MEMORY LANE: Red Raiders’ 1,000 club: Pratt topped milestone during sparkling career at Uniontown
The Uniontown Red Raiders have a glorious basketball history with 19 players with 1,000 points in their career. Jordan Pratt who was a standout for the Red Raiders is on that list.
Pratt got an early start playing basketball.
“I started playing when I was a kid,” Pratt reported. “I had an older brother James who played at Uniontown and Penn State Fayette Campus. He’s five years older than me so I started back when I was like five or six just watching him play and learning from him.”
The playgrounds played a big role in Pratt’s development as a player.
“To be honest that was the main development,” Pratt said. “Me and my friends were back and forth at Grant Street from sunup to sundown growing up, also Bailey Park. Mr. Joe Campbell actually had a pivotal role in that development. He guided us at a young age and took us to travel ball.”
Pratt played at Lafayette Middle School.
“Lafayette was awesome, playing basketball there,” Pratt offered. “That was actually one of my greatest times in basketball, I scored a lot of points in eighth grade. We really only had about five or six players. A lot of our guys were ineligible. The team wasn’t the best because we were shorthanded.”
When Pratt moved up the varsity at Uniontown it was the beginning of a solid period in Red Raider hoops.
Pratt played sparingly as a freshman in 2010-2011 appearing in four games on a team that went 11-1 in the section and 17-7 overall. In the WPIAL playoffs they downed Mars 59-42 and lost to South Fayette 87-58. In the PIAA tournament they notched a win over Forest Hills 62-60 and lost to Franklin 56-50.
“That was a very good team,” Pratt recalled. “They had some really good seniors and some guys that helped develop me as a freshman.”
In 2011-2012 Uniontown finished 9-3 in section play and 15-7 overall. They were ousted in the WPIAL playoffs by Blackhawk.
“That was a growing experience and put the fire in us for the next couple of years,” Pratt said.
Uniontown posted a record of 17-4 and 10-2 in the section in 2012-2013. The Red Raiders beat Blackhawk in the WPIAL playoffs 66-61 and then lost to Mars 79-55.
“That was a tough loss to Mars,” Pratt said. “That junior year sparked us to a great senior year.”
During Pratt’s senior campaign the Red Raiders went 22-3 and 12-0 in section play and had a nice run in the WPIAL beating Ambridge 66-57 and Elizabeth Forward 86-79 before falling to Chartiers Valley 71-57 in the semifinals. In the PIAA playoffs they downed Punxsutawney 87-54 and then were defeated by Farrell 86-72.
“I had a great senior season.” Pratt remembered. “I wanted to break some records coming into that season. Coming into that year we had almost a decade of losing in the first round and that put fire in my belly. We had a good run.”
Pratt has great memories of his old head coach Rob Kezmarsky.
“I had a good relationship with Coach Kezmarsky,” Pratt stated. “I was always a ball boy growing up because of my brother James. It meant everything when I finally got to put on that uniform. Even now I get chills talking about it.”
The 5-foot-11, 140-pound Pratt finished his Uniontown career with 1,108 points.
“My entire career was focused on winning and getting to 1.000 points,” Pratt explained. “It was something that I worked so hard for and I had my eyes set on. After I got 1.000 points I just wanted to win more.”
When Pratt graduated from Uniontown in 2014 he was a little disappointed in the college recruiting process.
“Recruiting wasn’t the best and it was kind of slow,” Pratt lamented. “It hurt a little bit on that end. I wound up going to Carlow. To be frank it was an amazing school and I made great friends, but the program wasn’t the direction I should have went. It was a new program going through some growing pains. I still needed mentoring and growth and that didn’t happen.”
Carlow finished 2-22 in Pratt’s freshman season. He played in 18 games and scored 104 points. After four games as a sophomore Pratt decided to leave the program.
“It was difficult and led to me transferring,” Pratt offered. “I left and went to Penn State Fayette Campus.”
In 2016-2017 at Penn State Fayette, Pratt played in 24 games and tallied 156 points. The team finished 11-16.
“It was the best experience,” Pratt said. “That was my last year in basketball. I finished school there in business and marketing management.”
Pratt joined the workforce. He started a company called Fast Efficient Movers and still runs that company. He is an entrepreneur and also runs Young Bridge City Connections.
Now, 29, Pratt is single and resides in Shadyside in Pittsburgh.
Looking back, Pratt is proud of the role athletics played in his life.
“That’s still a big part of my life,” Pratt stated. “Every principal that I do in business it refers back to basketball for me, the discipline and getting those reps in. It’s all similar.”
George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Sunday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.