Students prepare a 44 jersey to be exhibited.
When Brian Tarrant’s email arrived in the inbox of design faculty in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), it carried with it more than a simple project proposal. It carried the weight of history, the story of college football’s most famed number—the legendary 44—and those who wore it.
Tarrant ’96, a former Orange football player and senior vice president with MC2, a brand experience solutions agency, reached out to partner with the University. He sought help curating the memorabilia and developing the storytelling for the Legend of 44 exhibition, which his company designed.
To create the exhibition, environmental and interior design students Trisha Mohta ’28, Katja Wetzel ’27, Carmela Garcia ’26, Isabel Lamporte ’26 and Holly Ishiro-Randall ’26—along with museum studies graduate student Daniel Griffaton G’26—worked alongside faculty members Zoriana Dunham, assistant teaching professor, Andrew Saluti, associate professor, and Tarrant and his team.
The students learned the stories behind the artifacts, including game-worn helmets from Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown ’57 and Rob Konrad ’02, the last Syracuse football player to wear the number before it was retired in 2005. They visited the storage site to measure objects and examine them firsthand.
The challenge was to translate decades of achievement, sacrifice and cultural significance into a cohesive narrative that would resonate with fans across generations.