The Time George Steinbrenner Rescued the Du Quoin Youth Club
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who died this week, will always hold a special place in the hearts and minds of those at the Du Quoin Youth Club.
Steinbrenner was an almost perennial guest of the Du Quoin State Fair and World Trotting Derby back in the late 1990s through his relationship with the Davis family at Maywood Park in Chicago.
The Maywood staff manages the racing program at the Du Quoin State Fair and for Steinbrenner the trip into Southern Illinois was a reunion of sports greats. He never stayed long, flying back to New York right after the Derby.
He always sat with or near members of the Maywood staff and with or near the governor.
The Du Quoin Youth Club was really struggling back then, operating on a hand-to-mouth basis and trying to generate income through its fledgling charity ball. This year marks the 22nd year for that charity event. Back then, it was only the seventh.
Dixie Travelstead and members of the youth club parked themselves near the front entrance to the grandstand and earned money for the club by selling harness racing programs.
Just knowing that Steinbrenner was in the "ballpark" at Du Quoin's Magic Mile on Derby Day had possibilities, but the thought of approaching Steinbrenner about somehow using the Yankee organization to promote the charity ball was, well, intimidating.
Yet, Dixie didn't relish always remembering a missed opportunity, so she climbed up into the grandstand to the Steinbrenner box.
She remembers going quickly from "Mr. Steinbrenner, you don't know who I am" to "Mr. Steinbrenner, we aren't looking for money. But, we would like your help."
She explained the work of the youth club and it got Steinbrenner's attention. "Give me your information and I'll see what we can do."
The Yankees owner was as thorough in charitable causes as he was in his ownership of this great baseball dynasty.
"Six days later we got a package that contained a baseball autographed by the entire Yankee team and there was a separate baseball autographed by Reggie Jackson," she remembers. The Jackson ball was the start of live auctions at the charity. "That same year the Yankees won the World Series," which added special value to the gifts. In subsequent years Steinbrenner extended his relationship with the Youth Club by going downstairs in the grandstand and signing autographs for youth club members and chatting with fairgoers as they came in. What a great snapshot of one of the greatest sports figures of all time.