Men's basketball

Tuohy builds basketball career as Loyola guard after role in story behind The Blind Side

Courtesy of JC Ridley/Loyola Athletics

Sean Tuohy Jr., whose family inspired the book and movie The Blind Side, is a sophomore guard for Loyola (Maryland), who plays Syracuse on Tuesday.

Franz Rassman slammed on the breaks and extended his arm across Sean Tuohy Jr. in the passenger seat to protect him from a potential airbag.

The two roommates and teammates on the Loyola (Maryland) men’s basketball team were on the way to Chipotle when the car came to a sudden stop at a red light.

But it was all a joke.

Rassman was only replicating the scene from the movie The Blind Side, when actor Quinton Aaron extends his arm to guard child actor Jae Head from an airbag when the two get into a car accident. Head portrays Tuohy Jr. in the film, which follows the story of how the Tuohy family helped current Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Michael Oher on his path to the NFL.

Despite sometimes being known for his part in Oher’s story, Tuohy is also a Division I basketball player for the Greyhounds and is looking to shift his on-screen reputation to the court.



“You kind of get the best of both worlds,” said Tuohy, a sophomore guard. “I’m not ashamed of the movie because I’m definitely proud of how far I’ve come as far as a basketball career.”

When the movie first came out in 2009, Tuohy was in the middle of high school and didn’t think the character was very similar to him.

He laughed when thinking about the resemblance, or lack thereof, of his actual self to Head, and said he gets teased by his friends that the now fully bearded, 6-foot, 186-pound Tuohy was a 4-foot-4 blonde child on screen.

“I hope that no one can ever look at my face and say that I resemble that blonde kid,” Tuohy joked. “Hopefully I was a little more filled out and a little taller.”

Since he wasn’t actually in the movie, Tuohy said he is able to fly under the radar in the social season. Walking on the streets of Baltimore, he said no one recognizes him and he’s able to go to bars without being spotted. He also said he doesn’t use The Blind Side to start conversations with girls.

But the one annoying part has been the rise to prominence of a mobile phone app.

“I think the most annoying invention for me ever was Snapchat,” Tuohy said. “…just because every time any person that I’m acquainted with is at the movie, I get 20 Snapchats about some particular scene or something like that.”

Other than that, Tuohy has been able to focus on his dream of being a Division I athlete. He’ll still get occasional recognition, but it’s died down from when the movie was in its prime.

“‘That’s the kid from The Blind Side,’” Rassman, a junior forward, said people will say sometimes. “Some people might say it gets to his head but not at all. He’s just humble, a great guy and nice to everybody, a hard worker on and off the court.”

Although he doesn’t get many minutes — four through four games this season — Tuohy embraces his role as mainly a practice player who also helps from the bench during games.

Loyola head coach G.G. Smith said he’ll look to Tuohy on the end of the bench and ask him, “S.J., did you see anything out there?” He’ll respond, “I think this guy’s getting tired, let’s try to attack him.” And Smith will listen.

“He knows the game and he sees the game,” Smith said. “He knows he’s not the most skilled guy on the team. He’s not here to be a celebrity. I’ve been real impressed with the way he’s approached everything since he’s been here.”

And now that he’s settled into his role as a scholarship player for Loyola, Tuohy has been able to reflect on how the movie has inspired hope in others, something he said is the best part for him.

He laughs at the encounters he’s had over the years with fans of the movie and has enjoyed that, but also doesn’t mind the person he’s becoming.

“It’s a good mix,” Tuohy said. “… but I’m definitely not upset at being a little bit more known as an athlete now than the character.”





Top Stories