In this past Sunday’s newspaper, we had a story about T.J. Prunty, a former St. Paul Academy standout QB who has had quite a roundabout career since leaving to play football at the University of Miami in 2000. One of his best friends is Jeremy Shockey, and the two of them used to go fishing at a lake on the Miami campus, telling security officers that then-coach Butch Davis said it was OK. We thoroughly enjoyed interviewing Prunty, who had the kind of after-the-fact clarity that you often don’t get from athletes when they’re at the peak of their career. There was one anecdote, in particular, that we really wanted to get into the story but just couldn’t make work within the context. So here it is. Hope you enjoy it, verbatim, from Prunty:

Kellen Winslow, he’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever met. I mean, nuts. One day we got into an argument because Shockey was like, “T.J. is faster than you, man.” And Kellen was like, “No way.” He said, “Let’s race right now.” I know I’m faster than this kid, so I say, “OK, let’s race.” I beat him the first time, and he’s mad. He can’t stop talking about it. The whole day he’s like, “Let’s race again.” So the next time, on the turn, he grabs me and tries to throw me down to the ground, and I still beat him, and he says that we tied. He tells people that.

Man, we love that story. Anybody else have a tale of athletic glory to share?

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