Pac-12 conference reveals touching tribute to Ty Jordan, Aaron Lowe
The Pac-12 conference marked their fields to honor Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe as the number 22 jersey was to be retired on Saturday by Utah. Both friends who played for Utah, Jordan and Lowe were lost to shootings within nine months of each other.
Lowe wore the number 22 jersey before his passing, and Jordan took the number after him to honor his friend. The Pac-12 football fields marked their 22-yard lines red to show their support for Utah on Saturday.
Pac-12 honors Ty Jordan, Aaron Lowe
Utah will retire their first number in the football program’s history on Saturday night, while five other stadiums in the Pac-12 conference honored Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe as a show of support. The five other stadiums painted their 22-yard line hash marks red, a noticeable and touching tribute to the players who were tragically lost within the last year.
Arizona State painted their Sun Devil Stadium ahead of playing Washington State, Oregon hosts Colorado at Autzen Stadium and California Memorial Stadium displayed the hash mark as Cal hosts Oregon State. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will see USC host Arizona and Stanford Stadium will have Staford playing Washington with the red hash markers.
Utah retires the No. 22 jersey
Jordan, the 2020 Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, died on Dec. 26, 2020 as a result of accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wounds. He was 19 years old. Lowe, his best friend and roommate, tragically passed away just nine months later on Sept. 26, 2021; he was murdered during a shooting at a Salt Lake City house party. Lowe was just 21 years old.
Jordan and Lowe were best friends, and according to the press release, “one was rarely seen without the other during their short time in Salt Lake City.” The two met in high school. Both natives of Mesquite, Texas, Jordan, a three-star running back recruit, and Lowe, a three-star defensive back recruit, were high school teammates as well at West Mesquite High School. They committed to Utah together and later became roommates in their time with the Utes program.
Lowe came to the school wearing the uniform No. 2, while Jordan wore No. 22. However, after Jordan’s death in 2020, Lowe decided to change his number to the No. 22 to honor his late best friend.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham had previously expressed his desire to retire the number, stating that no Utes football player should ever wear the number again.
“No. 22, you won’t see anyone wear No. 22 in this program again, at least as long as I’m the head coach,” Whittingham said after Lowe’s death. “We’d like to see that retired permanently. That’s our wish. We’d like to see it happen.”
In addition to retiring the No. 22, Utah has also established the Ty Jordan and Aaron Lowe Memorial Scholarships, created in the late players’ names, which will be awarded to two members of the Utah football program annually. The pair of scholarships, according to the release, will be given based on who best exemplifies the qualities of Jordan and Lowe.
On3’s Simon Gibbs contributed to this article.