Former Auburn/Alabama football stars get pie in face for a good cause

Quentin Riggins and Wesley Britt both took one for their teams on Friday.
Riggins, who played linebacker for Auburn University, and Britt, a former offensive lineman for the University of Alabama, pied each other in the face outside the Power Gallery in Corporate Headquarters to celebrate the success of “Let’s Can Hunger,” the Alabama Power Service Organization’s canned food drive. The drive, which pitted employees who are fans of the schools against each other, raised more than 2,100 pounds of food that will be donated to the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama.
Each of the former football stars had agreed to be pied in the face by the other if his school came up short in the competition. But Britt made sure both received faces full of pie. When Keisa Sharpe-Johnson of Alabama Power’s Public Relations Department announced the totals for the weigh-in, Alabama fans had a comfortable lead: 1,076 pounds to 804 pounds for a total of 1,880 pounds of food collected. Riggins was prepared to meet his fate.
“It’s great we did this Auburn vs. Alabama to encourage the rivalry, to encourage bringing in (food),” Britt said. “But ultimately this is about feeding people who are starving, who can’t find a meal.” At that point, Britt announced that he and his fellow employees in the Economic and Community Development Department were donating enough food to the Auburn side to throw the competition into a tie. That pushed the final total for food to more than 2,100 pounds.
Brian Hoffman, the president of the Food Bank’s Junior Board, said more than 2,100 pounds of food provides more than 18,000 meals. Also, Alabama Power employees and the Alabama Power Foundation contributed $1,000 to the cause. “We’ll both take a pie in the face to feed people,” Britt said. “That’s what it’s about.”
The two didn’t go easy on each other, smearing the pies – provided by Greensboro’s PieLab bakery and restaurant – into each other’s faces and hair. “Wesley said it right,” said Riggins, his head slathered in cream pie. “We’re having fun, but it’s really for a serious cause. Next year let’s try to double the output. And guess what? War Eagle!”