Peery Changes Mind, Rejoins Canyon Team

Sophomore fullback Chris Peery made an 11th-hour decision Thursday night to return to the Canyon High football team.

Peery, who along with junior tailback Cam Cross turned in his equipment earlier this week, spent two hours discussing the matter with his parents at the home of Canyon Coach Harry Welch.

Shortly after 11 p.m., Peery told Welch that he would return to the team in time for Friday night’s game with Notre Dame, won by Canyon, 10-8.

“He said, ‘I’ll be there,’ when he left,” Welch said.

Said Peery: “We talked about the fact that I’m black and that it’s harder to get a job for me than it is for white people. I want to go to college.”

But it took some off-the-field coaching by Welch before Peery chose to remain a Cowboy.

“I called Brigham Young University and put his mom on the other line,” Welch said. “I asked the coach that if I told him a 6-1, 203-pound sophomore I had was a blue-chip athlete, how would he react?

“He said, ‘As long as he meets the NCAA requirements, we’ll give him a scholarship.’ ”

But it was Peery’s father, George, who clinched the deal.

“I just had to sit him down and explain to him that he’s a gifted athlete and he has to try to succeed,” he said. “It was in him, I said. He thought it over and said, ‘Dad, you’re right.’ ”

Before Friday night’s game, Peery spoke to his teammates and assured them that he was committed to the team. Previously, his teammates doubted his resolve.

“They were fed up,” Welch said of Peery’s teammates. “When the guys who are getting most of the ink bail out, why should the grunts keep grunting?

“Chris is a good quality human being. He may have had some tough times, but we all have tough times. I told the team that doubting isn’t a sign of weakness and neither is questioning. And that’s what Chris did this week--he doubted and he questioned.”

Peery said he had grown tired of practice and tired of games, while Cross, who has not returned, refused to comment on his decision to quit.