ALTOONA, Pa. — Nestled in the valley along Interstate 99 just 45 minutes from University Park you’ll find Altoona, Pa. And you’ll also find me, Jarrod Prugar.
Altoona has been my home since the day I was born and made me who I am today, but it was Pittsburgh that shaped me. I graduated with a BSBA in Sport Management from Robert Morris in 2013, but writing had been a passion of mine and I had an itch to get back into it.
That’s where Alan Saunders comes into play. Alan and I first met while I was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the now-defunct Southwest PA Magic of the Federal Hockey League. To be fair, the organization did win an award from my time there … albeit one of little value, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.
From there, Alan and I linked up when I reached out to cover WPIAL football for Pittsburgh Sporting News. To this day, covering the 2015 WPIAL Finals is one of my proudest days as a journalist. Of course, this was back before there were too many classifications and only four games tore up the Heinz Field turf at the time.
It was in 2016 that I started covering Penn State football. Since then, I’ve covered the Nittany Lions for a multitude of outlets, most recently for DK Pittsburgh Sports. I loved my time there, but it was time to step back and spend more time with my family and focus on my main career as a Special Education teacher here in Altoona.
Alan has afforded me the opportunity to come to NSN while I still maintain that focus. If you’re new to my writing style, it will be mixed with analytics, humor, but will also tell the story in a way that is comfortable and conversational.
I couldn’t be more excited to get started with Alan and the rest of the team here.
