News
RB To Stir Up Some Fun With Football Parade This Friday
By John Burton
RED BANK - It's going to be a little bit of old time-Red Bank and for Red Bank sports this Friday evening.
As the sun sets Friday evening, it could mark the rising once again of a former tradition that had occurred in the borough maybe going as far back as the 1940s.
Friday evening Red Bank Catholic High School's football team will square off against Red Bank Regional's team at the borough's Count Basie Field, RBC's home field.
But what makes this game somewhat unusual this year, is that prior to the game the marching bands from both schools, as well as cheerleaders, will lead the way by way of a short parade to the field - just like they used to do.
According to Del Dal Pra, athletic director for Red Bank Regional High School, 101 Ridge Road, Little Silver, and a Red Bank resident, he had spoken to Mayor Pasquale Menna over the summer about trying to reinstitute what had been a longstanding tradition in the borough.
Dal Pra, who is in his early 40s, is too young himself to recall the heyday of the friendly rivalry that had existed between the schools for many years. But in his discussions with some local old-timers, it appears the tradition dates back to at least the 1940s. The two teams and their marching bands and cheerleaders would have the annual parade for the game into the 1950s and '60s. The event actually continued until 1975, when the borough's high school, 101 Harding Road, now the district's middle school, closed, and Red Bank became one of the three sending districts (along with Little Silver and Shrewsbury) for the then newly built regional high school on Ridge Road.
After the relocation officials tried to continue the tradition, "but the schools decided it wasn't worth it," Dal Pra said.
On game day, and those games were during the day, before the field had lights, the borough high school band and others would march from Harding Road to the field, with RBC marching from Peters Place, from the school grounds.
On Friday, the two groups will make their way from Peters Place and travel along Broad Street to East Bergen Place, west across Maple Avenue to Drs. James Parker Boulevard (formerly West Bergen) and on to Count Basie Fields.
Along with encouraging school and community spirit, the event, according to Dal Pra, will be a means of highlighting the efforts of kids who play in the bands and the cheerleading squads, whose work sometimes gets overlooked. "I thought this would be a great idea to give publicity to our band and cheerleaders," he said.
Red Bank Regional's team plays in the B North Division in the Shore Conference, and, "We're kind of separate from RBC in the conferences," Dal Pra acknowledged. But this pairing may, "get more interest in us to play closer games," he said, as RBR tends to travel quite a bit of distance to play games in Manchester, Toms River and all over the county.
"A lot of our games are all over the place," he said, "But what I would like to do is to stay a little closer and play those rivalries we had in the past."
This tradition may not happen every year again, but Dal Pra said it could continue on an irregular basis, with other events that could highlight the teams, bands and cheerleaders.
