New $3.5 million JJK Wrestling Center damaged by truck in hit-and-run
The growing campus at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis took a dent early Monday when a truck hit the new wrestling center.
Surveillance video shows the driver of a tractor-trailer backed the truck into the JJK Wrestling Center on Lynch Avenue shortly after 4 a.m. Monday and then fled the scene, according to Kevin Green of Lansdowne Up, a sister organization of the JJK Foundation.
East St. Louis Police were called to investigate the damage to the building’s siding and fencing, Green said. There were no injuries.
Police Chief Kendall Perry could not be reached for comment.
Lecia Rives, who is the chief operating officer for the JJK Foundation, said it is too early to release an estimate of the damage caused by the truck.
“Fortunately it was at a time when no one was there, specifically no kids or anything because we really are focused on the safety and welfare of everyone that we service, particularly our young people,” Rives said.
Green said the JJK Wrestling Center opened earlier this year at 2031 Lynch Ave. as part of a $3.5 million renovation of a former pigment factory where workers made red dye.
“I’m very, very disappointed that this happened,” said Green, who is the director of administration for Lansdowne Up, which recently built a subdivision near the wrestling center. “It’s a $3.5 million facility that just opened. The kids, thank God, they can still be in there. It’s kind of at the height of the wrestling season right now.”
Along with programming for the East St. Louis High School wrestling teams and youth wrestling events, the building will be used as a farmers market.
Green said the damage was discovered shortly after the collision because the high school teams were gathering at the center to prepare for an out-of-town trip.
Joyner-Kersee, an East St. Louis native and six-time Olympic medalist, is the founder of her namesake organization. She won two gold medals in the heptathlon and one gold medal in the long jump. Sports Illustrated named her the top female athlete of the 20th century.
Along with the wrestling center, the JJK Foundation has been adding outdoor athletic fields and is developing the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition Innovation Center, which includes a recently built 11,000-square-foot greenhouse. The JJK campus has about 100 acres near 25th Street and Interstate 64.
There are “exciting things happening at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation,” Rives said. “I like to call it the Miracle on 25th Street. We want to continue the growth that we are doing and serving the community.”
