1. Uniforms with a special meaning
By: Tiffanie Smith
Staff Writer
Athletes for every sport has a uniform that they wear for games including jersey numbers and
for these Georgia State players, there is a meaning behind the gear and the number. Whether it is
that they chose the number randomly or that it has an inspirational effect, there is a story behind
it.
Three soft ball athletes all had interesting tales when it came how they nagged their numbers.
For player Whitney Phillips, one of the famous players from the Atlanta braves, Chipper Jones,
was her reason behind her number 10.
“Well, I've grown up a Chipper Jones fan, go Braves,” said Phillips. “He was number 10, and so
when I started playing fast pitch softball, I decided that's the number I wanted to be. I've been
number 10 most of my life through travel ball, high school, and it just worked out that as a
graduating senior. I was number 10, so it was open when I came to Georgia State as a freshman I
grabbed it.”
Panther Paige Nowacki seemed to have something in common with Phillps, as she and her
brother also chose her number because of her favorite baseball player on the Chicago Cubs,
Sammy Sosa.
“I chose 20 because it was the closest to 21 for me,” said Nowacki. “My number growing up was
always 21 as well as my brothers. We had this number because of the Cubs player Sammy Sosa
and he was our favorite baseball player. When I couldn’t have 21, I went to the closest possible
number and I fell in love with my new number.”
It was a funny and unique story when it came to athlete Carrie Williams. Coming into her
freshmen year at Georgia State, it was playing a child game that got her number.
“When I came in my freshmen year there were only two numbers left, 22 and 30, because at the
time there was a rule that we could not pick a number from one through nine,” said Williams.
“Both Audrey [Mason] and I didn’t want the number 30, so being the mature freshmen we were,
we decided to play Rock-Paper-Scissors to see who go to pick the number they wanted. I won
and picked 22 and Audrey got stuck with number 30.”
With men’s basketball player R.J. Hunter, his number has a special meaning behind it, being that
he reps the same number his dad head coach Ron Hunter used to wear.
“My jersey number 22 means a lot to me,” said Hunter. “It originated with my dad. I had been
wearing a different number, number 31 in honor of Reggie Miller and then in middle school I
changed it to number 22. My dad is very inspirational to me and he taught me the game of
basketball and everything I know.”
Coach Hunter says he hopes to keep the number 22 as a family tradition.
“It has kind of turned into a family tradition for us to wear number 22,” said Hunter. “Hopefully
we can continue to pass it down and someday his son will wear the number 22 as well. We
shared the same name and the same number, so that is special for us.”
Whether the reason is because of family, a favorite team, or just a silly game, these panther will
continue to wear their numbers with pride.