Jessica Hauser with Wayne County
Sheriff Benny Napoleon, left, who
donated $5,000 to Downtown Boxing
Gym last month, and Coach Khali
Sweeney

Dream Weaving

Jewish woman helps young Detroit boxers beat the odds.

Sharon Luckerman
Special to the Jewish News

R

ising out of a desolate field
surrounded by tall weeds and
abandoned houses on Detroit's
East Side is a squat concrete building
that's home to the Downtown Boxing Gym
Youth Program (DBG). It's hard to believe
that this is a place that trains world boxing
champions and more.
In a neighborhood that has a 37 percent
high school graduation rate, 100 percent of
DBG athletes graduate.
But four years ago, the gym, free to all
students, almost closed its doors. Coach
Khali Sweeney, 42, who founded the gym
seven years ago, ran out of money to sup-
port his dream — until Jessica Hauser, 30,
of Birmingham arrived.
"I was working out in Royal Oak with a
friend, a professional boxer who trained with
Khali," says Hauser, a former member with
her family of Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park.
When her friend moved, she checked
out Khali's gym and was hooked on help-
ing as soon as she saw the coach at work
with the young athletes. "He was giving
them life lessons while guiding them in a
demanding boxing program:' says Hauser,
a political science graduate of Oakland
University, "and I could hear how much
the kids admired him"
Since then, Jessica turned the gym into a
501(c)3 nonprofit in order to raise money
for the gym and for trips the young ath-
letes must make to participate in champi-
onship games. She also sought out in-kind
support for everything from used cars to
computers and gym equipment.

14 November 29 • 2012

National Champion Anthony Flagg

Shante Higgs

Coach Khali Sweeney trains Cortez Todd.

The DBG and its athletes prospered.
All 12 high-schoolers on the current
boxing competition team are ranked in
the top 10 in the United States. Detroit
teammates who train here include Cortez
Todd, 15, who recently won the Ringside
World Championship in his weight class.
Anthony Flagg Jr., 18, who came one point
away from qualifying for the 2012 USA
Olympic boxing team, ranks No. 2 boxing
champion in the United States in his class.
And Shante Higgs, 17, has already com-
peted with Olympic gold medal champion
Claressa Shields of Flint on the Michigan
team at the 2011 Nationals. Considered to
have a prodigious talent, Shante is featured

in the recent MTV episode True Life, I'm a
Boxer in Detroit.
Khali says he grew up in the gym's
neighborhood when it was one of the
roughest in Detroit.
"Boxing saved my life Khali says. He
credits his uncle who introduced him to
boxing after Khali was shot in gang vio-
lence.
But it's not great champions the coach
aims to create. He is most proud of his
athletes' academic achievements.
"Boxing is the hook to get kids and keep
them in our program:' says Khali, who
saved for 10 years working in construction
to open his gym. "Training them to be

successful, productive members of society
is our passion:'
All his athletes must participate in the
gym's academic mentorship program, led
by Sarah Feldman, 28, of Detroit and Lisa
Dunn, 28, of Sterling Heights, both certi-
fied teachers. The young athletes also do
community service, including helping the
gym's neighbors to clean their streets and
volunteering at Forgotten Harvest, a local
food bank.
"Downtown Boxing kids are some of the
most well-disciplined, ready-for-the world
kids I ever met:' says Ryan Rowinski of
Forgotten Harvest. "They never wavered
... and helped us launch a very successful
program"
Hauser originally planned to work with
impoverished children internationally. She
says, "I was raised to give back:'
But meeting DBG students, many living
in the projects, she realized she didn't have
to go to a Third-World country. There were
children 15 minutes from her home who
needed support. "I realized this is where I
wanted to make a difference she says.
"Jessica was instrumental in keeping the
gym alive says Khali. He, his young ath-
letes and Hauser are all amazed at the gen-
erous outpouring of support from people
around Metro Detroit. After a recent piece
on Fox News, for example, $11,000 in
donations came in to DBG, $5,000 of that
was from Wayne County Sheriff Benny
Napoleon's foundation. Avalon Bakery's
Jackie Victor contributed money for uni-
forms and equipment.
David Mancini, owner of Supino's
Pizzeria in the Eastern Market, and
Sherman Taylor of Taylor Special Services
donated cars for DBG athletes who went on
to college, all the first in their family to even
graduate high school. And now Mancini
and others are gathering chefs for a fun-
draising family-style polenta dinner for
DBG on Monday, Dec. 10, from 6:30-8:30
p.m. at the gym. Sponsors include Supino's
Pizzeria, Slow's Bar BQ, Zingerman's and
Astro Coffee. Tickets are $100.
With 64 athletes in the program and 54
more on the waiting list, Hauser and Khali
are searching for a new home for the gym.
Hauser recently contacted Eastern Market
and was shown two vacant buildings that
fit their criteria. Thrilled, Khali is already
imagining how the second floor in one
building can be used for the academic labs.
"We need to find ways to help these kids
get out of poverty:' Hauser says. "If you
can get them young and get them strong,
you'd be making a big difference in them
and in their community:'

❑

For information or tickets to the DBG dinner,

contact Hauser at (248) 933-3358 or jhauser@

downtownyouthboxing.org or visit the website

www.downtownboxing.eventbrite.com .