Unnamed player to wear Gerald Ford's retired #48 jersey this year
Detroit Free Press reporter Mark Snyder just tweeted this:
Hoke on Alabama radio: Gerald Ford's No. 48 jersey will be worn by a UM player this year to honor him... No. 1 in "near future" not this yr
That's a retired jersey number.
http://twitter.com/freepwolverines/statuses/212551162174517249
UPDATE: Bennie Oosterbaan (#47) and Ron Kramer (#87) will also become Legends this fall. Click here for more details in a more recent thread.
his number. Putting politics aside, Ford was an incredible guy who loved our favorite school:
Ford also visited with players and coaches during practices, at one point asking to join the players in the huddle. Ford often had the Naval band play the University of Michigan fight song, The Victors, before state events instead of Hail to the Chief. He also selected the song to be played during his funeral procession at the U.S. Capitol. On his death in December 2006, the University of Michigan Marching Band played the fight song for him one final time, for his last ride from the Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He came back to Ann Arbor to give speeches to the team for many years. Even while he was President.
I think Bo is a little too excited to see the president in the first picture.
My thoughts exactly. He looks like a giddy little boy, but I guess it is kind of cute.
That bottom picture with Ford and Bo is incredible. Does anyone know where I can buy a hi res version of that picture? I really want that hung in my office.
Library. Here is a link: http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/coaches/bo/
EDIT: Sorry, that link does not show the particular photo you idenitified. However, the Bentley Library is probably going to have the photo.
Here is the picture you're looking for. 5736 x 4391 is the largest size that they list but you may be able to get a higher resolution if you get in contact with the university.
Very cool that he had the band play "The Victors."
It is one thing to give the #1, #2 and #21 jersey to a player who some may not believe is worthy. It's another thing altogether to give a retired number (of a goddamn president no less) to anyone, no matter how great or respected as they may be. There is not a damn person on this team that is worthy of wearing Ford's number. That's why it's retired. A player can come in here and win multiple Heismans while being captain multiple years and they still wouldn't be deserving of #48. That number stands for so much more than just being a great athlete or a good guy.
I am going to be extremely pissed if this ends up being true. However, since Hoke knows his U of M football history and traditions more than even I could ever imagine, I will reserve my final judgement until all the facts are know...and I pray that one hell of reason is given.
Have people remember the man and the player, rather than have people wonder "hey, who was that number...how come we never see it?"...or more accurately, never think about it at all. It's more an honor to be remembered than forgotten. His family obviously thought so, because they signed off on it. (Unless they went completely against what they said they were going to do by asking the people and families of the number retirees and did it...but that would make for an awfully awkward ceremony....)
You have to believe that Ford's family is very much on board with the idea, and believe that he would be, also. It's possible that an impetus for the Legends patches was that this game against Air Force was on the schedule and Ford had served as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy (and, for one year, was in Preflight School). You can't retire a jersey twice; so this will (hopefully) be an impressive way to remember and honor the President.
You may be fuming about this. But I am certain that the Ford family considers it to be a fitting tribute to their patriarch. And I'm guessing that Academic All-Big Ten senior Jordan Kovacs will be the individual to wear it proudly.
Honestly, how many Michigan fans are even aware that we've retired five numbers - and who the seven players are who wore them? Out of sight, out of mind.
Having a Legend patch might keep the memory of these guys a lot more fresh.
I love the idea of legend jerseys. I think it's much better than retiring jerseys for a few reasons:
- When you retire a jersey nobody gets to wear it which means nobody gets to see it, so unless everybody just knows it's been retired it really doesn't honor the previous player that much
- Eventually one will have to either stop honoring players by retiring their jerseys or run out of numbers
- This way players can still be honored in the future: For example let's say for the sake of argument that Ondre Pipkins were to wear the #98 jersey, if he had an outstanding career the jersey could then be used to honor both him and Tom Harmon.
That being said I believe that this should not be done without the permission of the former player/family of the former player whos jersey is being retired
</argument>
<old guard yelling "Ramble Ramble Ramble!!">
I have a solution!
If alive I’m sure Gerald Ford would have pardoned his number coming out of retirement.. As he demonstrated on September 8, 1974 he was a forgiving man.
when you don't explain them.
On one hand - change is a good thing. Change keeps you relevant. By recognizing "retired" numbers is an out of date system, and "honoring" these players through some of our very best wearing the numbers over and over - it reminds us of the great players that wore that number.
On the other hand - after about 20-30 years of this, then we will all start to forget who was the "first" to make that number special. Our minds will immediately default to who was our favorite player who wore that jersey. Sort of like how the #1 is treated right now.
Let me get this straight, "Living legends" gets a patch but the player can still put their name on the back. "Legends" will hopefully get some kind of (small) marker too but the player can't put their name on the back.
I can imagine kids seeing the jersey, without a name, and asking their parents why and learning who made it great -- I think this is an awesome new tradition. Especially for Michigan, who revels in "Tradition" but on our own terms.
Let other teams keep numbers retired and forgotten, I'm glad we're doing something different. Change isn't always bad.
Don't get upset, folks. Assuming this player get some camera time, you know what it means?
It means a whole lot of air-time devoted to talking about Michigan fans' favorite thing: the awesome history of the team.
...Denard.
The reason they're doing this is because they needed to free up numbers so that they can retire 16 next year.
Thanks for going there.
1. 1 > 21
2. Becuase no one is wearing 1 this year
3. Because no one "deserves it"
4. Hoke decides. Why question that?
5. ???
6. Profit.
7. ^ Dave Brandon is happy
My guess:
Jerald Robinson. Shares a first name, albeit spelled differently, with Gerald Ford. Both have spent time in governmental buildings. Neither have been elected president.
Or Tamani Carter, since giving someone named Carter something that previously was Ford's has historical precedence.
I like the idea. Honestly, there were names on the retired numbers list I didn't know and a lot of numbers I wouldn't have been able to connect to the names I did know (Ford's included). Having the jerseys back in circulation on the backs of the current team's stand-outs, with patches honoring the original Legends is a great way to keep Michigan's great history alive and in the spot-light year after year.
When is Brady Hoke going to be fitted for his embroidered Bo Schembechler cape? I don't know how we can move forward without letting everyone know that Bo Schembechler once was the coach of the football team every waking moment. It's truly a dishonor to the history of Michigan football.
unretire a number. retiring a number is a decision made by so many previous members of previous teams and administrations that it just seems like it is a decision that is as close to written in stone as there is. as difficult as it is to give players jerseys (which doesn't seem too big a deal), michigan's athletic traditions have so much to do with the steady hand and wisdom previous atheltic directors: Canham, Crisler, Yost, Bo.
there are so many decisions made by past administrations that we value today, things like ads in the stadium during games, parking on the golf course and retired numbers. this just seems like a large reversal for the sake of publcity and solving a very minute problem.
I think it would honor our greats much more to see someone else work their tail off and represent UM with greatness to earn the honor of wearing such a number. When a current player then goes onto the field wearing those numbers, it reminds those who never saw the past just who those greats were and what they accomplished. Plus, it can become a tradition that is uniquely Michigan.
Also, I believe the custom of retiring numbers started when roster sizes were much smaller than they are now. When you only have 40 players on the team, retiring a handful of numbers between 1 and 99 doesn't seem like a big deal. It's not a coincidence that we've only retired one number in the last 50 years or so (for a man who became President of the United States) - we've been concerned about running out of them.
i think i might not have been clear. i know that retired jerseys are not only michigan's. i just think that don canham or bo or someone of that level thought that the jersey should be retired and took action to do it and out of respect of that process, you just let it be.
what happens when the player who wears ford's number goes all boubacar?
i do agree however that seeing a player wearing a special number does do a special service to the original wearer and is a better route to go that retiring, from here on out.
The most important question is what Alabama radio station and is there a podcast/link?
EDIT: Found it thanks to the Bingoogle: http://joxfm.com/sectional.asp?id=23646&i=yes
it'll sell like hotcakes in ohio.
I think that Kovacs is a perfect fit for Ford's jersey, but I wonder whether these legends jerseys will be handed out at the coach's discretion (like the #1) or whether a mechanism can be set up to award the jersey based on a set of criteria.
For example, it would only seem fitting for Ford's number to automatically be awarded to the Defensive Starter with the top Academic performance.
Harmon's number is gonna be hard to give out.
Harmon's number should never be given out. There are retired numbers and then there are REALLY retired numbers.
Molk get #48 last year. But I agree that Kovacs seems to make the most sense at this point.