- Lonnie Wright
Lonnie Wright (born
January 23 1944 ) is a retired American professionalbasketball and football player. He was born inNewark, 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 . AccessedAugust 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 the1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament , losing in the first round to theUniversity of Houston team led byElvin Hayes andDon Chaney .Professional careers
He was drafted in the sixth round of the
1966 NBA Draft by the St. Louis Hawks (now theAtlanta Hawks , but did not sign with the team. TheDallas Cowboys of the NFL also showed interest.Wright signed with the
Denver Broncos of theAmerican Football League onApril 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. AccessedAugust 26 ,2008 .]Switching sports, Wright signed with the
Denver Rockets (predecessor to theDenver Nuggets ) onJanuary 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 . AccessedAugust 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 . AccessedAugust 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 withThe Floridians (1971-1972). [http://basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=WRIGHLO01 Lonnie Wright] , BasketballReference.com. AccessedAugust 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 behindLarry Jones . [ [http://basketballreference.com/teams/teamyear.htm?tm=DEN&lg=A&yr=1968 1968 Denver Rockets (1967 - 1975)] , BasketballReference.com. AccessedAugust 26 ,2008 .]While
Otto Graham andBud Grant had done the basketball-football double in the 1940s, onlyRon 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 . AccessedAugust 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 . AccessedAugust 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 theUniversity 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 . AccessedAugust 26 ,2008 .]References
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