“Bring One Home” tells a story of community resilience. Tom Pelissero did not expect his book “Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball, and Hometown Spirit” would connect with so many people.
“I’ve had many people who didn’t grow up in Bessemer, but grew up in Negaunee or Ishpeming or somewhere else, Hancock,” Pelissero said. “They said, it reminds me of my time. I thought these are Bessemer stories, but in reality, they’re small town stories.”
His first event in Bessemer drew more than 200 people who helped him donate $5,000 to the local library. At the senior center, where seniors pay $5 for meals Monday through Thursday, all 20 books sold quickly. After the books sold, proceeds helped support 200 meals for the meal site.
“He said, ‘Tom, what do we do with the money?’ I said, ‘Well, how about if we buy the meals for the folks?’” Pelissero said.
Pelissero soon received texts from friends thanking him for the meal, realizing he and his classmates from the losing streak era are now the seniors attending meal sites.
“Bring One Home” tells the story of a 0-42 high school basketball team and discovers factors that led to the historic losing streak.
“When they lost 42 games in a row, I didn’t think too much of it as a kid other than how excited we were when they broke the streak,” Pelissero said. “But when I retired and moved back to the U.P., I came across a scrapbook with a clipping of the Speed Boys cutting down the net. It was the first time I thought I should really find out what was the root cause.”
Pelissero found former players, coaches, students and residents to tell how the Peterson Mine closure affected the town left behind. More than 170 miners were laid off, close to 10% of the community’s population in 1966.
“There was always this movement,” Pelissero said, describing families affected by layoffs and strikes. “It was very unsettling for my friends, and whether their dad was working and they could participate in certain things. You felt that. And then you have your basketball team and these guys are the big kids and you look up to them and you can see they’re down, they’re not winning and they just can’t seem to find the answers.”
School board members faced tough decisions as funding diminished. The janitor could use a light to clean one room but kept all other lights off, glass block windows were installed for better insulation, and several programs were eliminated. During the losing streak, coaches revived the elementary basketball program.
The memoir has earned several honors, including a recent Independent Author Award for non-fiction. All profits go to literacy, school programs, or senior citizen programs. By next month, Pelissero will have donated $10,000 to various libraries and school programs.
“Bring One Home” is available at Copper World in Calumet, North Wind Books in Hancock, and Chickadee’s in Houghton.
“Bessemer people are no different than any small town in the Keweenaw Peninsula. We all have our reasons we gather and support each other. There’s always a story of resilience,” Pelissero said. “Especially when it comes to the mining, how we were built. And then how we survived after those days left us.”
