Mtn. View ‘un-retires’ #44 football jersey for senior running back

(Update: adding video, new information, comments from Luke, his father & head football coach)

Luke Roberts wears #44 in honor of his uncle, an '85 grad who died in military service

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Luke Roberts has been cutting up the competition this year for the Mountain View Cougars. The senior running back racked up more than 230 rushing yards and five touchdowns last week alone.

However, there's one number in particular Luke thinks about every time he takes the field: the one he wears on his jersey – the number 44.

"When I wear it, I think of my family and my grandparents that, you know, lost him, and his siblings and everything,” Luke told NewsChannel 21 Thursday.

Luke was referring to his uncle, Dave, the last person to don the number 44 at Mountain View.

Dave was a running back and linebacker, just like Luke. He played in the early to mid-'80s, when the school's football program was just kicking off.

Dave’s younger brother and Luke’s father, Mark, said, “He was definitely an All-League player. He played in the Shrine game. He was All-State. So he was a great football player."

Mark continued, about Dave, saying, “He was just a beast out there, I guess I would call it."

After graduating in 1985, Dave Roberts entered the ROTC program at Oregon State University before becoming a pilot in the Navy.

Then, in 1992, Dave was involved in an accident during a training mission on Whidbey Island in Washington.

"They take turns flying,” Mark said. “It wasn't his turn to fly at that time, so he was just a passenger in the time and had a wreck and passed away there."

Ever since then, the number 44 has been hanging up in the auditorium lobby at Mountain View. It's the only jersey number to be retired across all sports at the school.

Now, almost 30 years later, Luke wears it in his uncle's honor.

"I’m playing for more than myself, more than my team,” Luke said. “I'm playing to represent him every game, and stuff. So it's really cool."

Mark added, "How cool is that that he gets to come out here and play on the same field that my brother did? Wear the same number? And that's just been an honor for all of us, our family and everything."

On top of his retiring Dave’s jersey, the football program also started the Lieutenant K. David Roberts Memorial Football Award, given to the student-athlete who best exemplifies "Mr. Mountain View," as Head Coach Brian Crum put it.

When NewsChannel 21 asked about Luke's chances of winning that award this year over text late Thursday, Coach Crum responded, ”Pretty good…..”

Earlier Thursday, Crum said, "He's exactly what we want our student-athletes at Mountain View to be like. He's that poster boy for that."

Even when Luke takes off that jersey for the last time, and it gets retired again, his name could be etched in school history, creating his own legacy, alongside his uncle.