Feathered Quill Book Reviews

 #Bookreview of Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball, and Hometown Spirit

By: Thomas L. Pelissero

Publisher: Sellar Street Boys Publishing

Publication Date: November 1, 2025

ISBN: 979-8-218-64202-0

Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford

Review Date: October 23, 2025

Thomas L. Pelissero delivers a bittersweet memoir of his small-town dreams from Bessemer, home of the Speedboys basketball team on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball and Hometown Spirit.

Helge Pukema was a first-year head coach for the Bessemer Speedboys, and this is where the story begins in 1947. Pukema had a thick Finnish accent and when he spoke (barked, actually), the team listened. He was proud to tell his boys they were the first basketball championship for Bessemer High School, delivering them the notoriety and title of the Upper Peninsula Class B High School Basketball Champions. Pukema was no stranger to winning. He was a star athlete at Duluth Central High School where he excelled in both football and track and field. He went on to be a force at the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 1940s, playing alongside Heisman Trophy winner Bruce Smith. Football was Pukema's sweet spot, but his mission was to deliver an equally noted rivalry on the basketball courts.

Mr. Pelissero lays the groundwork for his experience beyond the forward where his story begins with the First Quarter of the 1963-1964 season. There is a nostalgic quality that carries the reader from the onset of this memoir in that one finds him/herself relating to the moments of victory as much as the agony of defeat. There is melancholy toward a time from yesteryear when American had a wholesome quality. This is a story rife with tender and endearing salve that is the medicine at the heart of many American small towns. There is a determination that tugs at reader’s souls to remember how it was.

This is Mr. Pelissero’s debut body of work. I applaud him for his connection with his writing and more importantly, knowing the audience he set out to engage in the telling of his story. There are moments that will make one laugh aloud and in the next, shed a tear. Mr. Pelissero captures the agony of what it means to lose a basketball game that the team fought so hard to win. The sense that resonates throughout, however, is the desire to feel what people you have never met felt. We all have stories from our younger days, but not everyone can place the words across page upon page in a way to maintain their audience from cover to cover. Indeed, Mr. Pelissero’s voice is resounding from beginning to end. I say bravo and certainly look forward to his next book.

Quill says: Bring One Home is a must read for anyone who knows what it is like to be on the winning side as much as the losing end and understand the lessons learned with both experiences.

For more information about Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball and Hometown Spirit, please visit the author's website at: thomaslpelissero.com