By THOMAS RANSON
Nevada Appeal News Service
FALLON " Almost 15 years ago, Fallon Greenwave coaches were handing out uniforms to their freshman football players, who were eager for their first season to begin.
On that hot afternoon, Lawrence Mori wanted to bestow his family's jersey onto his freshman prodigy, Harvey Dahl. The No. 59 was first worn by Mori's uncle, and then he wore it before relinquishing the green and white jersey to his brother, David.
"It's been kind of a family thing. When I was coaching with Harvey, he found out about it and wanted to wear it," said Mori, who was a line coach at Fallon.
Mori wanted Dahl to be the next one to wear his family's jersey.
"They were giving out numbers one day and he said that you should wear this number," Dahl recalled. "I wore it all through high school."
Now, after wearing jerseys for the Nevada Wolf Pack, San Francisco 49ers and the Atlanta Falcons, Dahl returned to Fallon in front of a packed crowd at the Elmo Dericco Gym Tuesday night as the Greenwave athletics department retired the 1999 Fallon graduate's jersey.
"It's nice seeing a bunch of people I haven't seen in a long time," said Dahl, whose Falcons jersey will be displayed at the gym and the football complex. "The community is awesome. I hope people see that you can go long with it (dedication). It's a good example that it can be done."
Many former coaches, teachers and fans were on hand for Dahl's homecoming, including his former football coach, Tommy Thomson. Thomson, who coached Dahl for two years on varsity, knew how much wearing that Greenwave jersey meant to the program, Dahl and the Mories.
"We kind of passed that number to Harvey because of the tradition of two all-state players," Thomson said. "Harvey took that number out of respect to the Mories. We kind of believe that number's been lost. The tradition of that number goes back way beyond Harvey. It's not that we don't want the number retired; we do. Harvey's done a tremendous job not only with UNR but with the NFL."
Dahl has made the Greenwave proud since he left and played for four seasons with the Wolf Pack and garnered numerous awards including all-WAC honors his last two years. The Cowboys signed him as a free agent in 2005, but released him until the 49ers put Dahl on the practice squad. Dahl signed with the Falcons before the end of the 2007 and started in all 17 games this year as Atlanta made it to the playoffs.
"It's been great. We improved tremendously," Dahl said of the season. "It's a stepping stone for next year. We exceeded expectations. It's a good spot for us to be in for next year."
Dahl's accomplishments and how he overcame several hurdles has given the Greenwave football program motivation that anything can happen.
"My goal of doing this was to let the community shine on Harvey's success," said Fallon football coach Ray Holladay, who coached against Dahl in football and wrestling while he was at Reed. "I'm hoping the kids see that with hard work and persistence, you can reach your goals.
"Not all of us are gifted as NFL or Division I athletes. If they'll take that lesson, they'll learn to never give up, follow your dreams and persevere. He kept working hard and he worked his way into a steady position."