Big Ben's # 7

Normally, I do not blog more than once a day as I am too busy. I must make an exception. Today, my alma mater, Miami University retired Ben Roethlisberger's # 7 jersey. As a graduate of Miami, I can tell you that I never as much as heard of an athlete's jersey being retired at this university. Why? Miami has only retired three athlete's numbers in it's history. Big Ben did attend the ceremony today. Thanks for not forgetting us Ben!

So I spent much of the day, searching through thousand's of photo archives for the Ben Roethlisberger shots I took of him while he led the Miami Redhawks as our quarterback. I must say that the way you see him play with the Pittsburgh Steelers is the same way many Miami fans and alumni saw him play for the Redhawks.

Needless to say, I have not found the Big Ben photos I wanted which tells me I need to archive better. Nonetheless, I will resort to what little I did locate. In one photo you will see the exact kind of jersey Big Ben wore as a Redhawk during home games. These were sold at campus bookstores during his last year at Miami. Instinct told me to buy one. Now instinct tells me to preserve it in a big frame.

I would also like to make mention of Big Ben's coach and our coach, the late Terry Hoeppner. It was Coach Heoppner that put Miami University in the sporting spotlight with great humility. Coach Hoeppner was honored today in Miami's "Cradle of Coaches". It is probably Coach Hoeppner's success with Miami football and Ben Ben that now has the NFL taking a closer look at the Mid American conference.

Ben and Terry, thanks so much for the memories. We love you guys.

Until the next dive-bomb my darlins, MEOW!