25 Year Old Poses As 17 Year Old Harvey Refugee To Destroy On High School Basketball Team: Who Are We To Blame Him?
Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley allegedly posed as a 17-year-old Hurricane Harvey refugee so he could play boys' basketball at Hillcrest High School in Dallas, Texas.
On Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News reported the 25-year-old, who also spent time at Skyline High School, was arrested Friday on a charge of tampering with government records.
The mother of a 14-year-old female student told the paper he dated her daughter while at Hillcrest High.
Gilstrap-Portley, who officials say was operating under the alias Rashun Richardson, was named the District 11-5A Offensive Player of the Year during the 2017-18 season.
Full story here.
Unless you left high school a four time champion in the sport of your choosing, you’ve had this thought. It’s nothing to be embarrassed over- being a high school schmeeb and living a life full of regrets is an important part of any one individual’s journey. Where would I be if I hadn’t already replayed getting benched in my final basketball game over and over and over, a thousand times over? (I’m over it!) Somewhere along the line of me coaching middle school and high school basketball and slam dunking on kids right and left (really, I’m fine!) was when I had the thought, “What would I be able to do if I could play now?” So, other than dating the 14 year old and posing as a Harvey refugee, I can absolutely relate. I would say evidence points to those not being the best decisions in pursuit of your final goal, but I guess this fellow and I disagree.
I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who peaked physically way after high school, (and way before writing this blog) and thought about how sick I’d be at high school basketball. That’s the dream right there- to go back and be able to reclaim the glory days we so narrowly missed out on. Sure sure a lot of people are in a tough spot right now, we’ve got inequality, poverty, systemic racism, corruption at the highest levels, but you can’t forget about the folks who got 2nd place in high school- or 7th place, because they are the ones who have fallen through the cracks.
Pretending to be a high schooler would fix all of that! I have such wisdom from watching 8 more years’ worth of NBA games, such strength from focusing less on cardio and calling 40 pushups a “workout”, such confidence from dominating on my intramural team- I would be sick. Give me the green light, coach. Give me a fake family, a fake name, and not a 14 year old girlfriend; and I will give you a a state championship.
