If you ever played football for Washington High School — or ever will — then you are a part of it.
I am, of course, referring to the Long Blue Line. Pam Pack football.
And while I mention Pam Pack, please let me make clear that the “Pam” is just short for the Pamlico. Some seem to want to make its origin something other than a reference to our river by that name. It’s just that simple. It’s derived from our river’s name.
This Long Blue Line extends now well past the century mark. In fact, 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of WHS football.
All the young boys-to-men who wore the navy and white can take justifiable pride in being a part of such a special tradition.
Those of us who are still living have lingering memories — sweet ones — from our days as a part of WHS football.
My senior year was the 50th anniversary of Pam Pack football. I don’t recall any mention of such a milestone at the time.
For those of us up to the early ’80s, Kugler Field was truly our “field of dreams.”
Sometime I allow myself to wander a bit through the mists of my memory. The sweet days of my youth come back to me, if only in my reveries.
Even now, I believe that on a cool autumn night — a Friday, of course — one could stand alone on a darkened Kugler Field, and sense, feel, almost see, the ghosts of players and years past. They are there. You are there.
And even, at the very least, there would be the palpable presence of absence.
As I’ve mentioned before, the past is never past.
The Long Blue Line endures.
APROPOS — “Bliss in possession will not last; Remembered joys are never past.”
— James Montgomery