The Riverhead Blue Waves retired Technical Sergeant Dashan Briggs’s No. 22 football jersey during an October 13 ceremony in his honor.
Briggs was killed in a helicopter crash March 15 while serving in Iraq. He was a 2007 graduate of Riverhead High School.
During the somber ceremony, held on the high school football field, coaches took turns remembering Briggs.
“When he smiled, the whole world smiled with him,” head football coach Lief Shey said.
The last two Riverhead jerseys bearing the No. 22 were presented to Briggs’s wife, Rebecca. The district also unveiled a display of Briggs’s jersey, which will be permanently installed above the sports box on the high school football field. Briggs’s jersey is the only one to have ever been retired ceremoniously on the Riverhead football field. The high school has retired two other jerseys in the past — Derrick Robinson’s No. 36 and Henry Franke’s No. 50.
Superintendent Dr. Aurelia Henriquez said Briggs left a legacy that will never be forgotten.
“His name will live on forever in Riverhead,” she said. “And we will make sure no one will ever forget him.”
