Honoring those who served

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South Torrance, which hosts Hawthorne at 7 tonight, will use the halftime break of its season-opener to honor two former football players who recently died while serving our country in Iraq.

Army Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr., a 2005 graduate of South Torrance, was a familiar figure to many of the Spartans’ current team members. Army Spc. Micah Gifford, a 1997 graduate, was known to the school’s first-year athletic director, Kevin Van Waardenburg. Van Waardenburg is a 1999 graduate of South Torrance.

The jerseys of both servicemen will be retired and presented to members of their respective families during intermission.

They are the first former South Torrance football players to be so honored.

It’s a nice gesture -- a deserved one -- and the least that the football team, or anyone else, can do to recognize the efforts and sacrifices of any member of the armed forces.

But let’s hope and pray there aren’t any more such salutes this season.

- Lauren Peterson