By Gregg Lange ’70
1 min read
that
Prince
again
A brief unrelated sports note: On curiously short notice (less than a month) given the long wait, the University retired the uniform number 42 for all its sports teams in honor of Dick Kazmaier ’52 and Bill Bradley ’65 on Harvard weekend. Bradley originally knew about Princeton through Kazmaier’s exploits; he in turn was given the number by legendary trainer Eddie Zanfrini h’42, who had tended to Kazmaier. This could be coincidental, like New York City being in New York State. Anyway, neither football nor men’s basketball ever gave the number out again, but there’s never been formal recognition of any sort, and in fact no Princeton number in any sport has been retired before. This is a great gesture, justified as much by the men’s importance to Princeton since graduation as for their athletic achievements. May I be the first to suggest that, having set the bar this high, this be the end. We don’t need an athletic Hall of Fame; we don’t need dozens of jerseys hanging in the rafters. Princeton sports are team sports, and it’s more important from that perspective to see the continuity of numbers over the decades, to see hundreds of team trophies together in the case, rather than celebrate the exploits of individuals. I probably could be talked into an exception should a woman athlete (and we’ve had some great ones already) reach the same pinnacle, but aside from that, we’ve done it right – let’s quit winners.
Prince
again
A brief unrelated sports note: On curiously short notice (less than a month) given the long wait, the University retired the uniform number 42 for all its sports teams in honor of Dick Kazmaier ’52 and Bill Bradley ’65 on Harvard weekend. Bradley originally knew about Princeton through Kazmaier’s exploits; he in turn was given the number by legendary trainer Eddie Zanfrini h’42, who had tended to Kazmaier. This could be coincidental, like New York City being in New York State. Anyway, neither football nor men’s basketball ever gave the number out again, but there’s never been formal recognition of any sort, and in fact no Princeton number in any sport has been retired before. This is a great gesture, justified as much by the men’s importance to Princeton since graduation as for their athletic achievements. May I be the first to suggest that, having set the bar this high, this be the end. We don’t need an athletic Hall of Fame; we don’t need dozens of jerseys hanging in the rafters. Princeton sports are team sports, and it’s more important from that perspective to see the continuity of numbers over the decades, to see hundreds of team trophies together in the case, rather than celebrate the exploits of individuals. I probably could be talked into an exception should a woman athlete (and we’ve had some great ones already) reach the same pinnacle, but aside from that, we’ve done it right – let’s quit winners.
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