Dexter High Grad Shares Thoughts on 'Al' Ritt

Former Dexter High School assistant principal, coach and teacher Elvin "Al" Ritt died March 8 at the age of 77. Ritt, a long-time Dexter resident, battled leukemia for two years.

Jacob Waldrup, 19, former student at Dexter High School and now a freshman at Adrian College, interviewed Ritt in 2010 for a class project on the oral history of Dexter. He shared with Patch his experiences getting to know Ritt.

I first heard of Elvin “Al” Ritt when I moved to Dexter at the age of eleven. At the time I had no idea who he was; I just imagined he must have had a major impact on Dexter to have the football stadium named in his honor. 

I never knew Mr. Ritt as anything more than a name until my sophomore year of high school (2010) when I chose to interview Mr. Ritt.  I conducted this interview as a requirement for an Oral History of Dexter project that we were creating as a group in my Michigan History class. 

We were creating this Oral History of Dexter because we were learning that all history originally comes from a first person source that retells what they experienced. 

As a class we were challenged to create a history of Dexter by interviewing those who have had a lot of experience in the town over the years.  I chose to interview Mr. Ritt because who better to interview about Dexter than the man that the Dexter high school’s football field is named in honor of. 

Although my interview with Mr. Ritt did begin as a requirement, after meeting and talking with him it quickly turned into a privilege.  I got a lot more from my interview with Mr. Ritt than just great information for our project, I also received a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of the greatest men Dexter has ever seen. 

Mr. Ritt ended our interview offering me this, “Well, you know, I think everything tends to get bigger and better … We have always had good parents and good kids. Dexter is a good place. I would just say everything just gets better and every year you find something better to do here and something better to do there.” 

This statement means a lot coming from Mr. Ritt; it shows just how much he thinks of Dexter and gives his perspective on life that you need to keep moving forward and things will take care of themselves.  

- Jacob Waldrup

Browse Waldrup's oral history project on Ritt for a class he took at Dexter High School here.