Lonnie Wright

Lonnie Wright (born January 23 1944) is a retired American professional basketball and football player. He was born in Newark, New Jersey.

High school and college

Wright attended South Side High School in Newark where he earned All-City, All-County, All-State, and All-American honors in both football and basketball. He was inducted into the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Hall of Fame in 1997. [http://www.njsiaa.org/NJSIAA/HOF_years.aspx Hall of Fame] , New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

He attended Colorado State University, where he played both basketball and football, and set the school's shot put record of 52 feet, 9 inches. Wright scored 1,246 in his college basketball career, and was part of the Rams team that made it to the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, losing in the first round to the University of Houston team led by Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney.

Professional careers

He was drafted in the sixth round of the 1966 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks (now the Atlanta Hawks, but did not sign with the team. The Dallas Cowboys of the NFL also showed interest.

Wright signed with the Denver Broncos of the American Football League on April 16, 1966, playing for the team in 1966 and 1967. As a safety, he intercepted one pass in the 1966 season and four more the following year. He caught a single pass in his career, losing two yards on the reception. [ [http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WRIGHLON01 Lonnie Wright] , databaseFootball.com. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

Switching sports, Wright signed with the Denver Rockets (predecessor to the Denver Nuggets) on January 5, 1968, [Haraway, Frank. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB1DB3C540BF0FB&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "CENTENNIAL SPORTS FLASHBACK"] , "The Denver Post", May 31, 1992. Accessed August 26] , 2008.] [via "Associated Press". [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/access/166945662.html?dids=166945662:166945662&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=JAN+13%2C+1968&author=&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Bronco+to+Play+Pro+Basketball&pqatl=google "Bronco to Play Pro Basketball"] , "The Washington Post", January 3, 1968. "The Denver Rockets ansigned Lonnie Wright, a safety on the Denver Broncos professional football team, to a contract for the remainder of the American Basketball Association season."] starting play with the Rockets just weeks after the end of the football season.Moss, Irv. [http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_5944915 "Catching Up With: Lonnie Wright - Playing for two teams, one town"] , "The Denver Post", May 21, 2007. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

A 6 foot 2 inch (1.88 m), 205 pound (93 kg) guard, he played for five seasons in the American Basketball Association, four seasons with the Rockets (1967-1971) and a single season with The Floridians (1971-1972). [http://basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WRIGHLO01 Lonnie Wright] , BasketballReference.com. Accessed August 26, 2008.] He scored 3,590 points and averaged 10.7 points per game over his career, with the 1968-69 season marking his career bests, scoring 1,130 points and 16.4 points per game, second on the team in both statistics behind Larry Jones. [ [http://basketballreference.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=DEN&lg=A&yr=1968 1968 Denver Rockets (1967 - 1975)] , BasketballReference.com. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

While Otto Graham and Bud Grant had done the basketball-football double in the 1940s, only Ron Widby had done it since, throuh 1999. [Pompei, Dan. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_43_223/ai_57088412/pg_2 "One-armed man Boulware copes by changing his style"] , "The Sporting News", October 25, 1999. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

Wright was inducted into the Newark Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988 and into the Colorado State University Sports Hall of Fame the following year. [Kensler, Tom. [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB1D99DE87D6341&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM "Six added to CSU hall"] , "The Denver Post", September 30, 1989. Accessed August 26, 2008. "Lonnie Wright - Rams star basketball player of the 1960s who played with the Denver Broncos and the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association."] [ [http://csurams.cstv.com/hallfame/csu-hallfame.html Colorado State's Sports Hall of Fame] , CSTV. Accessed September 4, 2008.]

Personal

He has served as the Director of Students at the New Jersey Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

Wright's wife Joanna is head coach of the girls' basketball team at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, and had compiled a 420-140 career record in 28 years of coaching through 2002. [Smothers, Ronald. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05E1DC1330F933A25750C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "IN PERSON; The All-Stars' Skipper"] , "The New York Times", March 10, 2002. Accessed August 26, 2008.]

References