The Gillett school colors may be black and red, but green is the color that will memorialize a 2006 Gillett High School graduate. Green — as in the green grass of the Gillett High School football field and practice field.
A foundation created in memory of Joshua Richards will donate approximately $17,000 for sprinkler systems to be installed on both fields. The School Board agreed to name the practice field after Richards, and a stone marker displaying his photo will be placed there.
Richards died in 2013, and family and friends started the Joshua J. Richards Charitable Foundation in 2014. The foundation raises awareness for the University of Wisconsin Organ Donor Program, and raises funds for youth sports programs and children’s extracurricular activities.
According to the foundation, Richards saved seven people with his gifts of organs and gave two individuals sight. In addition, up to 60 individuals will benefit from his tissue donation, including his mother, Jackie Pische, who serves as president of the foundation.
“We had an opportunity to meet the organ recipients,” Pische said.
She was so moved by the experience, she wanted to “carry on the good work,” and the foundation was born.
The foundation raises funds through a golf outing and a poker run and has helped organizations such as the Menominee Tribal Hoops Program, Oconto River Kids and Laps for Reese.
Richards played football at Gillett High School, and after graduating became a body builder and competitive football player for the Green Bay Blackjacks.
“Joshua was a huge sports person,” Pische said.
He graduated from Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and worked as a diesel mechanic.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing to have as a tribute to Josh,” said School Board President Miles Winkler, before the School Board unanimously accepted the donation.
Board member Jamie Heroux said watering the field was a two-hour chore last year, because the sprinklers needed to be moved around so often.
Superintendent Todd Carlson said the irrigation system will especially benefit the practice field.
“That practice field turns into almost cement by midsummer, so that will make it a usable area,” he said.
The school district already has a well and pipes laid for an irrigation system.
“There was some future planning done to have a sprinkler system put in,” Carlson said.
Irrigation Doctors, of Green Bay, will install the irrigation system as early as this spring.
The foundation plans to contribute the funds for the sprinklers over a two-year period.
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