Double-Threats
Western PA Loaded with Two-sport Stars
By Tricia Lafferty

Double-Threats. Western PA loaded with two-sport stars by Tricia Lafferty You won't hear those stories about Aliquippa senior Jonathan Baldwin. The ones about how he outran opponents in midget football, outplayed his peers in youth basketball or how his athletic talent as a youngster set him apart from the others.

They don't exist.

Baldwin will be the first to tell you his childhood wasn't filled with early success on the athletic field. Rather, it was his mentality and work ethic that made up for his lack of natural ability as he developed into a 6-foot-6, 225-pound three-sport star.

"When I was younger, everything wasn't natural," said Baldwin, a starting receiver for the Midwestern Conference football champions, forward for the WPIAL Class AA champion and PIAA finalist basketball team and a PIAA bronze medalist in the 100-meter dash as a junior. "I wasn't just born an athlete. People used to pick on me and stuff, so I started working out and getting better at everything I did. People picked on me because I wasn't like everybody else. They were talented as young kids. I wasn't like that."

Then there's Jeannette senior quarterback Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 football and No. 27 basketball recruit in the nation, according to Rivals.com. He was everything Baldwin wasn't. His God-given athletic ability was evident when he ran so effortlessly as a 10-year old running back, it looked like he was trotting, Jeannette football coach Ray Reitz said. Even back in those days, Reitz added, it was a one-man show when Pryor stepped on the basketball court.

"I saw him 15 years ago and knew he was a great athlete," Reitz said. "I didn't know if he was going to start growing. I didn't know if other kids would catch up. I thought he had a chance to be great, but I didn't know he'd be to this point."

Pryor and Baldwin are two of the country's elite multi-sport athletes and two of the most heavily recruited players in WPIAL history. They have traveled very different roads, yet find themselves among a plethora of Western Pennsylvania high school athletes who have excelled at not only football but in their so-called secondary sport.

"Jonathan and Terrelle are the two most freakish athletes I've seen in a long time," said Aliquippa athletic director and football coach Mike Zmijanac, who noted that Baldwin is the most heavily recruited Aliquippa athlete he's seen in 43 years.

Rochester graduate Derek Moye, Montour senior Christian Wilson, Aliquippa graduate Brandon Lindsey, Norwin senior Mike Shanahan, and Brashear senior Ed Tinker are a few athletes known for their talents beyond the football field.

Wilson, who holds 49 football offers, averaged 19.6 points per game for Montour basketball. Lindsey was, arguably, the best sixth-man in the WPIAL for a Quips squad that won the WPIAL basketball title and finished as the PIAA runner-up. Shanahan is entertaining offers in football and basketball. Tinker averaged a double-double on the hardwood.

Then there's Moye, a four-sport star who will play wide receiver at Penn State and possibly compete in track as a sophomore. Moye averaged 19 points per game for Rochester in basketball, started as a pitcher and outfielder on the baseball team as a junior and won PIAA gold medals this year in the 200- and 400-meter dashes.

So why did Moye pick football and choose to give up basketball and put track on hold?

"I've been playing three sports all my life, but football is my favorite," said Moye. "I think with football, I have the best opportunity."

For some it's about love of the game. For others it's about opportunity. For a select few, including Pryor, playing both sports in college is an option.

On the football field, Pryor helped Jeannette claim a WPIAL Class AA title and a PIAA runner-up finish after rushing for 1,676 yards and 29 touchdowns and passing for 1,732 yards and 15 touchdowns. On the basketball court, he averaged just short of a triple double (21.2 points per game, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) in leading the Jayhawks to a WPIAL runner-up finish. Pryor garnered scholarship offers from more than 70 schools, most of which will allow him to play both sports, and has recently narrowed his list to 11.

"If anyone could do it athletically, it could be him," Reitz said. "To be good both ways, it would be him. Terrelle is like an iceberg, there is a lot of upside to him left. When the lights turn on, he is ready to play."

Baldwin and Lindsey, a Pitt football recruit, admit that basketball was their first love, but also that there's a better chance football will help them get to the pros.

"The truth is every kid in the inner city, especially in Aliquippa, they all think they are great basketball players when they all, in fact, end up being football players because that's where the opportunity is," Zmijanac said.

Take former Aliquippa and Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis, for instance. Revis considered himself to be more of a basketball player than a football player after leading the WPIAL in scoring his junior year. As a senior, he scored five touchdowns against Northern Lehigh on a Sunday in the Quips' PIAA championship victory, then recorded 35 points in a basketball game two nights later.

In April, he was chosen by the New York Jets as the 14th pick overall in the NFL Draft. Until recently, when he decided he will play just football in college, Baldwin was contemplating playing both sports.

"I just wanted to be good in both basketball and football," Baldwin said. "My mom and dad told me whatever I do just to be the best at it and never do half anything. If you are an athlete, you can do all of that stuff. I just wanted to be great so I started working at it to be great."

Baldwin and Pryor were on display March 3 during one of the most exciting WPIAL basketball championship games when Aliquippa defeated Jeannette, 73-69. Pryor recorded 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three dunks. Baldwin scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and converted a three-point play with 1:03 remaining to seal the win for Aliquippa.

Three months later, Pryor and Baldwin are in the midst of two heated recruiting battles. They've attracted a long and impressive list of college coaches to Western Pennsylvania and represent the area's extraordinary and larger-than-usual group of multi-sport athletes.

"They have a gift from God," Reitz said. "You can only improve a kid so much, but you are bringing out what they have within them."