The Rye – Harrison football rivalry extends down the Atlantic seaboard according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. Rye Garnet pranksters sent a giant letter "G" to the home of University of Maryland football coach Ralph Friedgen. In the 1960s, Friedgen played quarterback for Harrison High School and was coached by his father Ralph Friedgen Senior. The Baltimore Sun said:
"Ralph Friedgen’s high school football past literally showed up on his doorstep last season.
Interviewed in his office recently, the coach recounted how a giant "G" was delivered to his home.It looked like a University of Georgia flag. Why, Friedgen thought, would Bulldogs rooters send him such a thing when Georgia wasn’t on Maryland’s schedule?
Friedgen soon learned it wasn’t a Georgia "G." It was the symbol of the Rye (N.Y.) High School Garnets.
The Garnets are the rivals of Harrison High, where Friedgen played quarterback and was coached by his father in the 1960s. The "G" was left by someone as a prank. Friedgen said his initial thought on the perpetrator was: "Get a life.""
(PHOTO: Ralph Friedgen, Jr.) Ryefootball.net recounts the famous rivalry of the 1960s:
"Throughout the 60s and most of the 70s, the teams frequently played even with an unusual pattern of alternating road victories with home losses emerging. Epic battles between the Garnets and the Huskies matched the best Westchester football coaching minds of Harrison’s Ralph Friedgen, Sr. and Art Troilo, Sr. against Rye’s Ben Bedini and John Nugent. In what has become a familiar Harrison pattern, Ralph Friedgen, Jr. played quarterback for his father during the 62-64 seasons and went into coaching. Friedgen, former college roommate of this "Old Garnet", is presently the University of Maryland’s head football coach."
