FACES OF SPORTS
nov./dec. 2020
J A S O N W R I G H T: FIRST BLACK NFL TEAM PRESIDENT LEADS A CULTURAL SHIFT BY HERON GONZALES (THEY, THEM, THEIR) Sports diversity still has many glass ceilings to shatter signed by the San Francisco 49ers as a free agent in April but former NFL player Jason Wright shattered a big one 2004, he was cut so the team could reach its 53-player earlier this year to become the NFL’s first Black team regular season limit. Following his time with the 49ers president in the league’s 100-year history. Wright was signed by the Atlanta Falcons to their active The Washington Team has been mired in chaos roster. He made his official NFL debut in December 2004 and controversy for years. Not only is Wright’s hiring but was waived the following September. an historic moment for the Black community’s upward mobility but for the Native American community, the Less than two weeks after leaving the Falcons, Wright long-contested offensive team logo and nickname are found his way to the Cleveland Browns. Wright played now gone, and for women employees past and present, with the Browns through the 2008 NFL season and then allegations of workplace sexual signed a two-year deal with the harassment are now being taken Arizona Cardinals. At the end seriously. of that contract he refused a Only 38 years old, Wright multi-million-dollar extension is not only the youngest NFL and officially retired as an NFL team president, he’s also just player. He knew it was time to one of four former players develop some of his other gifts. to hold this position. He has After leaving the NFL made it clear that a cultural Wright enrolled at the transformation of the entire University of Chicago’s team is underway, one that will Booth School of Business. He enhance and expand the value of graduated in 2013 with an the franchise. He truly believes MBA focusing in operations in transparency and inclusion and finance and joined the as well as accountability and international consulting firm realizes he’s an agent of change All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/ McKinsey & Company as a licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons for Washington. partner in Operations Practice Wright is in charge of the where he served as a diversity team’s business operations and inclusion consultant. He has been considered a and that enables coach Ron Rivera to concentrate on “business whiz.” decisions made on the field. The two men are expected to In his personal life Wright and his wife, Tiffany are have a strong working relationship based on their positive considered to be very generous. They have four children: longtime relationship that goes back to Wright’s NFL two biological children and two women now in their playing days. mid-twenties (they joined the Wright family as struggling Wright was an athlete from early on and played football and track at his California high school. His family teenagers and each have a child) and they also have two grandchildren. Wright says the family works to make the was working class and Wright has often talked about the world a better place. work ethic his family instilled in him. Following high The Washington Football Team made sports diversity school Wright attended Northwestern University where history twice in 2020 —once by renaming its team and his athletic performance was strong enough to earn him once by hiring Wright as president. Good choices all the Bobby Bowden Award presented by the University’s around. Now that the ceiling is officially shattered for the chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the first time in the NFL’s 100-year history, we are excited to Second-team All-Big Ten Awards in 2003. see the next Black president take his, her or their place Although Wright was not drafted by the NFL after college, he would go on to play seven NFL seasons. Initially alongside Wright in NFL history.
32 COMPETE january-february 2021
