Pittsburgh youth wrestling shirt finds way home after landing in Japan

For one Yinzer, a high school reunion of sorts is set to take place — with his junior wrestling t-shirt, currently located on the other side of the world.

Over the weekend, a Pittsburgh resident found the North Allegheny Jr. Wrestling t-shirt in a shop in Harajuku, Japan.

“Not sure how it got here but I love seeing Pittsburgh vintage in the wild!” said user Gatorpazorpfield_8, the original poster on May 23.

Their post, sitting at about 5,000 upvotes and 227 comments as of May 26, included a photo of the inside of the shirt’s neckline, where faded handwriting showed the item’s owner – Greg Casey.

In less than two hours, a reunion was in the works.

Reddit user Expensive_Click_7080, who later identified himself as Casey, responded that afternoon, asking how he could get his shirt back.

“It probably still fits,” he said. “I started on the varsity wrestling team all 4 years at NA and placed at the Powerade Wrestling tournament my senior year but appreciate the brutal PA wrestling stats they kept.”

Another comment from Casey confirmed the shirt would be likely be reunited with its owner.

“Hey everyone, this wasn’t on my to-do list for today, but I got the details from the original poster and got the contact information for the shop in Japan,” Casey said. “I sent the store an email and will hopefully get my shirt back! I also emailed the PA wrestling website asking to update my stats, which don’t include beating up on Jake Herbert when I was a senior and he was in 8th grade:) I wasn’t on reddit until today so thanks for my friends for letting me know about this.”

Comments talk old friendships, connections to Yinzer shirt

The post sparked jokes about how the shirt ended up in Japan and poked fun at Casey’s stats on PA-Wrestling.com, though he noted the ones listed on the website weren’t accurate and said he contacted the site to see if they could be updated.

“Greg Casey is to Japan like David Hasselhoff is to Hungary,” user Entire-Anxiety-803 said.

“Brutal stats,” user lefthandb1ack commented.

The post also drew commenters claiming some connection to Casey or the shirt.

“Ha I knew Greg,” user ffffff00000066ff33 said.

“I went to school with this person and this shirt is likely real,” said Exact-Bread-9982. “Go Tigers.”

“My father screen printed that shirt,” Problem_Forward said.

Casey said he hadn’t used Reddit before, but the post found its way to him through an old neighbor.

“If this Greg, what’s up, brother?” said user AN3RD. “We were next door neighbors in the 80s and 90s. Nicole and I both saw this post and are losing our (expletive)! Anyways, I hope you and your family are doing well.”

“Thanks for the reply!” Casey responded. “You sister sent me this post;)”

Finch Walker is the Pittsburgh Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact Walker at FWalker@usatodayco.com. Instagram: @finchwalker_. X: @_finchwalker.