Riverside Alumni Reunion Committee members will host a Blue and Gold Basketball Game fundraiser April 16 at 5 p.m. inside Riverside's Gym on the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences campus.
Community members are welcome to attend. Concessions and T-shirts will be sold.
"It will be a fun game with former players getting together," said Emma Craig Cox Jones. "We are hoping to have 1,000 or more people in attendance. The former Riverside Lady Trojans will do a shoot-out before the game."
Riverside Alumni Reunion Committee members from left are Emma Craig Cox Jones (Class of 1975), Ralph Ward (Class of 1965) and Valerie Scott Ford (Class of 1981). They are organizing a Blue and Gold Basketball Game fundraiser and Riverside High School Alumni Reunion.The Chattanooga Magicians AAU 11-year-old boys will warm up like the Harlem Globetrotters to the tune of "Sweet Georgia Brown" during the game's halftime.
Riverside Class of 1965's Ralph Ward said the halftime show will bring back fond memories. He said Riverside High School basketball players were known for performing Harlem Globetrotter moves to "Sweet Georgia Brown" before games.
He said former Riverside basketball players and coaches will play in the Blue and Gold game.
"The game will be something to see," said Ward, adding that Riverside was the overflow high school for Howard High School.
Former Riverside basketball coach Leroy Alexander, who took the team to win the state championship in 1972, will coach the game. He will be assisted by coach Ed Odom and coach Charlie Parks. Former Riverside basketball players taking the court by storm will be Todd Lansden, William Lansden, Reginald Knight, "Sly" Ware, "Big-Apple" Brown, Bo Ellis, DeWayne Lewis, "Frog" Morgan, Geoffrey Willis, Ronald Drake, Aubrey Sewell, Kenneth Hunter, Reginald Favors, Joel Terrell, Danny Wesley, Jesse Traylor, Ronald Odom, Charles Andrews and Ike Sandford.
The basketball game will help fund the Riverside High School Alumni Reunion, to be held Nov. 26 at the Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center for all classes of the school's existence from 1963-1983.
The Class of 1966 contains some familiar faces, said Ward: actor Samuel L. Jackson and local attorney Rheubin Taylor.
"Since we started planning the reunion, a lot of people are excited and can't wait to come," said Jones.