Glory days.
Thirty-one years ago, those two words weren’t just a two-year-old Bruce Springsteen hit. They were the property of Red Bank High School baseball players and close friends Moe Galbraith, Rob Hensley, Bumper Reese and Scott Wicker.
But in 2017 – at least within the Signal Mountain high school baseball program that will compete for a Spring Fling berth at Sweetwater tonight at 7 – a similar collection of glory days is being authored by that Red Bank quartet’s sons, all of them seniors and all key reasons for the Eagles’ 28-9 record to date.
What’s tough to figure out is whether the end of the Signal careers of Grant Galbraith, Garrett Hensley, Briston Reese and Seth Wicker – whether those careers end tonight or at the Fling in Murfreesboro – are going to be emotionally tougher on the sons or the fathers.
“I think it will be harder on them,” said catcher Garrett Hensley, who will take his considerable talents to the University of Dayton next season. “I still hear stories about my dad and how they got robbed at McCallie in a regional final because McCallie’s field didn’t have a fence and Dad hit one into a tree in the outfield. I also never quit hearing about how he hit two bombs out in the game before that McCallie loss.”