Blondes vs. Brunettes

The gridiron season is starting early for some 60 Northwest Arkansas women when blondes face off with brunettes in the third annual RivALZ Blondes vs. Brunettes flag football game April 1 at Champions Stadium on the campus of Cross Church in Springdale. The benefit game for Alzheimer’s Association Arkansas will begin at 1 p.m., with an after-party immediately following at JJ’s Grill on Wedington in Fayetteville.

Tickets for the game only are $10; tickets for game and post-party are $15.

The nontraditional fundraiser started in fall 2005 with the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and has since expanded to 40 cities nationwide, raising more than $5 million for the association’s care, support and research services.

Nicole Olson and Leanna Shadlow are the captains for the blondes team and coached by Chuck Washington, Michael Smith, Marshall

Foreman and Greg Wise. Brunettes are led by Courtney Norton and Meredith Lowry as captains and are coached by Marvin Caston, Hubert Loudermilk and David Harris.

Olson said she is playing in honor of her mother-in-law, Gwen Olson. “She is an amazing woman who is battling Alzheimer’s. My husband is a true hero. His day starts and ends with his mom. He takes her Starbucks every morning and gives her all the medication she needs. She can call one to 10 times a day, and he never misses a beat with her. It’s the most raw true love I’ve ever seen between two humans. I play for them!”

Carly Dethlefs, Alzheimer’s Association Arkansas special event coordinator, said the fundraising goal for the event is $400,000.

NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Casey Dye (from left), a senior medical student at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest, Betty Anderson and Mandy Gittins participate in a mock consult for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. The Blondes vs. Brunettes charity football...