Justin Tolliver, former graphic design student, credits Meramec portfolio class for his career
BY: Jake Balmer
Staff Writer
There are few recent graduates of Meramec who exemplify the value of a degree from STLCC better than Justin Tolliver. Tolliver, a 2014 graduate of Meramec’s graphic design program, directed the documentary, “The St. Louis 
Browns: The Team That Baseball Forgot”, which aired on KETC (Channel 9) in March and will air again in July.
St. Louis has happily supported the Cardinals for decades, but from 1901 to 1953, the city also played host to the Browns, known primarily for their heavy losses and subsequent promotional antics, which included trotting out players like 3-foot-7-inch Eddie Gaedel and one-armed Pete Gray to bat. Despite, or, in some cases, because of these kinds of hardships, the Browns still had a moderate amount of fans that endure even today, as evidenced by the St. Louis Browns Historical Society.
Tolliver works at St. Louis design agency HLK. In 2014, they began working with the Historical Society to improve their website. That’s where the idea to make the
documentary began.
“I’m not really a huge sports fan, but I do appreciate the drama,” Tolliver said. “To me [the Browns] are almost more of a human interest story, in how they really weren’t very good, but there are fans who stuck with them when they were here and even sixty years after they left. If they were still around, I think I would probably root for them.”
STLCC was the springboard Tolliver used to a career at HLK. He enrolled after completing a Bachelor’s Degree in film production at Webster University. While at STLCC, Tolliver also took classes on the Forest Park Campus and wrote for its newspaper, The Scene. Tolliver credits the portfolio design class he took at Meramec, taught by Michael Swoboda, as a key part in developing his career. Swoboda could tell early on what Tolliver could accomplish.
“What Justin was good at was iteration. Coming up with a strong concept and making version after version as he builds towards an appropriate or dynamic solution,” Swoboda said. “He wasn’t afraid to experiment, to work hard, to collaborate with others, which are exactly the kinds of things professional designers do.”
There were some challenges in making the documentary, centering largely around getting in contact with enough interviewees, many of them of advanced age, including Chuck Stevens, the oldest living former pro baseball player, born in 1918. Tolliver also took Don Larsen, predominantly of New York Yankee fame but who pitched his first pro season as a Brown, to the former site of Sportsman’s Park in North St. Louis, though footage of that meeting did not make it into the film. To Tolliver, these were minor hurdles and he said the reception to the movie has
been great.
“I love hearing people say that this movie meant something to them,” Tolliver said. “St. Louis has so much interesting history and the Browns and the people involved with them will always be a part of it.”
“The St. Louis Browns: The Team That Baseball Forgot” is available to watch online through the Nine Network at ninenet.org.
