This had me thinking when guys on another thread were talking about Terrell Pryor being a distraction in the locker room. We all know he had issues at Ohio St and with the law. Austin Scott is another one that has been discussed often on here. Two big ones in my area (district 10) were Greg Garmon the 2011 running back from McDowell. He started over James Connor and was the starting running back at Iowa as a freshman. He ended up dropping out of school and was involved in a home invasion. Another big one was deshawn Coleman who was the 2012 running back at hickory. He originally committed to WVU but couldn't get his grades up enough to enroll. He then committed to Gannon but was kicked out before he even got to school. He then shot at a ice cream truck and is a doing time in the department of corrections as we speak. What are some of the other unbelievable talents in the state that couldn't stay out of their own way and were their own worse enemies?
Great athletes in Pennsylvania that got in their own way and couldn't stay out of trouble.
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For me Eric Reynolds from CB South high school always comes to mind https://levittownnow.com/2016/03/08...tball-star-sentenced-state-prison-5-15-years/. I believe he had a full ride to Boston College and or Temple but drugs got the best of him
Herb Pope stands out the most to me if we are talking all athletes
he was just as good if not better than guys like Dejaun Blair and the Morris twins, as he proved in head to head competition
Blair was first team all american and had about a 6 year career in the NBA, Morris twins were great college players and are still in the NBA to this day
Pope's problems are too long for me to list here, complete waste of talent
he was just as good if not better than guys like Dejaun Blair and the Morris twins, as he proved in head to head competition
Blair was first team all american and had about a 6 year career in the NBA, Morris twins were great college players and are still in the NBA to this day
Pope's problems are too long for me to list here, complete waste of talent
Two state champ wrestlers from Erie McDowell were Steve spearman and Shawn spearman. Steve was a state champ at 135lbs and was locked up for aggravated assault and Shawn was an unbelievable wrestler and football player and is currently locked up in one of the biggest drug busts in Erie. The schools and courts kept giving them slaps on the wrists for the longest time because of their athletic talent.
Football Side
YaYah McGurn/Sean Burgio, RBs, Easton
The only time Nick Saban has ever been at Easton Area High School to recruit was to come see YaYah for a school visit in 1999 when Saban was at Michigan State. McGurn, a 6'2 220 pound running back was coming off of a 1,000 yard junior season (in just eight games played), which included a 37 carry, 184 yard performance against the '99 Parkland team that was ranked in the top 20 in the country in one of the biggest postseason upsets we've had up here. He also was an all conference basketball player, who posted one of two 40 point games ever at Easton in the D11 tournament as a junior. Yah is a sad story - he was in an out of foster care, bouncing from Philly to Chester to Reading before settling in Easton in middle school. Started playing football in eight grade, was the varsity tailback by his sophomore year. Ran for 140 yards against P'Burg as a 10th grader in his big coming out party, before posting the eighth 1,000 yard season in school history. Did not play a down as a senior after a drug trafficking arrest that summer, then a second arrest at the start of the school year, and his athletic career was over.
The 2000 Easton team was supposed to bring back McGurn and rising junior Sean Burgio (5'9 205 who ran a 10.6 100 and rushed for 800 yards as a sophomore) in one of the premier non-CB West backfields in the state that year, but Burgio got in a fight that summer and was assaulted with a baseball bat that caused blood clotting in his brain and nearly ended his football career. He came back to rush for 1,300 yards as a senior in '01, but no colleges would touch him (he does have the distinction of being the first Easton player to receive stars on Rivals when the website started in 2001).
Juan Gaddy, RB, Easton
Slightly different, but a major "what could have been". Gaddy was the third player ever in Pennsylvania to rush for 5,000 yards in his career, highlighted by a 1,900 yard season as a junior that vaulted him into Tom Lemming's top ten running backs in the country. He was all state in 1991 and 1992, and the MVP of the '93 Big 33 game after scoring a pair of touchdowns. He was recruited heavily by Easton alum Chuck Amato to Florida State's class of 1993. However, Gaddy fell victim to the old Prop 48, a very harshly penalized sliding scale of GPA and standardized test score minimums, meaning he did not qualify academically and had to sit out his freshman year without being allowed to practice, which lost him his scholarship offers at Florida State and Arkansas. Temple jumped on the opportunity to get one of the most talented players in Pennsylvania and Gaddy sat out the 1993 season. He was allowed to participate in spring practice, where he tore his ACL, effectively a career ending injury in the early '90s.
Jordan Gray, Nazareth
One of the best freshmen in Pennsylvania in 2011, rushed for 1,700 yards and 25 touchdowns as a 9th grader and helped lead Nazareth to their first ever state playoff appearance. Disciplinary issues got him kicked out of the program in 10th grade, but then he came back as an 11th grader to rush for 1,300 yards despite missing a number of games for reasons "between Jordan and me" according to Rob Melosky. Didn't play a down as a senior.
Dante Holmes, Liberty
A 6'4 230 pound defensive end who was a two-time All State selection that got absolutely no recruiting attention because off-the-field issues. Played at Northern Michigan University and has kicked around in low level arena leagues around the country. Crazy athlete, long, ideal edge-rusher body and wreaked havoc for Liberty right after their state title team (he got some snaps as a freshman on that squad).
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I've got wrestlers for days, here are the two that had the highest upsides:
Jeff Ecklof, Northampton
Two-time state champ, four time top 3 finisher in PIAA 3A from 2000-2003. Ranked #2 nationally at 145 after his senior season. Went 154-19 with three wins in high school over future NCAA champs. Started at Oklahoma as a true freshman, where he placed 6th at the NCAA tournament, knocking out future NCAA champ Travis Paulson in the All American round. Then he got himself kicked out of Oklahoma for breaking Teddy Lehman's jaw in a fight. Transferred to Pitt, where he went undefeated in a red-shirt year because he had to sit out after not being released by Oklahoma to transfer. Then, got himself kicked out of Pitt after catching another assault charge and never wrestled in college again. I would never say somebody would definitely win an NCAA title, but Ecklof was definitely on the trajectory, certainly completed the toughest step in being a 4x Division I All American.
Mike Rogers, Easton
Two-time state champ in 2002 and 2004, and finished nationally ranked in the his final three years of high school (#6 at 135, #4 at 140, #2 at 152). Finished high school on a 107-3 run (factoring out two injury defaults), beat future NCAA champ Jarrod King for one of his state titles. Chris Brown, Max Meltzer, Matt Kocher, Pat Payne, all were future All Americans he handled as a high school wrestler. Maybe the most purely physically talented kid that has come through the Easton room, Jordan Oliver and Jamarr Billman included - the combination of speed and power plus his feel on top was unmatched. Signed with Nebraska, where he would have ended up Jordan Burroughs training partner (Burroughs came in as a middleweight two classes behind Rogers). But he did not qualify academically, so had his NLI voided. Wound up at Northern Idaho Junior College to try and get his grades right and wrestle for a national program. Couldn't keep his stuff together to qualify in Division I (and his training schedule was a mess between injuries and "extracurricular activity"), went from NIJC to Carson-Newman, a Division II school in Tennessee. Stayed eligible for one season, where he was an NCAA finalist.- bascially on raw talent - losing to Todd Meenley (who had a similar story of signing with Iowa, getting kicked out of school, then finding his way to a D2 school to compete for a few years). Carson-Newman dropped their program, and Mikey ended up at a different small school in North Carolina with lax academic requirements, but was just a shell of himself at that point. He did not have the discipline to handle not being in a super intense environment with people watching over his every move. Couldn't stay clean, couldn't stay healthy, couldn't stay out of trouble. But oh my, when he was going right was he fun to watch. For my wrestling/UFC people, he was stylistically very similar to Gregor Gillespie (quick twitch misdirection shots from his feet/unstoppable cross wrist tilt series), who won a national title for Edinboro (and also had similar demons, but at least made it into a D1 room) and Mikey was consistently ranked ahead of Gillespie when the two were in high school. I always watched Gregor and thought that's what Mikey could have been had he been able to keep his foot in the door at Nebraska.
YaYah McGurn/Sean Burgio, RBs, Easton
The only time Nick Saban has ever been at Easton Area High School to recruit was to come see YaYah for a school visit in 1999 when Saban was at Michigan State. McGurn, a 6'2 220 pound running back was coming off of a 1,000 yard junior season (in just eight games played), which included a 37 carry, 184 yard performance against the '99 Parkland team that was ranked in the top 20 in the country in one of the biggest postseason upsets we've had up here. He also was an all conference basketball player, who posted one of two 40 point games ever at Easton in the D11 tournament as a junior. Yah is a sad story - he was in an out of foster care, bouncing from Philly to Chester to Reading before settling in Easton in middle school. Started playing football in eight grade, was the varsity tailback by his sophomore year. Ran for 140 yards against P'Burg as a 10th grader in his big coming out party, before posting the eighth 1,000 yard season in school history. Did not play a down as a senior after a drug trafficking arrest that summer, then a second arrest at the start of the school year, and his athletic career was over.
The 2000 Easton team was supposed to bring back McGurn and rising junior Sean Burgio (5'9 205 who ran a 10.6 100 and rushed for 800 yards as a sophomore) in one of the premier non-CB West backfields in the state that year, but Burgio got in a fight that summer and was assaulted with a baseball bat that caused blood clotting in his brain and nearly ended his football career. He came back to rush for 1,300 yards as a senior in '01, but no colleges would touch him (he does have the distinction of being the first Easton player to receive stars on Rivals when the website started in 2001).
Juan Gaddy, RB, Easton
Slightly different, but a major "what could have been". Gaddy was the third player ever in Pennsylvania to rush for 5,000 yards in his career, highlighted by a 1,900 yard season as a junior that vaulted him into Tom Lemming's top ten running backs in the country. He was all state in 1991 and 1992, and the MVP of the '93 Big 33 game after scoring a pair of touchdowns. He was recruited heavily by Easton alum Chuck Amato to Florida State's class of 1993. However, Gaddy fell victim to the old Prop 48, a very harshly penalized sliding scale of GPA and standardized test score minimums, meaning he did not qualify academically and had to sit out his freshman year without being allowed to practice, which lost him his scholarship offers at Florida State and Arkansas. Temple jumped on the opportunity to get one of the most talented players in Pennsylvania and Gaddy sat out the 1993 season. He was allowed to participate in spring practice, where he tore his ACL, effectively a career ending injury in the early '90s.
Jordan Gray, Nazareth
One of the best freshmen in Pennsylvania in 2011, rushed for 1,700 yards and 25 touchdowns as a 9th grader and helped lead Nazareth to their first ever state playoff appearance. Disciplinary issues got him kicked out of the program in 10th grade, but then he came back as an 11th grader to rush for 1,300 yards despite missing a number of games for reasons "between Jordan and me" according to Rob Melosky. Didn't play a down as a senior.
Dante Holmes, Liberty
A 6'4 230 pound defensive end who was a two-time All State selection that got absolutely no recruiting attention because off-the-field issues. Played at Northern Michigan University and has kicked around in low level arena leagues around the country. Crazy athlete, long, ideal edge-rusher body and wreaked havoc for Liberty right after their state title team (he got some snaps as a freshman on that squad).
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I've got wrestlers for days, here are the two that had the highest upsides:
Jeff Ecklof, Northampton
Two-time state champ, four time top 3 finisher in PIAA 3A from 2000-2003. Ranked #2 nationally at 145 after his senior season. Went 154-19 with three wins in high school over future NCAA champs. Started at Oklahoma as a true freshman, where he placed 6th at the NCAA tournament, knocking out future NCAA champ Travis Paulson in the All American round. Then he got himself kicked out of Oklahoma for breaking Teddy Lehman's jaw in a fight. Transferred to Pitt, where he went undefeated in a red-shirt year because he had to sit out after not being released by Oklahoma to transfer. Then, got himself kicked out of Pitt after catching another assault charge and never wrestled in college again. I would never say somebody would definitely win an NCAA title, but Ecklof was definitely on the trajectory, certainly completed the toughest step in being a 4x Division I All American.
Mike Rogers, Easton
Two-time state champ in 2002 and 2004, and finished nationally ranked in the his final three years of high school (#6 at 135, #4 at 140, #2 at 152). Finished high school on a 107-3 run (factoring out two injury defaults), beat future NCAA champ Jarrod King for one of his state titles. Chris Brown, Max Meltzer, Matt Kocher, Pat Payne, all were future All Americans he handled as a high school wrestler. Maybe the most purely physically talented kid that has come through the Easton room, Jordan Oliver and Jamarr Billman included - the combination of speed and power plus his feel on top was unmatched. Signed with Nebraska, where he would have ended up Jordan Burroughs training partner (Burroughs came in as a middleweight two classes behind Rogers). But he did not qualify academically, so had his NLI voided. Wound up at Northern Idaho Junior College to try and get his grades right and wrestle for a national program. Couldn't keep his stuff together to qualify in Division I (and his training schedule was a mess between injuries and "extracurricular activity"), went from NIJC to Carson-Newman, a Division II school in Tennessee. Stayed eligible for one season, where he was an NCAA finalist.- bascially on raw talent - losing to Todd Meenley (who had a similar story of signing with Iowa, getting kicked out of school, then finding his way to a D2 school to compete for a few years). Carson-Newman dropped their program, and Mikey ended up at a different small school in North Carolina with lax academic requirements, but was just a shell of himself at that point. He did not have the discipline to handle not being in a super intense environment with people watching over his every move. Couldn't stay clean, couldn't stay healthy, couldn't stay out of trouble. But oh my, when he was going right was he fun to watch. For my wrestling/UFC people, he was stylistically very similar to Gregor Gillespie (quick twitch misdirection shots from his feet/unstoppable cross wrist tilt series), who won a national title for Edinboro (and also had similar demons, but at least made it into a D1 room) and Mikey was consistently ranked ahead of Gillespie when the two were in high school. I always watched Gregor and thought that's what Mikey could have been had he been able to keep his foot in the door at Nebraska.
Another Erie guy from when I was in school was Roosevelt Benjamin for erie central. He was on those 93 and 94 teams that made it to the western finals. The 94 team lost to eventually champs McKeesport 13-14. Benjamin was getting recruited by lots of major D1 schools but they found drugs in his locker. He went on to star as a starting basketball player on those 90s George Junior teams that were so talented. As good as a basketball player he was he was an even better football player. Later on after highschool he ended up getting in trouble again and eventually arrested for selling drugs to an undercover agent in a giant drug sting in Erie. To this day I say he was one of the best athletes to ever come out of Erie.
poor kid had no chance with a name like "YaYah"
Elijah Fields out of Duquesne seemingly had a lot of talent but kept getting into trouble and even posted a picture on twitter of what appeared to be drug money he had while he was at Pitt
Elijah Fields out of Duquesne seemingly had a lot of talent but kept getting into trouble and even posted a picture on twitter of what appeared to be drug money he had while he was at Pitt
Yeah, but for every YaYah story, there’s also a James Middleton.
James played tailback and point guard at Easton, was the best offensive weapon as a junior on the 2010 team that lost to LaSalle in state quarterfinals, and was the leading scorer on their basketball team ranked in the top 10 in the state that winter. He came back the next year and had 1,100 yards from scrimmage in 9 games, but got kicked off the football team after an ugly fight in school that caused him to miss the postseason (Easton lost 28-21 to Nazareth, and common wisdom is with James they win their third straight D11 title and get another crack at LaSalle, who beat Nazareth 41-33). James came back for basketball season, but was permanently suspended again in January and missed a run to the state quarterfinals, which again, could have been deeper with their best player. He was incarcerated when he got his diploma that June.
The story gets better. After some time in the wilderness, James got his life together and got an opportunity to play basketball at Delaware CCC. That turned into an associates degree and an opportunity to transfer to a four year school and get a degree. He finished out his college career both as a player (nearly an 1,000 point scorer) and a college graduate. He works in juvenile justice for Northampton county now, and after coaching women’s basketball at LCCC, he took the job last year as Whitehall’s girls coach. Having known James since he was a little kid, couldn’t be prouder of how much he’s done to change his narrative.
www.lehighvalleylive.com
www.lehighvalleylive.com
James played tailback and point guard at Easton, was the best offensive weapon as a junior on the 2010 team that lost to LaSalle in state quarterfinals, and was the leading scorer on their basketball team ranked in the top 10 in the state that winter. He came back the next year and had 1,100 yards from scrimmage in 9 games, but got kicked off the football team after an ugly fight in school that caused him to miss the postseason (Easton lost 28-21 to Nazareth, and common wisdom is with James they win their third straight D11 title and get another crack at LaSalle, who beat Nazareth 41-33). James came back for basketball season, but was permanently suspended again in January and missed a run to the state quarterfinals, which again, could have been deeper with their best player. He was incarcerated when he got his diploma that June.
The story gets better. After some time in the wilderness, James got his life together and got an opportunity to play basketball at Delaware CCC. That turned into an associates degree and an opportunity to transfer to a four year school and get a degree. He finished out his college career both as a player (nearly an 1,000 point scorer) and a college graduate. He works in juvenile justice for Northampton county now, and after coaching women’s basketball at LCCC, he took the job last year as Whitehall’s girls coach. Having known James since he was a little kid, couldn’t be prouder of how much he’s done to change his narrative.
Former Easton Area High School sports star James Middleton makes most of college opportunity
The former Red Rover nears completion of a long journey that will culminate with a degree from Penn State Lehigh Valley.
Whitehall hires former Easton standout Middleton as girls basketball coach
James Middleton was most recently the women's basketball coach at Lehigh Carbon Community College.
I was looking up whatever happened to dapree Bryant the other day. The football player/ basketball star at coatsville who I believed signed to play football at Villanova. He was arrested for playing with a gun at a party and shooting one of his friends. Also Chuck carr who I believe is the all time district 10 rushing leader was shot and killed in Farrell last year.
I don't think he got in trouble, he just didn't want to play football
could be wrong because that was before my time
Monroe Weekly of Aliquippa
he picked Pitt over Miami when Miami was the big powerhouse in college football back in 2001
I think he got busted with steroids at Pitt, and then ended up in prison for armed robbery
i wonder if he's still in prison today
who can forget him punting the basketball into the rafters when the quips lost the basketball state championship, he punted better than Pressley Harvin
he picked Pitt over Miami when Miami was the big powerhouse in college football back in 2001
I think he got busted with steroids at Pitt, and then ended up in prison for armed robbery
i wonder if he's still in prison today
who can forget him punting the basketball into the rafters when the quips lost the basketball state championship, he punted better than Pressley Harvin
Benjamin tried to play football at Clarion but I don't remember him doing much. He looked the part but he seemed kinda slow.
Not quite the same, but a “best that never was” from up here is Kyle Newell, defensive end/tight end out of Bethlehem Catholic.
I saw Newell play in a middle school basketball gane for Northeast Middle School in Bethlehem, when he was already about 6’4/6’5, but was essentially playing swing man. Must have had 50 points, like three in traffic dunks, just an insane display of physical ability from an 8th grader.
That fall, he started as a freshman at defensive end for Bob Stem’s last team at Becahi, the 2001 team that probably blew a chance at a state title when their all state quarterback got kicked off the team in week 9. I think Newell and Dan Kendra III were the only freshmen starters Stem ever had. As a sophomore, he put up double digit sacks for the Becahi team that lost to eventual state champ Parkland in that classic 02 D11 title game. He was their best defender on the last truly great Becahi team. Following his junior year, where he was an All State pick at defensive end, Rivals had Newell as the #59 overall player nationally in the class of 2005. He also put up over 800 yards receiving as a tight end (where NC State was recruiting him) and was a first team all state basketball player who scored 1,500 career points and led Becahi to the state quarterfinals twice. Put that all in a 6’7 250 pound frame and it seemed like the sky was the limit.
But Newell was “mercurial” at best. Basketball coach Jim Hutnik, who later coached at Easton, used to tell stories of him just disappearing for days at a time, then showing up for the bus for games and scoring 25 points and grabbing 20 rebounds, then they wouldn’t see him at practice again for a couple days. He’d do the same thing to coaches recruiting him, allegedly royally pissing off Rich Rodriguez and Joe Paterno. He also was hampered by chronic ankle injuries as a senior in football, and rivals dropped him down to a 3 star and out of the top 100. He chose NC State over Tennessee (who offered him as a freshman and was the first school really in on him), no doubt aided by Lehigh Valley native Chuck Amato being willing to gamble on him for his old friend Stem (he was one of five different Becahi players who played for Amato in the 00s). But I don’t think he ever made it to campus, and everybody I know has totally lost track of him.
The other big what-if with Newell is, he went to Becahi for what ended up Stem’s last season. His freshman and sophomore years, Becahi was awesome, top 3 team in the state, major contender. But they slipped to under .500 the last two years as Stem’s big recruits cycled out to college and they didn’t backfill behind Newell’s class. Meanwhile, Newell’s home school Liberty hired Tim Moncman and started their run, going 10-2 and was ranked in the top 6 in the state during Newell’s senior season with a sophomore Dan Persa. They may have been able to beat Easton and make a state run a season earlier with Newell on the roster, rather than miring away at a bad Becahi team. Which is not what the plan looked like when he picked schools in 2001. Moncman and his staff also probably were more prepared to help guide a kid like Newell than the Becahi staff was. Life is funny.
I saw Newell play in a middle school basketball gane for Northeast Middle School in Bethlehem, when he was already about 6’4/6’5, but was essentially playing swing man. Must have had 50 points, like three in traffic dunks, just an insane display of physical ability from an 8th grader.
That fall, he started as a freshman at defensive end for Bob Stem’s last team at Becahi, the 2001 team that probably blew a chance at a state title when their all state quarterback got kicked off the team in week 9. I think Newell and Dan Kendra III were the only freshmen starters Stem ever had. As a sophomore, he put up double digit sacks for the Becahi team that lost to eventual state champ Parkland in that classic 02 D11 title game. He was their best defender on the last truly great Becahi team. Following his junior year, where he was an All State pick at defensive end, Rivals had Newell as the #59 overall player nationally in the class of 2005. He also put up over 800 yards receiving as a tight end (where NC State was recruiting him) and was a first team all state basketball player who scored 1,500 career points and led Becahi to the state quarterfinals twice. Put that all in a 6’7 250 pound frame and it seemed like the sky was the limit.
But Newell was “mercurial” at best. Basketball coach Jim Hutnik, who later coached at Easton, used to tell stories of him just disappearing for days at a time, then showing up for the bus for games and scoring 25 points and grabbing 20 rebounds, then they wouldn’t see him at practice again for a couple days. He’d do the same thing to coaches recruiting him, allegedly royally pissing off Rich Rodriguez and Joe Paterno. He also was hampered by chronic ankle injuries as a senior in football, and rivals dropped him down to a 3 star and out of the top 100. He chose NC State over Tennessee (who offered him as a freshman and was the first school really in on him), no doubt aided by Lehigh Valley native Chuck Amato being willing to gamble on him for his old friend Stem (he was one of five different Becahi players who played for Amato in the 00s). But I don’t think he ever made it to campus, and everybody I know has totally lost track of him.
The other big what-if with Newell is, he went to Becahi for what ended up Stem’s last season. His freshman and sophomore years, Becahi was awesome, top 3 team in the state, major contender. But they slipped to under .500 the last two years as Stem’s big recruits cycled out to college and they didn’t backfill behind Newell’s class. Meanwhile, Newell’s home school Liberty hired Tim Moncman and started their run, going 10-2 and was ranked in the top 6 in the state during Newell’s senior season with a sophomore Dan Persa. They may have been able to beat Easton and make a state run a season earlier with Newell on the roster, rather than miring away at a bad Becahi team. Which is not what the plan looked like when he picked schools in 2001. Moncman and his staff also probably were more prepared to help guide a kid like Newell than the Becahi staff was. Life is funny.
Now I’m just memory lane-ing guys. Sean Heimpel was a 6’5 190 righty for Liberty, who was their ace as a sophomore in pitching them to the PIAA final. He graduated Liberty’s all time leader in strikeouts, as a senior threw two no-hitters and fanned 106 batters in 58 innings, and in an age where high school velocity was not as crazy as it is now, sat in the low 90s with that frame.
Heimpel was so sure he was getting drafted that he didn’t take the SATs or remotely participate in the recruit process. But, he never filed his paperwork to make himself draft eligible, and didn’t get selected. He went to junior college where he was the closer for a team that was won a JUCO national title, then the ace of the team that finished runner-up at the World Series. He transferred to a Division II school in Georgia, where he piled up silly strikeout numbers, but only got himself a shot in independent ball. He got signed by the Padres out of the Frontier League, but only got a cup of coffee in affiliated baseball after putting all of those non-professional innings on his arm.
Heimpel was so sure he was getting drafted that he didn’t take the SATs or remotely participate in the recruit process. But, he never filed his paperwork to make himself draft eligible, and didn’t get selected. He went to junior college where he was the closer for a team that was won a JUCO national title, then the ace of the team that finished runner-up at the World Series. He transferred to a Division II school in Georgia, where he piled up silly strikeout numbers, but only got himself a shot in independent ball. He got signed by the Padres out of the Frontier League, but only got a cup of coffee in affiliated baseball after putting all of those non-professional innings on his arm.
Jay Harris from Downingtown East in 2013 always comes to mind for me. He was one of the most dynamic playmakers I’ve ever seen in high school football. He had a full ride to play at Michigan State but decided in May before graduation that he would… become a rapper! That lasted all of 6 months before he decided to sign with Western Michigan but then decided his true calling was the rapping life so he left after being there for two months.
That works out sometimes. Gino Fortebuono wrestled at Easton, state champ in 2001. Won Reno, Ironman, Beast of the East, ranked like #8 nationally at 130 his senior year. Steve Powell will tell you he’s on the shortlist for most talented kids he had in 40 years of coaching. Super wide open and fun to watch too. Anyway, Gino had a ton of D1 offers out of Easton, but passed them all up to go to film school in New York. Totally gave up wrestling. He was a different cat. I see his name every so often in credits on Netflix, I think he’s carved out a nice little career.
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