The St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote a series of four articles on the B.T. Bombers between 12/26/01 and 12/29/01. An excerpt of the initial paragraphs appears by each part below. The full text articles are available from the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Published on December 26, 2001, St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
EDITOR'S NOTEPioneer Press reporter Matt Peiken and photographer Jim Gehrz spent much of the summer and fall at B.T. Bombers boxing gym, meeting people as they train and stepping into their lives outside the gym. This is the first in a four-part series on an overlooked corner of St. Paul and the people who give it a soul.
Published on December 27, 2001, St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Editor's note: Pioneer Press reporter Matt Peiken and photographer Jim Gehrz spent much of the summer and fall at B.T. Bombers boxing gym. This is the second in a four-part series on an overlooked corner of St. Paul and the people who give it a soul.Carley Pesente keeps her wedding picture framed in glass on the ledge of her living-room window, next to a picture of her son, Derek.The marriage ended years ago and Carley barely speaks to her son, who's now 13. Carley knows....
Published on December 28, 2001, St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Cerresso Fort is sitting in his civics class at Harding High School, where the teacher has asked students to tell her the difference between a calculated risk and an unnecessary risk."A risk that's worth taking is if you go out for football. You could get hurt," the teacher says. "But what would be something you'd never do because it would be bad for you?""What about boxing?" Cerresso asks."Hmm, that's kind of a gray area,"....
Published on December 29, 2001, St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN)
Cornell Harris answers the back door of B.T. Bombers boxing gym in a T-shirt, jeans and bare feet. It's about 11 a.m., and Cornell has just risen from some blue tumbling mats laid out on the other side of the room.The gym is dark but for a television set atop a tall, metal locker and a sliver of sunlight sneaking around the edge of a towel tacked over the window in the front door. Cornell's girlfriend is lying on the mats with a blanket over her, a cigarette burning in one hand...