I made the three-hour bus trip from State College to Pittsburgh for the weekend, excited to see my brother’s basketball team take on the highly-ranked Jeannette Jayhawks in the second round of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) playoffs.
And, of course, I wanted to see Terrelle Pryor with my own eyes.
For months, I had heard about the 6-foot-6-inch quarterback from Jeannette High School who could run the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds. The talk increased when he decided not to sign a Letter of Intent on National Signing Day.
A true athlete, Pryor had been dominating on the basketball court, while waiting to make a decision on which college he would attend. It seemed to be the general consensus that Pryor’s decision to take more time to pick a college was a good sign for Penn State.
On Feb. 16, I arrived at the Baldwin High School gymnasium with my family and the families of my brother’s teammates at about 10:30 a.m. for a noon tip-off. Spectators started filtering in shortly after, anticipating a sell-out crowd.
The South Fayette fans saw a hard-fought game, worth every penny of the $6 they paid to spectate. Both sides played their hearts out through four periods and overtime. In Pryor, they saw a tremendous athlete—fast, strong, and agile.
They also saw one of the most disgusting and, quite frankly, disappointing displays of unsportsmanlike behavior they’d ever witnessed. It started before the tip-off and lasted well after the final buzzer.
He never properly was rebuked for it by the refs or by his own coach. Perhaps it was because he is considered by many to be the Prince of the WPIAL, the Duke of High School Sports, or the Lord of Gridiron.
In any case, I can’t remember when athletic prowess became a free pass to act like a jerk.
Pryor taunted the South Fayette players/coaches with a condescending laugh as they filed into the gym for the pregame shoot-around.
His Royal Highness then took time out of his warm-up to threaten the South Fayette student section, comprised of no more than 50 students, one of whom was dressed like Ohio State football head coach Jim Tressel.
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