Michigan Football Will Re-retire Legacy Jersey Numbers

As Jim Harbaugh hinted earlier Tuesday, the legacy jerseys are officially out and will be retired again in a ceremony during the Ohio State game on Nov. 28, the program said in a release today.

The numbers that will be taken out of circulation are Gerald Ford (#48), Tom Harmon (#98), Desmond Howard (#21), Ron Kramer (#87), Bennie Oosterbaan (#47) and Albert, Alvin and Whitey Wistert (#11). Howard's will be retired for the first time officially during the ceremony.

"During the search process for our new football coach, I had a meeting with the Michigan Football team, and they expressed their feelings associated with wearing these legendary jerseys," said Jim Hackett, U-M's Interim Athletic Director. "At one end of the spectrum they are awed by the legacy of the men that wore them, and at the other end of the spectrum, and as part of a team sport, they wondered why we would call attention to one of our team members. I brought this issue to our new head coach Jim Harbaugh. He agreed with me that it needed a review. I then talked to the families of these great Michigan players. I called them directly and laid out the paradox of seeing players as a team and the due respect to these individual great players.

"The right plan is to retire them and display them in Towsley Museum which is connected to Schembechler Hall," added Hackett. "Because we don't have the display area inside the stadium, we have found a high profile area on the concourse where fans can see and honor these retired jerseys."