St. Louis, MO—Tickets are on sale for the 21st annual Budweiser Guns ‘N Hoses on Nov. 26, a Thanksgiving eve tradition where police officers and firefighters step into the boxing ring to raise money for the BackStoppers which assists families of public servants who die in the line of duty.
Championship matches begin at 7 p.m. at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The event is presented by the St. Louis Guns ‘N Hoses Boxing Association, a non-profit organization.

Budweiser “Guns ‘N Hoses” features three-round matches between teams of Missouri and Illinois police officers and firefighters. Boxers are paired by age, weight and ability. Police officers won last year bouts, 10 matches to 7, which raised more than $329,000 for the BackStoppers, bringing the total since 1987 to more than $2.3 million.

The 2,000-member BackStoppers cover St. Louis City, the Missouri counties of St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Jefferson, Franklin, St. Francois, Perry, Pike, Ste. Genevieve, Warren and Washington. The group also covers the Illinois counties of Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair. In addition, Backstoppers cover members of Troop C of the Missouri Highway Patrol and District 11 of the Illinois State Police.

After a loss of life, the BackStoppers give the family money for emergency expenses and later arrange to pay family bills, mortgages, debts, college costs and other expenses. The BackStoppers will celebrate its 50th anniversary during 2009.

Budweiser Guns ‘N Hoses is sponsored by Grey Eagle Distributors, the St. Louis County wholesaler of Anheuser-Busch products.

Tickets are $30, $25 and $20 and are available by calling (314) 444-5832 in St. Louis City, (314) 713-6031 in St. Louis County or (618) 622-1507 in Illinois. Tickets are also available at the Scottrade Center Box Office and on-line at ticketmaster.com.