The Township Council presented proclamations to Lakewood and Toms River high schools for November 2019 marking the 100-year anniversary of the first Toms River-Lakewood high school Thanksgiving football game.
This year’s game takes place tomorrow, November 28th at 11:00 AM in Lakewood at the Russel E. Wright Sports Complex.
The proclamation read in part:
WHEREAS, the Toms River-Lakewood Thanksgiving football game became an iconic football rivalry throughout the Twentieth Century and into this century; and
WHEREAS, when the rivalry first began one hundred years ago, Toms River (then known as Dover Township) and Lakewood were sleepy little communities in the Jersey Shore with populations of 2,198 and 6110, respectively (in 1920); and
WHEREAS, when the rivalry first began, World War One had just ended the year before, in 1918, and the first “Armistice Day” parades were held in the United States in 1919 and the “Lakewood Eleven Drubs Toms River,” as reported in the Asbury Park Press, 46-0, in the 1919 inaugural game; and
WHEREAS, the “Turkey Day” contest has become an annual, time honored tradition in the two communities; and
WHEREAS, numerous civic leaders, committeemen, councilmen and Mayors from both towns have participated in this annual Toms River- Lakewood Thanksgiving Day rivalry; and
NOW, THEREFORE, Be It Resolved by the Township Council of the Township of Toms River, in the County of Ocean, State of New Jersey, as follows:
1. It hereby commemorates and recognizes the one-hundred-year anniversary of this classic Jersey Shore high school football team rivalry.
