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#1389767 - 05/12/10 05:29 PM Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good
HappyGilmore Offline
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Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 19,844
Pulling people out of the ditc...
snipped

Quote:
A West Texas student who led his high school basketball team to the state playoffs last season was actually a 22-year-old man, police said Tuesday.

Police say the basketball star was really Guerdwich Montimere, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Haiti who school officials say was recognized last month by Florida coaches as having been a star high school player in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., a few years ago.

Ector County school district officials said the man posed as 16-year-old Jerry Joseph and enrolled at Permian High School in Odessa for the 2009-2010 academic year. He also presented himself as homeless to the school's basketball coach, Danny Wright, who took the boy in last summer, the coach said.

Montimere was arrested at Permian High on Tuesday and booked into Ector County jail on a charge of presenting false identification to a peace officer.

Officials said Jerry Joseph originally enrolled at the local junior high as a 15-year-old in February 2009, then moved on to high school.


Guerdwich Montimere (AP).
Permian High officials say suspicions about the player's identity first arose when three Florida basketball coaches familiar with Montimere recognized him last month at an amateur tournament in Little Rock, Ark. The Odessa American reported that the coaches recognized him as Montimere, who graduated from Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale in 2007.

School district officials said they grew more suspicious after contacting U.S. immigration officials.

Police said they arrested Montimere after confronting him about his identity.

"I feel like I was hit by a ton of bricks," district athletic director Leon Fuller said. "In my 50 years in education, I've never heard of anything like this."

Wright told The American that the player was like a family member.

"This affected a lot of people. The whole school of Permian embraced that kid. He deceived us and played on everyone's emotions," Wright said.

Montimere was being held on $500 bond Tuesday night, according to jail records. Jail officials said no attorney was listed for Montimere.

If convicted of the misdemeanor, Montimere could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

The revelation means Permian likely will have to forfeit the 2009 basketball season in which the 6-foot-5 player known as Jerry Joseph led the team to District 2-5A state playoffs and earned newcomer of the year accolades.

"I feel sick, but now that we've gotten the truth we can move on from here," said Permian principal Roy Garcia.

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#1389775 - 05/12/10 05:36 PM Re: Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good HappyGilmore
Peepers Offline
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I read this and assuming he wasn't in any kind of sexual relationship with any of his underage classmates, then this was pretty funny.

If you read any of the blog posts to this article, some of my favorites (and I'm paraphrasing) were:

"So what, I didn't graduate high school until I was 21"

"It just goes to show you how long it takes some jocks to get a high school diploma"

"My friend did something similar, he entered kindergarten at age 26. He was the smartest kid in his class and state champ at duck-duck-goose"
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#1389790 - 05/12/10 05:46 PM Re: Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good Peepers
edAudit Offline
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edAudit
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 4,796
You are here
Can someone say Billy Madison.
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#1389805 - 05/12/10 06:02 PM Re: Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good Peepers
FBH Offline
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Originally Posted By: Peepers
"My friend did something similar, he entered kindergarten at age 26. He was the smartest kid in his class and state champ at duck-duck-goose"


Hi-larious!!
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#1389821 - 05/12/10 06:16 PM Re: Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good FBH
Pale Rider Offline
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under the Lone Star
I wonder if he was in AVID in the Ector County ISD?; we need all the kids we can find to bring up the % that are classed as economically disadvantaged to get CRA credit....
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#1389994 - 05/12/10 08:59 PM Re: Texas - where the math is bad and b-ball good Pale Rider
homebase10 Offline
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 6
tx
In Texas, under UIL rules to participate you can not be older than 19.

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