by Bruce Mulkey, originally published on his blog, brucemulkey.com It was a warm June evening in 1961, the night of my graduation from Tullahoma High School. I’d just returned to Tennessee from playing in a high school all-American football game in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was feeling cocky and impatient, eager to get the post-graduation celebration underway. As we sang the final notes of our alma mater, however, I was seized with a profound sense of sorrow. This is the last time I’ll be singing this song with all my long-time friends, I thought. Head bowed as tears streamed down my face, I fled...