ST. LOUIS (KPLR) - First responders were in the ring, Wednesday, fighting it out for spots in next week’s event at the Scottrade Center.  The annual night of boxing featuring police, firefighters, and paramedics was postponed from its traditional Thanksgiving Eve slot last year due to unrest in Ferguson.  Now, they’re back.

“This is more than an event,” St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said ringside Wednesday night.  “This is a tradition and the tradition is the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  And we’re back on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving so bring the tradition on!”

That tradition involves people like St. Louis County Police narcotics detective Casey Lambert.  She’s never been in a boxing match in her life until this night.  Did she ever see herself as a boxer?

“No. I think it’s crazy,” she said with a laugh.

But it’s also all about the people around her.  The fight night has raised in the neighborhood of $5 million over the last twenty nine years, all to benefit .  The organization covers costs for families of fallen first responders.

“It’s for a good cause,” Lambert said.  “A lot of times there are all sorts of people who go out there and put their lives on the lines every day.”

Matches involving women are a relatively new phenomenon to the tradition, along with mixed martial arts bouts.  But Chief Jenkerson says there have been much bigger changes over the decades.

“When we first started this, we kind of had firemen (over here)….policemen (over there).  You can’t tell now….this is just a big group of people together trying to raise money for fallen buddies.  Fallen heroes.  It’s become more of a comradery, more of a brotherhood now between police and fire and EMS.”

It’s a sort of group therapy for those here.  Every one of them knows that if things fall the wrong way, one night their family could be the one suddenly with a loss, and in need of help.

“Everything is covered,” Jenkerson said of what BackStoppers does.  “Mortgage is paid. Insurance is paid. All tuition and educational expenses for the children.  They just step in and it’s handled.”

Lambert felt a need to be a part of it.

“This supports people who unfortunately get hurt or even killed in the line of duty, so anything I can do I’m willing to.”