Our tribute shirt to Sean Taylor is finally in stock. It took some work, but we were able to pull it off before the end of 2007. For those interested in ordering the new tee, click here. Also available in kids sizes.
A lot went into getting this shirt made. Outside of the standard discussions with the university, allCanes wasn’t going to move forward with this design until we had spoken with the Taylor family and determined where a portion of the proceeds would go.
Our GM Harry Rothwell finally caught up with Pedro Taylor this past week and got his blessing regarding the new design. Mr. Taylor also told us of one of Sean’s charities in Tampa and that’s where we’ll be making our donation.
I know many of you were asking about authentic or replica jerseys for Sean, but that wasn’t doable right now. More time, energy and effort will go into making that a reality in 2008. We’ll need to get Nike behind it and will find out if the are willing to recreate a 2002-2003 era Miami jersey so the authenticity is there.
‘U Family’ is a design we concepted late in the 2006 season regarding the state of the program and a way to rally the fan base together. Days before the shirt was set for release, Bryan Pata was murdered – bringing even more perspective to an already down season.
We chose to dedicate the shirt to Pata and helped raise over $10,000 for The Bryan Pata Foundation thanks to the help of our customers. A year later, we’ve unexpectedly relaunched the shirt for Sean. Another Cane taken too soon and hardly the way we wanted to bring a legendary shirt back for the fans.
We saw several Redskins-themed items out there, but there was a void for the Canes fan base who considered Sean Taylor a Cane first and an NFL superstar next. We hope we’ve done just that and will do all in our power to get Nike to produce a jersey in 2008.
Almost a month has gone by since Sean’s passing and the Christmas season is upon us. While most of us might not dwell on this tragedy every minute of every day, please remember the Taylor family in your prayers over the holidays. This wound is as fresh to them today as it was November 27th. They have a huge, unfillable void to deal with this time of year and need all the support they can get.
I’ve been waiting for this shirt for a while now. I placed my order this morning for 4 shirts. I really hope Nike puts out the Authentic jersey next year. Have you created the petition yet?
The University of New Mexico football team has very similar, if not the same design (except for the numbers font) that the Canes had in the early 2000’s. Hopefully Nike can make those in the Canes design as it seems like they are still producing a model like the Canes wore. Hopefully Nike will do the right thing here and produce this jersey.