Jim Brown, Ernie Davis and Floyd Little wore number 44 at their time with the Syracuse University football team. Later, the number became the last two digits of the university zip code, as well as the first two digits of university phone numbers.

The number transcended athletics to a part of the university’s identity and culture, being the name of one of the most popular student hangouts on campus.

Now, more than three years after SU retired the number, students and alumni are feeling the effects of seeing 44 hanging from the rafters of the Carrier Dome rather than running out onto the field.

‘I think it was a misunderstanding to retire the number in the first place,’ said Brian Roll, a 1998 Syracuse alumnus. ‘We should make a U-turn and un-retire it.’

Roll said the retirement of 44 has been bothering him for many years. He voiced that opinion to some of his fellow graduates and found they shared in his discontent. He started the Facebook group ‘Restore 44’ to see what kind of reaction the idea would have.

He immediately received e-mails from current students and graduates from as far back as the class of 1960. What he called ‘a cross spectrum of football fans,’ all had the same message: ‘bring 44 back, it’s so unique to Syracuse, it should never have been retired.’

Josh Lukin, a 2002 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said he supports bringing back the number.

‘We own number 44,’ he said, ‘If the number stays retired and simply adorns the roof of the Carrier Dome, the legacy will be lost. However, if the number is passed down from team to team, then the stories and tradition of Syracuse football can be passed from generation to generation and maintain its place in highlight reels for years to come.’

But some students said they don’t see the need for the protests. Tom Flynn, a senior sport management major and a life-long Syracuse football fan, said, ‘You never hear anybody talking about the number. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a number.’

Flynn said current SU students and football players were born in the mid- to late-1980s, so they don’t care what happened in the 1950s.

Still, one ‘Restore 44’ supporter, Jeff Lutz, said he believes that 44 just needs to remain in play somehow.

Lutz, a 2006 SU graduate, suggested the players get permission from former players like Brown and Little to wear the number. Others suggested the number be given to a captain.

Many alumni, who have watched the Syracuse football program fall from a nationally ranked football team, fear that with the number retired, fans are beginning to forget the legend behind it.

Sean Keeley, a 2000 graduate, said the university will lose its connection to 44 if it isn’t worn.

‘Will a teenager in 2050 care about SU players from 1950?’ Keeley said. ‘Will they even know who they were? Will Jim Brown and Ernie Davis be anything more than just names on a list?’

But in spite of the growing movement, SU Athletic Director Daryl Gross said he plans to stick by the decision to retire 44.

‘Just like Major League Baseball has retired Jackie Robinson’s number 42 for all of baseball, we have retired number 44 out of respect for Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman trophy, as well as Jim Brown, the greatest football player ever, and Floyd Little, our only three-time All-American,’ Gross said in a statement. ‘Out of respect to these men and their accomplishments, number 44 will remain retired,’ Gross said. ‘The number 44 will always be displayed prominently in the Dome so no one ever forgets the legacy.’

tpollock@syr.edu

Published on January 12, 2009 at 12:00 pm