In November 1964, Frances Newbern Bailey called twenty-five Tennessee State University Alumni together to plan post game activities for the first Gateway Classic Football game. The game was between Tennessee State University and Lincoln University.

The meeting was held at the Royal Vagabonds Club House on West Minister Place. Frances presided over the meeting. It was at this meeting that the need to organize an alumni chapter was determined. There were many alumni in the St. Louis area but no alumni chapter.

An election was held and Mr. Herschel Deberry was elected president. Charter members include: Francis Newbern Wright Bailey, Mattie Bond, Walker Bond, Frederic Boyd, Clarence Bush, John Calvin, Georgia Rhodes Chambers, Herschel Deberry, Doris Deberry Eldridge, Glasco Franklin, George Holiday, Jackie Smith Jackson, Paul I. Jones, Fayetta Jean King, Ernest Mabins, Emmett McWoods, Mary McWoods, Martha Love Miller, C.R. Sleigh, Willie Smith, Argie Thomas, Mattie White, and Lucy Deberry Wynn.

The purpose of the chapter at the time of its inception was to continue to plan activities for the Gateway Classic, which had become an annual event. The chapter would work cooperatively with the Lincoln University Alumni Chapter.

Meetings were held on the second Sunday of each month at 4:30pm. In the beginning meetings were held at the Kappa House and later moved to H.E.L.P. Inc. where alumnus Ernest Mabins was the president.

The alumni association continued to flourish with membership reaching over seventy-five. The chapter’s primary fund raiser was an annual dance. The first dance was held at the Bel Aire Hotel on fourth and Washington. The TSU Alumni Association became a recognizable figure in the St. Louis Community.

It was under the leadership of Juanita Gill Brown, chapter president, that the name was changed to The Greater St. Louis Chapter, Tennessee State University Alumni Association. The rationale was to include our East St. Louis alumni, of whom many were already active with the organization.

The alumni association focused more on student recruitment, and providing scholarships for area students to attend Tennessee State. The first scholarship fund was developed in 1976. In March of 1981, the chapter established the Ernest Mabins – Jennette Jones Scholarship Fund. The amount set for each recipient would be $500. The chapter sponsored various fund raising activities to generate funds for scholarship purposes with the primary fundraiser being an annual scholarship dance.

Under the leadership of dynamic presidents which includes: Herschel Deberry, Clarence Bush, Juanita Brown, Charles Pulium, Norman Adkins, Paul I. Jones, Martha Love Miller, Walter Wrenn, Walter Gillespie, Florence Gillespie, Dorothy Payne, Carletta J. Harlan, and current president, Jeff T. Etter, the Greater St. Louis Chapter is recognized as one of the most viable components of the National Alumni Association. Our school motto, Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve, became the impetus for the organization. Community service projects, cultural events, scholarship fundraiser, and promoting membership in the national and local chapter have remained the driving force of the organization.

Currently there are over one hundred financial members of the Greater St. Louis Chapter. Together we have made a difference.