In Tom Brokaw’s book A Long Way From Home you find these two stores about his high school athletic playing days and how they have never left him.
about a mile away. I thought of Dirty Glennie and how he’d given
me that one moment of glory. I knew he had returned to the family
place after playing football at a local college. The car skidded to a
stop beside me, and sure enough, Dirty Glennie tumbled out. ‘What the
hell are you doing, running in this heat?’ He asked. I pointed to his
sizable middle and kidded him about his weight. And then we fell
into an awkward silence, separated by so many years as we were now,
and with different lives.”
“Then Dirty Glennie did something I’ll never forget. He raised his big
beefy forearm and said, “Hey, Brokes, if you ever need me, I could
still clean them out for you.” I laughed and told him I’d keep that in
mind. As I turned to continue my morning run between the fields of
corn and soybean, I was misty with the sentiments of a time gone-by.”
Brokaw was the back-up quarterback on his South Dakota high school football team. In his own words he seldom played, but one time when his team was winning by a large margin Brokaw’s coach put him in the game. Upon entering the game in the huddle Brokaw said, “Dirty, get me a hole to run through, just once I’m gonna get me a touchdown.” Dirty got him the hole, and that was what he referenced when offering his help.
There are some bonds and deeds that are done for us, some “holes” opened for us by others that even with the passing of time are never forgotten, nor should they be.
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November 6, 2014
Keep on,
Larry Adamson