A living legend returned to Nunley Stadium last week as Jeff Womack made his long-awaited return to his hometown. Womack was honored before homecoming, walking to midfield with former teammate Todd Willmore as his accolades as a Pioneer were announced.

If you know anything about Womack, then you know it took a bit of time to get through everything he accomplished as a Pioneer. Womack still holds every rushing record (season and career) in Pioneer history and his 1,183 career rushing attempts are still tops in the history of Tennessee football. 

In fact, if you added up the career stats of the No. 2 and No. 3 all-time rushers in history (Caleb Northcutt and CJ Taylor), they still wouldn't surpass Womack's numbers for yards (6,450 to 6,029 for CJ and Northcutt) or attempts (1,183 to 930). 

Womack has always been spoken about with reverence by people around the Pioneers, but his absence was always noticeable during past celebrations of the teams he played on or for when the school honored him personally (he has a banner hanging at Charlie Dalton Gym).

While it was nice to see the Womack finally get his flowers, it feels like the community as a whole still did something Womack rarely did in his career - drop the ball. 

First, I've seen the team pictures from this year - both freshmen and varsity - and there is a No. 43 on both. Aside from trying to make Womack's number synonymous with hustle and Pioneer excellence and bestow it on a deserving member each year, there's really no reason anybody should wear that number again. Put it this way: there hasn't been a No. 1 roaming the Pioneer sidelines since CJ graduated.

Second, if Nunley Stadium is going to continue to be the beacon of football in Warren County and held up as a shrine of all the great things about Pioneer football, how is there not a single stitch of recognition on anything for arguably the greatest player to ever put on the uniform? Be honest - how many people even knew Womack wore No. 43? 

Lastly, if you were one of the people in the stands who was able and couldn't be bothered to stand for a minute when Womack took the field Friday, what exactly are you going to stand for in celebration of Warren County football? Perhaps the cheerleaders should have started throwing out small toy footballs to get some people out of their seats because apparently a legend wasn't enough for everybody.

Look, I know Womack has actively avoided the spotlight since his Pioneer days (and college days and pro days) and there's a good chance the modest celebration around him was at his own request. That's fine with me. 

I know it meant a lot for Willmore to see Womack back  on the field and Matt Turner never misses an opportunity to celebrate Pioneer lore. 

Hopefully this was just Step 1 of more to come in honoring Womack. I hope he comes back again soon. 

Maybe next time, it'll be to debut a banner on the pressbox at Nunley Stadium or  - in my opinion - name the field after him.