As a child, University of Hawaii offensive lineman Gene Pryor was an extra in “Daddy Day Care” and appeared in an episode of “Barney & Friends.”
But his real life matched the reel life of the “The Blind Side.”
“When I saw that,” Pryor said of the film about Michael Oher, a football player who was reared by adoptive parents, “I thought it was pretty cool. I thought that’s how my families are, how they show me nothing but love.”
Pryor was admittedly lost emotionally after his mother died.
“It was really hard for me after my mom passed,” said Pryor, who was 7 at the time. “Me and my dad and my sister were going through it for a while.”
A few years later, Pryor was at the Boys & Girls Club in Visalia, Calif. “I was playing basketball when this dude Scott came in,” Pryor recalled. “He was the coach at the time. He wanted me to come out and play football. I was a pretty good-sized kid back then. I wanted to be a ballplayer. I decided to try out for football.”
His initial experience with the organized sport did not go well. “I didn’t really like it, but I kept in it, kept going,” Pryor said.
Pryor became close friends with Little League Pioneers teammates Cody Jump and Jordan Brooks. When their parents learned of Pryor’s difficult situation, they offered to help provide a home and guidance. Pryor’s father gave his approval.
“Both families took me in,” Pryor said. “It was a team effort with both families. … I never really had a lot growing up as a kid. My father always did the best he could for me. It was always a blessing the Jumps and Brookses would be able to come through and provide everything I never had as a kid, whether it be life lessons or learning how to speak to people, or learn how to clean, and manage my money. It was the little things that turned out to be huge blessings for me today.”
And it was football that provided the impetus.
“Football has meant a lot,” Pryor said. “That’s how I met my two other families — the Brookses and the Jumps. Without football, I can confidently say I would not be the man I am today. I don’t know where my life would have taken me. Only God knows that route. I’m blessed football came into my life, and changed me around for the better.”
Pryor played on both sides of the line for Mount Whitney High’s football team. He then played two seasons at the College of the Sequoias, rotating between offensive guard and tackle. Pryor signed with UH in 2018. After redshirting that year, he has started 33 games at right tackle the next three seasons.
He said he learned techniques from his coaches, life lessons from his hanai families. Pryor is African American. Joshua Jump, Jami Jump, Michelle Brooks and Harry Brooks are Caucasian. “They don’t see color,” Pryor said. “I always say my situation is like ‘The Blind Side.’ That’s what people catch on to. I’m blessed with them. They’re a big part of why I get up every day and try to work my butt off for them.”
Pryor will be playing in his final UH home game on Saturday when the Warriors play host to Colorado State. He said it will be an emotional time playing alongside his other family.
“My brothers show me love every day,” Pryor said of his UH teammates. “I wake up and I come out here (to practices) and I grind for them. I help make their (football) dreams possible, and they make my dreams possible. That’s what I love about them.”
