THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 30, 1997 TAG: 9701300578
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 133 lines
Imagine two wrestlers steeled by state tournament experience, schooled by a variety of coaching styles and steeped in rivalry and tradition.
Give them unbeaten records, then open the door and start selling tickets when they go head-to-head.
Sorry, not this season.
The best individual rivalry in Hampton Roads ended in September with the suddenness of a first-period fall when seniors R.J. Davis and Pierre Pryor both transferred to Cox, one from Ocean Lakes, the other from First Colonial.
Call it a merger of self-interests. Davis is 27-0 and ranked No. 1 at 135 by The Virginian-Pilot. Pryor is 26-0 and ranked No. 1 at 140. And Cox is 22-3 and ranked No. 1 among teams.
Davis, the childhood phenom, and Pryor, the overnight success, split four matches over two seasons.
Two of those meetings came last year in tournament finals. Davis won the Beach District 135-pound championship 11-7 and Pryor grabbed the region title 13-11.
What happened between then and September has been the subject of much discussion - not all of it civil - throughout the Beach District.
Pryor says his mother planned a move into the Cox district. He resisted at first - he would have remained eligible at First Colonial - but the opportunity to rejoin old friends at Cox and a lack of transportation to First Colonial swayed him to transfer.
The Beach District investigated claims of proselyting - or active recruiting - by Cox and found nothing.
Davis, whose career has been touched by wanderlust, spent one season at Green Run and two at Ocean Lakes before transferring to Cox.
The move was precipitated by his father's heart condition; John Davis said he underwent angioplasty surgery three times in 90 days between June and Labor Day. His condition was exacerbated by a mildew problem with their house.
The Davises are living in an apartment in the Cox district while their house undergoes repairs, John Davis said.
Ironically, both R.J. Davis and Pryor began their careers at Cox.
Davis transferred to Green Run in the middle of his freshman year after his parents separated. Pryor moved into the First Colonial zone after the school year when his parents divorced.
They are pictured together in Cox's 1993-94 wrestling guide, but have no recollection of each other from that year.
``My first memory of Pierre is from 10th grade,'' Davis said. ``It was a scrimmage at First Colonial and I remember taking him down and letting him up. Just beating him up.''
When Davis later pinned Pryor in the 1995 district tournament en route to the first of his two championships, no one raised an eyebrow.
For Davis was the anointed one, unbeaten in two seasons at Plaza Junior High and expected to win multiple state titles.
Pryor was raw and unknown. He didn't come out for wrestling until his freshman year at Cox and didn't earn his first varsity start until transferring to First Colonial.
``I didn't know R.J. then, but I knew of him,'' Pryor said. ``Everybody talked about how good he was.''
The rivalry began to blossom last year when Pryor trounced Davis 13-3 in a dual match.
``I took him lightly,'' Davis said. ``I found out later he had worked out, like, every day all summer.''
Respect replaced ignorance. But they still didn't like each other.
``Truthfully, I thought R.J. was real cocky,'' Pryor said. ``The first time we wrestled, he was chewing gum when he was supposed to be warming up. That made me mad.''
Davis drives a truck, listens to country music and wears snakeskin boots. He earned a black belt in karate at 10 and is flirting with the idea of becoming a boxer.
It suits his temperament and his ambition.
Davis once cracked a boy's skull after the boy hit him in the face with a basketball. More recently, he confronted a student at Cox who was wearing the stolen Mickey Mouse watch he received for his 18th birthday. Davis pinned the boy's wrists to his body, spun him against a wall, and after friends from both sides intervened, got his watch back.
Pryor is no pushover off the mat, either. At Lynnhaven Middle School he used to provoke the wrestlers by making fun of their tight uniforms and insinuating they were gay.
But he's more likely to be found these days at church or at Cox girls basketball games; his girlfriend, Dee Taylor, starts for the Falcons.
Pryor's musical tastes run to gospel and rhythm and blues.
It is their differences more than their similarities that have made an impression on Cox coach Joe Boone.
``Two things I stress are a strong work ethic and sound technique,'' Boone said.
``Pierre has the work ethic. No matter how hard I push him, he'll go on forever. R.J. has the technique. When something needs to be demonstrated, I can call on him and he'll do it just like I would.
``For me, as a coach, having Pierre and R.J. has been a great marriage.
``Pierre is developing better technique and R.J. is getting more physical.''
When Boone says marriage, he's referring to styles. But the forced commingling of Davis and Pryor has resulted in a closer union between the former opponents.
``I love Pierre,'' Davis says now. ``He's so nice and always joking around.''
Pryor actually began to warm to Davis last year after he beat him in the region final.
``He was a lot cooler after he lost,'' Pryor said.
Competition between them for the same medals might have died, but elements of the rivalry live on.
They often joke that whoever gets the lower grade on a test in their shared government class has to take the other's test paper home and post it on the refrigerator; it hasn't happened yet, but they compare grades.
On the mat, they compete for the most - and fastest - pins.
``The winner gets to brag all the next day,'' Pryor said.
Their dominance is such that it's natural to wonder what would have happened had they remained at different schools and at the same weight.
``We don't wrestle in practice much,'' Pryor said. ``But everybody on the team wants to see us do it.''
So does John Davis.
``They ought to have a special match for the toughman award,'' he said. ``I believe a lot of people would come out. They both are knock-'em-down, pin-'em type of people. Fast and flashy.''
Alas, it's not going to happen.
``I have no plans for it and don't see any need for it,'' Boone said.
But what if?
``Pierre isn't the same guy he was last year,'' Boone said. ``He's bigger and more physical than R.J.''
Pryor does most of his drilling in practice with Mohammed Youssofi, the Falcons' unbeaten 171-pounder.
``You can figure that out,'' Boone said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Martin Smith-Rodden/The Virginian-Pilot
The best individual rivalry in Hampton Roads ended in September with
the suddenness of a first-period fall when seniors R.J. Davis, left,
and Pierre Pryor both transferred to Cox.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE