As I watched the NASA astronauts splash down off-the-coast of Tallahassee, Florida I wondered if Captain Barry “Butch” Wilmore ever played high school football? The answer is, he did.
Wilmore played football at Mt. Juliet High School in Tennessee, graduating in 1981. Wilmore was a two-way player, starting on the offensive line and at linebacker. He also played baseball and wrestled at the school located east of Nashville.
How good was he on the gridiron? As a senior he was second team all-league offensive lineman.
He went on to play collegiately at Tennessee Tech. He was a TT team captain and was inducted into the university’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He currently holds the number two spot in Tech’s record books for most tackles in a game, and number three on tackles per season.
In December 2009, he was honored during a ceremony at the school. During that assembly he showed his No. 54 jersey which he took with him to space a month earlier when he piloted the space shuttle Atlantis. At the time he was just the 508th person to travel in space. he told those in attendance that he “traveled 17,500 miles per hour, which is faster than a speeding bullet.”
The school has retired Wilmore’s number.
On his recent trip, he was in space for 288 days. To put that into high school football terms — Wilmore spent more than 41-weeks in space, which is more than two high school football seasons.
So, the next time you hit the showers after practice, remember there are no showers in outer space!
