New York Giants rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers will have a new number when the team opens the season at home against the Vikings.
The sixth overall pick in this year’s draft will become the first Giants player to wear jersey No. 1 since 1935. The number, which Hall of Famer Ray Flaherty wore, was retired following that season.
It was the first retired jersey number in professional football.
“I’m going to represent their family’s retired number well,” Nabers said. “I’m going to try my best. I’m grateful that they chose the opportunity to un-retire the jersey and let me wear it. I’m going to wear it with pride.”
The rookie wore No. 9 throughout the spring and summer but needed a different number since kicker Graham Gano is No. 9. He wore No. 8 at LSU, but that belongs to quarterback Daniel Jones.
“Everybody else’s number was really taken,” Nabers said. “I looked into retired jerseys, and number one stood out. So, I asked John Mara(Giants owner) about it. He was like, ‘We could give it a shot.’ So, we gave it a shot.”
The team only approved the number once the Giants got permission from the Flaherty family, which included Ray Jr., daughter Shelby, and sons Chad and Conner.
“I understood that Malik was interested in wearing number one, and we initially told him, ‘No, it’s been retired for many years,’” Mara said. “Then I thought, I think we’d be willing to allow it if the Flaherty family would be agreeable to it. I spoke with Ray Flaherty. Jr. a couple of weeks ago and I’ve had several conversations with him since, and they called me today to tell me that they would be agreeable to allowing Malik to wear the number.
According to Flaherty, the family’s consent was not automatic.
“There were a few things,” Flaherty said. “Probably one of the most important is I kind of polled my family. I’ve got two sons and a daughter. And, of course, that’s their grandfather. Initially, my daughter wasn’t that excited about it. And it was she that came around. Eventually, she said, ‘It might be lucky for him. That number one might be a good number for him.’ She acquiesced. We thought that would be the way to go.”
Flaherty was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1976. He played for the Giants from 1928-29 and 1931-35 and helped them advance to the NFL Championship Game in 1933, 1934, and 1935. He spent the 1930 season coaching at Gonzaga. Flaherty finished with an 80-37-5 record as a coach with Boston, Washington, New York Yankees, and Chicago Hornets. He passed away in 1994.
