I think the Athletic Dept. should now set some guidelines about the subject (retiring jerseys), so we don't move into this type of predicament again.
Let's move on!
Let's move on!
So the Jersey Issue is over,
- Thread starter karlchilders.sixpack
- Start date
He offered anything she wanted, including a different type of rememberance, or to keep the jersey off the field. She obviously chose the latter.
With that, he literally could not have done anything else. Stricklin went absolutely as far as he could, and extended the family every courtesy. In my opinion, the McGee's have no reason to have anything but a positive opinion of how the AD handled this situation.
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With that, he literally could not have done anything else. Stricklin went absolutely as far as he could, and extended the family every courtesy. In my opinion, the McGee's have no reason to have anything but a positive opinion of how the AD handled this situation.
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Respect is 1 thing but like others have said a thousand times, I personally don't feel god about it without retiring 97 also. So then you retire 2 numbers and guess what? Sooner or later a situation comes along and another family makes demands that they're son's jersey be retired also. Somebody's got to put a foot down somewhere and find common ground before we have some poor O Lineman having to wear #6 or something.</p>
Stricklin should have gone to Keffer's mother and Rodney Stowers' family and said that we are presenting the offensive and defensive players (respectively) with the most determination, courage, etc. the numbers 21 and 97. The families could be included in the selection process in some way. To me that is more of a lasting tribute than no one wearing the number at all. I can't tell you the last time I thought about either Keffer or Rodney. Having players who wear their numbers would remedy that.
I think we should have not used it while he would have still had eligibility remaining and then started using it again the next year, along with a monument of some sort of both Keifer and Rodney Stowers in public view (not just in the locker room). But the fact is, the number 21 hasn't been used in 13 years. We can't ever use it again without the family's approval.
It's one thing to have the policy from the beginning that jerseys aren't retired. If the university had decided to start giving out #21 the very next season, the family wouldn't have had much choice but to go with it. But it hasn't been used in 13 years as established precedent. So at this point, you can't "undo" what you've been doing for 13 years without the family's blessing. If you do, you'll get crucified in the court of public opinion.
BFB
BFB
Tributes are fine andnot to come across as too callus but as someone above said, when's the last time you thought of Keffer? If someone had trotted out in #21 last year what % of the fans in attendance would have made the connection? And even when he is mentioned I think more about how great a player he was and honestly before this came up I couldn't have remembered what number he wore.
I certainly agree that tributes of some sort are needed and quite appropriate. But I'm not a fan of retiring numbers. Keeping it off the field for a few years was probably the right decision until his teammates had all completed playing.
Even if you made it a tribute #, that eventually wears off - they used to talk about the Chucky Mullins story all the time during OM games but I can't really remember the last time they mentioned it air (maybe I just miss it).
Let's say we have some recruit comes in and wants to wear21 in honor of something (best friend who wore that number died). To me that's just as valid a reason that he should wear it as the reason we don't let someone wear it.
At the end of the day it's just a number on a jersey in my opinion.
I certainly agree that tributes of some sort are needed and quite appropriate. But I'm not a fan of retiring numbers. Keeping it off the field for a few years was probably the right decision until his teammates had all completed playing.
Even if you made it a tribute #, that eventually wears off - they used to talk about the Chucky Mullins story all the time during OM games but I can't really remember the last time they mentioned it air (maybe I just miss it).
Let's say we have some recruit comes in and wants to wear21 in honor of something (best friend who wore that number died). To me that's just as valid a reason that he should wear it as the reason we don't let someone wear it.
At the end of the day it's just a number on a jersey in my opinion.
We took the number "unofficially" (I'm going by what Veazey said in his blog) out of circulation, but we did not make it known to the public that was what MSU was doing.
As a result many people have forgotten about Keefer because there was no tangible memorial to him, whatever that may be.
MSU should have done something the season that they died in, not 13, 20 years later because someone wants to wear Keefer's number, and it just never has come up until now.
I think MSU needs to correct this-and if Keefer's Mother wants to keep the number out of circulation, as I assume she does, again based on Veazey's article and reading between the lines, then Stricklin needs to tell her that we have to do something like retire it officially (sorry to those that don't like retiring numbers, but what has been done has been done), so that this doesn't happen again.
As a result many people have forgotten about Keefer because there was no tangible memorial to him, whatever that may be.
MSU should have done something the season that they died in, not 13, 20 years later because someone wants to wear Keefer's number, and it just never has come up until now.
I think MSU needs to correct this-and if Keefer's Mother wants to keep the number out of circulation, as I assume she does, again based on Veazey's article and reading between the lines, then Stricklin needs to tell her that we have to do something like retire it officially (sorry to those that don't like retiring numbers, but what has been done has been done), so that this doesn't happen again.
Maybe that would appease Keffer's mom. Stower's family has more of a grievance than Keffer's family since he actually died from a surgery from playing football. Keffer was a great player and it seems a good person, that is what is so bad about this situation. But I don't know why you would retire a number for a player that was in an accident not related to football. Jackie was very emotional at the press conference. I think I remember him saying as long as he was coach that no player would wear #21.
Maybe that's what you were getting at, but aren't there a lot of schools that retire "jerseys" as a tribute but let the actual number be worn again? Do it for memorable players, the player is honored forever, and there's no problems going forward with running out of numbers,players wanting to wear the number, or playersnot wanting to wear a "tribute" number.