When is a number not retired? Ask SDSU’s administration

At halftime of the Feb. 1 game against Utah State, former San Diego State forward Kawhi Leonard, according to an athletic department release, “will become the first player in program history to have his jersey retired in the Viejas Arena rafters.”

And technically speaking, that’s correct. There are no jerseys hanging next to the championship banners.

The school has gone to great lengths, with limited success, of explaining that only his jersey — and not his number — will be “retired,” even though a No. 15 jersey with LEONARD on it will be unveiled. Future men’s players theoretically can wear No. 15.

“If you want 15,” Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said, “you better be a pretty darn good player to put that number on.”

Even if they were retiring Leonard’s number, it wouldn’t be the first in school history. Two men’s and one women’s basketball players have had their num<FZ,1,1,10>bers retired, none of which currently hangs in Viejas and two of which are currently being worn by Aztecs players.

No one has worn Michael Cage’s No. 44 after a retirement ceremony following his final home game at the San Diego Sports Arena (now called Pechanga Arena) on March 3, 1984, officially “Michael Cage Day” in San Diego by mayoral decree. Marcus Slaughter was told it was retired when he wanted it as a freshman in 2003 and chose No. 42 instead.

But 11 different players over a combined 17 seasons have worn No. 22 since SDSU went Division I in 1970, even though the number was retired nearly 80 years ago for Milton “Milky” Phelps. That includes Malachi Flynn, star guard for the fourth-ranked Aztecs team that takes its 20-0 record to UNLV on Sunday afternoon.

And Talia Sireni, a freshman guard on the SDSU women’s team, is wearing No. 33. That was retired three decades ago in honor of Judy Porter, the program’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder from the early 1980s who still holds a dozen season or career records.

Her bio on the Aztec Hall of Fame website begins: “Has her number 33 retired from competition and became State’s first female athlete so honored.”

Now named Judy Wonders, she said she protested a few years back when she noticed someone on the women’s team wearing 33. But Sireni is wearing it this year, and senior forward Monica Merkovsky wore it last year.

“They’ve never hung or displayed it,” said Wonders, a social worker for the County of San Diego for 17 years. “I feel totally disrespected by that. I may not have played in the WNBA because I came along a little too early (before it began in 1997), but I think I deserve the same respect as Kawhi Leonard or any other man.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with them. I really don’t know how to go about making changes. Life has gone on and gotten really busy, raising my own family and working. But it is something that is hurtful. I think something should be done about it.”

An athletic department spokesperson said they have been made aware of the previously retired basketball numbers and are discussing how best to acknowledge them.

“I’m happy to see that they’re recognizing Kawhi like they are,” said Michael Brunker, an assistant coach on Cage’s SDSU team who has remained in the area as an executive with the YMCA of San Diego. “There’s such a great legacy of athletics at San Diego State, and hopefully this will encourage them to retroactively catch up with those who have their numbers retired.

“I saw the impact that Michael Cage had on Aztec basketball and the city of San Diego. He’s certainly deserving — he played in the NBA for, what, 16 years — to have his number hung up there with Kawhi.”

Brunker was speaking by phone from Detroit, where he was attending the jersey retirement of Earl Cureton, whom he coached at the University of Detroit in the late 1970s.

One person has worn No. 15 since Leonard left for the NBA in 2011 after his sophomore season, freshman walk-on Ben Perez from San Marcos High in 2016. That, though, was the result of circumstance more than choice. Perez was a late add to the roster and didn’t get cleared by the NCAA until shortly before the season; when he went to the equipment room to get a jersey, the only one they had in his size was No. 15.

Many schools are shying from retiring numbers in basketball and football for mathematical reasons. Because NCAA rules don’t allow basketball numbers with a 6, 7, 8 or 9 (so officials can signal fouls with two hands), there are only 36 available. There are no such restrictions in football, but college rosters often swell into the low 100s, meaning offensive and defensive players sometimes wear the same number.

According to an Aztec Hall of Fame release about Marshall Faulk’s induction in 1998, three SDSU football numbers have been retired: 28 for Faulk, 25 for wide receiver Haven Moses and 8 for quarterback Todd Santos. On the rare occasion they have been worn again, the players have asked for (and received) permission.

As for Flynn, Chase Tapley, Josh Davis and the other eight basketball players who have worn No. 22, it likely is a case of simply not knowing. It is not part of Phelps’ bio on the Aztec or Breitbard Hall of Fame websites, although the 1998 release about Faulk mentions Phelps among those SDSU athletes with retired numbers.

A Hoover High alum, Phelps was the captain of the 1941 team that won the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball tournament in Kansas City after finishing second in the two previous years. The NAIB, the precursor to the NAIA, was the national championship for small schools not in the NCAA.

Phelps, an all-American famous for being one of the first players to use a one-handed shot, went off to war shortly after the season and was killed in an aviation training accident. The faculty voted to award him an undergraduate degree posthumously, and his jersey number, according to numerous reports, was retired.

The conundrum facing SDSU: Do you hang Phelps’ jersey and number in Viejas even though a player on the floor below is wearing it? And what happens if Flynn leads the Aztecs to, say, a Final Four? Do you “retire” No. 22 again?

Or do you wipe the slate clean and just retire jerseys but not numbers?

“Since they retired the number, I think they should respect that,” said Wonders, who finished her career in 1983 with 2,318 points and 1,498 rebounds, hundreds more than her closest pursuer.

“I know there are a limited amount of numbers you can wear in basketball, but they should respect the decision at that time and retire those numbers.”

Several baseball numbers are retired, including Tony Gwynn’s (he wore 28 at SDSU, not 19). So are the numbers of two members from the team that won SDSU’s only NCAA team championship, Duncan McFarland (11) and Chris Marlowe (10) in men’s volleyball in 1973. There’s no fear either of those could be worn again, however, since SDSU subsequently dropped the sport.

Marlowe also played basketball at SDSU. And in 1970-71 he wore No. 22, meaning, in a twist of fate, the man who would have his number retired wore a retired number.