By Derrick Ow — Reporter
We all get asked our favorite number which usually results in a personal story.
Most of my friends choose number one, which symbolizes excellence in sports. Some choose lucky number seven when they want to win money in Las Vegas.
Locally, 42 is represented by Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott. He was a major part of the San Francisco 49ers dynasty that won five Super Bowl rings.
San Jose State football has seen tremendous success with players wearing 42. Mark Nichols was a terrific wide receiver who was a first team All-Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) selection in 1979. He would end up being a first round selection of the Detroit Lions in the 1981 NFL Draft. He would play his entire seven year career in the Motor City.
Another Spartan who had success with that number is running back Rick Kane. Kane would become the first Spartan to rush over 1,000 yards in a season. He ran for 1,141 yards during the 1975 season. He would play nine seasons in the NFL.
Former Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was the last active Major League player to wear that number. He threw his famed cutter which earned him the most career saves in Major League history.
My favorite number is associated with history. That number is 42, the uniform number of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson.
Jackie Robinson brought inclusion into sports. He played through racial slurs that were yelled against him. He fought for equality for all. He is one of the few athletes that I have admired.
That fight is still continuing, 73 years after he made his Major League debut.
SJSU student athletes held a peaceful protest last week. They walked from the John Carlos and Tommie Smith Statue to City Hall for one cause, Black Lives Matter.
Robinson would be proud to see the next generation continuing the fight against racial injustice. He would be proud of the Milwuakee Bucks protesting their first round playoff game demanding justice for Jacob Blake.
He would be proud of SJSU men’s basketball player Caleb Simmons giving a passionate speech on why his fellow student athletes should no longer stay silent.
I thought of Chadwick Boseman when writing this column. Boseman played Robinson in the movie, “42”. The actor tragically lost his four year private battle with colon cancer on August 28th.
In 2018 he gave a commencement speech at his alma mater Howard University. He told the graduates about finding your purpose in life. I would like to think that maybe this is our purpose. During this chaotic year maybe we are supposed to change the world.
42 is more than a number for me. That number symbolizes a Civil Rights icon and a player who persevered for other athletes of color to follow.
Time to make him proud.
Follow Derrick on Twitter @derrickq42
