After 40 years and 23 players wearing the jersey, Zander Gorman epitomizes what it means to wear 27.
At the start of this season, he was named one of the team’s captains, fitting for a player with his number. Gorman was chosen to wear it last year and is now starting his second season as safety for the Caravan defense. He is an anchor for the defense and leads on and off the field. Players and coaches alike credit him for his grittiness, work ethic, and positive energy, making him a perfect player to wear number 27.
However important the number may be today, it was not always a centerpiece for the football program. Current MC vice principal Mr. Bill Nolan was a Caravan football player in 1985 during his junior season, and after losing his previous jersey number, he decided on number 27. This was MLB catcher Carlton Fisk’s number with the Red Sox at the time.
“He was my favorite player,” Nolan explained. “Carlton Fisk had just recently signed with the White Sox, and he was number 72 with the White Sox, [but] his original number with the Boston Red Sox was 27.”
By the end of his senior season, Mr. Nolan had made a name for himself as a hard hitter and tough player.
“I was really gritty,” he said. “They decided to put the 27 on the guy who represented that grittiness and toughness… the guy who represented that Mount Carmel toughness.”
Today, Gorman draws many parallels to Nolan and other players who wore the number.
“I’m probably one of the hardest working people,” Gorman said. “I don’t want to be outworked by anybody, and I think that’s what the coaches saw and why they asked me to wear that number.”
An interesting thing about Gorman is the fact that he is from Lockport. Being almost an hour away from school, he never considered Carmel until another number 27, Joey Thompson, made contact with him.
“He’s actually one of the main reasons why I came to this school,” Gorman remarked. “I was at an eighth-grade graduation party, and his family happened to be there. [Later on] I came [to the school], I watched the game and got to see him play.”
While living far from school is something he has adapted to over the years, many of his teammates credit that as one of the reasons for his work ethic.
“It’s pretty uncommon for a kid from Lockport to wake up every single day and make the trip down to Mount Carmel,” captain and senior linebacker Matt Mucha explained. “He brings along everybody else from the South Suburbs. He’s here on time every single day, working hard.”
Mucha also credits Gorman with being one of the best leaders of the team. He demands a lot but also cares for each player.
“He’s a very vocal leader,” Mucha explained. “He’s talking and making sure people know where they need to be, and one thing that comes to mind is he’s always willing to help you out.”
Gorman says that being surrounded by other leaders and being at Mount Carmel is what molded him into the man he is today.
“The thing about this school and being a leader is if you buy in, and you invest, it’s really hard not to become a leader,” said Gorman. “It’s part of the process.”
Before the Loyola game last year, Ryan Gilhooly ‘24 had an important conversation with him and gave him a symbolic chain.
“I wear this little [number 27] chain,” Gorman said. “He gave it to me, and he told me, ‘Zander, this is the equivalent of the S Superman wears on his chest, and I want you to wear it just like you’re wearing a superhero uniform.’”
He felt that this was the moment when he finally realized his role as the 27.
The creator of the number’s significance, Mr. Nolan, sees Gorman as a perfect representation of what it means to play for Mount Carmel.
“He’s a team-first player,” Nolan explained. “He puts his body and soul into everything he does.”
