A Synopsis of More Recent Years (1986-2018)
In 1985 Mike Kalist became Director of the agency. He had participated in CYC sports as a youth back in the 1950’s, during the years that the first young adult ministry program and Catholic Committees on Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts were formed. Back in the 1950’s the youth department was called the Archdiocesan Catholic Council on Youth (ACCY.)
Mike Kalist served as director until 2005. In 2007 Msgr. John Borcic became the Executive Director of the Catholic Youth Apostolate, the umbrella agency under which existed the CYC Sports Department (under the Direction of Paul Scovill), the Office of Catholic Scouting, Youth Ministry, and the REAP Team. In that time period, the CYC Sports Department was moved to the “old” gym at St. Mary Magdalen in the city, which was renovated, brought up to code. The bowling alley in the basement had been used by youth and adults in the 1950’s through 1990’s, and the gym was used for various functions, such as dances, plays, and sporting events.
In 2011, during the directorship of Fr. Brian Fischer, the Office of Young Adult Ministry was added to the agency, and the CYC Sports Department moved back to the Cardinal Rigali Center to join the rest of the Catholic Youth Apostolate.
In August 2018, CYC Sports Director Paul Scovill retired after 34 years of dedicated service to our program. Dan Fitzgerald was appointed to replace Paul.
Demographics have changed drastically since the founding of the youth agency. Parishes have closed and merged and the population center of the St. Louis area has changed. However, CYC Sports, under the umbrella of the Catholic Youth Apostolate, still flourishes. With more than 4,500 teams and 65,000 youth and adults participating annually and over 2 million youth participating in its 77 year history, the CYC continues to keep youth in the shadow of the steeple.
