Schools
Ridge Football Player Who Scored Team's First TD Added to Hall of Fame
Thirteen honorees include person who scored the first touchdown and present-day coaches.
Thirteen former "RHS Greats" who have been inducted into the Ridge High School Athletic Hall of Fame included two coaches and 11 players who all played a memorable parts in the achievements of Red Devils athletics.
The inductees include Bill Glasser (Class of 1963), who scored the first touchdown in the school’s very first opening football game versus Mountain Lakes in 1961. Other inductees included all state and all county award winners and N.J. State Champions and many who received collegiate acolades and success.
Other honorees include Chris Bell, class of 1985; Erik Dial, 2000; Lori Dickerson Fouche, 1987; Stu Hulke, 1996; Beth Kelshaw Fowler, 1985; Elyse Meredith, 2000; Bob Pearce, 1967; Bob Saraceno, 1984; Dave Shannon, 1980; and Cindy Stake Chartrand, 1993.
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Glasser, Class of 1963, has two records that cannot be broken. Along with the first touchdown ever by the Ridge football team in 1961, the year the high school opened, he also pitched the first no-hitter for the Ridge High School baseball team.
Later, when he was a student at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennysylvania, Glasser said he played football alongside the Mountain Lakes student player who had blocked his extra point kick. Otherwise, he said, Ridge would have won the game, which ended in a 6-6 tie.
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Glasser had traveled all the way from South Carolina to attend the induction ceremony.
The Ridge High School Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 2002 through the efforts of citizens and coaches who felt the need to honor those who excelled on the field as well in the community. Friday evening, the commitee inducted their fourth class to co-incide with the 50th anniversary of the opening of Ridge High School. The event was held at the Basking Ridge Country Club.
Missing from the event was former Ridge girls soccer coach Glenn Crooks. Coach Crooks, another inductee, is presently the women's varsity coach at Rutgers University and his attention was required at their home game with DePaul University.
Crooks was a 1976 graduate of Ridge and was the first girls soccer coach in 1983. He coached the team for 10 seasons. During that time his teams posted 144 wins, 51 losses, two Mountain Valley Conference championships, three Somerset County Championships and two state championships.
