Published: February 19, 1997
Section: SPORTS
Page#: 01C
Ex-gang member gets a second chance at life
By Patrick Reusse; Staff Writer   

Jay Pivec has been coaching men's basketball at Minneapolis Community College for seven seasons. For many athletes, Pivec's program offers a second chance. For others, it is a last chance.

Mike Spencer, a 6-foot-2 guard, graduated from Bloomington Jefferson in 1995. "I had said I would go to Minnesota-Morris, then the coach left and I decided not to go there," he said. "I wanted to work for awhile. I knew I could take off a year and come here and play for Coach Piv."

Spencer will spend one more season at MCC, then figures to play Division I basketball, as have eight previous Pivec players. Stories similar to Spencer's - being away from the game, surfacing at MCC, creating a basketball opportunity - have not been unusual at the gymnasium on Hennepin Av.

The same cannot be said for Joshua Bausel's tale.

Bausel's journey to Pivec's gym has been trouble-filled and agonizing, to say the least.

Bausel, 23, another 6-2 guard, was raised in the Englewood area on the South Side of Chicago. "It wasn't the projects, but it might as well have been," Bausel said. "By the time I was in the sixth grade, most of the guys I knew were in the gang. In ninth grade, I was into it."

Bausel said there was one difference between him and his compadres. "I went to school every day - first at Robeson, then over on the north side at Dunbar," Bausel said. "I liked going to school. It was the peaceful part of the day for me."

And there remains another difference: "I don't have any kids," Bausel said. "I would tell people that in Chicago, and they couldn't believe it. They all had kids. Not me. I'm not going to have kids until I can support 'em. I've seen too much."

Bausel saw most of it with his Chicago gang, a notorious outfit

that shall go nameless here. His gang monicker was "Red." Why? "The fellows thought I was a little light in the skin," Bausel said.

One night, Bausel and a friend were standing on a corner. "I don't know what his name was - to us, he was `La Tim,' " Bausel said. "We were standing there, in our territory, and a car from another gang came past and saw us. They jumped out, guns pulled, and started chasing us. La Tim went down. He died in my arms."

Bausel said he started his career in the crack cocaine industry before his senior year. "I wanted the money for a car to drive across town to Dunbar, so I got into it," he said. "The money would roll in. You think it's easy, until you do time. Then, you realize money isn't worth being in hell."

In the summer of 1991, Bausel was caught in possession of drugs three times in a period of less than a month. He got out on bond twice. On the third occasion, the judge became irritated and sent away Bausel for 2 1/2 years - the first year in the Chicago city jail, a brief stay in Joliet prison, and then the rest of the sentence at the minimum-security prison in Lincoln, Ill.

"I was 18 and the youngest guy in my cellblock in Joliet," Bausel said. "Joliet is the same as hell. Those places make you understand, `I can't come back here.' "

In 1994, Bausel was released and his family moved to Minneapolis, thinking it was a safer place - a place where Joshua and his brothers would stay out of trouble. Last summer, Bausel's 17-year-old brother, Tyre Johnson, was shot to death on the porch of the family's house on Morgan Av. N.

So much for safety and a lack of trouble in Minneapolis.

"I was stopped last summer and there was a gun in the car," Bausel said. "As a felon, I couldn't be around guns. That was hanging over me when I met Coach Piv. He talked to some people, helped me out.

"I served 35 days and got out in time to start school here last fall. I have my past. But I have some goals in my life. No matter what someone else might think, I know that's true."

Pivec was willing to give Bausel an opportunity, as long as Joshua showed a commitment to school, to the team and to avoiding trouble. Bausel was not listed on the Marauders' preseason prospectus. He is now a starter on an MCC team that is 18-2 and rated No. 8 nationally among the Division III junior colleges. Minneapolis plays host to Rochester at 7:30 tonight.

Pivec is the type of guy who wants to believe in people. He has come to believe in Bausel - so much so that he recently called Rep. Wes Skoglund at the State Legislature.

Skoglund wants the state to earmark some funds to pay for the removal of gang-symbol tattoos from ex-gang members. To get this help, the person would have to demonstrate a legitimate effort to leave that lifestyle. He also would be required to do some community service.

"Let me tell you something: I'm a Republican, Skoglund is a DFLer, but he has a great idea," Pivec said. "I talked to Josh. He has a gang symbol - a teardrop - on his face and the initials for his gang on his right hand. He is willing to testify before Skoglund's committee on what getting rid of gang tattoos could mean to people who have left that life.

"Here's a young man with a chance to be wearing a suit and working in an office some day. If he walks in for an interview, reaches out to shake a hand and the interviewer sees that symbol on his right hand, what chance is he going to have to get the job?

"This isn't about wasting the taxpayers' money. This is about rebuilding lives. That's a good thing."

Return to top
© Copyright 2002 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.