(Editor's note: Fulton native Tony Galbreath - who started his football career with the Hornets, then starred at the University of Missouri and went on to a successful stint in the NFL - will be inducted today into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Jefferson City. Fulton Sun sports writer Josh Mosley recently sat down for a series of interviews with Galbreath, who lives in Fulton, to chronicle his career in a three-part series leading up to today's induction. Today's final part focuses on Galbreath's NFL career and his retirement afterward.)
On arguably the biggest day of his life, Tony Galbreath was playing basketball. Or cutting the grass.
Actually, Galbreath doesn't quite remember.
The 24-hour news cycle wasn't around back in 1976 or the wall-to-wall coverage of the NFL draft. Cameras weren't in an athlete's living room and sure-fire first-round picks weren't flown to New York for the festivities. The pomp and primetime coverage just didn't exist yet.
Still, even if it had at the time, Tony probably wouldn't have subscribed to it. Galbreath had talked to teams, visited with coaches. He'd done individual workouts - the NFL Combine as we know it was still six years away - and had been evaluated as much as possible.
The Miami Dolphins intrigued Galbreath. There'd even been talk of the Dolphins snapping up Galbreath late in the first round, though that didn't materialize.
"I never sat around waiting," Galbreath recalled. "If it happened, it happened, and if it didn't, it didn't."