Popular Post Pistol Posted June 17, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted June 17, 2020 Based on the recent announcement of the new players' jersey numbers, I'm putting together a jersey number history for everyone on the roster. I've done this the past two years but they've been buried in other threads. This goes back to the 1975-1976 season, the earliest I can find available online. 2 - Markhi Strickland - This number isn't getting any time off, being passed directly from Tay Weaver to Strickland. Weaver inherited it from another grad transfer, Tramaine Isabell. Before Isabell, this number was worn by Miles Reynolds, Ty Graves (but never in games, obviously), board favorite Austin McBroom, Anthony Mitchell, and Wendell Bennett. So it's had a few good seasons but Strickland needs to give it a good career. 5 - Francis Okoro - Carte'Are Gordon was the last to wear #5. It has a pretty strong pedigree: Davell Roby wore it for four years before him, preceded by Jordair Jett. Jeff Reid and Marcus Relphorde each wore it in their short careers here after Marque Perry had it. Before Perry, it goes all the way back to Vincent Smith in the late 1980s. Chris Peay had it the season before Smith, but left after that year (his sophomore year). Pee Wee Lenard wore #5 for his three seasons at SLU in the 1980s. 12 - Marten Linssen - Linssen appears to be stealing this one from Brandon Courtney, who wore it last season as a sophomore. Stephen Leazer, another walk-on, wore it during his only season as a freshman (2014-2015). Ditto for Grant Gehlen (2011-2012). Justin Jordan wore it in his only season. Then it goes back to John Redden, who immediately followed Carlos McCauley - both wore it for their entire careers. LaTodd Johnson wore it in the early 1980s and Milt Wiley for three seasons in the late 1970s. Mike Smith wore it for his lone season as a freshman after Bill Moulder had it over his career. 13 - Andre Lorentsson - Lorentsson is the first to wear 13 since Matt Neufeld a few years ago. Brian Daly, a Majerus-era walk-on, wore it for his two seasons. Femi John immediately preceded Daly with it but only played one season - same for Ruben Cotto immediately before him. Peyton Jacks had it all four seasons as a Soderberg-era walk-on. Before Jacks, a guy named Erwin Claggett wore it. Before him, you have to go back to Howard Jackson and Johnny Furr in the mid-70s. Lorentsson can bring some three-point shooting magic back to this decorated jersey. Existing players: 0 - Jordan Goodwin - Marcus Bartley wore 0 in his two seasons at SLU. Before him, Keith Carter wore it for his lone season and Dwayne Polk wore 00, which shows up as 0 most places online. I'm not aware of anyone wearing it before him. So whether or not 0 ends up getting retired with Goodwin, he definitely owns this number. 1 - Yuri Collins - Collins grabbed D.J. Foreman's number without giving it a break. Before Foreman, in reverse order, the #1 jersey was worn by Milik Yarbrough (but only as a sophomore; he wore 4 as a freshman), Grandy Glaze, Danny Brown (sophomore-senior seasons), and Tom Frericks. Frericks appears to have been the first to wear it after at least 15 seasons. This number fits a hometown PG well. 3 - Javonte Perkins - Perkins kept this one in play immediately following Javon Bess. Before Bess, it was worn by another two-year transfer, Ash Yacoubou. Kwamain Mitchell wore it before Ash, and it goes back to Justin Love before him. Only one of these players averaged fewer than 10 points in any season: Yacoubou scored 9.1 PPG his junior year. No doubt Perkins will keep the streak going. This is a high-performance number. 10 - Joshua Hightower - Aaron Hines wore 10 as a junior (and 24 as a senior). Joey Lepak wore it for two seasons as a Crews-era walk-on. Paul Eckerle wore it over his career and Jeff Coffey had it in his only season. Troy Robertson wore it in the late 90s, following Carl Turner. Kevin Williams had it for four years in the mid-1980s, following stints by Kevin Gingrich, Edgar Atkins, Mark Alcorn, and Shelvy Brown. 11 - Hasahn French - French wore 22 as a freshman, presumably because Jermaine Bishop had 11 and then was booted shortly before his junior season began. Miles Reynolds wore it immediately before Bishop. Mike McCall had it for four years before him. Mike Jones wore it for a couple years as a walk-on. Josh Fisher wore it as a freshman until Dave Fergerson graduated and Fisher grabbed #4. Jamall Walker had it before that (although he's listed as #10 on the official site's rosters, he overlapped with Troy Robertson, who actually wore 10). Julian Winfield wore 11 as a freshman and John Duff had it for four years before him. Ted Mimlitz wore it for three seasons ending in 1986-1987 after Kevin Strozier and Tony Lawrence wore it in the early 80s. French is basically the only big man to wear 11 at SLU. 15 - Demarius Jacobs - Jacobs' number has gone to a lot of guys who didn't play out their careers. He's the first to wear it since Tanner Lancona, who was preceded by Sean Duff, Christian Salecich, Barry Eberhardt, Ian Vouyoukas, Ricky Cranford, Jeff Gaona, and Johnny Furr. Vouyoukas is by far the best to wear it in the modern era. 20 - Fred Thatch, Jr. - Thatch picked this up immediately after Jalen Johnson left. Johnson resurrected it from a long dormant stretch going back to Anthony Drejaj, and Drejaj had the nerve to be the first to wear it after Larry Hughes. It was briefly with Jeramy Biles before him, after H Waldman and Jeff Luechtefeld. Another Okawville legend, Paul Jansen, had it for his four year career in the mid-1980s, so Luechtefeld may have worn it as an homage. Before him, Jeff Hoback had it for a single season (1982-1983), as did Kerford Foster (1980-1981). Jim Glass wore it for his full career, though, and Ken Loddeke had it before him. 22 - Terrence Hargrove, Jr. - Hargrove claimed 22 from its previous owner, Hasahn French, who wore it his freshman year. Going backward from French, it was worn by Grant Hollander, Austin Eagleton (freshman year; he wore 24 as a junior), Ian Mooney (sophomore year; he wore 24 as a freshman), Phil Hunt, Virgil Cobbin, Derek Falb, McGlother Irvin, Jorge Wallace, David King (after his freshman year, when he wore 32), Luther Burden, David Burns, and Everne Carr. It's an unusual history in that it's been worn a lot, mostly by walk-ons, mostly by locals, and mostly by guys who didn't play their entire careers at SLU - Burden and Burns being the exception to the last point. 24 - Gibson Jimerson - Jimerson didn't let this one lie dormant for long, following Ingvi Gudmundsson's only season. Aaron Hines wore this one before Ingvi, and Cody Ellis was the last scholarship player before him to wear it. But in this century, this number mostly has a history of being worn with walk-ons: Austin Eagleton (junior year; he wore 22 as a freshman), Kevin Shortal, and Ian Mooney wore it as a freshman before Phil Hunt graduated and he switched to 22. Prior to that season, it was used (along with 10) as a blood jersey, so there were nameless 10 and 24 practice/game jerseys. Prior to those days, it was worn by Larry Simmons, Carlos Skinner, Roland Gray, Tim Stock, Isaiah Singletary, Willie Whittenberg, Henry Tiggs, and Mike Newbold. 24 has done it all. 32 - Jimmy Bell, Jr. - #32 has a history of being worn by solid players who played full careers. Bell is preceded by Mike Crawford, Cory Remekun, Luke Meyer, Corey Frazier, Scott Highmark, Kevin Footes, Monroe Douglass, David King (as a freshman; he wore 22 as a sophomore), Andre Craig, Monte Poole (for two seasons), Kelvin Henderson, and Johnnie Parker (for two seasons). I think Bell will keep that tradition going. I'll update this when I know what number Courtney will have next season and if and when additional walk-ons are added to the roster. cgeldmacher, FromDaEastSide, Box and Won and 8 others like this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bauman Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 Thanks for the great update and making it, its own thread so we can reference it in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almaman Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 another couple Pistol hours (Days, minutes?) you could do all the other numbers that aren't in current use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 -thanks Pistol, this is a great resource for the Staff so they don't recruit a player that wants an existing number, we can't have that madness almaman likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AGB91 Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 #22 was worn by one of my favorite Billikens of all time. David Burns a former Metro Conference POY. Just us old men remember how great he was. A literal one man team as a senior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 44 minutes ago, bauman said: Thanks for the great update and making it, its own thread so we can reference it in the future. This was part of the motivation here. Seeing the posts about the new players' numbers yesterday, it then took me forever to find the two previous posts I had done about number history. 33 minutes ago, almaman said: another couple Pistol hours (Days, minutes?) you could do all the other numbers that aren't in current use While I was working on this, I had something at work blow up. Maybe someday... 8 minutes ago, Cowboy said: -thanks Pistol, this is a great resource for the Staff so they don't recruit a player that wants an existing number, we can't have that madness Anything is possible. 5 minutes ago, AGB91 said: #22 was worn by one of my favorite Billikens of all time. David Burns a former Metro Conference POY. Just us old men remember how great he was. A literal one man team as a senior. Thanks. Like I said, I only can find rosters going back to the mid-late 80s, so anything before that is helpful and I can fill in over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUBillsFan Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Pistol said: 13 - Andre Lorentsson - Lorentsson is the first to wear 13 since Matt Neufeld a few years ago. Brian Daly, a Majerus-era walk-on, wore it for his two seasons. Femi John immediately preceded Daly with it but only played one season - same for Ruben Cotto immediately before him. Peyton Jacks had it all four seasons as a Soderberg-era walk-on. Before Jacks, a guy named Erwin Claggett wore it. Lorentsson can bring some three-point shooting magic back to this decorated jersey. That seems like a really long gap. That's what, like 10 years with no 13s? This make me wonder if #13 wasn't sort of unofficially retired by Spoon (and perhaps continued by Romar / the AD), but then it was forgotten about later. Although with 13 scholarship players each year plus a couple of walk-ons, I guess the odds of any one number being taken in a given year are pretty low and #13 is considered unlucky. Claggs on near the top of my list of guys who should have their #s/jerseys retired or honored or whatever you want to call it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 2 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said: That seems like a really long gap. That's what, like 10 years with no 13s? This make me wonder if #13 wasn't sort of unofficially retired by Spoon (and perhaps continued by Romar / the AD), but then it was forgotten about later. Although with 13 scholarship players each year plus a couple of walk-ons, I guess the odds of any one number being taken in a given year are pretty low and #13 is considered unlucky. Claggs on near the top of my list of guys who should have their #s/jerseys retired or honored or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, 10 seasons. To my knowledge, there was no unofficial retiring by Spoon or anyone else. There are other numbers that have had similar gaps. 10, for example. And 0 and 1 don't have anyone between the late 80s (maybe ever?) until the early 00s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almaman Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 this all seems like something that the school would have an easy access running history of players and what #s they wore. Pistol likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cowboy Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 -I was told Gus was in charge of the player number history information and the public release was stopped when someone in the ADept was reviewing it and saw the first entry was A1-Tomato Mustard dlarry likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmbilliken Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 2 hours ago, AGB91 said: #22 was worn by one of my favorite Billikens of all time. David Burns a former Metro Conference POY. Just us old men remember how great he was. A literal one man team as a senior. One of my favorites too. He could come down the floor 1 on 3 and still have them outnumbered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gister Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Is it correct to assume that SLU does not "retire" uniform numbers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Pelican Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 I believe Easy Ed’s #50 is the only number actually retired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duff Man Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 20 hours ago, Pistol said: 0 - Jordan Goodwin - Marcus Bartley wore 0 in his two seasons at SLU. Before him, Dwayne Polk wore 00, which shows up as 0 most places online. I'm not aware of anyone wearing it before him. So whether or not 0 ends up getting retired with Goodwin, he definitely owns this number. Keith Carter wore 0 in 2012 before he peaced out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 3 hours ago, Duff Man said: Keith Carter wore 0 in 2012 before he peaced out. Edited. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Posted September 3, 2020 Author Share Posted September 3, 2020 Adding the walk-ons: 4 - Phillip Russell grabbed #4 after a one-year hiatus; Dion Wiley in his lone season two years ago. Before him, it was Milik Yarbrough in 2014-2015 (he wore 1 the following season as a sophomore). Dustin Maguire wore it for his two seasons at SLU (2006-2008). Josh Fisher was #4 from his sophomore through senior seasons; he wore 11 as a freshman while Dave Fergerson still had #4 tied up as a senior. Fergerson appears to be the first to have worn it since at least 1975 (the official site doesn't list rosters before 1975-1976 at this time). 30 - Brandon Courtney wore 12 last year, but Linssen grabbed it for this season. The last player to wear 30 was Jake Barnett for three seasons, ending in 2013-2014. Izik Ohanon wore the number for three seasons, as well (2002-2005). Matt Baniak had #30 for his four year career, ending in 2001. 30 spent the 1995-1996 season with freshman Donnie Adkins right after two good years with David Robinson. Brian Smith had it right before him, wearing it for his freshman and sophomore years (1991-1993) before leaving. Vincent Smith had it as a sophomore in 1989-1990 but wore #5 as a freshman. A decade earlier, Kevin Harrington wore it for one season as a sophomore, preceded by Craig Shaver in his final two seasons (1977-1979). Robert Mason had it when Shaver arrived in 1975-1976. Edit: I was reminded that Dion Wiley wore #4 two seasons ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taj79 Posted September 4, 2020 Share Posted September 4, 2020 Pee Wee transferred back from Georgia after his freshman year. Pistol likes this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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