Once a Brave, always a Brave

Writing is a funny thing. One can never be certain what will resonate with folks.

            In some ways, it’s akin to coming across a rain-filled ditch. You may have a good idea of what awaits, but you never really know if that first step is going to be free and easy to the other side or leave you underwater, gasping and spitting as you try to climb to the surface. 

            When I first started to put down the words Friday morning to the “Ghosts of Baker Field,” the work was fed by the very stark realization that it’s now 40 years since I played my final game of football. And as I’ve gotten older, the memories are more and more persistent, often tapping on my brain in the early hours just before dawn.

            I was quite surprised with the response. More than 1,200 visitors read the story and hundreds more liked and shared the article via Facebook with many offering kind comments that were most appreciated.

Former players from far and near, old and young, shared their memories of their final games and their lifelong bonds with their teammates. Family members told of how they were unsure of what to answer when their son, defeated and dejected after a season-ending loss, sprawled out on a patch of torn turf in some faraway town, looked up at them and asked, “What am I supposed to do now, Momma?”

            But the highest praise came from Union County head football coach Derek Johns who said he read the column right before the team took the “Brave Walk” down the hill at Baker Field Friday night, where later they would celebrate a dominant, mistake-free 43-21 win over Belfry that sends them on to the state championship game.

That comment really hit home.

            In a way, Johns allowed the ghosts of Baker Field into that locker room one more time when he shared those words. The Thin Twenty from 1972. The 1976 and 2008 teams that had stood exactly where they were only to come up just short. And the 5-6 team from 1984 of which I was a part of.

            “Once a Brave, always a Brave.” I heard that from so many.

            These 2024 Braves are a special bunch who are carrying the hopes of a school, an entire county and all those who have gone before them. They’re now 12-2 and will play for the Class 3A state title when they take on Christian Academy of Louisville next Saturday at the University of Kentucky’s Kroeger Field. 

This band of Braves has gone where no other Union County football team has ever gone before. They’ve already established their place in local lore. What awaits is a place in the state record books.

            But, perhaps most prominent in their minds, is the guarantee that they get the chance to lace up the cleats and put on the pads. They’ll pound their fists upon their teammate’s shoulder as they huddle at midfield, eyes locked, breath heavy. And, at the end, when the final horn has sounded, they’ll form a circle, take a knee and come together as a brotherhood one more time.

            You see: It’s just one more game.

            One more game.

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Editor’s Note: Michael Banks was a member of the 1982, 1983 and 1984 varsity football teams at Union County High School. He is once a Brave, always a Brave.