CHS football 1st and Ten Club promotion celebrates 21st year
<span>The Chester High School 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Club promotion was back at home football games again for the 2015 season.</span>
<span>For the past 21 years, local sponsors have made sure that each time the Yellow Jackets get a first-and-10, a 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten T-shirt is thrown into the crowd.</span>
<span>Loyal sponsors have maintained the promotion throughout its history and it is coordinated by Dr. Jim Beers, who brought the promotion to CHS from SIU - where the Salukis have had a similar promotion for almost 30 years.</span>
<span>"The Saluki games were so much more exciting once the SIU Sports Marketing Department started their 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten program," Beers said. "I asked permission to bring the promotion to Chester and Bruce McCutcheon, who was the marketing director at the time, was quite flattered to let me borrow the idea."</span>
<span>Brian "Gritty" Snider of KSGM 980 AM Radio assisted Beers with the organization and initiation of the program.</span>
<span>During the first year of the effort, Bob Chambers of Silkworm, Inc. and KSGM Radio 980 AM were the sole sponsors of the promotion.</span>
<span>It wasn't long, however, before fellow Chester merchants and businesses climbed aboard and got involved in sponsorship of the promotion.</span>
<span>"We have never had to seek sponsors for the 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Club Promotion," Beers said. "Sponsors have actually asked us to get involved.</span>
<span>"Football has been so popular here in Chester that our promotion sells itself."</span>
<span>The 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Club promotion seemed to come along at just the right time. Yellow Jacket football came into prominence at about the same time as the promotion and both fed into each other. </span>
<span>Former coach Dennis Roth welcomed both the 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Promotion and the "Sea of Orange" promotion, which began almost simultaneously. </span>
<span>Over the years, the 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Club promotion has thrown approximately 350 T-shirts into the crowd per year.</span>
<span>Since the onset of the program, nearly 7,350 shirts have been thrown into the crowd at CHS games to help support Chester football. </span>
<span>Snider noted that he sees kids still wearing some the original 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten shirts that were thrown that first year.</span>
<span>"The promotion has been very popular and most successful over the years and Yellow Jacket fans look forward to becoming a member of the 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten Club," he said.</span>
<span>The 2015 edition of the promotion had 14 sponsors including Silkworm, Inc., Andy's Auto Body, State Farm Insurance Agency/Paul Gentry, Victor Drugs Health Mart Pharmacy, Rozier's Country Market, Chester Insurance Agency, SWIBCO/Southwestern Illinois Bus Company, Buena Vista Bank, KSGM Radio 980 AM, the Randolph County Herald Tribune, Jim Dunning and Reiss Ford of Marissa, Tom Page and the City of Chester, Scott Reeves of Ellis Grove (otherwise known as "Scott the Painter") and the newest member of the sponsorship family - Dan Colvis of Colvis Investments. </span>
<span>Most sponsors have been faithful to the program for more than a decade while Silkworm, Inc. and KSGM have been there for the entire 21-year period.</span>
<span>"With continued help from our loyal sponsors, the 1</span><span>st</span><span> and Ten promotion will be around for many more years," Beers said. "Keep your eyes to the skies at Yellow Jacket football games and you just might be the newest member of the Yellow Jacket 1st and Ten Club!" </span>
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