Bring One Home

In the 1960s, the biggest dream for many young boys across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was to play for their high school basketball team. In the small town of Bessemer, this meant one thing: wearing the blue and gold of the Speedboys. The two obstacles standing in a Bessemer boy’s way: bitter winters of endless snow and a padlock on the doors of the only good gym in town.  

One day, when a young, inexperienced coach is hired to lead the team, the Speedboys’ usual aspirations of winning championships suddenly become far humbler: they merely want to win a single game. Mired in an epic losing streak, the team’s declining fortunes come to mirror those of the town itself. Mines are shuttered. Jobs are lost. What transpires is nothing less than a test of the town’s soul and the character of its people.

Bring One Home is an irresistible trip back to the days when boys played basketball on snow-covered driveways, drank chocolate malts in the Tip Top Café, and got their news in the local barbershop. Told from the viewpoint of a young, anxious boy striving to fulfill the expectations set forth by the adults in his life, this underdog story is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. Filled with historical insights and laugh-out-loud moments, Bring One Home is a tribute to the author’s beloved hometown and their undeniable determination to win.