On Monday, Hamilton County, Ohio, Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou announced that Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Tyler Eifert w...
On Monday, Hamilton County, Ohio, Republican Party Chairman Alex Triantafilou announced that Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Tyler Eifert will honor the memory of former St. Louis Police Capt. David Dorn, murdered in June during riots in St. Louis, Missouri, by displaying his name on his helmet. Triantafilou tweeted, “Got some very good news from former @Bengals player/current @Jaguars player @tylereifert that he will honor fallen police officer David Dorns (sic) on his helmet. Always been a fan of Tyler’s and God bless him.”
In 2017, Eifert wrote an essay published on Medium titled “Why I Stand” in which he stated:
I know it would probably be best to stay out of it, but when you believe in something as much as I do it gets to a point where you want both sides to be heard. I am not questioning anyone’s reasons or rights to protest, but instead the method. This entire protest about raising awareness for racial inequality has gotten lost in the media and turned into a debate about whether to sit or stand for the national anthem. I want to take this time to remind everyone why I stand.I stand because I love my country. I stand because I want to honor the people putting their lives on the line for me on a daily basis in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. I stand because my cousin is a pilot in the United States Air Force, risking his life flying F-15s in active war zones. He takes pride in his job protecting Americans, a sacrifice that all members of every branch of the United States military willfully take.
Eifert stated that he intended to write former NFL star Pat Tillman’s name on his cleats. (Tillman, a safety for the Arizona Cardinals, was named to Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated’s 2000 NFL All-Pro team; eight months after 9/11, he left his NFL career and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004.)
Eilert added, “And each game thereafter, I am going to write another person’s name from the United States military, whether active, retired, killed or missing in action, or a prisoner of war. These people are why I am standing because they gave me and everyone else the chance to have freedom and earn a living playing a sport I love.”
“Per a source with knowledge of the situation, players may display the names of victims of police violence and/or systemic racism on the padding along the bottom of the backs of their helmets … The names will come from an approved list, with names like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery among the possibilities,” Pro Football Talk reported on Sunday.
The Daily Wire reported on June 3 of David Dorn’s death:
Retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn was trying to defend his friend’s pawn shop Monday night as the city continued to devolve into chaos. In video that has since been removed, Dorn, 77, can be seen defending the business during his last moments of life. Dorn was killed by looters and rioters who broke into Lee’s Pawn & Jewelry; his body was found on the sidewalk outside around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Associated Press reportedthat no arrests have been made in the case so far.Dorn’s wife, St. Louis police Sgt. Ann Marie Dorn, told the St. Louis Dispatch that her husband was friends with the owner of the pawn shop and regularly came to the owner’s aid whenever alarms went off.Dorn retired from the St. Louis police force in October 2007 after serving 38 years. His close friend on the force, St. Louis County police Chief Tim Fitch, who knew Dorn for 30 years, told the media that Dorn and his wife helped disadvantaged youth while he was on the force.
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