Luther Burden dons a Missouri hat to officially commit to the Tigers on Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS — Both Luther Burden Jr. and Gaye Union remember their son, Luther Burden III, playing around the campus of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club.

Off the corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, known for being the location of the Gateway City’s former Major League Baseball stadium, Sportsman’s Park, for several decades, Burden played pee-wee football on the grounds where Rogers Hornsby and Dizzy Dean once captivated Cardinals fans. 

There’s a plaque memorializing the history of Sportsman’s Park on the brick walls of the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club. Inside the venue’s gymnasium, the younger Burden committed to Missouri football on Tuesday evening, ending a two-month process of national speculation as to the wide receiver’s college destination. 

Burden Jr. said only the smallest of an inner circle knew of his son’s decision before the reveal at 6:20 p.m. local time. Many had predictions or indications of the East St. Louis (Illinois) star’s decision. You could count on a few fingers those affirmatively in the know.

https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/sports/college/tiger-extra/2021/10/20/luther-burden-football-parents-talk-son-growing-mizzou-player/6086755001/