Editor’s note: In the final 50 days before Chip Kelly and the Ducks return to the field to defend their status as Pac-12 Champions, the Emerald sports desk will take a look back at one University of Oregon alumnus each day whose jersey number corresponds to the amount of days left before the season opener against Arkansas State.
Today’s edition of our countdown to Sept. 1 will make sparse mention of on-field glory and Oregon gridiron success, as the Emerald takes a step back to pay respect to two Duck underclassmen who saw their promising lives and careers cut tragically short. Todd Doxey and Terrence Kelly may not have performed in front of the raucous crowds of the Pacific-10 Conference, but their impact still reverberates far outside the range of Autzen Stadium.

Family members carrying a “Kelly” jersey  walk through the Oregon team during Senior Day proceedings in 2007
Kelly signed a letter of intent to play for the Ducks in 2004 as part a heralded group from De La Salle High School that included future starting wide receiver Cameron Colvin and starting defensive backs Jackie Bates and Willie Glasper. He fought through the barriers set before him; his father was well-known on the streets of Richmond when Kelly was born, and many kids regarded him with a jealous eye as he used his athletic prowess to rise above the gang life around him.
After a summer spent on campus preparing for fall camp, Kelly — widely expected to see significant playing time as a freshman — returned home for a final visit with friends and family before coming back to Eugene. While waiting outside a family member’s house, Kelly was gunned down by a 15-year-old who friends said resented the football star for, among other things, beating him in a basketball game.
The reaction was of not only grief, but also frustration from members of the Richmond community.
“It’s a shock,” Justin Alumbaugh said, then a De La Salle coach, to ESPN. “He was a young man who was doing everything right. He was an inspiration, he was admired by everybody.”
“It’s so senseless and tragic. It’s hard to explain,” then-Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti told Sports Illustrated. “Certainly it’s very difficult to begin the season with this type of thing. But the most important people are Terrance’s family and friends … our prayers go to them.”

Doxey came to Eugene out of Hoover High School in San Diego as the district’s all-time leading receiver, spending his redshirt season working on the defensive side of the ball. On July 13, 2008, he went with team members to float down the McKenzie River  — a July-month tradition that goes back to the 1980s.
“We didn’t have flotation devices,” Jeff Maehl – a former Oregon receiver who came to Eugene with Doxey as a defensive back – explained to CBS Sports.
Maehl and Doxey were among the players who decided to jump into the river from a bridge that’s about 20 feet above the water. Nobody was clear on what happened to Doxey when he hit the water, but before he jumped, Doxey told Maehl that “God was on his side.” Doxey struggled to stay afloat after hitting the water, and other players were too far downriver to help him. He was pronounced dead at Sacred Heart Hospital later that evening.
His death shocked the Oregon community and left a lasting impression of the members of his freshman class; Maehl has a tattoo of Doxey’s full name covering one of his forearms.
Additionally, the football team chose a different player each week during the 2008 season to wear Doxey’s #29, and otherwise retired his number through the 2011 season — covering the years he would have played for the Ducks. Incoming freshman defensive back Stephen Amoako will don the jersey this fall.