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On the night of August 17th, 46 years ago, my friend was in the front seat of a car going really fast and it hit a tree. The impact was horrific.
The driver, a high school kid, died on the scene. My friend was desperately injured. Three high school guys flew out of the car and somehow survived.
The next morning around 10 am my friend succumbed. His life was over. He was 16.
This wasn’t just any friend. I had been his teammate on the junior varsity basketball and baseball teams months before his death. We competed against each other in practices – and in grade school would go at it.
He was a star athlete. So was I.
During those JV seasons we would ride the Metro Bus home after practices through Washington, D.C. He would be cracking jokes. Didn’t let you know often what he was really thinking. One time I asked: “No, really, what do you think?” He told me. I got him to be sincere, which I took as a moment when he started trusting me.
In JV baseball he pitched 10 games and won 10. He was gifted. Man could he hum that ball fast and he had a precocious curveball – the best I saw in four years of high school baseball.
At his funeral, I sat by myself. Not a word was spoken by anyone. Hundreds of teenage kids in shock.
My brother asked me recently when I think my emotional challenges, which I mostly overcome, began. I think it was when he died. I realized then that life could really be tragic, for real. Your friend can die.
The next day I went out for the high school football team thinking that he could not do that but I could and I wanted to do what I could to, I don’t know, honor him.
He’s been gone for so long but I remember him as he was sitting with me right now. He would be joking around. We would be talking about that year he pitched a perfect season.
Sure wish he was here. Would like to talk with him.
Miss him.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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