Gateway Speedskating has a long and storied history. We have been in continuous operation for 59 years, and we have sent our skaters to the highest levels of the sport, including the Olympics. This is the prologue from the Gateway Scrapbook in 1963:
THIS WAS THE BEGINNING
The Gateway Speedskating Club of St. Louis was fostered in the fall of 1962. Near the end of the skating season, skaters Jim Chapin and Jim Moore approached several parents of skaters with the Missouri Skating Association who were not committed to any other skating club, for the purpose of forming a new speedskating club in St. Louis.
The reactions towards such a possibility of forming a new skating club were positive, if not enthusiastic. Towards that end, a post-season dinner was planned and held on April 2, 1963 at Pietro’s Restaurant, 3810 Watson Road. There were thirty-four persons present and at this dinner meeting the club was formed.
The basic idea of the club nucleus was to be as a family unit, regardless of the basic ability of the individuals within the family. All children of club members would be an individual and real part of the club. It was felt that a club built on a family basis could progress better and advance faster than a piece-meal selection of only a few good skaters.
At a meeting held at the Forest Park Field House on April 16, 1963, Merrill [Budd] Doyle was elected President.
After several different suggestions, the name of Gateway Speedskating Club was approved at this meeting.
Our wishes to become recognized as a skating club had been presented to the Missouri Skating Association, and on July 29, 1963, the Board of Directors of the Missouri Skating Association met and voted to approve the organization of the Gateway Speedskating Club.
OUR GOLDEN WISH
May our successes increase and our development of skaters reach such a proportion that we are recognized nationally as the most outstanding speedskating club in the country, all because a group of families wanted to do something together for their skating kids.