Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to former Little League pal Joe DePugh, who died in Florida of cancer at age 75. DePugh and ...

Joe DePugh and Bruce Springsteen played baseball as teens in New Jersey. A chance meeting at a bar inspired Springsteen's ...

Springsteen and DePugh were later part-time neighbors in Palm Beach County in Florida. DePugh lived in a condo in Lake Worth, ...

Bruce Springsteen has paid tribute to Joe DePugh, the New Jersey pitcher who inspired his hit song “Glory Days,” following ...

A gifted athlete, he gave a clumsy teenage Bruce Springsteen his first nickname, Saddie. Years later, the Boss returned the favor, memorializing him in a song.

DePugh and Springsteen ran into each other in 1973 outside a bar in Neptune City, N.J. Over a decade later, “Glory Days” hit the airwaves.

If Bruce Springsteen’s song stands true, Joe DePugh was quite the baseball player back in his “Glory Days.” DePugh, who ...

Joe DePugh, the Freehold, New Jersey native who inspired Springsteen's hit “Glory Days” after a chance encounter in their shared hometown, has passed away. He was 75. DePugh died after a bout with ...

Mega star Bruce Springsteen’s high school friend, Joe DePugh, died this week and “The Boss” issued a statement on social ...

Joe DePugh, a childhood friend Bruce Springsteen wrote about in the 1985 hit 'Glory Days,' died in 2025 at the age of 75.

“Just a moment to mark the passing of Freehold [N.J.] native and ballplayer Joe DePugh,” Springsteen ... had some drinks and all DePugh kept talking about were the glory days.