Loyal sponsors made more than 300 shirts fly into the sky at home football games this year
CHESTER – The Chester High School 1st and Ten promotion was back at CHS home football games again for the 2025 football season. For 30 years local sponsors have made sure that each time the Yellow Jackets get a first-and-ten at CHS home games, a 1st and Ten T-shirt is thrown into the crowd.
Any Jacket fan that is lucky enough to catch a 1st and Ten T-shirt automatically becomes the newest member of the Yellow Jacket 1st and Ten Club. That’s exactly what W.O. Smith Football Field Stadium announcer, Luke Lochhead, says at Chester home football games at CHS.
Loyal sponsors have promoted the 1st and Ten Promotion for the entire 30-year period. “Keep your eyes to the skies and you just might be the newest member of the Yellow Jacket 1st and Ten Club.”
The 1st and Ten promotion is coordinated by Dr. Jim Beers who brought the promotion to CHS from SIU-Carbondale where the Salukis have had a similar promotion for almost four decades.
“The Saluki games were so much more exciting once the SIU Sports Marketing Department started its 1st and Ten program. I asked their 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,” said Beers. The 1st and Ten Club has been a staple at CHS games every since.
Brian “Gritty” Snider of KSGM 980 AM Radio assisted Beers with organization and initiation of the initial Chester Yellow Jacket 1st and Ten Promotion. During the first year of the effort, Bob Chambers of Silkworm, Inc. and Brian “Gritty” Snider of Donze Communications and KSGM, were the sole sponsors of the promotion. It wasn’t long, however, before fellow Chester merchants and businesses climbed aboard and got involved in sponsorship of the promotion.
“We have never had to seek sponsors for the 1st and Ten Club Promotion,” states Beers. “Sponsors have actually asked us to get involved. Football has been so popular here in Chester that our promotion sells itself. Everyone wants to be a 1st and Ten supporter. ALL of the sponsorship dollars are spent purchasing the shirts to be thrown into YellowJacket grandstands at home games!”
The 1st 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 1st and Ten Promotion and both fed into each other. Both have been extremely successful since then.
“Coach Dennis Roth, who was CHS Head Coach at the time, welcomed the “1st and Ten Promotion. The free shirts created excitement and support for CHS Football. I am not sure if those promotions had any real effect on the success of CHS Football during that time period, but I like to think so,” noted Beers.
Since that time other CHS Football coaches have also accepted and welcomed the promotion including Bryan Lee, Mike Coffey, Jeremy Blechle and Chester’s newest leader, Coach Billy Belton.
Over the past 30 years, the 1st and Ten Promotion has enabled approximately 350 Yellow Jacket Football 1st and Ten T-shirts to be thrown into the crowd per year. Since the onset of the program, nearly 10,500 shirts have been donated to help support Chester Football.
In recent years, the Chester High School Dance Team and CHS Cheer Squad have assisted in throwing the shirts into the crowd at home football games. Adrianne Kern, Dance Team Head Coach, and Paige Gendron, Head Cheer Coach, have been instrumental in coordinating the throwing activities during games.
2025 sponsors include the following 23 loyal contributors: (Sponsors are listed in order of longevity as sponsors of the program):
Bob Chambers and Silkworm, Inc.
Donze Communications including Suntimes News.com, KSGM 980 AM Classic Country, and KBDZ 93.1 FM Classic Rock
Victor Drugs Medicenter Pharmacy
Tony Geisen & Andy’s Auto Body (In memory of Dan Geisen, original participant)
Rozier’s Country Market
Paul Gentry & State Farm Insurance
Robinson Transportation/SWIBCO (They Carry the Jackets)
Matt McCoy and Country Financial
Chester Insurance Agency
Tequila Mexican Restaurant
First Baptist Church of Chester
Memorial Hospital of Chester
Ervin Asbury and River City Auto
Scott Rust and Chester Dairy Queen
Vasquez Fitness Center
Tim Hall & Hall Construction
Tom Welge & Gilster Mary-Lee Corporation
Mayor Joe Eggemeyer and the City of Chester
Cole Schroeder & Schroeder Custom Carpentry
Dieterich Bank of Chester
Mike & Pam Fogerson of “Mom and Pops Pizza” (NEW SPONSOR)
Zach Murdach, owner of “Z & M European Mounts” proudly displays one of the 2025 CHS Football 1st and TEN shirts that he helped to sponsor this season. Murdach asked if he could help be a part of the 23-sponsors to provide the shirts for the 2025 CHS Football season. He is excited about both the team’s success and the success of the 30th Annual 1st and TEN Promotion. He also plans to be a part of the upcoming 2025-2026 CHS Basketball 3-Point Shot Club Promotion. Murdach is one of the three new sponsors this year for the 1st and TEN Promotion. The other two new sponsors include Pam and Mike Fogerson and “Mom & Pops Pizza” and Chris Wingerter and Eric Armstrong of “Blue Dubs Barbecue”. Jim Beers Photo
Zach Murdach and “Z & M European Mounts” (NEW SPONSOR)
Chris Wingerter & Eric Armstrong of “Blue Dubs Barbecue” (NEW SPONSOR)
Most sponsors have been faithful to the program for more than two decades while Silkworm, Inc. and KSGM have been there for the entire 30-year period. “The program began as an effort to bring an element of excitement to Yellow Jacket Football games, and has supported Jacket Football for 30 years”, said Beers.
“With continued help from our loyal sponsors the 1st and Ten Promotion will be around for many more years to come. So, Keep your eyes to the skies at YellowJacket Football games and you just might be the newest member of the Yellow Jacket 1st and Ten Club!”
“Go Jackets!”