Dave Casinelli – Memphis Flyer

• The University of Memphis lost a certifiable legend with the passing of John Bramlett last week. “The Bull” starred as a Tiger on both the gridiron and baseball diamond, building a reputation somehow tougher than the nickname he carried his entire adult life.

With Bramlett’s death, there are only two living members of an exclusive club of six: Tiger football players to have their jerseys retired. Gone before Bramlett were Charles Greenhill (who died in the 1983 plane crash that killed Memphis coach Rex Dockery), Dave Casinelli (killed in a car wreck in 1987), and Harry Schuh, who died in 2013, two years after his jersey was retired. The U of M program is long overdue for actually displaying the names and numbers of these honored greats at the Liberty Bowl. (There’s a handsome wall display at the practice facility on the south campus, but it’s seen only by members of the program, insiders, and wandering media types.) The city of Memphis owns the Liberty Bowl, but the U of M can display banners on game day as it chooses. The Tigers have rightfully honored six great players, including Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate Isaac Bruce and current Carolina Panther DeAngelo Williams. Let’s see their names and numbers prominently displayed at the stadium their alma mater calls home.

U of M Athletics
John Bramlett

• Speaking of retired jerseys, the next Tiger to be honored should be former quarterback Danny Wimprine. The Louisiana native passed for 4,445 more yards than any other Memphis quarterback (10,215), and tossed 81 touchdown passes (second on the list is Martin Hankins with 43). We need to start tracking Paxton Lynch’s numbers relative to Wimprine’s. If Lynch stays healthy and plays four seasons, he’ll be the first Tiger quarterback to threaten Wimprine’s records. Through his sophomore season (2002), Wimprine had thrown for 4,149 yards and 37 touchdowns. Seven games into his sophomore campaign, Lynch’s numbers are 3,764 and 19.

• This may be the only time all season you read “American Athletic Conference” and “Power Five” in the same sentence. Because the American is woefully weak at the bottom of the league standings, the polar opposite of anything resembling the likes of the Big Ten, ACC, or, gulp, SEC. You might say, actually, the American includes a “Sour Five,” four of whom play the Memphis Tigers over the next five weeks. (Memphis handled the fifth member of this ignominious group — SMU — last Saturday.) Check out the rankings of the Sour Five in scoring among the 128 FBS teams: 97 (Tulsa, this week’s opponent), 108 (USF), 119 (Tulane), 127 (UConn), and 128 (SMU). At 4-3, Memphis could enjoy its longest stretch of success since winning five of six games to finish the 2007 regular season. (SMU and Tulane were among the victims seven years ago.) Tulsa, it should be noted, is 122nd in points allowed (40.7 per game). Needless to say, a loss to any team not named Temple will leave a sour taste.

Here’s a
great mind-bender to play the next time you attend a University of Memphis
football game at the Liberty Bowl. Ask those in your party — or perhaps the
entire seating section — to name the former Tiger players who have had their
numbers retired. And a dish of nachos to the fan who can actually identify the
numbers as well.

U of M
football may not be as tradition-rich as the BCS big boys, but the program has
actually honored four players, three for their exploits on the field and a
fourth as a memorial. But even if you’re a Highland Hundred lifer, in your seat
from kickoff to the final tick of the clock for every Memphis home game, you may
be unaware of these players’ names, much less the numbers they wore as Tigers.
Because, you see, there is no sign, no banner, no plaque, not so much as a
temporary flag displaying the honored names. Has to make you wonder how
“honored” the surviving stars really feel.

Associate athletic director Bob Winn clarifies that the players have had their
jerseys — but not the actual numbers on their jerseys — retired. And the
explanation is perfectly reasonable: with more than 100 players on a college
football roster, a team would simply run out of digits. (This, of course, makes
those nachos so terribly difficult to earn. You may see the “retired number” of
a former star prancing across the goal line for a touchdown.)

When I
asked Winn about the absence of a display — of any sort — at the Liberty Bowl,
he told me I was the first person he can remember even mentioning the perceived
void. “We’ve talked about [putting the numbers up],” said Winn. “We’ve just
never really progressed, and I don’t know why. We’ve discussed a ring of honor,
but just haven’t come up with the appropriate way to do it. It seems like
colleges these days will often honor a [current] player by giving him the number
of a former great, or a special locker, maybe.”

As far
as which players are honored, Winn says the U of M leaves the decision in the
hands of its coaches. Which begs the question: How does a coach in 2007
legitimately consider the impact of a player in, say, 1977? A panel of boosters,
it would seem, might be better equipped — and with longer memories — to define
and recognize a past player’s greatness.

The
city-owned Liberty Bowl has layers of protocol when it comes to decor that the
university wouldn’t have to accommodate if it had complete control of the
facility. (Another arrow in the quiver of the on-campus stadium movement.) But
even with approval needed for any permanent paint display, Winn feels like city
authorities would be receptive if a movement for the display was strong enough
and it didn’t defame the stadium in any way.

“When it
was named Rex Dockery Field,” explains Winn, “there was so much emotion about
Rex being killed in that plane crash, that some of his friends just went
straight to the City Council, and it was done. There was not much of a process.”

Here’s a
cheat sheet for your Tiger Football Legends game:

•
Charles Greenhill, #8 (played for Memphis in 1983) — A defensive back and
former star at Frayser High School, Greenhill was killed in the plane crash that
also killed Tiger coach Rex Dockery on December 12, 1983. He was the first Tiger
to have his jersey retired.

•
Dave Casinelli, #30 (1960-63) — Casinelli was the first Tiger player to rush
for 1,000 yards in a season (1,016 in 1963). He was the program’s career rushing
leader for 41 years and was honored posthumously after being killed in a 1987
car accident.

•
Isaac Bruce, #83 (1992-93) — In 1993, Bruce caught 74 passes for 1,054
yards, records that stand to this day (and really haven’t been challenged). With
more than 900 receptions and over 13,000 yards for the NFL’s St. Louis Rams,
Bruce could become the first former Tiger to reach the Pro Football Hall of
Fame. His jersey was retired in 2003.

•
DeAngelo Williams, #20 (2002-05) — A member of three bowl teams with
Memphis, Williams became only the fourth player in NCAA history to rush for
6,000 yards in his career. He established NCAA records for all-purpose yards
(7,573) and 100-yard rushing games (34). His number was retired in 2006, his
first season as a Carolina Panther.