soccer great from Brazil, once was featured at a clinic on the Magdalen field in the 1970s.
Times have changed, and the school closed about three years ago as it merged with Our Lady of Sorrows to form St. Catherine Drexel.
The Catholic Youth Apostolate bought the facilities from the parish in November 2008 and the sports department from the CYC moved to the facility early this year.
The site was a hubbub of activity last month with the growing sport of lacrosse being played on the fields while the championship games in girls basketball in the CYC Archdiocesan Championships filled the gym with high hopes and cheers.
"It was just so great to see it so busy again," said Mike Kalist, who is the facility manager of the Monsignor Louis F. Meyer Youth Center at Magdalen.
"We must have hosted 15-18 basketball championships this weekend," said Kalist, a 48-year employee and former executive director of the St. Louis CYC. "We had lacrosse on Saturday and a couple of semifinal games with senior soccer.
"This is a busy place. There seems to be something going on every day of the week be it a game or a practice or something else. I think it is as busy as it ever has been," Kalist said.
DuBourg and St. Elizabeth's Academy use the fields for practices and camps. The St. Louis CYC Volleyball Club rents the gymnasium for workouts. There are trivia nights and all kinds of other social activities.
"It was great to finally host our first CYC championships this weekend," said Paul Scovill, who is the sports director of the CYC. "St. Mary Magdalen has such a history with its teen dances and sports, but it had gotten run down.
"We bought it from the parish and did a lot of refurbishing," Scovill said. "We have a new gym floor, new baskets, a new scoreboard. And it's so convenient to have our offices in the same building."
The center was named for Meyer, who was the pastor of the parish from 1965-1985 (he has been a priest for 66 years) and a long time supporter of CYC sports. Meyer, who is 90 years old, was one of the many fans in attendance for the girls championship games in mid-April.
"I call the building the Pearl of South St. Louis," said Meyer, who is a member of the St. Louis Amateur Baseball and Soccer Hall of Fames as well as the Hall of Fame at St. Louis University and the Missouri Athletic Club. "It is a magnificent sports center and it was a pleasure to see the kids from all different areas come together for the games over the weekend.
"This building is going to be great for the neighborhood. I can look out my window and see the kids with the bat on their shoulder, their glove at the end of the bat and throwing the ball up in the air like we used to do. There are a lot of formal activities there, but it is nice to see the kids play in the pick-up games as well."
