Alumni try again to play in Britt memorial game

After a rain out, Hudson and Ridgewood alums play at 7 tonight.

HUDSON - The Donnie Britt Memorial Alumni football game is back on for 7 tonight.

The game at Hudson's Cobra Stadium between the Ridgewood and Hudson alumni teams is a fundraiser organized to raise money for scholarships and to honor Britt, the youth football coach and supporter who died in late January. The game was scheduled for mid April but was rained out.

"Actually it was really bad, it was one of the first times it rained in a couple of weeks and it was pouring," said April Britt, the coach's widow. "The Ridgewood players left anyway hoping it would stop raining by the time they got to Hudson. But then it started lightning so they called it."

Donnie Britt was also one of the originators of alumni football, which began at Gulf and spread to Ridgewood. The teams met for the county's first alumni game, then the concept spread as River Ridge and Hudson got into the act.

This will be the first time Hudson's alumni face a county foe. Britt suggested there should be a Hudson-Ridgewood game last year after the Cobras' first alumni intra-squad game.

April Britt is amazed at the excitement about this game.

"I know all the alumni, they want to play this game," she said. "I think it's a good thing that they're trying to do it for the scholarship. But they're boys. When (Gulf alum) Jim Watson first called Donnie to do it, I said none of these overgrown men will want to go out and do it, but they all showed up. They're thrilled to do it."

Tickets are $5. All proceeds go to raise money for a scholarship to be given to a senior athlete or cheerleader from each school, said organizer John Carroll, Britt's friend and an administrative assistant at Hudson.

The pregame ceremony starts at 7 and Britt's family, coaches and friends will attend. Kickoff is at 7:30, and beforehand Donnie Britt Jr., the Britts' 8-year-old son, will call the coin toss while wearing his father's No. 54 Ridgewood jersey.