15. Bubba and the Friday Night Lights

Today is 25 days from the first anniversary of Dad’s passing. I’ve committed to writing 40 stories about him as that day approaches. Forty Steady Stories.

I had two legit “hero catches” (see yesterday’s story) in organized sports as a kid, and my dad was there for both. The first was in machine pitch baseball at Carmel Junior High School. Playing centerfield, we were leading 13-12 in the top of the ninth inning. Their clean-up batter was up, and the bases were loaded. He was a big kid who’d already knocked a home run or two in the game. He connected again in the ninth inning with a long fly ball to centerfield. I started running toward Scotty (playing right field) and made a diving catch and the ball stayed in my glove! The crowd went crazy, and I sure felt like a hero — even though I had a cap and not a cape.

The second hero catch I made was in high school. It was the first game of my senior season with the guys pictured above (Class of ’84 seniors). Can you find me? We were playing South Iredell and we were ready. Dad was so excited because he’d bought a state-of-the-art thing called a video camera that was portable! Amazing. Of course, he had to carry a 25-pound shoulder bag contraption with a shoulder strap. It held the video cassette tape and had a big wire running to the camera — which was about the size of an iPhone 13 Pro… if you put about 57 of them together in a pile.

Dad talked his way onto the raised platform where one of our coaches shot the game film. The thing is… Dad’s camera was incredible compared to the 8mm camera the school had, but nobody really knew what the thing was on his shoulder.

I don’t remember exactly what point in the game this happened, but I remember the play. I ran a “quickie route” which is basically three steps forward and then a quick cut across the field. Rich (#17) threw me the ball right in step with my top speed of 5 mph, but it sailed high. Way high.

But I was used to those kinds of throws during all my training with Dad. I jumped up and got my hands on the ball. While in mid-air, two defenders hit me simultaneously — one in the back of my legs and the other in my chest. Players that didn’t have hero catches in practice growing up probably would have gone down immediately. But I had two things going for me: first, my dad trained me for moments like this, and second, I have legs the size of 20-year-old oak trees.

Somehow, I landed on my feet and pushed off the ground with all my might, and I started moving forward. Eventually at least five guys from the other team were on top of me but I kept moving for about 10 yards.

I felt like the Incredible Hulk for about 15 seconds.

I couldn’t wait to see if Dad caught it on video. After the game, I went home, and Dad hooked up his contraption to our TV. I fast-forwarded to the play and watched it. It was awesome to see it, but that wasn’t the coolest part about the video recording.

The coolest part was when I heard Dad scream out as I was carrying all those guys on my back.

I can’t spell it out for you, phonetically or otherwise, and I can’t tell you exactly what he said. I even tried to repeat it from memory for Siri, but she don’t speak the Excited Bristolian Videographer language.

Dad screamed out a cussword-free string of excited utterances, and the only thing you can understand is at the end when he says, “Bubba!!!” He never called me that, but he did that night.

He was so pumped and just couldn’t get the words out while the tape was rolling. And honestly, it’s one of my favorite things I ever heard my dad say. It the culmination of all the hero catches in the backyard and all the moments we had together.

Dad was delighted to watch me feel like a hero that night — even for just 15 seconds. He had trained me for it. He also taught me how to be a dad with moments like that, and I sure am glad I heard him say what he said over and over again every time I watched Bubba on the video.

I still don’t understand the words, but I absolutely understand what he meant.

IN THE PHOTO: CCDS ’84 Seniors (L to R) top: Scotty, Bubba, Hunt, Steven, middle: Todd, Bo, Rich, Jim, bottom: Chuck, Henry, John