Report: Pryor Used Money From Memorabilia To Help Family
(WSCR) According to an article published in the new issue of Sports Illustrated, former Ohio State Buckeye Terrell Pryor used the money he made from selling his sports memorabilia to help his family.
"The reason why I did it was to pay my mother's gas bill and some of her rent," Pryor told Sports Illustrated. "She was four months behind, and the (landlord) was so nice because he was an Ohio State fan. He gave her the benefit of the doubt and she said, 'My son will pay you back sometime if you just let me pay you back during my work sessions.' She ended up losing her job, and she and my sister lived there.
"Let me remind you it was freezing cold in November, December and she's using the oven as heat. That's what I did as a kid. I was telling the NCAA, 'Please, anything that you can do. I gave my mother this so my sister wouldn't be cold, so my mother wouldn't be cold.' They didn't have any sympathy for me."
Though Prior said he can prove that's what he used the money for, the NCAA suspended him for the first five games of his senior season. After which, Prior decided to declare for the NFL's supplemental draft.
"Whenever I write my book, the proof will be in there, the receipt that the money I gave my mother was to pay the electric and heat bill," Pryor told the magazine. "The truth is going to come out one day when the time is right. I don't think I deserved (being punished) in that way, because of the reason I was doing it. I felt like I was doing God's work in a way, and I was getting driven into the ground."
