Air Force’s football program needs to recognize greats from its past. Army has retired the numbers of four football players. Same with Navy.

Air Force has retired zero. It’s time to increase that number to at least two.

But I’m afraid an overstated emphasis on team will prevent the academy from retiring the No. 6 worn by Dee Dowis and the No. 87 worn by Chad Hennings.

Troy Calhoun is a fan of Dowis and Hennings, as football players, as cadets, as humans.

“Certainly the two most recognized players in the history of the Air Force Academy,” Calhoun says. “Both were major, major impact people on the program, and just really high-quality people, too.”

But Calhoun is not a fan of singling out football players for honor.

“I do think what’s kind of neat about this school, it’s a little bit more than one person, in terms of what you’re trying to instill in these cadets,” Calhoun says.

Those, Calhoun says, are “the values that you hold dear.”

To translate: Calhoun is not totally comfortable with seeing Dowis and Henning exalted above other former Air Force players. The coach is not alone in his discomfort.

Sports awards are tricky. A mom and dad soon will rejoice when their son is selected as most valuable of his football team. Meanwhile, other families will be enraged and baffled. What, these families will bellow, about my son?

It’s the same with retiring numbers. If the numbers of Dowis and Hennings are retired, as they should be, supporters of other greats from Air Force’s past will begin campaigns. Going from zero retired numbers to two, or maybe more, will complicate lives in the Air Force athletic department.

But it’s a worthy complication.

I’ve campaigned for years for Mitchell High running back Terry Miller’s enshrinement in the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame. Miller, who graduated from Mitchell in 1974, ranks as the greatest high school running back in state history. He finished second in Heisman Trophy voting in 1977 and fourth in 1976. He was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills. He gained 1,060 yards as an NFL rookie.

But he’s not in the Springs Hall of Fame.

His Mitchell teammates don’t worry about Miller being singled out. Neither do players from opposing high schools who suffered during Miller’s many sprints to the end zone. They – teammates and opponents – want to see Miller honored, and they are angry that he’s been excluded. Trust me on that one. I talk several times each year with Miller supporters. Lifting Miller would lift his teammates and opponents, too.

Honoring a worthy football player is a superb way to build community. Air Force struggles to sell football tickets. The population of the Springs keeps growing even as crowds at Falcon Stadium keep shrinking.

Revealing the past will help attract spectators. Many fans – or potential fans – have only the vaguest sense of Air Force’s football history. They don’t know the Falcons flirted with the 1985 national title. They don’t know Hennings overpowered offensive linemen in 1987 on his way to 24 sacks. They don’t know about Dowis and his scampers to the end zone in 1989.

It’s not in the Air Force football tradition to retire numbers. I get that. I also understand it’s time to change that tradition.

Army has retired four numbers – Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis, Joe Steffy and Pete Dawkins – but no player crafted a career judged worthy of number retirement since Dawkins, who finished in 1958.

Navy is not so stuck in the past. The Midshipmen retired the numbers of Heisman winners Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach, followed by Napoleon McCallum, who finished his Navy career in 1985.

In the offseason, quarterback Keenan Reynolds was given a rare, and deserved, honor. His number was retired almost instantly after a spectacular four-season career that included 88 touchdowns, a 7-1 record against Army and Air Force and 4,559 rushing yards.

Reynolds was the Dowis of the second decade of the 21st century. He was entertaining. He was beloved by his teammates. He led Navy to upsets. He was given his just reward.

Air Force should embark on a fresh, superior tradition and give the same just reward to Dowis and Hennings.