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SIAP Canes to retire Gino Toretta’s Jersey

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I heard Gino on 560 today talking about it. He mentioned he really wanted to go to UCLA. Anybody know the back story in that? Not something I have heard before. Just know he is a Cali kid.
 
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TheU1984 said:
I heard Gino on 560 today talking about it. He mentioned he really wanted to go to UCLA. Anybody know the back story in that? Not something I have heard before. Just know he is a Cali kid.
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Gino was from Pinole in the SF Bay area, just north of where Ken Dorsey came from (Orinda).

At the time, UCLA was coached by Terry Donahue, and Troy Aikman was getting set to graduate when Gino was being recruited. Just after that, Tommy Maddox started for UCLA for a couple of years. I would imagine that Donahue wanted more arm strength, as that was always the knock on Gino, and when you look at Aikman and Maddox, they both fit the bill.

Don't forget, Gino's brother Geoff had played for Miami earlier. Geoff famously started the last game of the 1986 regular season after Testaverde wrecked his scooter. So there was definitely a UM connection, though Geoff was never more than a backup.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Last one was Testaverde, then we decided to stop doing it.

On a basic level, it makes sense to put our two Heisman winners on the same level of honors.
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To me, if you make the College or Pro Football HOF and/or win a chip, your number should be in the rafters. Such as:

Ray Lewis 52
Warren Sapp 76
Dan Morgan 44
Edge 5
Ed Reed 20 (this dude checks all the boxes except Heisman)
Michael Irvin 47 (See above)

Hard to argue against immortalizing these numbers, but just my opinion.
 
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yeyo said:
To me, if you make the College or Pro Football HOF and/or win a chip, your number should be in the rafters. Such as:

Ray Lewis 52
Warren Sapp 76
Dan Morgan 44
Edge 5
Ed Reed 20 (this dude checks all the boxes except Heisman)
Michael Irvin 47 (See above)

Hard to argue against immortalizing these numbers, but just my opinion.
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What you’ve pointed out is exactly why I don’t think we should retire numbers… we’ve had so many high level players that if we appropriately acknowledged all those deserving of this honor we wouldn’t have enough numbers to give out for a full roster.

And since we can’t acknowledge everyone who’s deserving the same way then they should all be in rotation. Or… retire for limited time. But not forever
 
yeyo said:
To me, if you make the College or Pro Football HOF and/or win a chip, your number should be in the rafters. Such as:

Ray Lewis 52
Warren Sapp 76
Dan Morgan 44
Edge 5
Ed Reed 20 (this dude checks all the boxes except Heisman)
Michael Irvin 47 (See above)

Hard to argue against immortalizing these numbers, but just my opinion.
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I'm just warning you, this will lead to more "duplicate jersey number" penalties on punts and kickoffs...

🤣
 
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yeyo said:
To me, if you make the College or Pro Football HOF and/or win a chip, your number should be in the rafters. Such as:

Ray Lewis 52
Warren Sapp 76
Dan Morgan 44
Edge 5
Ed Reed 20 (this dude checks all the boxes except Heisman)
Michael Irvin 47 (See above)

Hard to argue against immortalizing these numbers, but just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Crazy these folks aren't in. Especially Ed Reed.
 
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I like the idea of awarding special jersey numbers to top performers (as schools like LSU have done)
 
not a fan of retiring numbers in college football. Use them as a recruiting tool and have future players take the shoes of the greats and continue the tradition.

on the flip side, it was apocraphyl the first time someone wore 26 after Sean.
 
I like the idea of retired jerseys in truly exceptional cases.

I understand Vinny and Torretta‘ numbers retired, they both won the Heisman, and Gino won a national championship. Vinny was our first Heisman winner. I’m not familiar with Jim Dooley, and only know a little about George Mira. Everyone knows who Ted Hendricks is and what he accomplished.

I also like the idea of special numbers awarded by position.

I could get behind reserving 20 and 26 for defensive backs, or 98 for a defensive lineman. Problem is once a player excels to the level to earn that number they’re probably ready to go pro anyway. Miami could use the number as a recruiting tool, but I think that would only work if the recruit wanted that number, was a Cane fan and understood what the number represented. Current recruits likely still know who Ed Reed and Sean Taylor were but how many defensive lineman recruits will know who Jerome Brown was?
 
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