Philly Basketball 24 • 7 • 365

City of Basketball Love

Current Section

Home

La Salle's Jerrell Wright to speak at Dobbins graduation

06/14/2015, 11:15pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
--

When Jerrell Wright surveys the crowd at Murrell Dobbins Career & Technical Education High School’s graduation this Tuesday, June 16, he’ll be looking out at a crowd of young men and women who are about to go through a transition he knows all too well.

And not just because Wright, who spent the last four seasons playing for La Salle University’s men’s basketball team, graduated from Dobbins four years ago.

“I’m in the same position they are right now, I’m just starting moreso the grown-up part of life...but for them it’s basically like the same thing,” he said on the phone last week. “When they get to college, they’re by by themselves, no more of their mothers and fathers helping them.”

Wright was selected as the school’s commencement speaker by the alumni committee, certainly a big honor for a young man who’s only recently been handed his college diploma.

He’s no stranger to speaking in front of a crowd, however. This past season, he came back to Dobbins when the school retired his number; he also gave a senior speech at La Salle University and has spoken at several youth basketball clinics.

“You look for candidates who will hold the attention of the graduates; someone who has possibly walked in their shoes and is able to provide words of wisdom that students and parents find compelling...we pondered a list of alumni befitting the characteristics noted above and Jerrell Wright’s name came to light,” Dobbins Alumni President Carolyn Cole Monson and treasurer Sharon D. Ingram said in a statement provided to CoBL. “Jerrell Wright is a name that our graduates can relate to. He is a young man of character and integrity, with a ‘get it done’ attitude.

“A positive role model in the news media for the past four years, Jerrell has been a great supporter of his alma mater and a standout basketball player averaging 20-plus points per game at La Salle University. We are very proud of Jerrell’s years at Murrell Dobbins and his accomplishments at La Salle University. We look forward to an amazing future for an amazing young man.”

Once the committee had made its decision, they relied on the school’s long basketball history to get it done. Longtime former Dobbins head coach Rich Yankowitz, more commonly known as “Yank,” hit up one of his former players, La Salle assistant and former NBA professional Horace Owens, who in turn asked Wright if he would like to give the commencement speech.

There was only one answer.

“I had to take the offer,” Wright said. “(Dobbins) showed me so much love at La Salle, and my four years there were the greatest, so anything that they asked for, I would (do).”

While at Dobbins, Wright helped the Mustangs to a 17-9 record as a junior, averaging 21.8 ppg. His senior year, Dobbins went 15-8 while Wright averaged 20.8 ppg, winning the Markward Award as top player in the city; he spurned high-major programs like West Virginia, Nebraska and Georgia Tech as well as a fellow city school in Temple to go to La Salle.

And more than just on the basketball court, the 6-foot-8 forward left a positive impression on classmates, teachers and coaches alike.

“He’s always been a great role model for the students at Dobbins, and he was always a great kid at Dobbins,” said William Johnson, Wright’s high school coach who has since moved to Florida for a job as a guidance counselor. “He used to come back a lot to visit, to see me, to see the other staff, because it’s like a family.”

Now, the journey that brought Wright from Dobbins to La Salle’s Tom Gola Arena is taking its next leg, into the professional realm.

Recently, he had the opportunity to work out for his hometown 76ers; workouts with Brooklyn, New York and Washington were to follow.

“It was great,” he said of his first NBA workout coming in his hometown. “When I was younger, watching basketball my whole life...watching the Sixers growing up, and actually being able to work out for the Sixers and put their uniform on, it was like a dream come true.”

On Tuesday, he’ll be able to share that dream with others.

Maybe the next Jerrell Wright--in basketball, or in another field--will be amongst them.

“Whether they’re playing sports or anything else,” he said, “they basically just have to challenge themselves to be the best they can be.”

~~~

Photo courtesy La Salle Athletics