LUTZ – From the bleachers, the numbers sewn into the mesh of a jersey is simply a form of identification to see who’s on the field at the particular moment.
But through the eyes of athletes, the single or double digits may represent who they are, how their past has been shaped.
I talked to three student athletes from Steinbrenner, to get their personal perspective on what that number on the jersey, means to them.
Baseball’s May continues a family legacy
When senior outfielder Sammy May was given the choice of uniform, his eyes immediately flashed to the blue and white number 20 lying among the jerseys. The tradition his older brother had started several years before, would continue throughout his baseball career.
May started on the junior varsity squad at Tampa’s Jesuit High, freshman year, but leaped at the opportunity to open up a new program with former Tigers’ coach John Crumbley the next year. His father, Dave May, who would become the Warriors’ developmental squad coach the same year, followed in his son’s footsteps.
When the team met for summer workouts, May would carry the number 20 with him then and keep it for the rest of his time as a Warrior, where he has made a big impact during his first full season as a starter in left field, including a mention in the Tampa Bay Times as a “HomeTeam HotShot”.
May says the number comes from his older brother, Davey, who was a standout at the high school and college level.
“My brother, had number 20 in high school and went on to play with it in college,” May said. “He became an All-American for Division III in college and that’s where it came from.”
- May is fielding a baseball offer from the United States Merchant Marines Academy in Kingpoint, NY.
For Jones, ’18’ represents who he is on and off the field
Since his sophomore season when the school opened in 2009, senior ATH Zack Jones has sported the number 18 on his blue and gold. Over the last three years, Jones says the number grew on him and he hopes to carry it to Stetson University, where he signed a letter of intent on Feb. 3. However, it wasn’t always what he wanted.
“I didn’t get to choose my number,” Jones said. “It was assigned to me by (coach Floyd Graham) and at the time it meant nothing to me and I didn’t like it.
“I wanted to make a name for myself and when people think of the number 18, I want them to remember the work ethic and the heart that the first ’18 wore in Steinbrenner history.”
Jones added if he can’t keep the number after high school, he will always carry it as a lasting memory.
Maloney has seen his share of changes
To say Joey Maloney’s basketball career has been consistent, is a far stretch from the truth.
From freshman year down Dale Mabry at Gaither, to missing some of his sophomore year at Steinbrenner to now finally capturing a .500 season for a basketball team that won a mere seven games in two years combined. Things seemed to have been all but straight forward for the 6-foot-6 senior center.
Including his number.
“I wore number 20 as a freshman (at Gaither) and then 18 for baseball,” Maloney said.
Up until this year, he hadn’t earned much recognition off the court. But after being named a second team Western Conference All-Star, he says his current number, 31 (which he has worn since 2010), holds a special place in his heart because of the success that he has seen with it, even if it didn’t symbolize much early on.
“I just needed a number for basketball (at the time) and I thought it was the number that’d (look best) on the back of a jersey. … I want it to be my number for the rest of my career.”
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