Add the names Rick Middleton and Jack Edwards to the list of hockey luminaries who’ll help make the Rhode Island Reds Heritage Society’s 18th Annual Reunion of the non-profits best ever events.

The Aug. 5 reunion, which will be preceded by a meet and greet with old-time hockey heroes on Friday evening at the Hampton Inn and Suites on Post Road as well as the Annual Dinner Dance on Saturday night on Aug. 4, is reading more and more like Mecca for autograph seekers.

When the actual reunion gets underway at 12 noon inside the famed carousel building at Goddard Memorial State Park in Warwick, the stage will be filled with some of the greatest professional ice hockey players in the Reds’ fabled and storied history.

“We’re expecting up to and possibly more than 26 ice hockey legends,” said Sylvester “Buster” Clegg, the one-time Reds General Manager. Clegg has been the driving force behind the sustained success of the Heritage Society that has more than restored and preserved the fabled history of the one-time pro hockey franchise that provided thrills and chills for thousands of fans from 1926-27 to 1976-77. “Everyone’s excited about the Reunion and we’re hoping for a sellout.”

The Aug. 5 reunion will feature Middleton – a former Reds standout and NHL great – and the Aug. 4 dinner-dance will be highlighted by Edwards, the now-famous Boston Bruins sportscaster.

“It’s an exciting time,” Clegg concurred while noting that Middleton and Edwards “will be coming home to where they started. We’ve got quite the line-up this time.”

Perhaps never before in the society’s history of hosting the reunion has interest been so high.

Middleton spent one season (1973-74) with the Reds as a New York Rangers’ farmhand when he was easily becoming the most recognizable player on the team. That year the young right-winger scored 36 goals and had 48 assists for 84 points en route to earning the AHL’s Rookie of the Year honor.

He was quickly promoted to the NHL Rangers and played two seasons in New York before being traded to the arch-rival Boston Bruins where he spent the next 12 seasons where he earned the nickname “Nifty” for his puck-handling skills in the NHL.

In his 13 NHL seasons, Middleton recorded 493 goals, 595 assists for a total of 1,088 career points in the regular season and postseason combined.

Like Middleton, Edwards will be coming back to where his highly-acclaimed career began when he was a popular sportscaster at WJAR-TV.

Like Clegg, Edwards is a UNH graduate who had enjoyed success during his time at ESPN until he became one of the most recognized play-by-play sportscaster in NHL television broadcasters.

People who’d like to purchase tickets for either Reds’ event should call Mal Goldenberg at (401) 782-6623 or mal@rmcri.com.