The lawyer for the three-time state wrestling champ embroiled in a legal battle with the state association blasted statements made in support of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association and its Executive Director.
Patrick J. Jennings, the attorney representing Anthony Knox, Jr., said Wednesday the statements from the NJSIAA’s Executive Committee, Sen. Paul Sarlo and others should have no impact on the Mercer County Superior Court’s expected decision of whether or not to uphold the temporary restraining order currently allowing Knox to wrestle in this week’s NJSIAA/IBEW Local 102 State Championships.
“Anthony Knox, Jr. did nothing wrong,” Jennings said. “He has and continues to be denied due process by the NJSIAA. The NJSIAA Executive Director does not have any special ability to make credibility determinations off of alleged written ‘statements’. Nor does she have the right to pick and choose and embellish statements.”
In his case last week, Jennings argued that the NJSIAA is violating the Due Process Clause in the 14th Amendment. The clause ensures that states follow fair procedures before taking away a person’s life, liberty, or property.
Jennings also argued that in the NJSIAA’s 2024-25 rulebook that Maguire does not have the authority to hand down a disqualification like the one she issued Knox on Feb. 25 for his involvement in the District 25 brawl in Collingswood on Feb. 22. The NJSIAA argued that this is inaccurate in its filing for a stay pending appeal Friday night.
On Friday, Knox was granted the a temporary restraining order by Judge Patrick Bartels from the ban the NJSIAA issued him last Tuesday, just hours before the start of the region tournament. The NJSIAA immediately requested a stay pending appeal. That decision is expected sometime Wednesday.
Knox was charged Tuesday with simple assault of a minor and disorderly conduct for his involvement in the incident, and a Collingswood police offer said in court documents he saw Knox ‘repeatedly punch’ a minor.
In his statement Tuesday, Sarlo (D-Bergen), a member of the NJSIAA’s Executive Committee, said the court’s decision, “Set a bad precedent for scholastic sports.”
He added that he pledged “full, unqualified support of the NJSIAA for disqualifying Anthony Knox Jr. from further competition for his abhorrent actions at the high school wrestling match in Collingswood.”
Jennings said he has still yet to see two of the videos the NJSIAA used in its investigation to hand down the disqualification to Knox.
“The NJSIAA still has failed to turn over all information in its possession that it has utilized in its alleged investigation,” Jennings said. “The NJSIAA’s tactics and secret back room determination flies in the face of all notions of fundamental fairness guaranteed by the United States and New Jersey Constitutions.”
The NJSIAA state wrestling championships begin Thursday morning in Atlantic City.
Knox, a 126-pounder committed to Cornell, wrestled on Friday and Saturday in the Region 7 Tournament at Lacey and won his fourth region championship with a trio of victories by technical fall.
With a state championship on Saturday at Boardwalk Hall, the Freehold native would become just the fifth wrestler in N.J. history to win four state titles.
Ryan Patti can be reached at rpatti@njadvancemedia.com or via direct message here.
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