Legacy of 44 Display to Honor College Football's Most Famed Number

[OrangeXtreme]

Legacy of 44 Display to Honor College Football's Most Famed Number - Syracuse University Athletics

College football's most famed number is the #44 at Syracuse. It grew to prominence when legendary running backs Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little donne...

cuse.com

College football's most famed number is the #44 at Syracuse. It grew to prominence when legendary running backs Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little donned the number at 'Cuse and continued its legacy through other great players including Rob Konrad, Michael Owens and Terry Richardson, among others.

Thanks to the generosity of Konrad and his procurement of numerous artifacts, a new display in the JMA Wireless Dome will continue to showcase that legacy. The West End Zone Concourse outside Club 44 will now feature the Legacy of 44 display. The new fixture pays homage to the tradition and legacy of the players who wore it during their time at Syracuse and their accomplishments afterwards.

The display will have game-worn memorabilia – including helmets from Brown and Konrad, which celebrates the origin of the number's legacy with Brown through Konrad being the last to wear it. It also will showcase game-worn cleats from Davis' Heisman season, authentic uniforms, cards and more. The display will have a timeline of the number, honoring every player to have worn it, plus video and photo displays.

The display will be unveiled at a private ceremony on Friday, Nov. 28 and fans can get their first look on Saturday, Nov. 29, when Syracuse hosts Boston College for the season finale.

 

[tipphill]

still feel bad that joe morris and larry csonka are never mentioned. i knmow it celebrates the number 44 bit i feel that running back tradition itself should be a part of a display.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

still feel bad that joe morris and larry csonka are never mentioned. i knmow it celebrates the number 44 bit i feel that running back tradition itself should be a part of a display.

Agree

In fact, none of the Top 6 rushers in SU history wore the #44.

When they failed to unretire it for Tucker, it kind of lost its meaning for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the guys who wore it, but it hasn’t been a tradition for a long time.

For a lot of fans, it is now like the Loch Ness Monster; they have heard about it, but they have never seen it.

As an aside, wasn’t there a rumor that it was being saved for Floyd’s grandson? What ever happened to him?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Agree

In fact, none of the Top 6 rushers in SU history wore the #44.

When they failed to unretire it for Tucker, it kind of lost its meaning for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the guys who wore it, but it hasn’t been a tradition for a long time.

For a lot of fans, it is now like the Loch Ness Monster; they have heard about it, but they have never seen it.

As an aside, wasn’t there a rumor that it was being saved for Floyd’s grandson? What ever happened to him?

Looks like Blaze Little-Jones is enrolled at Syracuse, but doesn't play.

 

[Scooch]

Nice to see fences mended with Konrad.

Next step is to start issuing #44 again.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Looks like Blaze Little-Jones is enrolled at Syracuse, but doesn't play.

Good for Blaze. He is Orange and that is the important thing.

 

[Moontan]

Floyd was a great guy.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting him and talking with him.

 

[cusefan88]

Nice to see fences mended with Konrad.

Next step is to start issuing #44 again.

If they get a top 40-ish player ala Calvin Russell then doing #44 would be interesting. Would also need to be a player that appreciates the history and wants to write a new chapter in the dormant legacy.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

If they get a top 40-ish player ala Calvin Russell then doing #44 would be interesting. Would also need to be a player that appreciates the history and wants to write a new chapter in the dormant legacy.

Kids are all about the single digits today. Especially WR's.

Find me a RB who wants it. Wouldn't look right to see it on defense.

 

[buffalorange]

Kids are all about the single digits today. Especially WR's.

Find me a RB who wants it. Wouldn't look right to see it on defense.

But Brown and Davis both played defense as well as offense. Not sure about Little.

 

[FloridaCuse]

But Brown and Davis both played defense as well as offense. Not sure about Little.

Jim Brown and Ernie Davis played in the era of limited substitution rules where players had to play both offense and defense. Teams played with a first team and a second team. It was often said that in 1959 when Syracuse was National Champion the SU 2nd team was the 2nd best team in the country. I recall that the first team QB was Dave Sarette and the 2nd team QB was Dick Easterly. I don't recall who the 2nd team halfback was. The rule was fully changed in 1965. Floyd Little's senior year was the 1966 football season.

 

[elimunelson]

Nice to see fences mended with Konrad.

Next step is to start issuing #44 again.

School as usual botched a tradition.

We are like 2-324 on maintenance of traditions.

 

[Scooch]

School as usual botched a tradition.

We are like 2-324 on maintenance of traditions.

Yup.

SU has a ton of history. However, we have very few traditions.

Most of the time I'm glad we're not an SEC or B1G school where nutty boosters rule everything athletics. But in this specific case I wish we had some folks who told Gross "hard no". And I wish they'd have also told the AD to start giving out #44 again.

Huge failure all around.

I wonder how much it'd cost to make a donation contingent on reactivating the number?

 

[FrancoPizza]

School as usual botched a tradition.

We are like 2-324 on maintenance of traditions.

Since we're into hoops season, start by unretiring the blue curtain.

 

[phreddie]

Kids are all about the single digits today. Especially WR's.

Find me a RB who wants it. Wouldn't look right to see it on defense.

I have actually noticed an uptick in the number of players -both pro and college- wearing 44 the last couple of years. It's making a comeback in popularity.

 

[JRHEETER]

I have actually noticed an uptick in the number of players -both pro and college- wearing 44 the last couple of years. It's making a comeback in popularity.

Well it helps when you have two guys from Cuse wearing 44 in the NFL

Tucker and Franklin.

 

[Orangedontrhyme]

Jim Brown and Ernie Davis played in the era of limited substitution rules where players had to play both offense and defense. Teams played with a first team and a second team. It was often said that in 1959 when Syracuse was National Champion the SU 2nd team was the 2nd best team in the country. I recall that the first team QB was Dave Sarette and the 2nd team QB was Dick Easterly. I don't recall who the 2nd team halfback was. The rule was fully changed in 1965. Floyd Little's senior year was the 1966 football season.

I, SU class 1964, attended all 1959 home games and the Boston U game at Boston (Fenway, I believe) with my father, class of 1926). I was a high school senior. Tried out a color TV (new invention back then) for a weekend just to watch the 1959 UCLA game in color played out there. SU won that game big time and showed the west coast that our # 1 status was for real. The star of the UCLA game was the second team. The first team's halfbacks were Ernie Davis (LH) and Ger Schwedes (RH). The second team's halfbacks were, I believe, in the group of Mark Weber, Richard "Whitey" Reimer, and Gary Fallon.

 

[OburgOrange]

 

[OburgOrange]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Cheriehoop]

Since we're into hoops season, start by unretiring the blue curtain.

Start by giving Boeheim his wins back.

 

[Stevenson]

I dont care about the number 44, Dinosaur BBQ, or Newhouse - the only things mentioned during SU games - as there really isn’t anything else to mention.

Just win games.

How about putting your energy there instead of worshiping a jersey number that hasn’t been relevant in 60 years and a mediocre slop kitchen. Newhouse is still cool.

 

[phreddie]

I wonder who the last guy to wear 44 was? Maybe they should mention that. ;-)

 

[OrangeXtreme]