Anger Management
Right: Terrelle Pryor going up for a shot in the PIAA Class AA quarterfinal basketball game against North Catholic, last Saturday. Pam Panchak/Post-Gazette Photo
As we check in on every one’s favorite high school football/basketball star from Jeannette, Pa., Terrelle Pryor, it has been reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he and his teammates will have to undergo anger management classes, among other penalties, due to their actions following Saturday night’s Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class AA quarterfinal basketball game against North Catholic at Hempfield High School in Landisville, Pa.
The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) conducted a two-hour hearing and the Board of Control assessed penalties for both schools which included two years’ probation plus the anger management classes that by the end of the school year, among others, Monday night.
There were 14 Jennette players in attendance at the hearing, but Pryor was not one of them.
According to the Post-Gazette, Pryor said this in a text message on why he didn’t attend:
Because I’m not talking to the media. Everyone blames me.”
In another Post-Gazette article, it was stated that an altercation took place in a hallway near North Catholic’s locker room following Jeannette’s 86-60 win, in which Pryor was involved.
Jeannette star Terrelle Pryor was one of many players involved in the fight, although Hempfield assistant coach Rob Stauffer, who was escorting North Catholic to the locker room, told state police he held Pryor back during the altercation. Numerous players from both teams also were involved and police were on the scene after the game investigating the incident. Police said last night (Saturday) the incident, so far, is being treated as a disturbance and no criminal charges have been filed.
Pryor also said the fight started after a North Catholic player ’said some things to us’ while Jeannette’s team was walking to its locker room in the bottom level of Hempfield’s gymnasium. Pryor said other Jeannette players claimed a North Catholic player used a racial slur.”
What wasn’t handed down were any suspensions, thus Pryor and his teammates will be able to play when Jeannette takes on North East at Sharon (Pa.) High School, tonight.
Last month, Pryor was taunted unmercifully during a basketball game against South Fayette, in which one student donned a red sweater vest and said the following while Pryor was shooting free throws, “Hey, Pryor, look, it’s Jim Tressel. Here’s your daddy for the next four years.”
After the game, Pryor went towards the South Fayette student section and had a prolonged exchange of taunts. It lasted several minutes before his teammates dragged him away.
Shortly thereafter, a police officer told a Jeannette assistant: “You’re lucky we didn’t take your kid (Pryor) in. He threatened to go into the crowd.”
Ugh!
Last October, Pryor was cited for creating a disturbance at Kennywood Park, which is an amusement park located near Pittsburgh.
According to a report by WTAE-TV 4 in Pittsburgh:
Police said Pryor was escorted out of Kennywood after getting into an argument with another customer at the park and he continued to be physically offensive with security and created a large disturbance, and that’s why he is being cited.”
While I would look forward in seeing Pryor wearing scarlet & gray, I’m not so sure if all of the extra baggage he brings with him from Pennsylvania is worth it.
Is he worth the headache? Is he a head case? Could he become a bust? It’s obvious that his maturity and decision-making are very questionable.
