GHS Jersey #44* 

You will find it in the foyer of the gymnasium at Guthrie High School - inside the trophy case, among the many hallowed trophies. It is, itself, not a trophy, not a symbol of any kind of victory or conquest. It will, however, forevermore hold a place of honor and respect for every student, teacher, and parent that that walk the halls of GHS. It is a simple frame. It holds a jersey, a picture, some green and gold symbols. To outsiders it is simply a number...44. To the people that knew him it will always be Tom Butler.

On September 8, before a homecoming crowd, underneath Friday night lights, Guthrie High School graduate Tom Butler’s football jersey was officially retired.

‘It was something we had thought about doing,’ Guthrie Principal Roddy Shipman said. ‘Just a few days after the accident Coach Larry Reid and I hit on it at about the same time. Everybody wanted to do it. It was the least we could for a young man who touched so many lives here. We just want people to remember and know who he was.’

At halftime of Guthrie’s homecoming game with Westbrook High, people quietly, and fondly remembered Tom as Principal Shipman, Superintendent Dan Pickering, and head football coach Larry Reid presented his parents, Kelly and Tracy, and younger brother, Pat, the elegantly framed jersey that will hang in the GHS trophy case.  

Tom died February 28 of this year in an automobile accident while helping a friend move. At the time he was attending Vernon College and was about to transfer to Texas Tech to pursue a career in AgriEconomics. He was young, eager, vibrant, full of life, and, tragically, taken in an instant. For his parents, it was an almost impossible situation. ‘We are so thankful for this community we live in,’ his mother Tracy said. ‘They were so supportive of us. I don’t know what we would have done without the love and support they gave us.’ Tracy and Kelly, both obviously overcome with the emotion of the ceremony, said it was truly an honor for the people of Guthrie to do this for them, to do this for their son. ‘It’s really hard to put it into words,’ Tracy said. ‘We’re both filled with so much emotion right now.’

While in no way did the gesture dull the pain of a tragic loss, it did give a community a chance to show their love and respect to a grieving family. It is a simple truth that there cannot be life without death. It is also a truth that we cannot fully understand why a life so young and full of promise is taken so soon. We, as a community can only trust in God’s path and trust that he has a plan.

Someday soon, when Tom and his family are reunited, that plan will be understood. 

And for all that the community did to honor Tom on Friday, it seemed the greatest honor came from his young brother, Pat, who with bull like determination, scored the final touchdown of the game. For Pat it was much more than six points, and sometimes, it’s so much more than a game of football.

*Article written by Chad Piper, Paducah Post, September 12, 2006.