On Monday, he hoped his presence to celebrate the grand opening would help make it again. If Kronk and Steward made Hearns, then he certainly helped make the gym, too. "Tons of memories," he told the jam-packed crowd as he sat on a dais set up on the ring. Hearns, of course, is the most well-known face of that history, and he returned to a place that houses his spiritual self. Once a multi-purpose cafeteria, no doubt home to Bible study sessions and Christmas dinners, the re-imagined room houses a boxing ring, a small locker area, a few pieces of training equipment, and posters and photos that document the gym's sterling history. The gym's entrance is off to the side, where a small sign reads simply: "Kronk." Inside, the famous red and gold colors cover nearly every surface, giving the subterranean space a striking burst of color. For the last couple of months, a handful of hopefuls have taken to the spruced up cinder-block space underneath the Body of Christ International on Chicago Street just east of the Southfield freeway. Without fanfare, Steward-Williams put together a staff and brought back a former Kronk boxer, Milton McCrory, among others, to train a new generation of boxers. Until this past January, when Steward's family, led by his daughter, Sylvia Steward-Williams, found a new home for the iconic institution. When Steward died of colon cancer three years ago, the boxing gym he made famous went with him. There, in the basement of a remade church on the west side of the city, several of Steward's former pupils - including Thomas (Hitman) Hearns - took a seat in the ring to help usher in the latest incarnation of the legendary gym. The hardest-hitting boxer Emanuel Steward ever trained arrived to celebrate the Kronk Gym legacy Monday afternoon in Detroit.
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