Gosetti family celebrates 50 years of football

Thursday, November 23 was the 50th Anniversary of the five Gosetti boys playing a family and Friends football game. Back in 1967 brothers Steve and Jerry started playing football one on one on the side of their parents house in Johnston.

Today, the game has grown where at times as many as 22 to 25 people come to play. There have times when the weather made it such that as few as seven or eight have showed up. Weather conditions, whether it was over a foot of snow or more, heavy downpours, icy conditions to some of the warmest days ever has never deterred or cause to cancel the game at any time. A tradition of family and friends playing two handed touch an automatic event, where people show up every Thanksgiving morning at 8 a.m. at Deerfield Park in Smithfield. The game generally lasts till around 11 a.m., sometimes due to weather the game may end early. The five boys, Jerry, Steve, Ray, Guido and Chris are very tight as family goes. All having their own families and their own life’s concerns, yet they make the time and commitment to meet on a day of thanks to reconnect to the glory days of their youth. This 50th anniversary was dedicated to their parents Guido and Catherine who have passed. (Text and photos by Jerry Gosetti)