WVU retired the playing numbers of two of its all-time great athletes in November ceremonies. This is the first time any WVU jersey numbers have been retired from competition.
Football legend Sam Huff’s number 75 was retired during the WVU–Pitt game on Thanksgiving night, November 24, 2005.
Basketball great Jerry West’s number 44 was retired at the WVU–LSU game at the Coliseum on November 26, 2005.
“Having a jersey number retired is the highest honor that an athlete can receive from a team or school,” says Ed Pastilong. “Sam Huff and Jerry West represent the best from West Virginia University’s athletic tradition. Their outstanding careers and the glory they have brought to the University have earned this honor.”
The WVU Athletic Council established criteria for the retirement of numbers and jerseys of student-athletes and unanimously voted to retire the numbers of Huff and West.
A four-year letter winner, Sam Huff started at guard as a sophomore and played tackle the next two years. Known as a reckless and aggressive player, Huff, a native of No. 9 Mine in Marion County, helped lead WVU to a combined four-year mark of 31–7 and the 1954 Sugar Bowl.
For his collegiate accomplishments, the 1955 cocaptain was named first team All-America by the NEA, Look, Jet, and NBC-TV. Huff also earned Academic All-America honors.
After being selected to play in the North-South Game, the Senior Bowl, and the College Football All-Star Game, Huff was drafted in the third round by the New York Giants. Playing in the NFL from 1956 until 1969, he played in six NFL championship games and in five Pro Bowls for the Giants and Redskins. He had 30 career interceptions and received widespread recognition as the game’s top linebacker of that era.
Huff is a member of the both the College (1980) and Pro (1982) Football Halls of Fame. After a successful career in business, he continues to work as a broadcaster.
A native of Chelyan, Jerry West established 17 WVU records and led the Mountaineers to a mark of 61–12 during his career as West Virginia earned three straight NCAA berths and came within two points of winning the national championship in 1959. A second team All-American in 1958, West earned consensus All-America honors in 1959 and 1960; he averaged 29.3 points and 16.5 rebounds per game as a senior.
Cocaptain of the 1960 Olympic team along with Oscar Robertson, they led the U.S. team to a 5–0 record and a victory over Russia to claim the gold medal at Rome. He was also a member of the victorious U.S. squad in the 1958 Pan American Games.
West became the Lakers’ first-ever first-round draft pick in the 1960 NBA draft (second overall). During his 14-year career with the Lakers, West was a 14-time NBA all-star, ten-time all-NBA first team, and four-time member of the all-NBA defensive team. He set a then-NBA single game scoring record for guards on January 17, 1962, with 63 points against New York.
Dubbed “Mr. Clutch” because of his ability to produce with the game on the line, West led the Lakers in scoring seven times and was the third player in league history to reach 25,000 points, finishing with a career scoring average of 27.0 points, still fifth-best in NBA history. He holds the NBA record (840) for most free throws made in a season. He was a member of the Lakers’ first NBA championship team in Los Angeles in 1972, helping LA to a 69–13 regular season record and a 33-game winning streak, an all-time pro sports record. Upon retiring in 1974, West ranked among the NBA top five in scoring, minutes, field goals, and field goal percentage.
West was the Lakers’ head coach (1976–79) and then special consultant (1979–82) before a 19-year career as general manager (1982–94) and executive vice president (1995–2000). During that time, the Lakers captured four NBA championships and made eight trips to the NBA finals.
West was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (1979), named to the NBA’s 35th Anniversary Team (1980), and selected as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history (1997). His number 44 jersey was retired by the Lakers in 1983. The current NBA logo is modeled after him.
He came out of retirement in 2002 to serve as president of the Memphis Grizzlies and was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2004, the second time he won the prestigious award.
A holiday festival of parades, fan activities, and raucous fun culminated in a wonderful New Year’s treat for more than 25,000 Mountaineer fans in Atlanta as West Virginia won its first-ever BCS game in the Nokia Sugar Bowl.
Ranked 11th entering the contest, West Virginia pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the bowl season with a thrilling 38–35 victory over seventh-ranked Georgia before 74,458 fans packed into the Georgia Dome. The traditional New Orleans event was moved to Atlanta for this year because of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.
“This is obviously one of the biggest [wins in school history],” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “I think more because a lot of people didn’t expect it and that we were playing basically in their home environment—their home state.”
True freshman Steve Slaton started the scoring with an impressive 52-yard touchdown run on WVU’s first possession to give the Mountaineers a quick 7–0 lead. By the end of the night, Slaton ran for a Sugar Bowl record 204 yards, earning game MVP honors.
Perhaps the best play of the game was a gutsy fake punt call executed beautifully by punter Phil Brady that gained ten yards on fourth and six to seal the Sugar Bowl win. Along with Slaton’s totals, redshirt freshman quarterback Pat White passed for 120 yards and one score to go along with 77 yards rushing. Mike Lorello, voted the team MVP for the season, led the defense with eight tackles. Georgia totaled 501 yards of total offense, but the Mountaineers countered with 382 on the ground and 120 passing for 502 yards of total offense.
With the upset victory, West Virginia finished with its third 11-win season in school history and first since 1993. Final rankings put the Mountaineers at fifth in the Associated Press poll and sixth in the USA Today coaches poll.
The win was WVU’s first in January since the 1948 team beat Texas Western in the Sun Bowl. But more importantly, it can be debated that West Virginia’s win might have saved the Big East Football Conference as we know it.
Big East associate commissioner John Paquette, wearing an ear-to-ear grin while congratulating West Virginia coaches and players on the field after the game, didn’t utter those exact words. But from the looks of his smile he was probably thinking it.
“This one,” Paquette said, “was huge!”
It certainly was. Mountaineer alumni and fans across the country will be telling stories of this game for the next 50 years or so.
And before the din of the Sugar Bowl begins to fade away, talk already moves to possibilities for next year’s gridiron season. The first early pre-season look at 2006 is already out and CNNSI.com’s Stewart Mandel has the Mountaineers rated sixth. Let’s see what Coach Rodriguez and his team can do to surpass this season’s stunning performance!