[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 132 (Tuesday, August 20, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HONORING COACH CAROLYN WRIGHT

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. SANFORD D. BISHOP, JR.

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, August 20, 2024

  Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a loving 
wife, seasoned educator, legendary coach, and dear friend of 
longstanding, Coach Carolyn Wright An event to celebrate her remarkable 
coaching career was held on Saturday, August 10, 2024, at The Perfect 
Place in Columbus, Georgia. Coach Wright will be retiring after 45 
years of dedicated service to education and athletics.
  The genesis of the life of Coach Wright began in Tuskegee, Alabama. 
She is a product of the Tuskegee Institute High School, graduating from 
there in 1974. Coach Wright furthered her education in 1978 when she 
graduated from Alabama State University in 1978 earning a BS Degree in 
Physical Education/Special Education. Coach Wright went on to receive a 
master's degree in Specific Learning Disabilities in 1981 also from 
Alabama State.
  Her career in education began at St. Jude Home for Children in 
Montgomery, Alabama. She also taught special education students at 
Hancock Central in Sparta, Georgia from 1978 to 79 and learning 
disability students at Stanhope Elmore High School Millbrook, Alabama 
from 1979 to 91. She spent her summers honing her education and 
coaching skills by working with the Upward Bound Program and the 
National Sports Youth Program at Alabama State University from 1979 
through 1985. Her legendary coaching career began in 1986 at Mcintyre 
Junior High School where she coached basketball, softball, track, 
volleyball, and bowling. She left that position in 1991.
  In 1991, she became the head coach at Central High School. She helped 
to guide the Lady Red Devils to four Final Four appearances, 12 
appearances in the sweet sixteen, nine appearances in the Elite Eight, 
and 18 State tournament appearances overall. Her teams won 11 area 
championships while she amassed an overall record of 597-375 in 32 
overall seasons at the helm. Her amazing career only produced four 
losing seasons as she was named bi-city coach of the year on several 
occasions. She was awarded the Sports Vision Legacy Award in 2018-19.
  Her legacy extended beyond basketball, as she was instrumental in 
starting a volleyball program in the Phenix City Schools. She coached 
Volleyball at Central High School for sixteen years, winning more than 
200 games. Her volleyball teams reached the Super Regional Tourney in 
2014 for the first time in school history. She also served as the 
girls' head track coach and the boys' assistant track coach from 1992 
through 2007 Coach Wright helped to guide 14 individual girls and relay 
teams to state titles Overall, she coached more than 30 boys and girls 
state champions. Because of her commitment to excellence, Coach Wright 
is largely responsible for over 200 athletes obtaining scholarships to 
colleges and universities.
  Leaving behind a stellar career and legacy at Central, Coach Wright 
is now the Athletic Director and Head Girls Varsity Basketball Coach 
and Physical Education Instructor at Johnson Abernathy Graetz High 
School. During her tenure at Johnson Abernathy, Coach Wright was 
blessed to enter the 600-win club. Coach Tom Landry once said that ``A 
coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has to 
see what you don't want to see so you can be who you always knew you 
could be.'' For over four decades, Coach Carolyn Wright has been 
helping young people from all walks of life to become who they always 
knew they could become.
  Coach Wright has spent 45 years in the teaching profession and has 
distinguished herself as a leader and mentor to those coming behind 
her. She was the chair of the Health and Physical Education Department 
at Central and the Freshman Academy from 1991 to 2003. She served as 
the Assistant Athletics Director from 2009 to 2021. Coach Wright served 
on the AHSAA Strategic Planning Committee in 2016. And because of her 
commitment to excellence, she was chosen as the Phenix City Public 
Schools Secondary Teacher of the Year in 2014-15.
  She has accomplished much in her life but none of it would have been 
possible without the love and grace of God and the support of her 
husband, Coach Bobby Wright who is a Hall of Fame basketball coach in 
his own right. This amazing couple is the only husband-wife duo to be 
inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Between the two of them, 
they have amassed 1,227 wins and a winning percentage of .680, the 
highest winning percentage of any husband-wife duo in the history of 
the State of Alabama.
  But even with all of this, Coach Wright has found time to be a 
faithful servant of God as a member of the Saint John African Methodist 
Episcopal Church where she serves as a member of the Steward Board. She 
has also been a dedicated member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc 
since 1976 and is currently an active member of the Gamma Tau Omega 
Chapter.
  On a personal note, both Coach Wrights have been dear friends to my 
wife Vivian and me for many years. We are both thankful for their 
friendship, support and counsel over the years.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join my wife Vivian, and me in 
honoring Coach Carolyn Wright for her lifetime of service to God, her 
community, and humankind. May God continue to rain down blessings upon 
her, her family, her community and all the young people whose lives she 
will influence in the days, weeks and months ahead. We wish her the 
very best as she moves on to the next chapter of her remarkable life.

                          ____________________