Should UH retire Colt's jersey #15?

[Random]

KGMB9 (www.kgmb9.com) posted up a non-scientific poll question (scroll down and look under the Salvation Army red kettle). So far the yea votes are leading the nay votes.

[scrivener]

No way. Geez. It's too early to think of stuff like that.

[scrivener]

I just read somewhere that USC has retired the numbers of its seven Heisman Trophy winners, and that Illinois has retired only the jersey numbers of Dick Butkus and Red Grange.

Think about the illustrious histories of these schools' football teams. Illinois has fifteen alumni in the College Football Hall of Fame, and only two retired jersey numbers.

Colt has had a record-breaking career, but has he had the kind of career that warrants never allowing anyone to wear his number again? Ever? I say no. Let him win a Heisman, or wait until history and the nation decide that he's worthy of the College Football Hall of Fame. I'm as thrilled with this season's team's success, but please. Let's not get carried away!

[kamuelakea]

Retiring college jerseys is silly. KGMB sports guy brought up how some big college school (maybe Georgia) didn't retire numbers but instead put the numbers of previous Heisman, All-American, NFL etc etc on the lockers of the current players using the same numbers.

It reminded them of the shoes they were expected to fill.

Hawaii is over acting and over celebrating as it is prone to do with a touchdown in the 1st quarter.

[Random]

Colt has had a record-breaking career, but has he had the kind of career that warrants never allowing anyone to wear his number again? Ever? I say no. Let him win a Heisman, or wait until history and the nation decide that he's worthy of the College Football Hall of Fame. I'm as thrilled with this season's team's success, but please. Let's not get carried away!
Man, you're hard to please.

[scrivener]

:)

The story on me, among students here, is that I'm a lenient B but a really tough A.

[Kittrick]

I say if:

1) He wins the Sugar Bowl. Dramatic fashion is better for the legend...

AND

2) He donates like a million dollars after he gets the big payday in the NFL draft

then UH should retire his number. It shouldn't be free though, because the cost of his education wasn't free, nor were the perks .

[Mike_Lowery]

Naw. It's mad corny to retire a college jersey. They're just kids.

And if he donates money, which leads to UH retiring the #, it looks even dumber. It'd be like he paid them to have it retired. The school should just go ahead with improving the facilities that he blasted in the media with his donation :D

[oceanpacific]

Not yet. It's too early to measure his legacy to that standard. He's got to make the UH Wall of Honor first.

[Random]

Naw. It's mad corny to retire a college jersey. They're just kids.
Collegiate sports no different than professional sports, especially in terms of commercializing and vying for airtime. Heck, I don't care much for professional sports as I do with collegiate sport, though Hawai'i don't really have a professional team to cheer for.

If they can retire numbered jersey/uni in professional sports level, why not in the collegiate level?

[Kittrick]

the lamest thing is that when you buy a jersey, like the colt brennan one, you can't have the name on the back unless you customize it because of NCAA rules. I wonder if that extends to jerseys they "retire"...

[Mike_Lowery]

Collegiate sports no different than professional sports, especially in terms of commercializing and vying for airtime. Heck, I don't care much for professional sports as I do with collegiate sport, though Hawai'i don't really have a professional team to cheer for.

If they can retire numbered jersey/uni in professional sports level, why not in the collegiate level?

Pardon my French, but I would refuse to nut ride college athletes.

[Random]

Pardon my French, but I would refuse to nut ride college athletes.
To ask a question... Why?

[Mike_Lowery]

To ask a question... Why?
Nothing lamer than idolizing amateurs to that degree. Make it to the pros before I care about what you do or what you have done.

[oceanpacific]

#32, worn by Tommy Kalakukui, has been retired. He played in the 1930's and was the first UH football player to gain All-American status.

For baseball, coach Les Murakami and pitcher Derek Tatsuno had their numbers retired.

[cezanne]

No. Let's see what he does after his UH career. I'm all for retiring Frazier tho.

[oceanpacific]

Correction, it's Tommy KAULUKUKUI. Noted football writer Grantland Rice dubbed him "Grass Shack" after he returned a kick-off 103 yards for a TD against UCLA in 1935.

[Random]

Nothing lamer than idolizing amateurs to that degree. Make it to the pros before I care about what you do or what you have done.
So for now, he's beneath you?

[Mike_Lowery]

So for now, he's beneath you?
No. I'm not putting myself into the stratification that you're inferring. I'm just saying, I won't idolize someone unless they accomplish something at the uppermost level of football. That's it.

[Random]

Who says about idolizing him? I just think we should praise him.

I'm not asking we should induct him in the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. That where his NFL jersey should be (if he accomplished well in the NFL).

[Mike_Lowery]

Who says about idolizing him? I just think we should praise him.
Same thing.

[Frankie's Market]

I just read somewhere that USC has retired the numbers of its seven Heisman Trophy winners, and that Illinois has retired only the jersey numbers of Dick Butkus and Red Grange.

Think about the illustrious histories of these schools' football teams. Illinois has fifteen alumni in the College Football Hall of Fame, and only two retired jersey numbers.

There's a practical reason why football teams are reluctant to retire numbers, in comparison to baseball and basketball. In football, there's a heckuva lot more players involved! Start retiring numbers too liberally, and you could very easily start running out of numbers to issue to your current players. As it is, there's a whole bunch of UH players on this year's team that are sharing numbers. If you retire too many numbers, you could start having a situation where three players have to share the same number??? That would be too confusing!

I don't know about the NCAA, but in the NFL, the league discourages teams from retiring numbers. This is because they have strict rules regarding the range of numbers that each position is entitled to. If you begin retiring numbers, you might later have problems finding enough numbers for a certain position.

There's other ways to honor great players besides retiring their numbers, BTW. UH has its Sports Circle of Honor. Other teams hang banners/signs in the stadium with the player's names & numbers printed, although the numbers themselves are not retired.

[timkona]

Agreeing with Kam here. Let the next kid use the number to motivate him.

And what happens if a college retires too many numbers? Pretty soon we gotta use the 100's, and the jerseys aren't big enough for that.

[scrivener]

in the NFL, the league discourages teams from retiring numbers.
The greatest team in NFL history, the Oakland Raiders, is one of two teams, not including recent expansion teams, never to retire a jersey number. So it's weird sometimes seeing Marques Tuiasosopo wearing #8 (Ray Guy) or Rich Gannon wearing #12 (Ken Stabler), but whatever. The fact that you wore the silver and black all by itself is the honor. :)

[Frankie's Market]

The greatest team in NFL history, the Oakland Raiders, is one of two teams, not including recent expansion teams, never to retire a jersey number.

Not exactly, Scriv.;)

There is one notable uniform number that the Raiders will never use again. That is #00, worn by hall of fame center Jim Otto. No Raider will ever don that number again, because the NFL disallowed using #0 or #00 on a uniform since the early 1970s. Otto (and maybe a couple of other players) who were already using zeros before this rule was established were grandfathered in and were allowed to keep their numbers until they retired.

[cabanalane]

Didn't U.H. once retired Al Noga's #54? #54 has been back.

[Random]

The only number UH retired is #32, worn by Thomas Kaulukukui.

[Frankie's Market]

The only number UH retired is #32, worn by Thomas Kaulukukui.

That might be the only number officially retired by UH. But I noticed that since Timmy Chang's last season in 2004, no one has worn his #14.

[i-hungry]

Colt did very well and I'm proud of him but I'm not for retiring numbers.

[Random]

That might be the only number officially retired by UH. But I noticed that since Timmy Chang's last season in 2004, no one has worn his #14.
Mehhh. Should we retire his #14?