John Muir High School Hall of Fame member Victor Wright, who was paralyzed for life following a spinal injury suffered in a varsity football game in 1976, died Saturday. He was 55.
Wright was confined to a wheelchair after the accident and could only slightly move his head, yet he earned a college degree, became an ordained minister and co-authored a book. He was discharged from Huntington Hospital earlier this month after suffering anemic reactions due to internal infections. He died at home, said lifelong friend David Rutherford. The cause of death was not made public.
“Victor Wright was a community treasure,” said Rutherford, a former journalist who co-authored “The Wright Stuff: A Story of Perseverance, Inspiration and Hope” with his friend.
“What he and his family endured over the past 40 years was remarkable and inspirational and they handled it with dignity and grace,” Rutherford said.
A promising athlete who lettered in five sports at Eliot Jr. High School, Wright was left paralyzed during his sophomore year at Muir in a football game against St. Francis High School in 1976.
Wright lay motionless on the field for 40 minutes before paramedics arrived.
But despite the debilitating injury, Wright maintained a fighting and determined spirit. He graduated with his classmates in 1979 and went on to become one of the first quadriplegics to earn a college degree after graduating from a special program at Los Angeles City College.
In 2005, he co-founded Family and Friends International, a nonprofit organization that provides relief services to children overseas who have lost parents in natural disasters.
In 2007, Wright was inducted into the John Muir Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received an honorary varsity letter from the school during a halftime ceremony on the field.
In 2013, Wright was ordained a minister by the Association of Fundamental Ministers and Churches in a ceremony at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Soon after the family moved to Pasadena from Tennessee, Wright began hanging out at the Boys and Girls Club in Pasadena while attending Edison Elementary School. He excelled in Little League Baseball and Pop Warner football. He also later served as class president and sat on his school’s student council.
He is survived by his father Donald and siblings Milton, Dexter, Deborah, Cheryl, Rebecca and Joseph. Funeral arrangements were pending
Contributor: ladougs (36559535)
Wright was confined to a wheelchair after the accident and could only slightly move his head, yet he earned a college degree, became an ordained minister and co-authored a book. He was discharged from Huntington Hospital earlier this month after suffering anemic reactions due to internal infections. He died at home, said lifelong friend David Rutherford. The cause of death was not made public.
“Victor Wright was a community treasure,” said Rutherford, a former journalist who co-authored “The Wright Stuff: A Story of Perseverance, Inspiration and Hope” with his friend.
“What he and his family endured over the past 40 years was remarkable and inspirational and they handled it with dignity and grace,” Rutherford said.
A promising athlete who lettered in five sports at Eliot Jr. High School, Wright was left paralyzed during his sophomore year at Muir in a football game against St. Francis High School in 1976.
Wright lay motionless on the field for 40 minutes before paramedics arrived.
But despite the debilitating injury, Wright maintained a fighting and determined spirit. He graduated with his classmates in 1979 and went on to become one of the first quadriplegics to earn a college degree after graduating from a special program at Los Angeles City College.
In 2005, he co-founded Family and Friends International, a nonprofit organization that provides relief services to children overseas who have lost parents in natural disasters.
In 2007, Wright was inducted into the John Muir Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received an honorary varsity letter from the school during a halftime ceremony on the field.
In 2013, Wright was ordained a minister by the Association of Fundamental Ministers and Churches in a ceremony at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Soon after the family moved to Pasadena from Tennessee, Wright began hanging out at the Boys and Girls Club in Pasadena while attending Edison Elementary School. He excelled in Little League Baseball and Pop Warner football. He also later served as class president and sat on his school’s student council.
He is survived by his father Donald and siblings Milton, Dexter, Deborah, Cheryl, Rebecca and Joseph. Funeral arrangements were pending
Contributor: ladougs (36559535)
John Muir High School Hall of Fame member Victor Wright, who was paralyzed for life following a spinal injury suffered in a varsity football game in 1976, died Saturday. He was 55.
Wright was confined to a wheelchair after the accident and could only slightly move his head, yet he earned a college degree, became an ordained minister and co-authored a book. He was discharged from Huntington Hospital earlier this month after suffering anemic reactions due to internal infections. He died at home, said lifelong friend David Rutherford. The cause of death was not made public.
“Victor Wright was a community treasure,” said Rutherford, a former journalist who co-authored “The Wright Stuff: A Story of Perseverance, Inspiration and Hope” with his friend.
“What he and his family endured over the past 40 years was remarkable and inspirational and they handled it with dignity and grace,” Rutherford said.
A promising athlete who lettered in five sports at Eliot Jr. High School, Wright was left paralyzed during his sophomore year at Muir in a football game against St. Francis High School in 1976.
Wright lay motionless on the field for 40 minutes before paramedics arrived.
But despite the debilitating injury, Wright maintained a fighting and determined spirit. He graduated with his classmates in 1979 and went on to become one of the first quadriplegics to earn a college degree after graduating from a special program at Los Angeles City College.
In 2005, he co-founded Family and Friends International, a nonprofit organization that provides relief services to children overseas who have lost parents in natural disasters.
In 2007, Wright was inducted into the John Muir Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received an honorary varsity letter from the school during a halftime ceremony on the field.
In 2013, Wright was ordained a minister by the Association of Fundamental Ministers and Churches in a ceremony at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Soon after the family moved to Pasadena from Tennessee, Wright began hanging out at the Boys and Girls Club in Pasadena while attending Edison Elementary School. He excelled in Little League Baseball and Pop Warner football. He also later served as class president and sat on his school’s student council.
He is survived by his father Donald and siblings Milton, Dexter, Deborah, Cheryl, Rebecca and Joseph. Funeral arrangements were pending
Contributor: ladougs (36559535)
Wright was confined to a wheelchair after the accident and could only slightly move his head, yet he earned a college degree, became an ordained minister and co-authored a book. He was discharged from Huntington Hospital earlier this month after suffering anemic reactions due to internal infections. He died at home, said lifelong friend David Rutherford. The cause of death was not made public.
“Victor Wright was a community treasure,” said Rutherford, a former journalist who co-authored “The Wright Stuff: A Story of Perseverance, Inspiration and Hope” with his friend.
“What he and his family endured over the past 40 years was remarkable and inspirational and they handled it with dignity and grace,” Rutherford said.
A promising athlete who lettered in five sports at Eliot Jr. High School, Wright was left paralyzed during his sophomore year at Muir in a football game against St. Francis High School in 1976.
Wright lay motionless on the field for 40 minutes before paramedics arrived.
But despite the debilitating injury, Wright maintained a fighting and determined spirit. He graduated with his classmates in 1979 and went on to become one of the first quadriplegics to earn a college degree after graduating from a special program at Los Angeles City College.
In 2005, he co-founded Family and Friends International, a nonprofit organization that provides relief services to children overseas who have lost parents in natural disasters.
In 2007, Wright was inducted into the John Muir Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received an honorary varsity letter from the school during a halftime ceremony on the field.
In 2013, Wright was ordained a minister by the Association of Fundamental Ministers and Churches in a ceremony at Fuller Theological Seminary.
Soon after the family moved to Pasadena from Tennessee, Wright began hanging out at the Boys and Girls Club in Pasadena while attending Edison Elementary School. He excelled in Little League Baseball and Pop Warner football. He also later served as class president and sat on his school’s student council.
He is survived by his father Donald and siblings Milton, Dexter, Deborah, Cheryl, Rebecca and Joseph. Funeral arrangements were pending
Contributor: ladougs (36559535)
Family Members
Parents
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
