Montgomery's Jesse Torres Honored as Hometown Hero

Jesse “The Law” Torres has seen a lot of interesting things in his life. He’s been an Aurora police officer for more than 20 years, but before that, he was a professional boxer, traveling the country.

He fought Hector “Macho” Camacho in Madison Square Garden in 1979. He met Mike Tyson in Las Vegas in the ‘90s. Safe to say he’s seen wonders.

But on Friday afternoon, Torres was knocked out by OnStar’s live directions service. Sitting in his Montgomery driveway, behind the wheel of a brand-new GMC Acadia, Torres was delighted to find out that a live customer service representative would be just a push of a button away.

“That’s first class,” he said, beaming.

Chances are, that smile will stay on his face for the next week, as he gets to drive that car everywhere he goes. The loan is his prize for winning October’s round of the Our Town, Our Heroes contest, sponsored by General Motors. Torres was nominated by fellow Aurora police officer Wilson Roman, and pulled in 845 of the total 1,922 votes cast.

“I was very surprised,” Torres said. “I didn’t expect to win, but I got enough support, people saying, ‘Vote for Torres!’”

That he is deserving is not in dispute. In addition to his work as a police officer, Torres operates his own boxing club on Union Street in Aurora, where kids can come in free of charge and train with a pro. It’s a joint venture with the Fox Valley Park District—they own the building the boxing club sits in.

Torres said that when he started his club in 1988, Aurora’s crime rate was much higher, and attendance at his gym much lower—“10 or 15 kids,” he said. Now, he sees as many as 75 or 80 a day, which is more impressive when you realize he’s only open from 5-8 p.m.

“Before, parents were scared to let their kids go to that location,” Torres said. “Now the parents come in and work out too."

The Jesse “The Law” Torres Boxing Club is stocked with professional equipment, from weights to punching bags. And thanks to the General Motors contest, it just got better—Torres’ prize includes some new boxing gear for the club, including a new top-notch punching bag.

Torres’ prize was delivered by Senior Vice President Joan Cetera and Assistant Account Executive Ryan Gartman, both of MSL Chicago, the public relations firm working with GM on the contest.

Cetera said the Our Town, Our Heroes contest has honored 20 winners in Chicagoland this year, out of 95 total nominations. The most recent round ended this week, and saw Ashley Coleman, an Illinois Army National Guard volunteer from East St. Louis, in an extremely close contest.

Gartman said the team plans to honor 12 heroes next year, one per month, but improve the prize package for each one.

The news that the contest would continue brought another smile to Torres’ face. As the sun went down Friday afternoon, he took one more look at the car he’d get to drive for the next seven days.

“That’s awesome,” he said. “I’m very happy."