A Story to Tell for Years to Come
Mosley’s number retirement will recall a life well lived
Mike Brohard
People will wonder. The curious will seek the full story, which is what Eric Mosley has experienced firsthand.
Pilots earn their wings, which Lt. Col. John Mosley did in his time with the Tuskegee Airmen. His son, Eric, had those wings, as well as his star and wreath, made into a bracelet Eric wears on his right wrist. Fellow pilots know what they represent and will ask the story behind the symbols.
This has happened quite often in Eric’s 30-plus year career as a United Airlines pilot. Fellow pilots will see it and assume they are his, then he tells them about his father. The life story of John has been shared many times through those years, thousands of feet above the ground while the plane is on autopilot.
“It’s always a conversation piece,” Eric said from his office in his Aurora home. “You can tell a lot about a professional aviator by what hat he wears, his uniform, his wings. It’s an unspoken language.
“And many go and look him up.”
Colorado State’s athletic department has assured the story will be told for generations to come when John’s name will soon grace the inside ring at Canvas Stadium by retiring his number across all sports moving forward. It is the latest in a list of honors for the decorated athlete, pilot and community activist.
Eric, and around 20 members of his family, will be on hand for the Sept. 7 football game against Northern Colorado when a ceremony will be held in John’s honor. His name, and his No. 14, will join Greg Myers (3), Eddie Hanna (21) and Fum McGraw (48) inside the stadium.
In 2004, John and his wife, Edna, received Doctorate of Humane Letters Honorary Degrees from Colorado State. Seven years later, the athletic department created the Lt. Col. John Mosley Mentoring Program as a resource for Black student-athletes, a program later expanded to include all student-athletes.
Mosley, who passed away at 93 in 2015, is a member of the CSU Athletics Hall of Fame as well as the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame. Eric believes he would have handled this latest honor the way he accepted all the others.
“I think he’d have a number of emotions. Pride would certainly be at the top of the list,” Eric said. “He worked very hard to achieve what he was able to achieve at CSU and after graduation as a Tuskegee Airman and a community leader as well.
“I think this would truly would have moved him emotionally. Pride, and a sense of humility as well. I think he was a man who understood his place in history with the Tuskegee Airman, but he was very humble as were most of them. When questioned about his experiences in the Air Force, in some regards they were bittersweet, because of discrimination he and others faced at the time, but also humility that through hard work and opportunity and a faith as well, in himself and in his God, that he was able to achieve some pretty special things.”
He wasn’t afraid to be himself when I read about him. He’s very inspirational to anyone and everybody who should know about him, and they should.Katy Coffin
There were four current Rams wearing the number – Tory Horton (football), Katy Coffin (soccer), Marta Leimane (women’s basketball) and Luke Murphy (men’s basketball), and all can continue wearing the number for the remainder of their careers. A fifth has been added, as softball player Giselle Bentley, a sophomore, has switched to 14 – for good reason. Bentley is the student president for the Lt. Col. John Mosley Student-Athlete Mentoring program, another way for her to represent the man and his organization.
To be able to do so feels like a double honor for Coffin, who herself did some research on the man whose life led to the retirement.
For Coffin, the number carries some power as it was the one her grandfather wore as an athlete. To be the last soccer player to grace it for the Rams feels special.
“It does. This summer I got to play with Caeley Lordemann who also wore 14 before me,” Coffin said. “Representing both of us and representing him is a huge honor. Leave a legacy, right?”
Mosley certainly did.
He came to Fort Collins to enroll at Colorado A&M at a time when the university and city were segregated. He was a National Merit Scholar at Denver’s Manual High School when he graduated in 1939 and he immediately started to break down barriers.
He would become the school’s first Black football player since the mid-1900s when he walked on to the team, and despite the pushback from players on the team, he persevered. He would become the first Black letterman in the sport at the school, but he would also join the wrestling team, earning all-conference honors on the mat.
Those would not be the only obstacles he would clear. He became his class vice president in both his junior and senior years.
“Of all the things he accomplished as a Tuskegee Airman, as an Air Force officer after the Air Force was desegregated, his community activism and achievement in his civilian life, that one frankly touches me as one of his most compelling and extraordinary achievements,” Eric said. “He spoke very highly of that experience.”
After graduating from the university, he set his sights skyward, training to be a pilot for the Army Air Corps. He enrolled in the Tuskegee flight training center, becoming one of the first Black bomber pilots in the country’s history, serving in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. He retired as a Lt. Col in the U.S. Air Force and spent the rest of his life as an activist, becoming a spokesperson for Black athletes, the Tuskegee Airmen.
He set a path for others to follow, inspired people to believe in what they felt they could achieve, to detour down a path others may have tried to block. That type of determination allowed others such as Eric and his two sons to become pilots themselves. As Eric’s career is coming to a close (he will retire from United Airlines in October), those of his twin sons – Kyle and Patrick, both captains in the Air Force – are very much just getting started.
This is the man Eric is glad future generations – and those currently wearing his number – will learn about.
“I would like them to know is that against all odds he and members of his generation where able to achieve incredible things,” Eric said. “There is such an unfortunate division in our culture where folks are trying to find reasons why they may or may not be able to reach their full potential. Something dad stood for and stands for, if I may, is that with the right “flight plan” and hard work and determination, there’s really hardly anything you can’t achieve.
“Dad and his colleagues and members of that generation are incredible evidence to that truth. While we might face obstacles, and I will acknowledge some are higher than some others might have to face, the fact remains. Take Lt. Col. John Mosley as your example, those obstacles, if you have the right determination, can be overcome.”
Which is what Coffin discovered for herself. She and three other current Rams will be the last to wear the number, and they’ll do so proudly. For personal reasons, but also to represent a man they never knew, one who they have found inspired countless others before they were born.
For them, it will be an honor to be the last and to represent a man whose life was well lived. Coffin has gained insight. In the future, others like her will be introduced to his life story, one which should be told to future generations.
“I’ve learned just how amazing he is. He’s a trendsetter,” Coffin said. “He wasn’t afraid to be himself when I read about him. He’s very inspirational to anyone and everybody who should know about him, and they should.”
A remarkable story about a fascinating man, one ready to be shared through the ages.
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