It’s been a little over 5 years since Billy Gaines fell from the rafters of a church. Gaines died from the injuries sustained a few days later.
There are points when the only thing that comes to mind with Billy Gaines is that he was part of a motivational tactic used by Walt Harris before the Notre Dame game in 2004 (the ND program cover showed the Irish defense bringing down Gaines).
Obviously there’s far more than that. There’s a moving, sad and just a touch hopeful look back at Billy Gaines’ achievements and the effect of his death on his younger brother.
Nick Gaines’s anger over Billy’s death festered during high school, though he masked it beneath a goofy veneer. He fought often and drank and drove, he said, but his senior classmates at Urbana voted him class clown, biggest flirt, most huggable and most unforgettable. By March 2007, when he walked into the party, he had become one of the most popular seniors at Urbana.
That night, Bill and Kim Gaines thought their son was sleeping at Murray’s house. Then their phone rang. “What moron is calling here at 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday?” Kim blurted as Bill answered. Gibbons trembled on the line as she explained in a frantic, high-pitched voice that Nick had slammed his truck into a tree.
Murray was dead. Nick might be.
Nick lived, and took a plea bargain to negligent homicide. He’s serving time in a work-release program and attending a community college. It appears from the story that he’s finally dealing. It took the loss of another person’s life, some loss of freedom and some pretty painful injuries to do it.
We rarely hear about the ones who survive. Most of the time we don’t want to unless it’s part of some inspirational point of overcoming the pain. A nice soft-focus piece that glosses over the pain and gets to the payoff.
Akron coach, and former Pitt WR Coach, JD Brookhart still keeps Gaines’ nameplate in his desk.
The whole purpose of honoring someone by retiring their number is that you are holding that player up as a role model for those that come after him.
To overlook the single most important lesson from this whole situation – to teach younger kids NOT to do what Gaines did – is counterproductive at best and at worst a lie.
There are other ways to make this whole tragic story have a positive effect of others, and I hope and pray the younger Gaines son realizes that once he’s released. He can serve as a powerful example of turning your life around and influencing others to avoid the mistakes both he and his brother made.
you are all wrong when it comes to retired jerseys..Pitt will not retire gaines jersey and nor should they, many athletes die each year and most schools will were a patch or a sticker for the season. How many numbers can you think of retired by the Steelers? i can not think of any official numbers, so why would big ben get his number?
So, retiring a jersey number is the same for a football player. Both are very rare instances. The reason they are so rare is that the organizations want to make a symbolic gesture in awarding it, and thus keep its importance dear. Believe me when I tell you that these awards are not just given on the basis of what happen on the field or in theater – but the whole of the person comes under scrutiny before it is awarded. The reason for this is that it serves as strong, tangible evidence of what that organization wants their people to aspire to.
Billy Gaines sounds like he was a great kid and a good teammate also, but so are many, many kids on the PITT team. What you are suggesting boils down to awarding something on the basis of the only thing that really separates Billy Gaines from hundreds of other players over the years – his death.
That isn’t proper, and when the factors surrounding it – albeit a mistake and a tragic one – are considered they don’t add up to being worthy of something that is held in reserve for those chosen to be honored for what they accomplished and how they accomplished it.
I’ve been in the tough position of reviewing awards in my professional capacity and the hardest thing to do is to take the emotional component out of the equation when someone submits another member for an award. You have to say “Is this person and his actions truly deserving of what this award symbolizes?”
In this case I don’t believe that to be true.
In almost every case the school waits years to do it – for instance, Mark May, 20 years after he played. They do this for a reason, to make sure the player was worthy both on and off the field.
Do you think that when the school administration takes a decision like this under advisement they don’t think about things like how the player will, or did, represent the school? to think otherwise is naive IMO.
You could alsways ask Pete Rose if it matters….
