Annual football game keeps memories of local officer, firefighter alive
Nov. 4—To Eddie Burke, Battalion Chief Joshua Laird was "the most awesome dude you'd ever want to meet."
Burke and Laird graduated from the fire academy together, and both worked at the Green Valley Fire Station in Monrovia, although on different shifts.
On Saturday, Burke was in the stands to watch a flag football game at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School in Frederick. The game, played between personnel from the Division of Fire and Rescue Services and the Frederick Police Department, honored two fallen comrades of the men on the field: Laird, and FPD Lt. Andrew "Stew" Alcorn.
Laird, 46, died from injuries he sustained fighting a house fire in Ijamsville on Aug. 11, 2021.
He spent 21 years with the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, served as a captain at Green Valley, and was posthumously promoted to battalion chief.
He is survived by his wife, Sara, and two daughters.
Alcorn, 39, died suddenly at his Middletown home on Aug. 22, 2021, after 14 years with the Frederick Police Department, and was named the department's Officer of the Year in 2011.
He is survived by his wife Jenn, a son, and two daughters.
A definite family man, Laird always looked out for his firefighters and put himself second, Burke said.
Warming up on the field before the game, Frederick Detective Chris Chiaravalloti remembered Alcorn, who served as both Chiaravalloti's lieutenant and the center on the department's flag football team.
He was a nice guy, who would give you the shirt off of his back, Chiaravalloti said.
The firefighters won Saturday's game, 27-3.
But while the competition was intense on the field, the focus remained on the two men for whom the Annual Laird/Alcorn Memorial Bowl was named.
Saturday's event is a great way to bring the community of first responders together, and to keep Laird and Alcorn's names alive, Sara Laird said before the game began.
She said she and Jenn Alcorn are trying to build it into an even bigger event.
This year was the third game since the annual matchup was renamed to honor Alcorn and her husband.
"We've just kind of embraced it," she said.
Since Alcorn used to play in the game, it's still surreal that his name is attached to it, Jenn Alcorn said.
"It meant a lot when they did that," she said.
Firefighters and police officers work together every day, and having the game named after Alcorn and Laird "brings it full circle that everyone is on the same team," Alcorn said.
Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP
