File Photo/The Clayton Tribune. Quarterback Gunner Stockton (14) as a Rabun County junior prepares to release a deep throw the sideline to a Wildcats receiver.
umbers have been held in high regard as tools for measurement and logic as they form the basis of scientific and mathematical principles.
Numerals also can carry notable cultural and spiritual meaning as those digits are utilized in various belief systems, folklore, and religious texts to symbolize concepts like luck, completeness, or even destiny.
Sometimes it is basic numbers – be it good or bad – like in the numbers seven and 13.
In the arena of athletics, it sometimes comes down to a person wants to honor the legacy of a player who wore a specific jersey number years before.
When Lee Shaw left Flowery Branch in 2011 to take over the head football coaching at his alma mater Rabun County, he brought with him many winning aspects that have helped establish the current victorious foundation for Wildcat football.
One step toward a stronger overall program for Shaw was making a jersey number one of impact.
Shaw, who was inducted into the Rabun County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024, wanted to pay tribute to his Rabun County uncle Horace Ramey, who played in the latter 1970s, so Shaw wore No. 14.
The No. 14 would become a major part of Shaw’s family on the gridiron. At Flowery Branch, Shaw’s sons Connor and Jaybo both would wear the one-four. The Shaw brothers also would wear the number in college.
The recent Rabun County standout to make the No. 14 among the most watched Wildcat jersey on the field is Gunner Stockton.
Stockton, now a redshirt junior at the University of Georgia, wears the No. 14 jersey as the Dawgs open at home between the hedges Athens against Marshall of the Sun Belt on Aug. 30.
That No. 14 also was worn by Stockton’s father, Rob, during his days playing for Rabun County and then his Hall of Fame career at Georgia Southern.
Jaybo Shaw would become the RCHS head football coach after his father Lee in 2019, and the younger Shaw would stay in that position until Stockton’s final game as a senior in the state playoffs.
“The No. 1 thing is love,” Jaybo Shaw told The Clayton Tribune of the meaning of No. 14. “The people who wore it made an impact. My Dad, my brother, (former RCHS standout) Bailey Fisher, Gunner. If I could say one thing, it would be love, impact love.”
After a stellar high school career at Flowery Branch, Shaw went to Georgia Tech to be on a Yellow Jacket roster that operated the triple-option offense under head coach Paul Johnson. When assistant Georgia Tech coach Jeff Monken was hired to be the new head coach at Georgia Southern, Shaw also would leave metro Atlanta for Statesboro.
Shaw wanted to wear No. 14 in the Eagles’ blue and white, but he knew one player from the 1990s’ blue-and-white made an impressive showing every Saturday wearing that number. Gunner’s dad Rob tackled people with authority from his safety position as an Eagle on sweltering, gnat-riddled days in the ‘Boro.
“I am getting choked up about this right now. I remember when I got to Georgia Southern, I called Rob and asked his permission if I could wear his number. That was the first call I made,” Shaw said.
Shaw and Monken helped re-establish the option offense and Georgia Southern’s winning tradition – one that had seen the Eagles capture six FCS championships between 1985-2000.
“It was not just about being a good player, but it was about the impact that was made,” said Shaw of those who have donned the No. 14. “We have to have leaders on and off the field. It is very special.”
So ingrained into Shaw’s thoughts about No. 14 that whenever he and his team looked on the field at an opposing team, they would collectively search for the opponent’s player wearing No. 14.
“It is habit. We look at another team to find who their No. 14 is,” said Shaw, who after leaving RCHS coached at Wayne County in Georgia for two years and at Greenville, S.C., for one, is back in North Georgia at Dawson County as head coach this 2025 season.
Shaw’s brother Connor would wear the No. 14 at the University of South Carolina.
Rabun County assistant football coach Wes Holcombe is among those to wore No. 14 as a Wildcat player. While wearing the jersey started somewhat nonchalantly, the impact of the number soon became evident to him.
“I got it because I liked the number. I didn’t know the significance of it,” Holcombe admitted to The Clayton Tribune.
Then he would hear the history of the No. 14 and years later Holcombe would marry Lee Shaw’s daughter, Anna Kate, the sister of Jaybo and Connor.
The No. 14 link came full circle then. The Holcombes have three children as the older siblings Shaw, 5, and Russ, 2, can be seen wearing No. 14 jerseys at Wildcat games. Brother Drew is 8 months old.
“Lee came to Rabun County and made it significant,” said Holcombe of No. 14. “He said you always should play for the guys before you.”
When Holcombe went to Western Carolina to play quarterback after a standout career at Rabun County, Catamount freshmen were not allowed to choose their own number so he got No. 9. As Holcombe became a Western Carolina upperclassman, he would select No. 14.
“Me, Jaybo, Connor, Lee, everybody in my family wore 14,” Holcombe said. “My boys take pride in wearing No. 14. The video package (of years of RCHS highlights) that plays before the home games plays in our house a lot. They know Gunner, Bailey and me, of course. Fourteen is special to them too. They wear 14 jerseys to the games.”
Lee Shaw wore No. 14 for the Wildcats to honor Ramey. Then those who followed wearing the number in order were former RCHS assistant coach Rob Stockton; current RCHS athletic director Jonathan Welch; Billy Edwards; Kolby Bird; Holcombe; Fisher; and Gunner Stockton.
No one has worn No. 14 at Rabun County since Stockton’s last game in November 2021.
“The No. 14 is more than just a number when it comes to Wildcat history, and I was fortunate to have Coach Lee Shaw explain that to me before deciding to wear it,” said Fisher, a former RCHS quarterback who would lead the Runnin’ Bulldogs of Gardner-Webb to back-to-back conference championships.
“There has been some greats to wear 14, and I was able to learn from two in particular that was on the coaching staff during my time there in Coach Rob Stockton and Coach Lee Shaw,” said Fisher, who was named the Big South “Offensive Player of the Year” in 2022 after playing for RCHS from 2014-2017.
“Two guys that exuded toughness and I know they definitely instilled toughness mentally and physically into me,” Fisher told The Clayton Tribune of Stockton and Shaw. “I also had the pleasure of wearing the 14 after Wes Holcombe, a guy that was part of laying of the foundation for the success that Rabun County football has experienced the last 10-12 years.
“Wes was another guy that demonstrated toughness as I remember watching him as a senior playing his last several games with what I believe was a broken right hand or wrist, obviously he was not able to play QB, so he went out there on the defensive side of the ball and played corner to finish out the season,” Fisher said.
“It was an honor knowing I was following in the footsteps of guys like the three I named. I took great pride in upholding what the No. 14 means to not only them but all the other guys that have worn it as well,” Fisher said. “Some of my most memorable football moments came during my time in the Wildcat No. 14 jersey. It was a special four years in Tiger and I’m just glad I was able to leave my own mark on the No. 14.”